Text 10. Southwest Airline’s Mission, Objectives, Strategies

Southwest Airline’s mission focuses on their employees and customer service. Southwest’s mission is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit. Since Southwest is a no frills airline they gain and keep customers by offering exceptional customer service which is provided through the employees, the cornerstone of the company. 

Southwest Airline proclaims that it is a company of people, not planes. That is what distinguishes them from other companies. Other companies may have nicer airplanes but they only provide good service to first class ticket holders. Southwest treats all of their customers as if they were all riding first class. Having a mission statement focused on customer service makes Southwest’s relationship to its customers unique. This is what allows Southwest Airline to dominate the discount airline market.

The objectives at Southwest are simple; to provide basic services in an efficient effective manner. Southwest’s flights are safe, low-price transportation with great customer service. Southwest offers some of the industries lowest fares and has one of the industries highest safety ratings. Another main objective of Southwest is to provide arrivals and departures that are consistent and on time. This has been a large problem for many airlines. Southwest’s average turn around time of 15 to 20 minutes helps ensure on-time flights. As long as Southwest continues to achieve its objectives, they will continue to excel in the airline industry.

The strategy portion of Southwest’s business begins with its workforce which is carefully selected and trained to reflect the image of the company. It starts with a careful hiring process. Applicants to Southwest are put through a strenuous selection process because the company is focused on obtaining people with the right attitudes for their company. This is because the belief at Southwest is that they can teach skills but they cannot teach attitude. Some of the attributes the company is looking for in employees include: positive attitude, positive self image, internal locus of control and highly conscientious. 

Once the right people are selected for the jobs, the training begins. Kelleher pushes the importance of maintaining a cohesive culture and training is an excellent way of assuring that this is achieved. A major way that employees learn to adhere to the culture of Southwest is through Southwest University which is a training facility where employees learn what it means to be part of the Southwest family. 

In addition to strenuous hiring and training processes Southwest Airlines invests heavily in treating its employees well. In an industry notorious for labour disputes and bad union relations Southwest Airlines is a rare exception. The majority of their employees, 85 percent, are non-unionized. When the company does have to deal with unions the negotiations are generally friendly. Much of this success comes from a practice of profit sharing with its employees. In this case, profit sharing can be beneficial because it encourages employees to be personally vested in the company and it allows for room for salary negotiations. Southwest also offers excellent medical and dental benefits which are very important in the era of rising health costs. Good salaries, health care programs and profit sharing are tools the company uses to retain the valuable employees it worked so hard to obtain.

 

Exercise 7 3 . Put special questions to the text.

 

Exercise 7 4 . Analyze all -ing forms in the text.

 

Exercise 7 5 . Learn the following words and word combinations.

 

inner	– внутрішній
deficiency	– відсутність, нестача
to apply	– застосовувати
complex	– складний
truism	– відома істина
labor manager	– управляючий трудовими ресурсами
perception	– сприйняття, розуміння
employer	– наймач, роботодавець
employee	– працівник
reward	– винагорода, премія, компенсація
to stem	– походити
expectation	– очікування, сподівання
presumption	– припущення, ймовірність
self-motivation	– самомотивація
accomplishment	– виконання
craftsmanship	– майстерність, вміння
self-confidence	– впевненість, самовпевненість

 

Exercise 7 6 . Read, translate and give the gist of text 11.

Text 11. Motivation

Selection, training, evaluation and discipline cannot guarantee a high level of employee performance. Motivation, the inner force that directs employee behavior, also plays an important role. Highly motivated people perform better than unmotivated people. Motivation covers up ability and skill deficiencies in employees. Such truisms about motivation leave employers wanting to be surrounded by highly motivated people but unequipped to motivate their employees. Employers and supervisors want easily applied motivation models but such models are unavailable.

Motivation probably tops the list of complex activities with which labor managers deal. Their intuition suggests an easy answer, "I want everyone around here to be motivated." They often blame employees for their lack of motivation and performance problems. Employees on the other hand often blame any performance problems they may have on external factors - their supervisors, equipment, training, co-workers, weather, unrealistic demands made on them, pressures at home, lack of recognition, etc. Despite the conflicting perceptions held by employers and employees, employers must deal with employee motivation.

