Southwest Airlines Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Southwest Airlines Case - Essay Example The essay "Southwest Airlines Case" discusses the Southwest's Human Resource Policy, its Organizational Culture and their Human Resource Management practices in terms of ensuring the success of their business model. The real reason for Southwest's success is its remarkable Human Resource Policy and its Organizational Culture. Southwest believes, and practices, that its employees are family and the culture is entirely informal. Teamwork is the watchword and practiced from the top down. The entire strength of 14000 plus employees work with each other, help out each other, indeed reach out to comfort and support co-workers facing difficult times even in private lives. The company has nine labor unions but they are nowhere like their counterparts in other airlines. In the last decade, there has been only one strike lasting six days by machinists. It has dominated the Californian skies for over two decades and now in 1994 controls 45% of the market share of the aviation sector. It has the lowest cost per available seat mile in the industry at 7.1 cents that is 30% lower compared to its nearest rivals United and Continental. It is a lone operator that has no code sharing arrangement with any other airline. People management has always fascinated everyone and various theories have been expounded to explain how people act and react in different situations. The primary image of an organization is akin to family, clan or tribe where relationships, needs, feelings, and skills are the characteristics of its members.