...CEO Gary Kelly: Introduction During the past decade, the airline industry has experienced economic challenges. Some of the examples of these economics challenges would include the sluggish economy and the fuel crises. Legacy airlines such as Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, and US Airways are struggling to maintain profitability. These legacy airlines have to compete with airlines that practice low-cost business level strategies like JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, AirTran, and Spirit Airlines. Low-cost airfare is leading by Southwest Airlines, and they also make it affordable for the average American to air travel. Since its existence, Southwest Airlines has been a profitable company. To maintain the airline’s profits in the sky, Gary Kelly assumed the role of Southwest Airlines’ newest CEO on July 2004. Personal and professional background Before joining Southwest Airlines, Gary Kelly was a CPA for Arthur Young & Company in Dallas and as a Controller for Systems Center, Inc. In 1986, Gary Kelly started his career at Southwest Airlines as a Controller. During the years 1989 to 2001 he was promoted to Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer. From June 2001 to July 2004 Gary served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In 2004, Gary Kelly assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer and has served as the Company Chairman of the Board in May 2008. In July 2008, he was elected as the Board’s President. Gary Kelly...
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...exploit and incorporate the existing resources in an organization for the achievement of the objectives and targets of such organization (Northouse, 2004). Gary Kelly is the CEO of Southwest Airlines. He has a leadership style and a set of values that has helped Southwest Airlines emerge amongst all the other airlines in the business. This report analyzes the leadership style and philosophy of Gary Kelly and how his style of leadership aligns with the culture. This report also examines his personal and organizational values and evaluates his set of values that are likely to influence ethical behavior within the organization. Finally this report determines his greatest strengths and weaknesses and discusses the quality that I believe contributes most to this his success. Background of the CEO Gary C. Kelly is the CEO and chairman of Southwest Airlines. He started his career in 1986 as a controller at Southwest Airlines. In addition to working for this airline, Kelly sits in the board as Independent Director of several trade associations and corporations. In 1989, he was promoted and served as Chief Financial Officer from 1989 to 2004. He served as Vice President of Finance from 1989 to 2001. Kelly served as a Vice Chairman of the Board of Southwest Airlines, from July 15, 2004 to May 2008. Prior to working at Southwest Airlines he worked as controller of Systems Center Inc. and as an Audit Manager of Arthur Young & Company in Dallas. He also served as Vice Chairman of Air...
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...objectives. Therefore, it does not take a “manager” to lead. Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest Airlines, has a set of values and a leadership style that helps Southwest Airlines stand out amongst any other airline in the industry. Background of the CEO Gary Kelly is a 28-year Southwest veteran who began his career at Southwest Airlines as a Controller. In addition to working for Southwest Airlines, Kelly sits in the board as Independent Director of several corporations and trade associations. Kelly was promoted to CEO and Vice Chairman of Southwest in 2004 after serving as the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance, then Executive Vice President and CFO. Gary is a lifelong Texan, having received a B.B.A in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Southwest Airlines in 1986, Gary was a Certified Public Accountant for Arthur Young & Company in Dallas and Controller for Systems Center, Inc. CEO’s Leadership Style and Philosophy Gary Kelly’s leadership style would be that of transformational. According to Bernard Bass (1985), transformational leadership occurs when leaders broaden and elevate followers’ interests and stir followers to look beyond their own interests to the good of others. Kelly mentions that the culture of Southwest Airlines is not a program or initiative; rather it is the sum of the hearts of their people (Spirit Magazine, 2014). Southwest Airlines always...
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...Ofori Boateng BUS 520 Leadership and Organizational Behavior December 12, 2014 Gary Kelly serves as the Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer at Southwest Airlines. Under Gary's leadership, Southwest has grown to become the nation's largest airline in terms of originating domestic passengers carried and is a mainstay on Fortune magazine's list of the most admired companies in the world, ranking seventh in 2013 (About Southwest, 2014). Gary's biggest source of pride is the fact that Southwest Airlines has never had a single furlough in the airline's 43-year history. Gary is pioneering the airline's transformation through several key initiatives, including the integration of AirTran Airways and launching international destinations in 2014 for the first time in Southwest's history. Gary has been named one of the best CEOs in America by Institutional Investor magazine three times and he was selected as Dallas Business Journal's CEO of the year for 2011. Gary is a lifelong Texan and received a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. As a proud alumnus, Gary has served the University in a number of capacities, including on the McCombs School Advisory Council. Gary is a Certified Public Accountant; serves on the Board of Directors of the Lincoln National Corporation and is Chairman of Airlines for America (Southwest, Gary C. Kelly, 2014). Southwest Airlines would not be the company it is without having a superb leader. It takes a good...
