...The Culture of Southwest Airlines Ashley Foster Leadership and Organizational Behavior Dr. Jelena Vucetic August 22, 2014 What does organizational culture mean? Organizational culture is the system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members.(Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, and Hunt, 2012) So, between the choices of picking an organization, I chose Southwest Airlines. In this paper, I will discuss Southwest Airlines, what they are trying to accomplish for their company, and what their culture means to the company. So the question is who is Southwest Airlines and why does the culture there make them from other airlines around the United States? Who is Southwest Airlines? Southwest Airlines was created in the 1971 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King. Kelleher is legendary in the airline industry for doing things differently than the competition. Before he found himself Southwest's pitchman, Kelleher was a lawyer retained by the airline to get it off the ground - a fight that took him all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It seemed the last thing Southwest's competitors wanted to see was a low-cost upstart doing nothing but flying around Texas in and out of Dallas Love Field.(CBS News, 2007) CEO James Parker feels that it is all about the people and it starts with finding and hiring the right people. We at Southwest put a lot of effort into our selection process. We received over 100,000 applications...
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...working in medicine, but could not afford the kickback he needed to pay Harvard Medical School to circumnavigate the quota they had at the time for people of Jewish ancestry. Bernie soon graduated from Rutgers, Newark, and worked as an intern in a pharmaceutical company. One day a customer came in that forever changed his life. Bernie was introduced to the world of discount stores when he met a man named Danny Kessler. A few years later Bernie worked alongside Arthur blank within one of the most successful home improvement chains at the time, Handy Dan’s Home improvement center. Bernie became the President and CEO, and Arthur was the vice president of finance. They were eventually fired, and faced legal trouble due to a false accusation. It was at this time that they decided to open up their own home improvement store, one that captured their own core values. They had high hopes of a store that far surpassed Handy Dan’s Home improvement center. The idea was to build a store more than twice the size of Handy Dan, and they had dreams of tripling their amount of sales. The store was to have a high breadth and debt with an array of inventory at an affordable price, which followed a low cost pricing strategy. One of the most...
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...will focus on how Hong Kong consumers received the conservative shark’s fin soup. IPhone in Japan While introducing the product (IPhone) to the Japanese market, Apple, the company banked on the success stories of other products that had performed relatively well in that country. These were IPods and computers. Furthermore, projections had placed the sales at more than a million products. However, that did not happen. The products were not positively received in the country despite good features that manufacturer thought would suit the Japanese market (Kane, 2008). One of the biggest mistakes made by Apple was the reliance on the 3G platform that the product had. Japan conventionally had been accustomed to phones that offer 3G internet. This meant that all other phones in the market had been installed with the 3G internet and IPhone did not amuse them. Another flop was evident in the touch screen concept installed in the IPhone. According to Japanese consumers, that feature was cumbersome to use. The reality within the Japanese market was that most of the phones sold in the market had some of the most sophisticated inputs and technology. This is due to the fact that Japan is one of the most techno savvy countries in the world. Apple had the question, “What the IPhone did not have that Japanese wanted?” and not, “What the IPhone really had? Apple could not bank on the prestige that its products offer in...
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...Josh Ling Assignment 1 In the company, Chrysler, organizational culture plays a huge part in bringing the company out of bankruptcy. Chrysler’s culture consists of various dynamics of organizational culture such as, observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. The main observable artifact Mr. Marchionne was most upset about was the way Mr. Fong doubled rebates so the company could make sales. This action was one of the main reasons the Chrysler culture was not turning a profit. Espoused values are standard values, leaving the company able to conduct business. One of the espoused values I noticed was how Mr. Marchionne “spelled out” the lacks of the company. For example he speaks about how the quality of vehicle control needs to improve and it was essential that there was a more sufficient control over pricing. An obvious basic assumption I noticed in the case study was the way the CEO held interviews so he could personally assess each individual. This helped him decide who he wanted to keep and who he wanted to push out. His actions added a sense of fear to the company and encouraged employees to work hard to maintain their job. Mr. Marchionne improved the PE fit of his direct reports. Once he had reshaped the company, twenty-three people reported to him. They were precisely chosen to guarantee that they had the fitting values, skills and capabilities that fit the requirements that were set. It is clear that Chrysler’s new culture is classified by the competing...
