Case Study on Southwest Airlines
1. What role has leadership played in the success of Southwest Airlines?
In an era where all the major players in the U.S. airline industry experienced problems, only Southwest Airlines remained profitable throughout that period. This amazing and continued success is attributed to its great leader Herb Kelleher. He has been a very successful leader who knows the employees and marketplace well and can effectively take action for the success of the organization. He applies flexibly to the growth and innovation arena, which has given him, guaranteed success.
Best CEO - Herbert Kelleher is called as one of the best CEOs by Fortune magazine in USA. Under his leadership, South West Airlines became the most consistently profitable, productive and cost efficient carrier in the industry.
Humour & Fun - Humour comes naturally to Kelleher, and he is responsible for bringing it into the workplace at Southwest. He encourages fun because he believes that it stimulates productivity. For e.g. Flight agents might do an imitation of Elvis while making announcements.
Unorthodox leadership - At Southwest Airlines, leadership is not considered to exist in one person, instead it is embedded in all employees. Kelleher has an unorthodox style when compared to CEO 's of other major corporations. This style is reflected in his organization 's style.
Innovation in leadership - The airline does not assign seats or sell tickets through the reservation systems used by travel agents. Many passengers buy tickets at the gate. The only foods served are snacks. All this has led to reduced operational cost & more profit margins
Simple hierarchy - Since its establishment, Southwest has been leanly staffed with less layers of hierarchy. This simplifies communication and facilitates easy decision making. For e.g. in order to save time and money, flight attendants clean the planes themselves instead of ordering in a cleaning crew.
Culture - Culture defines what the
In an era where all the major players in the U.S. airline industry experienced problems, only Southwest Airlines remained profitable throughout that period. This amazing and continued success is attributed to its great leader Herb Kelleher. He has been a very successful leader who knows the employees and marketplace well and can effectively take action for the success of the organization. He applies flexibly to the growth and innovation arena, which has given him, guaranteed success.
Best CEO - Herbert Kelleher is called as one of the best CEOs by Fortune magazine in USA. Under his leadership, South West Airlines became the most consistently profitable, productive and cost efficient carrier in the industry.
Humour & Fun - Humour comes naturally to Kelleher, and he is responsible for bringing it into the workplace at Southwest. He encourages fun because he believes that it stimulates productivity. For e.g. Flight agents might do an imitation of Elvis while making announcements.
Unorthodox leadership - At Southwest Airlines, leadership is not considered to exist in one person, instead it is embedded in all employees. Kelleher has an unorthodox style when compared to CEO 's of other major corporations. This style is reflected in his organization 's style.
Innovation in leadership - The airline does not assign seats or sell tickets through the reservation systems used by travel agents. Many passengers buy tickets at the gate. The only foods served are snacks. All this has led to reduced operational cost & more profit margins
Simple hierarchy - Since its establishment, Southwest has been leanly staffed with less layers of hierarchy. This simplifies communication and facilitates easy decision making. For e.g. in order to save time and money, flight attendants clean the planes themselves instead of ordering in a cleaning crew.
Culture - Culture defines what the