Riana Rusdianto

2019956269

Case 9 - Southwest Airlines

What are the key elements of Southwest’s culture? Is Southwest a strong culture

company?


Southwest Airlines has the key elements of culture that focus more on the company

rather than the customer. Unlike other companies, Southwest has an operating principle that

"employees come first and customers come second". The priorities of the corporate strategy

placed on the overall welfare of its employees reflect a strong belief of management that if

employees are happy then they will make customers feel the same way as them. In

particular, the distinctive key elements of Southwest's corporate culture are;

• Nurturing and Supportive Work Environment

This environment expected to build creativeness, fun atmosphere, and also positive

diversity. To achieve this kind of environment, the company using a promotion, humor, also

frequent parties and celebrations.

• Competitive Compensation Packages and Incentives

To enhanced job satisfaction and pride in team achievements that keep the spirit and

the culture more alive, the company provides competitive compensation packages. A

company's incentive system can motivate not only for greater worker's productivity but also

cost-saving of innovations that worker makes from their suggestion.

• Employee's Winning Attitudes

These attitudes enable employees to perform well and cost-effective in their work,

overcome the difficulties and celebrate successes, also solve problems more efficiently.

• Cost-Consciousness Culture

This culture in the company is needed to have an awareness of costs and act carefully

about the company's spending in terms of their operations activities.

 • Leadership development courses

These courses will focus on empowering, emphasized coaching, and encouraging

the employees rather than enforcing rules and regulations to them.

From these key elements of Southwest's culture, it is very clear that this company

has a strong culture fostered by its executive management level because all of the key

elements that pointed before succeed to make their employees feel like a part of the

company. This kind of feeling pushes the employees to work even harder for a company's

success and see that as a professional and their personal achievements. Also, the

company's strong foundation in terms of history and story forms an important foundation for

building a corporate culture. This story includes what employees do to please customers

and how they proudly behave also spread around the company.

Which of Southwest’s strategy execution approaches and operating practices do you

believe have been most crucial in accounting for the success that Southwest has

enjoyed in executing its strategy?

To execute its core strategies, Southwest has implemented several execution

approaches and operating practices that have been crucial in their accounting aspect. I think

the strategy execution approach of cost containment, employee recruitment process,

and corporate culture that Southwest has chosen and enjoyed in executing its strategy.

In the beginning, Southwest already plans to become an airline that has low-fares

and low-cost compared to other airlines. The company believed that its low-fares would

allow more passengers to fly and its belief is proved accurate by the market. Southwest

Airlines become the U.S. market share leader in the domestic air travel market.
 The cost containment is also implemented when the company recruits employees.

This strategy begins with its human resources strategy of recruiting the employees which

are high-quality, well-trained, and also well-managed of performance. Southwest continues

to recruit people with the best capability and retain these employees by ensuring HR

practices are running well. Best people will do their work efficiently in all situations and

difficulties encountered.

The continuous success that Southwest has enjoyed is achieved through a

commitment to their corporate culture. The most crucial aspects of Accounting are also

influenced by corporate culture in which the company functions. The employees who feel

like a part of the company can make a higher profit for the company itself which will affect

to company's financial position.

References:

Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., Strickland III, A. J., & Jain, A. K. (2013). Crafting &

Executing Strategy 19/e: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases.

McGraw-Hill Education.