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...1. Provide a brief background of the CEO. Founded March 15, 1967 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines is currently the biggest domestic carrier by number of passengers serviced (Southwest Airlines, 2014). As of May 2013, the company has a market cap of approximately $9 billion (Forbes Magazine, 2013). Gary Kelly, who joined Southwest as controller in 1986, is the company’s current chairman, president, and CEO. Gary was born and raised in Texas and received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Texas as Austin. Gary originally wanted to study oceanography but changed his mind and decided to study accounting simply because his father was an accountant. Before joining Southwest’s team, Gary worked as a CPA for Arthur Young and Company. He and Carol, his wife of 38 years, have two adult daughters. 2. Analyze the CEO’s leadership style and philosophy, and how the CEO’s leadership style aligns with the culture. Gary Kelly’s leadership style fits most closely with the servant and ethical styles of leadership. Schermerhorn (2012) defines a servant leader as one who “helps others discover their inner spirit, earns and keeps the trust of their followers, exhibits effective listening skills, and places the importance of assisting others over self-interest” (p. 322). Ethical leadership has a very high focus on interactional transparency, fairness, and awareness of others (p. 323). Gary is a relaxed and playful leader and believes that "good leaders...
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...Assignment 4: Leadership Style: What Do People Do When They Are Leading? Gary Kelly, CEO and Chairmen of Southwest Airlines Company BUS520 Leadership & Organizational Behavior 6/05/13 Introduction Mr. Gary C. Kelly has been the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Southwest Airlines Company since July 2001. The 58 year old executive has been with the company since 1986 being hired in as controller working his way to Chief Financial Officer and the finally to the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kelly attended the University of Texas where he received a bachelor degree in accounting. Southwest Airlines is a very unique company in as they have never had a non-profitable year, they continue to serve as the country’s largest discount airlines, they have a straight forward philosophy of taking care of their employees, great customer service, and having fun. While other airlines have failed, actually almost all of the large airlines have failed, Southwest continues to grow and at the head of the company is Gary Kelly. Mr. Kelly has been with Southwest for most of the companies’ existence, and together, they have developed a unique culture and style. Most of which he inherited when he took the office of CEO. The former CEO and co-founder Herb Kelleher, was a very aggressive leader that like to lead in a very unorthodox style. His management was quick and to the point, always thought of himself as the underdog. Kelleher cared greatly...
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...oil companies are reporting big profits, lately airlines are facing some very big bills. The soaring price of fuel has forced the hand of some discount carriers who's business model is based on low fares. JetBlue, AirTran, Spirit, and Southwest Airlines have all up their fairs. In some instances, even making them higher than the major carriers on some of those roots. In this week's destination CEO, Jeff Flock, sat down to talk with the man of the controls of Southwest Airlines, Gary Kelly, to find out how in these turbulent times he's able to keep his company at a safe cruising altitude and as the most profitable airline in the country. Thank you, Gary. How are you doing, Kevin? Gary Kelly may not know the names of all 32,000 Southwest employees-See you, Troy. --but walk with him through the airlines, Love Field home base in Dallas. Althea, I'm Gary Kelly. And you get the impression he knows most of them. Jimmy, how you doing man? The 51-year-old Kelly and wife Carol are headed to their ranch near Austin for some rare R&R. Kelly always sits in the noisiest most cramped back row of the plane. The paying customers get the good seats and when he flies he likes to talk to them. I'm not a flight attendant. I'm just a guy that works in the office. The 6'3 former high school star quarterback was an Arthur Young accountant in 15 years as Southwest CFO he never sought the big job. I've never had any aspiration to be a CEO. 1 Why? I don't know. I guess I just perceived...
