Report: Southwest Airlines' Culture, Values, and Operating Practices

This report provides an overview of Southwest Airlines' organizational culture, values, and operating practices in 2016. It highlights the company's flexible and cosmopolitan culture, emphasizing employee involvement and satisfaction as key drivers of high performance. The report details the company's values, which revolve around the 'Southwest way' of living and working, focusing on customer experience and service. It also examines the company's unique operating practices, including its single aircraft type, point-to-point scheduling, and cost-saving measures like ticketless journeys. The report concludes with a discussion of the company's approach to human resource management, emphasizing its role in fostering growth and competitive advantage in the airline industry. References to supporting literature are also included.

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Abstract: Organizational practices are important to understand the firm’s productivity and
profitability dynamics. Organizational culture, values and operating practices determine how
successful an organization is in the fierce competitive industry. The respective paper is an overall
brief discussion of organizational culture, values and operating practices of Southwest Airlines
of the USA in 2016.

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Overview of the company
Southwest Airlines is a major American airline which has its headquarters in Dallas,
Texas. It is the world’s largest low cost carrier which was established in the year 1967.
Southwest Airlines has the record of carrying the maximum domestic airlines passengers in
America. The company has unique organizational culture, values and operating practices (in the
context of the year 2016) that are enumerated thereafter.
Organizational culture
The organizational culture of Southwest Airlines was very flexible and cosmopolitan in
nature. It supported employee involvement, satisfaction, morale and motivation with a goal of
high performance that can be related to the mission and vision of the company. Southwest
Airlines, which is one of the leading airlines, was proud of their unique and non- rigid
organizational culture as other firms try to imitative their cultural approach. It promoted
employee well- being as it is based on the principle that “employees need to be treated best in
order to get maximum output from them”. The Southwest Airlines had simple culture which is
fueled by innovation and optimism with a special regards for the employees who work
(temporary or permanent) for the company (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin, 2013). Such
simplicity of organizational culture has made the company a significant example for the rest of
the corporate competitors it has. The corporate culture of Southwest Airlines was formed in such
a way that it supports the company to achieve corporate mission and vision statements of the
company that needs high quality and popularity to ensure profitability. In order to compete with
its fierce competitors in the market, the highly creative and innovative corporate culture of

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Southwest Airlines worked as a strategic management tool for enhancing the business in the area
of quality of multinational business operations and organizational efficiency (Sharifirad & Ataei,
2012). The company has been apt in human resource management and development practices,
such as providing training and motivational lessons to the employees in order to build the
strength and stamina of the firm. The corporate culture upheld by the company had also acted as
the accelerators of growth and competitive advantage of the company. Certain basic
characteristics of organizational culture of Southwest Airlines are provided hereafter.
1. Employee centered approach with proper recognition and appreciation
2. Premium employee experience and engagement.
3. The Southwest way of working for the stakeholders and customers
Organizational Values
The organizational value of Southwest Airlines was “living the southwest way’ and
“working the southwest way” which was the theme of the company. By the phrase “living the
southwest way”, it means that the organization propagated the values such as a fighting spirit and
a heart of submission along with a jovial attitude for all employees to make the workplace a
better place to stay and work without any obnoxious influence (Bourne & Jenkins, 2013). By the
phrase “working the southwest way”, the organization believed in complete customer experience
where the firm maintained safety, reliability and security of every customers. The company also
seeked to provide friendly and premium customer service at a very affordable cost. The main
motto of Southwest Airlines was dedication of high quality customer service with a touch of

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warmth, friendliness, individual pride and a high company spirit. The organizational value was
prominently and accurately aligned with the strategic goals and organizational culture of the
organization respectively.
Operating practices
The key operating practices of the company Southwest Airlines was unique, premium
and class apart which provides the company a special edge or competitive advantage in the
airlines industry. However, the company has been operating with only one type of aircraft which
had around 700 seats with minimum spare parts, inventories, maintenance training and total
quality management. Southwest Airlines was comparatively affordable with low cost fares
(David Mc, 2013). Southwest Airlines also had a point to point scheduling which makes it very
efficient airlines with less records of delay and cancellation of flights. The Southwest Airlines
fled in and out of medium sized cities. Southwest Airlines had targeted medium sized
metropolitan cities in order to cut the cost of fuel and help the customers reach their destination
on time without much digression. The company had also offered ticketless journeys in order to
cut the costs of printing tickets. The operational practices of the company have been based on
cost-effectiveness and cost- savings to a larger extent. However, it did not have a first class
section and also no baggage transfer services (Inkpen & DEGROOT, 2013). Apart from that, it
also offered only beverages and snacks in the intervals and meal time without any proper meals
to the customers. Such factors have negatively affected the company’s reputation and goodwill to
a certain extent (David Mc, 2013).

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References:
Bourne, H., & Jenkins, M. (2013). Organizational values: A dynamic perspective. Organization
Studies, 34(4), 495-514.
Büschgens, T., Bausch, A., & Balkin, D. B. (2013). Organizational culture and innovation: A
meta‐analytic review. Journal of product innovation management, 30(4), 763-781.
David Mc A, B. (2013). Service quality and customer satisfaction in the airline industry: A
comparison between legacy airlines and low-cost airlines. American Journal of Tourism
Research, 2(1), 67-77.
Inkpen, A. C., & DEGROOT, V. (2013). Southwest Airlines. Caso pedagógico.
Sharifirad, M. S., & Ataei, V. (2012). Organizational culture and innovation culture: exploring
the relationships between constructs. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.