WestJet airline is a discount airline based in Canada. WestJet has been very successful and they believe that their success is due to their distinct culture. WestJet offers low fare prices and friendly service, which has helped them gain great ratings in customer service. They believe in running a fun organization, having trust and respect for all employees, and treating all employees as equals no matter what their title. This, they believe, reflects on their customers because happy employees will offer the best customer service. WestJet also believes in teamwork, which in return helps cut costs. They feel that, when necessary, employees can do things outside of their job description in order to make things run smoother. This also helps cut costs because it means they do not have to hire more people to do a specific job since everyone is willing to help out. Also, employees have so much trust in the company that they do not even have contracts or unions, just agreements. All of this is what WestJet believes contributes to their success the most.
The major problem in this case is that WestJet has big expansion plans, and if they continue to expand they will probably not be able to keep their “fun” culture. The more WestJet expands, the more people they are going to need to hire. Hiring so many new people can possibly ruin the culture of the company. This was proven to be a problem when Beddoe hired Steve Smith to takeover his job as CEO. Smith was hired in early 1999 and suddenly resigned in September 2000. WestJet said that his sudden resignation was due to the fact that he could not fit in with the WestJet culture. Therefore, when Smith resigned, Beddoe had to take his seat back as CEO.
When people feel uncomfortable in a situation or in a work environment it makes it difficult for them to perform at their best. Although the WestJet culture may seem like a strength, it can also be a weakness because it can make new employees uncomfortable, limiting their performance and making other employees, and also customers, unhappy. That makes this culture that is supposed to be fun turn in to a cycle that is full of tension. Which will then make other companies with a neutral culture a threat because they will have better performing and satisfied employees; especially at the top management levels where a “fun” culture is not the norm.
When a company grows as fast as WestJet is planning to grow, it does not give new employees time to adjust to a different culture and makes the whole situation very impersonal. With the expansion, WestJet will have to hire people to fill management positions and management positions are usually given to people with some sort of experience. This is going to be a problem for WestJet because they prefer to hire people without the experience because it is a new culture and they believe it is better to start with a “clean slate.” If they hire people without experience they run the risk of these people not knowing what they are doing and upsetting other employees. But, if they hire people with experience they run the risk of these people not fitting in with the WestJet culture and suddenly resigning the way Smith did. Also, once employees become upset and there are a lot of new employees they will begin to feel the need for contracts and unions, which takes away from the trust part of WestJet culture.
One way to prevent this from happening can be to stop expanding the company and keep it small. This way WestJet will not have to worry about losing its culture or about hiring so many new people. But, if they were to stop expanding, they will probably not make as much money as they possibly can and will just be making what they already do, or less because of the state of the economy.
Another alternative can be to hire experienced people but make them shadow the company for two weeks and see if they fit in and can handle the culture. If it is obvious that the person does not fit in, then they will not continue working with WestJet. If they do fit in, the company gains an experienced worker who can help the company grow. The problem with that alternative is that two weeks may be a wasting time and can cause the company to lose some money if the person does not fit in.
The last alternative I have come up with is to hire new people and put them through extensive training before starting. In training, these new people will be given cases to see how they solve problems. These cases will be about working with other employees and customers. The cases will not be writing about the situation but actually acting it out and observing how they react. They will not know what the cases will be about so they will not have time to prepare, just like in real life. The problem that may arise from this is that they may act one way in training, because they know they are being observed, and then act completely different on the job.
Out of all three alternatives I mentioned above, the best one will be to hire new people and put them through extensive training. The reason this is the best alternative is because new people will not be stuck in their ways from their previous employment. If they are new to the business, they will be more willing to accept the culture. Through the extensive training they will get a feel for what the company is actually like, and if they do not like it or feel comfortable, they can leave before they start actually working. If they do like it, they will fit right in and know what to do once they begin working.
Beddoe, current CEO, should implement this, because people trust him and will know it is the right thing to do if it is coming from him. He should go about this by informing the entire company and making sure they agree. Then, trials of the training should be ran with current employees to make sure it works and everything is covered in the training sessions. Once, it is determined that the training is good and will work then they can begin using it on the new hire’s. Before these people are at the point where they need training, human resources should continue to interview them in the same fashion making sure they have the sense of humor and enthusiasm that WestJet is looking for.
All in all, WestJet is a very successful company that can continue to be successful if they go about things in the right way. With expansion and the need to hire new people they risk losing the WestJet culture. But, if Beddoe implements extensive training for the people who are new to the company they can expand and continue being successful while keeping the WestJet culture alive and employees happy.