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...times. All together this strategy proved to be a great choice for Southwest Airlines. This strategy initially differentiated Southwest by placing them in previously untouched niche market. Southwest Airlines was able to benefit from the first mover advantage, by being the pioneers of this innovative approach. However, as others in the industry became aware of Southwest’s success they wanted to attempt to duplicate this successful strategy. Specifically, United, USAir, and Continental Airlines are three larger carriers that are making attempts to replicate the success of Southwest Airlines. The question, “What business are we in?” is meant to imply what is the actual value that consumers get from a company’s product or service. In the case of Southwest Airlines, they are technically in the airline business but in reality they are actually in the business of a creating superb customer experience. In accordance with their customer - driven strategy, Southwest aims to constantly set reasonable prices for all of their flights. This is made possible in part by their decision to fly the most fuel efficient Boeing airplanes that are available, the 737 model. In addition, they...
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...Bill Gates one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. He is the co-founder of the world’s largest software business, Microsoft. Bill Gates leadership styles were known to be very demanding and a slightly abrasive boss who encourages creativity and innovation and recognizes individual and team achievements. Bill Gates leadership styles are best known as authoritarian (also known as autocratic). The styles of authoritarian (also known as autocratic) are characterized by individual who control over all decisions and want little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Also group member are rarely trusted with decisions or important tasks. Authoritarian leaders like to keep control. Bill Gates required so much control that he even signed off the expenses of Steve Ballmer who was second in command! Microsoft’s organization structure has been a working process for them. They have been trying to slowly experience changes in power, culture, and innovation processes, some are self-induced while others are market induced. Microsoft have been adapting to changes of its management, culture, and product line. Microsoft’s company is in the works of a big culture shakeup. Bill Gates personality traits is that he is straight forward. He would tell employees what he wanted to be done, when and how. Because he worked very hard to build up his company he except for his managers...
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...Abstract IBM is a company that is innovative and strategic; it has had superior success in the computer and electronic industry. The company offers an array of services and products ranging from the sale of computers to business consulting services. Their success over the years can be attributed to their core values and vision. IBM recognized that to remain successful and profitable they would have to make changes and the biggest change would be to add value by having the employees contribute to the changing the values of the company. When employees share the same values, as the company, they are more dedicated to the company. What kept IBM from falling behind is the fact that they developed changed. The purpose of this case analysis is to describe the changes that IBM has made and to discuss the effectiveness of those changes. First we will explain why IBM wanted to make changes and to whom the changes would affect. We will also discuss how the goals has been developed and disseminated within the company, whether it is an effective way to set the stage for external social projects, and lastly, we will make recommendations. IBM Case Study International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a technological company from America that deals with manufacturing and marketing of computers, both hardware and software’s. It also involves itself with other services such as, hosting, consulting services and not forgetting the infrastructure. Having been founded over one hundred years...
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...HR ineffeciency * PROBLEM AREAS IDENTIFIED 1.With the company’s growing size, the company became more process oriented and started leveraging its experience to perform repeatable projects, employees realized that they were being deprived of creative and technical ingenuity that had been inherent in their work during the initial years. Employees thought the organization was becoming more impersonal and that some of the perks of initial years were being repealed. 2.As the company started scaling up across multiple locations, Infosys articulated the core values it believed in and wanted every employees to adhere to through the acronym “C- LIFE”: customer delight, leadership by example ,integrity & transparency, fairness and pursuit of excellence. They wanted to stick to their core values even when the company was expanding to new territories. 3.The company also showed high employee turnover when it was expanding its operations, which was mainly due to lack of proper communication between the middle/higher level managers and the lower level employees. 4. The introduction of “variable pay” was a great step in the direction of improving performance but it was not properly supported or backed with a good means to support this change. Infosys did not properly communicate the concept to the employees that a section of the employees were sceptical about the company’s intentions. 5. The broad-banding policy that was a leap towards a role based organization...
