Text 7. Southwest Airlines Culture Assessment

At Southwest Airlines, little emphasis is placed on a formal organizational structure; instead, the organization values individual humor and encourages fun and creativity in the workplace. For example, what some companies normally call the human relations or personnel department, Southwest Airlines calls the People Department. The People Department and Vice Chair, Libby Sartain, is in charge of recruitment and hiring of employees. The process in hiring is to identify people with "relational competence, the ability to relate effectively with others"

The success of Southwest Airlines lies in its people. It is not unusual for someone to go through the interview process for up to six weeks before they are hired. About 20 percent of new hires fail to make it through the training period. The payback: low turnover, high customer satisfaction, a self monitoring culture of self motivated employees. People are hired for attitude and trained for skill. Training is done at the University for the People, a multitiered learning facility. The University reinforces the importance of learning as a way of life for Southwest Airlines. Its primary mission is to equip employees to practice the kind of leadership that Southwest Airlines expects.

 All of the benefits of working for Southwest directly feed into its corporate culture, which is one of Southwest’s key strategies. Part of the reason Southwest is so successful is because they strive to make it fun to fly with them. To accomplish this the company created an atmosphere that is fun to work in. This means diminishing the influence of bureaucratic restrictions so the employees feel like the management is working with them, to bring excellent customer service. Southwest creates their desired culture by using: a flat structure, teams, good labour relations and profit sharing to modify employee behaviour to be that of a free flowing team versus a bureaucratic dictatorship.

Another important way that Southwest works to reinforce its corporate culture is through company mailings. LUV Lines is the company news letter and it contains detailed information about the performance of Southwest as well as other competitors. This is a good tool for flattening the organizational structure because well informed employees are more likely to make the correct decisions. The news letters helps make sure the employees know where their company stands in relation to the competition which encourages the feeling of ownership that is necessary to create involved employees. Southwest also has an entire book devoted to creating, positively outrageous service. This is crucial because one of the main goals of a cooperative culture is to bring about an environment in which its customers are properly cared for.  

 Southwest’s culture is its most unique attribute. The company focuses on a team-oriented culture and is not distracted by work rules and regulations that most competitors are consumed by. Southwest foregoes the functional structure of its competitors in favour of a more positive egalitarian culture to create a positive equally based culture. This approach contributes significantly to Southwest having the lowest employee turnover rate in the industry and the highest level of consumer satisfaction.

Southwest Airlines retains employees by offering a profit sharing plan, excellent benefits, and extensive training and learning opportunities. Another key motivator is the fact that most of the promotional positions are filled from within the organization. They also recognize rewards achievement not only monetarily but with plaques, articles in the company's newsletter, and recognition ceremonies.

 

Exercise 51 . Find Ukrainian equivalents. 

Personnel department, interview process, new hires, key strategies, labor relations, employee behavior, team-oriented culture, competitors, employee turnover, consumer satisfaction.

Exercise 52. Find English equivalents.

Бути відповідальним за, низька плинність робочої сили, багаторівневий засіб навчання, бюрократичні обмеження, участь у прибутках, посилювати, ключовий.

 

Exercise 5 3 . Put special questions to the text.

 

Exercise 5 4 .  Learn the following words and word combinations.

coach		– навчати, інструктувати
empowerment		– уповноваження
administrative assistant		– помічник з адміністративних питань; секретар-референт
figurehead		– номінальний голова
disseminator		– розповсюджувач, поширювач
outlook		– перспектива, плани на майбутнє
permeate		– поширюватися

 

Exercise 5 5 . Read, translate and give the gist of text 8.

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