Southwest Airlines Business Case

Southwest Airlines has been in operation for over 44 years with records of 40 consecutive years of profitability and it’s when it comes to employee motivation practices, the company is not left behind as well. Besides recognizing the importance of the employees within the organization, initiatives are put in place to ensure employee job satisfaction and motivation including employee reward systems and also always listening to the employees’ concerns. Four-Drive Theory Southwest Airlines leadership style and management practices to enhance employee motivation go hand-in-hand with the four-drive theory. The four drive theory of worker inspiration is basically a method for looking at representative inspiration a long ways past the "pay" structure that happens to be common in the business world (Nelson, 2017). According to the four-drive theory, employees are motivated by four main drives; Acquire & Achieve, Bond & Belong, Challenged and Comprehend and Define and Defend.

The company motivates its employees in several ways. • Recognizing that its employees are the most important resources: Southwest generally recognizes that its people are the most important in the company and their welfare is very important. For this reason, Southwest Management ensures to highly support employee initiative and also encourage the employees at all levels. Southwest Airlines also gives employees the license to be themselves which greatly helps motivate themselves and others. • Empowers a happy and fun work environment through the “Southwest spirit” encouraged at all levels: Southwest Airlines is always committed to ensuring it has employees who are happy to work for the company. • Employee engagement: Southwest ensures to put all efforts to ensure employees are engaged by offering pay and benefits, opportunities for growth and development and also collaboration among the employees and the management.

Conclusion In conclusion, in relation to the four drive theory, Southwest Airlines has done a good job ensuring its employees are highly motivated. The employees go to the extent of appreciating the chance to work at the company making them feel that it’s a calling and not simply a job. Through the company reward system, training programs, a fun work environment, and the development and promotion practices among other motivation practices, high levels of employee motivation are achieved. Evaluate the company’s structure and explain how it contributes to their success Introduction Southwest Airlines is generally one of the most desired companies for both employees and customers in the U. In Southwest Airlines, job specialization does not go as far with other airlines like Southwest as southwest is familiar for flexible job specialization.

Even though different employees have different duties and responsibilities to fulfill, they are not tied down to those specific responsibilities. For example, to help reduce the turnaround time, pilots go ahead and help clean the aircraft which is practically impossible to see in other airlines. What’s more, flight attendants also regularly helped in cleaning the airplanes between flights. Even with a gate crew 50% smaller than other facilities, Southwest managed to reduce turnaround time through the flexible job specializations. Conclusion. In conclusion, Southwest Airlines happens to be the largest low-cost airline in America serving a large number of customers compared to other airlines. Considering the fact that Southwest Airlines adopted the functional organizational structure which provided stability and efficiency for the company since everyone in the organization uses similar processes highly contributed to the success of the company.

Decisions are made at the top-level management, however, employee interaction and engagement is highly supported by the organization structure which enhances the success of the company. How Southwest Airlines culture has helped the company to succeed Introduction Organizational culture comprises of the collective beliefs, values, and principles that guide the behaviors and members of an organization. People respond to that. ” In this manner, the company ensures to promote and support its legendary culture simply by inspiring workers through celebrations, recognition, and celebration. • Intense company communication is highly valued at Southwest Airlines which is very essential when it comes to maintaining the company spirit. Employees can easily interact with their supervisors and even help each other in their jobs without any problem.