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...believed if he could transform the way his company thought and behaved he could continually improve HCL. He wanted a company that continued to get better and evolve. He created this by changing the way people think and by leading by example, creating results through change in philosophy, change in transparency and change in what the companies actual product was. This organizational change was actually a change in behavior that was carefully crafted through a positive and reinforced change in culture and mindset. Vineet’s problem was how to accomplish this while he already had a successful company growing already. He was willing to take the chance to grow his company though change while most CEO’s would have sat back and enjoyed their thirty percent annual growth. Vineet understood that even though they had a good growth number that his company still lagged behind the larger IT companies and he wanted to make sure HCL reached that same level or better. Utilizing Lewin and Kotter’s models for change he was able to enable his employees the opportunity to become the focal point of his plan of change. He was successful because he championed the change, created plans and allowed his employees the opportunity to take ownership of the plans to move the company in a new direction. 1. What were the external and internal forces for change at HCL? The external force for change was a change in what the clients and potential clients wanted. They did not want undifferentiated service...
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...tricked or “bought” into overlooking the great hole Enron and anyone else participating in the corruption was digging. Enron was portrayed as an innovative company and was featured on covers of magazines a few times. They were put on a pedestal that was so high that no one could see that the company was failing and committing fraud. Enron used a different accounting method that allowed them to report potential profits, not actual profits. A company will always look good if it is reporting potential profits, because the potentials are limitless. No one wanted to neither admit nor believe that there was something seriously wrong at Enron. Greed was such a big player and no one wanted to lose money. There were many big players involved in the corruption, so they would do whatever it took to hide the truth. At the end, companies just pointed the finger at Enron and claimed innocence. 2. Describe the Enron corporate culture. Explain how the following reinforced the Enron corporate culture and the notion of “survival of the fittest?” The corporate culture in Enron was greed, lavish lifestyle, overspending, risk taking, and competitive. In the film, an analyst described workers doing whatever it took to get ahead, even if that meant trampling over their colleagues. Top executives knew that they had to get everyone in the company excited and sucked in the same mindset in order for Enron to keep up its...
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...maintained a level of success, which has thrived upon "radical truths" and developing an approach of "meaningful values and meaningful relationship" (Dalio, 2010). What does this mean, for Ray, once he decides to retire? How will the company survive and uphold the culture, which he established. There are three main factors to which the company would need to begin to explore and prepare as transitions begin. First, would be ensuring an effective leadership, second maintain culture and principles during transition. Finally, how to attract to new hires and maintain current talent. These three factors will be explored in order to determine if the culture Dalio has established can sustain itself without him. Ray Dalio, a man who started Bridgewater Associates from his two -bedroom apartment in New York 37 years ago has created a culture in where some critics refer to it as a “cult”. Ray Dalio moved his company to Westport CT, where he currently employees 1,300 members. He currently shifted his role from CEO to mentor and works along his two co-CIO Greg Jensen and Robert Prince. He created a culture that was not just for hedge funds but also for an organizational success. He created principles and goals in order to challenge the type of staff he wanted working for him. “Dalio, describes himself as a “hyperrealist”, believes that reality worked in a certain way and that understanding how is...
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...case study questions that include the changes at Intel in the first three years of the new CEO Craig R. Barrett tenure, the environmental pressures for change, and internal organizational pressures associated. Furthermore after reading the second part of the case study an examination of new pressures faced by Barrett, how he responded and what changes the new CEO might make and why. First off the case study reflects several changes at Intel over the first three years of Barrett’s tenure which included investing and then withdrawing from new markets, closing down iCat, an e-commerce service and job cuts. Barrett also engaged in several reorganizations. “At the same time, Barrett wanted to change the culture of Intel, drawing on outside consultants to assist him in the process.” He wanted to move towards better customer relations. Environmental pressures for change can be seen in some of the decisions made by Barrett. “A declining market experiences dropping values as part of the normal progression of life stages for financial markets or in reaction to specific financial events”(What Is a Declining Market?). Also Geopolitical pressures were faced. In the first three years Intel was affected by September 11, 2001, the sluggish economy and the potential of war. Corporate reputation is another factor that seemed to have a slight influence with job cuts and competitors making faster processor chips. The last environmental pressure mentioned in the study came from hyper...