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...one of the most profitable companies in the United States and this is not by accident. This company has risen above its competitors with strong leadership, communication, and organizational structure that encourage success. This paper will evaluate the Google Company paying close attention to the leadership traits of CEO Larry Page. This paper will also explain why teams play such an import role into the success of Google as a leader within the industry. Finally, Google’s organizational structure will be explained to show the characteristics of the company that lead to its current success. DISCUSSION: What leadership style best represents Google’s CEO Larry Page? The text defines leadership as the process of influencing others to facilitate the attainment of the organizationally relevant goals (Ivancevich). Leadership styles are the different ways in which leaders influence others to motivate a group or team to attain organizational goals. These leadership styles include telling, selling, participating, and delegating. CEO Larry page uses all of these styles to a certain degree depending on whom he is communicating with and when he is communicating. When the CEO is communicating with members of his team he has been known to use the participating style, which is where leaders and followers share in the decision s about best to complete a high-quality job. This style was evident when Larry Page urged his team to “dream big” at the Google Faculty Summit in 2009. He told his team...
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...Southwest Airlines Case Study Allen Washington November 15, 2013 Management 5590 Fall 2013 Introduction This paper is to discuss the concept of Southwest Airlines and how it related to certain aspects of reading in the text. Areas that are discussed are culture, personality and emotional intelligence and how they relate to Southwest Airlines. Also, discuss how the CEO of Southwest Airlines, Gary Kelly, concepts relate to the text and if they are good or bad for Southwest Airlines. Culture What is organization culture? Organization culture is the pervasive system of values, beliefs, and norms that exists in any organization. The organization culture can encourage or discourage effectiveness, depending on the nature of the values, beliefs, and norms (Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson, 2011). How is Southwest’s culture and how does it impacts employee performance? The culture at Southwest Airlines is a strong one and that is due to the former CEO, Herb Kelleher. He was the kind of leader that worked well with his employees even when we was traveling on business to make sure that they kept a good relationship with one another ((Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson, 2011). As stated in the text “The atmosphere at Southwest shows that having fun is a value that pervades every part of the organization. Joking, cajoling, and prank-pulling at Southwest Airlines are representative of the special relationships that exist among the employees in the...
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...Mr. Gary C. Kelly has been the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Southwest Airlines Company since July 2001. The 58 year old executive has been with the company since 1986 being hired in as controller working his way to Chief Financial Officer and the finally to the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kelly attended the University of Texas where he received a bachelor degree in accounting. Southwest Airlines is a very unique company in as they have never had a non-profitable year, they continue to serve as the country’s largest discount airlines, they have a straight forward philosophy of taking care of their employees, great customer service, and having fun. While other airlines have failed, actually almost all of the large airlines have failed, Southwest continues to grow and at the head of the company is Gary Kelly. Mr. Kelly has been with Southwest for most of the companies’ existence, and together, they have developed a unique culture and style. Most of which he inherited when he took the office of CEO. The former CEO and co-founder Herb Kelleher, was a very aggressive leader that like to lead in a very unorthodox style. His management was quick and to the point, always thought of himself as the underdog. Kelleher cared greatly for his employees, for his customers, but most of all, having fun. In the seventies, the airline had its stewardess dressed in hot paints, and sing songs to the guests. Today they still are very casual and continue to have...
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...Southwest Airlines Early in his career as CEO, Kelley stuck with the mold that was given to him. When he did make changes, the changes didn’t affect anyone who worked at Southwest. They were still the number one airline and still paid their employees the highest salary out of all the other airline companies. As the company's leader, Kelly said he strives to balance three important areas of focus for the company: low cost, customer service, and focus on its people. The strong customer service was already embedded into the company when he started at Southwest in 1985. Kelley said, communication is the biggest key in being a leader. Kelly, who previously served as CFO, is an accountant by trade. When he became chairman and CEO, he said he found it to be very different than being a financial technician. I think that Gary Kelly is a very good leader because he listens to what his employees have to say and really values their opinion. I don’t think many CEO’s can say that. He knows that in running a successful company, one has to keep employees happy and make them keep wanting to work. Employees are the backbone of your company, they are the ones who keep the company going; sure the executives have to make some big time decisions but for the most part the employees help run the company. Gary Kelley has kept Southwest traditions by the low fares and great customer service. That is what made Southwest what it is today. He then made a decision that I think changed Southwest...