Three ways of looking at motivation are: needs, rewards and effort. The needs approach stems from the notion that peoples' unsatisfied needs drive their behavior. Figure out a person's needs, satisfy the needs and the person will be motivated. For example, a person with a high need to satisfy goals is motivated by production targets. The rewards approach is based on the expectation that rewarded behavior is repeated. Giving a person a bonus for excellent performance during a difficult harvest period encourages the person to make a special effort during the next difficult harvest. The effort approach to motivation is based on the expectation that effort brings the worker what he or she wants. The thought that working hard leads to advancement and new career opportunities is consistent with the effort approach. The effort approach includes a presumption that the employer is fair, i.e., effort is recognized and rewarded. Managers cannot reduce motivation to a simple choice of one of these approaches. Each of the three approaches contributes to an understanding of motivation and how motivation varies person to person and over time.

The most effective motivation for employees comes from within each employee, i.e., self-motivation. Possible indicators of self-motivation include: past accomplishments in school, sports, organizations and work; stated career goals and other kinds of goals; expertise in one or more areas that shows evidence of craftsmanship, pride in knowledge and abilities, and self-confidence; an evident desire to continue to learn; and a general enthusiasm for life.

 

Exercise 7 7 . Answer the questions on text.

1. What activities usually guarantee a high level of employee performance? 2. What is covered up by motivation? 3. What does a labour manager often blame employees for? 4. What external factors cause any performance problems? 5. From what points of view can motivation be considered? 6. What does the needs approach stem from? 7. What is the reward approach based on? 8. What approach is based on the effort? 9. What are possible indicators of self-motivation?

Exercise 7 8 . Give Ukrainian equivalents.

Employee performance, applied motivation models, complex activities, unrealistic demand, to drive the behavior, rewarded behavior, harvest period, past accomplishments.

 

Exercise 79. Find English equivalents.

Внутрішня сила, мотивовані люди, зовнішні фактори, колега, брак визнання, суперечне сприйняття, незадоволені потреби, виробничі завдання, кар’єрні можливості. 

 

Exercise 80 . Find all possible pairs of synonymic and antonymic words from the list given below: employee, feature, subordinate, technique, motivate, characteristic, supervisor, be consulted, produce, supervision, supervise, productivity, participate, productive, motivation, worker, element, method, be involved. 

Exercise 81 . Find and analyse all –ing forms in the text.

 

Exercise 8 2 . Translate into English using: to motivate, motivating, motivation, product, to produce, production, productive.

1. Працівники мотивуються багатьма чинниками. 2. Один зі способів - проконсультувати їх щодо розробки нового продукту. Інший спосіб – залучити їх до процесу виробництва. 3. Якщо працівник виробляє більше, він отримає підвищення зарплатні. 4. Розвиток технологій є одним зі шляхів зробити працівників більш продуктивними. Іншим шляхом може бути створення виробничих команд. 5. Речі, які мотивують людей в одній культурі, можуть відрізнятися від мотивуючих факторів в іншій культурі. 6. Дослідники мотивації констатують, що існують внутрішні та зовнішні мотивуючі фактори.

 

Exercise 8 3 .  Learn the following words and word combinations.

establish	– встановлювати
subdivide	– розподіляти(ся)
subsequent	– наступний
tenure	– строк перебування на посаді
presumed	– допустимий
adjudicating	– відмова (від посади)
endow	– забезпечувати
emerge	– з’являтися
coincide	– співпадати
follower	– послідовник, прибічник
outcome	– результат, наслідок
mold	– формувати
commitment	– зацікавлення
enhancement	– покращення, збільшення
cohesion	– єдність
excel	– відрізнятися, перевищувати
derive	– походити
peer	– такий самий, рівня
inner	– внутрішній
array	– сукупність
reward	– винагорода

 

 

Exercise 84. Read, translate and give the gist of text 12.

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