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...motivate staff | ●Financial application based on Windows 95 ●Success in securing venture capital | Rapid Growth | ERP | New core value "care, integrity and innovation" to keep innovation | ●Changes in ERP products ●IPO and acquisition | Strategic Turnaround | Saas | “People Culture” to strength team-work under corporate policies | ●Strategic cooperation with IBM ● Evolving into B2B e-commerce platform | Management competence: * Entrepreneurial Period: 1992-1998 1. Attractive compensation for “Hukou” to hold talents Kingdee, like its competitors, is extremely knowledge intensive. This characteristic is determined by the nature of software industry. Actually, before Kingdee was formally founded, since the “Aipu” stage, Robert Xu, Kingdee’s chairman, has realized the importance of his employees. When Kingdee was still called “Aipu” in 1992, the company was not qualified to grant “Hukou” to its engineers. This disabled Aipu to retain qualified employees for long service terms. In consideration that engineers are the most important assets for the company and CEO’s high attention on technical innovations, Kingdee attracted and held talented people basically by attractive compensation. This decision helps the company rapidly dominate the emerging low-concentration market. 2. “Green Light” to satisfy employees After Kingdee was formally founded, on August 8th, 1993,...
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...Nguyen Cal. State University Dominguez Hills MGT-500 Oct. 5 2014 Since inception, JetBlue’s strategies were to use technology, innovation, and human services to create a competitive advantage against their competitors. They wanted to be able to provide high quality airline services while keeping fares at an affordable rate. With over 30 years experience of service-based businesses, Ann Rhoades (Rhoades) fits the culture and vision of JetBlue. She plays a critical role in developing a value-based team that truly cares for their crew members. Prior to joining JetBlue, one of Rhoades’ conditions for joining the team was defining what the company stands for. She wanted to create a company that focus on their people. After a two-day meeting, the executive team came up with five core values that the company characterized on. These values that JetBlue characterized on are safety, caring, integrity, fun, and passion. Rhoades must create a team based on these five core values. This was no easy task considering the fact that JetBlue hired 1000 employees within their first year and projected to hire 5000 people within the next 4 years. Rhoades was given a task to hire people at a rapid rate without jeopardizing the core values of the company. This means selecting the best people in an incredible pace. Studies show that happy employees are more productive and organizations with more satisfied workers are more effective than organizations with fewer (Robbins & Judge...
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...Shantee Hill MGT301 Mod1 case The Microsoft corporation is one of the most prevalent and powerful companies in the private computer business. Established in 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, Microsoft has the strongest presence in just about all areas of computer software, from applications to programming tools. Bill Gates wanted to create a healthy, productive work environment that maintained its employee’s values and commitment of excellence. In building a corporation based on the principles of diversity and respect of one another’s individuality, Bill wanted to bring in the right people to manage his corporation that had the same common goals to achieve the main goal of having a thriving corporation. Planning is important at all levels of management within Microsoft. However, its distinctiveness differs by level of management. Within Microsoft the key terms of planning management functions are vision, mission, objectives and goals. Planning requires a organized approach and an establishment of objectives. It starts with setting goals and objectives that can be achieved. Those objectives provide a underlying principle for a variety of tasks as well as designate course of efforts. Additionally those objectives also focus the attention of the managers on the final results wanted to be achieved. Objectives are the core to the planning process. Consequently, objectives should be stated in a obvious, accurate and unequivocal manner. Otherwise the tasks to be carried out are...
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