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...Outline I. Introduction II. Corporate Strategies a. Coca-Cola b. Southwest Airlines c. VF Corporation d. Xerox III. Discussion Summary IV. Conclusion Corporate Strategy Analysis Discussion Summary The complete single solution to absolute success in businesses remains unknown in this new day of age, even with the high-speed movement of the present world. Obviously, there are particular obstacles that corporations need to undertake in order to achieve success, while, in unison, there is no simple solution that leads to success either. Therefore, each corporation primarily needs to take a particular action that benefits the outcome of their company in order for it thrive. This step is a measure for attaining pinnacles that are universal with all corporations; it is to have a strategy. Coca-Cola, Southwest Airlines, VF Corporation, and Xerox are four companies that applied corporate strategies to their business and with success, turned their business around for the better. Corporate Strategies Coca-Cola Neville Isdell was asked to come back from retirement to Coca-Cola in June of 2004 as CEO. Isdell was tasked to assist Coca-Cola with diversification so that they could remain competitive with Pepsi. The company purchased Glaceau, maker of Vitaminwater and added new non-carbonated drinks such as Envigo and Blak to their product line up. Coca-Cola is one of the most organized companies when it comes to vertical integration...
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...1. Southwest’s espoused values are clearly stated in their mission statement. The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit. We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer. They also make it well known that employees come first and customers come second. Employees are encouraged to take their job serious but not themselves. Southwest Airlines believe that if their employees are having a good time they will offer better service and be more effective performing their job. Herb Kelleher, co-founder, Chairman, and former CEO of southwest, is known for forming a unique and a fun-loving culture that has worn off on his Employees. He has reveled publicly his own love of drinking Wild Turkey Whiskey and chain smoking cigarettes to help give Southwest a party image. His attitude has also worn off on the current CEO of Southwest, Gary Kelly. Gary takes part in dressing up for every hallowed. Gary has dressed as Gene Simmons from KISS, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. He also dressed...
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...The Original Southwest Airlines March 2, 2013 Introduction Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future. – Albert Camus. Southwest Airline is known for its unique corporate culture and way to stand out. To lead a stand out company you will need no one other than a stand out guy to run it. This paper will discuss the corporate culture of this “one-of-a-kind” airline company, its core competencies and its CEO Gary Kelly. Abstract Southwest Airlines corporate culture is based and prioritized on attitude. They strive for nothing but the best attitude from their employees; keep the customers happy and the employees even happier. To keep a light mood among the employees, Southwest tries to keep a happy atmosphere by building a sense of community. To ensure this they hold several teamwork exercises for new hires and hold fun social events like Halloween, deck and spirit parties. Elisabeth Pedrick Sartair, a current employee, says, “We feel this fun atmosphere builds a strong sense of community. It also counter balances the stress of work and competition.” They also send their new hires on scavenger hunts and do exercises to demonstrate creativity though teamwork. They also have the SWA supervisors, managers and executives attend a two day Frontline Leadership Training program at the University of People once a year. Here they do activities that instill an important...
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...Southwest Airlines is a major U.S. airline and the world's largest low-cost carrier. The headquarters are in Dallas, TX. The airline was established in 1967 and took on their current name in 1971. The company employs more than 46,000 people. They operate more than 3,000 flights per day and it carries the most passengers, domestically in America. Southwest has over 80 destinations in over 40 states and Puerto Rico. The Airlines has exclusively used Boeing 737s, except between the years in the 1970s and 1980s, when they used Boeing 727s. In 2012, southwest is the largest operator of the 737 international with over 500 planes in service, each making an average of six flights per day. In 2011 the airline acquired Air Tran Airways, with addition of the carriers expected to be complete by 2014. Unexpectedly in 2012, the airline was issued a single operating certificate, theoretically making the two airlines into one airline. In 2011, the airline gain purchased Air Tran Airways. (Southwest History, 2013) The Culture The culture of Southwest is spelled out in their mission statement which states: Dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit. And the mission goes on to address the employees by stating: We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the...
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