Case Study: Southwest Airlines and its Company Culture
More than 39 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. And you know what? They were right.
There Mission Statement reads as follows: “The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit”. Kelleher has taken this concept to his company, management team and employees. In May 1988, they were the first airline to win the coveted Triple Crown for a month - Best On-time Record, Best Baggage Handling, and Fewest Customer Complaints.
Since then they've won it more than thirty times, as well as five annual Triple Crowns for 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996, and no other airline has contributed more to the advancement of the commercial airline industry than Southwest Airlines. They were the first airline with a frequent flyer program to give credit for the number of trips taken and not the number of miles flown.
They also pioneered senior discounts, Fun Fares, Fun Packs, a same-day airfreight delivery service, ticketless travel, and many other unique programs. At Southwest, they talk a lot about each Employee sharing his/her Servant’s Heart. The ultimate expression of a Servant’s Heart is to place your life on the line so that another person may live which is what one employee did while serving abroad.
Herb Kelleher believes in th ...