The Culture of Southwest Airlines
Herb Kelleher and the Culture at Southwest Airlines What is Culture? The Random House College Dictionary describes culture in a social sense by stating it is ?the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.? Thus if we substitute the social world that we live in, for a business organization that we work in, we get only a slightly different definition. The definition provided by my text states ?Culture is the set of values, guiding beliefs, understandings, and ways of thinking that is shared by members of an organization and taught to new members as correct.? In essence, culture represents the unwritten, feeling part of the organization we work in and society we live in. The culture that has evolved around Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines is unquestionably the source of their success. In the next few pages I will introduce you to Herb Kelleher, and Southwest Airlines, a company he helped start nearly 36 years ago. I will then discuss the culture of Southwest and its importance to their success in the very competitive airline market. Back in 1966 Herb Kelleher was a very bright, successful lawyer in San Antonio, Texa
?You should never become infatuated with power. I was bound and determined to show that Southwest Airlines was going to survive, and was going into operation. The committee, which meets four times a year, is charged with preserving and enhancing company culture. One of the committee?s successes is illustrated by the company organization. Kelleher once told the story of how a Southwest vice president complained several years ago that customers, gate agents, pilots and baggage handlers had more access to Kelleher than he had as vice president. You can?t constrain people in their thinking. The company maintains rather informal job descriptions and decentralizes decision-making, regarding customer service. In 1970 the initial capital was gone, the operation had no employees, no airplanes, just $142 in the bank and overdue bills of over $80,000. Kelleher says, ?Because I am unable to perform competently any meaningful function at Southwest, our employees let me be CEO. Included in this is the ?demeanor? of company leaders and a ?no furlough? policy. Prospective pilots are sometimes asked to don Southwest shorts; the ones who see the request as fun and a joke pass the interview. His biggest concern was that he wanted someone who would be respectful of Southwest?s culture and someone that would be altruistic in nature. One of his clients at the time was a San Antonio entrepreneur, Rollin King, the owner of a small commuter air service. ?8 For an organization to excel, Kelleher points out that it is necessary to build a culture of ?Mental Ownership. This can be attributed back to the ?Culture? that is Southwest Airlines.
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