Leadership Assignment: Case Analysis Of Successful Leaders
Question
Task: Kelleher’s eccentric personality and leadership style exhibit the non-traditional methods he used to develop Southwest’s culture. Kelleher’s well-known motto “It’s very important to value people as individuals.” How did this motto differentiate Kelleher leadership style, and ultimately Southwest culture, from its competitors
Q2. John Kotter emphasized in his article (What Leaders Really Do) that successful organizations don’t wait for leaders to come along; they develop leaders within the organization. Discuss the practices that Southwest has followed to retain and develop successful talent.
Q3. Southwest has gone through two major transitions, the first was the transition of leadership between Kelleher and Kelly and the second was the successful AirTran merger under Kelly’s reign. Both transitions were successful. Based on your reading of the course materials, what are the reason for the successful merger as well as successful leadership transition. In your answer include some aspects of Southwest airlines’ culture and organizational renewal practices.
Answer
1. This section of leadership assignmentis analyzing how the motto of Kelleher leadership style is differentiating them from other competitors:
The motto followed by Herb Kelleher “It’s very important to value people as individuals” differentiates him from the leadership style adopted by its competitors. With this motto, Southwest airline and Co. will be able to motivate the employees through which they will be able to enhance improvement in their operational functions towards the achievement of customer satisfaction effectively. Along with this, valuing employees of Southwest airline and Co, resulted in capitalizing on the power of the people towards the establishment of wide standards of the company where every employee was considered to be important. This enabled the company to gain a successful competitive advantage that was not easily replicated in the counterpart sections in the aviation sector(Cote, 2017).
The primary competitor of the Southwest airline in the market is the JetBlue Airways. Both the cultures of the organization are different and one of the primary reasons for the following is that the culture of the Jetblue is to serve the customers better with the care, integrity and the passion. However, on the other hand when it comes to Southwest what makes it different is that they are caring more about the customers and the employees of the organization as a whole and work on giving the employees of the organization a better workplace.
By nature, Herb Kelleher was open to the employees of Southwest Airlines Company that proliferate the fun of the spirit of the organization where the competitors of the airline organization poorly tried to mimic his leadership style. Herb Kelleher aimed at welcoming the staff members by treating them with barbeques and making arrangements for inviting the employees to the corporate parties. This assisted the employees to create a strong sense of equality at all levels. Besides this, Herb Kelleher also undertook his personality skills and decided to apply the same in a business model that consistently outperformed the competitors of the organization in terms of acquiring revenues, safety, and happiness in the workplace(Narayanan, 2019). The leadership style applied by him made him the man with strong morals where he was admired the most due to his professional and personal qualities and responding to the issues faced by the employees with full integrity.
Figure 1: Southwest Leadership development
Source: (Kelleher, 2020)
Under the leadership of Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airline Company aimed at serving the requirements of its employees. Such commitment inferred that employee of the organization were given attention for respect and care from expected leadership. Besides this, the organization also aimed at motivating its employees to work in groups towards supporting each other so that their performance can be improved significantlywhich was not the case with the JetBlue airways. Besides this, employees on the other hand also followed the value of the organization towards focusing on the achievement of organization goals(Schumacher, 2020). Such values acted as a framework for serving the purpose of the employees and empowering them in undertaking high-quality decisions and conducting activities for achievement of customer satisfaction respectively. However, the overall purpose of the organization became complex to define, yet with limited understanding of the objectives, the transparency in the organization was maintained effectively.
2. Practice which the Southwest has followed for retaining and developing the successful talents: Based on the beliefs and practices adopted by JOHN KOTTER in the development of successful talent, Southwest Airline Company aimed at retaining high-quality talented individuals that performed daily activities with the motive of achievement of the organizational goals(Cote, 2018). Besides this, setting important goals is considered to be the common medium of evaluating the overall growth of the organization. Southwest Airlines Company motivated the leaders of the organization towards setting its goals and mentoring the employees accordingly towards conducting goal achievement strategies. Adoption and implementation of such a strategy assisted the organization in driving and supporting the successful development of the employees(Salau, 2018). Also, for retaining highly professional talents and in the generation of increasing lay off of the employees, Southwest Airline Company ensured to provide job security. Thus, it can be stated that, for reducing the labor turnover rate in the organization, the measures adopted by Southwest Airlines Company for retaining highly talented individuals will bring goodwill to the organization(Ray, 2018).
3. Reason for the successful merger and the leadership transition:
When it comes to the Southwest, they are having quite an eccentric culture. Established the company in the year 1967 they were developed with the vision of having a lower fare rate flight possible so that anyone is able to have a luxury travel at an affordable cost. One of the promising aspects which have been done by the Southwest is that they are achieving the higher (Peters, 2019)performance by addressing the needs of the employees of the organization. One of the major cultures of the Southwest organization is that they are creating a culture which is friendly in nature and also, they are valuing the employee more. Both the leaders are known to have treat their employees with respect and importance and treat them to the corporate parties and thus creating a stronger sense of equality within the organization. Herb Kelleher is the leader of the company who wanted their employees to have fun at their job and enjoy the workplace. He is implementing his personable skills to the business model and therefore creating a consistency within the organization which is thus outperforming the industry competitors and setting them apart from the rest of the competitors in the market(Warrick, 2017).After the merger of Southwest airlines and AirTran and the transition of power between the leaders which have been discussed further in the followingthe corporate culture of the organizationhas remained the same. Both the leaders of the organization are believing that their people are the greatest strengths and thus the transition become much easier. Both the leaders have been able to integrate their employees and the customers with the culture of the organization and their customs.
Figure 2: Travel segmentation of Southwest Airlines
Source: (Kelleher, 2020)
There was a successful merger as well as the transition of leadership within the organization. However, both of the following was in a seamless manner. Starting with the transition of the leadership within the organization. Coming to the Herb Kelleher one of the primary ways of dealing with the employees and the thing which he emphasized the most is the minimum interference with the employees. He was one of the leaders who was known to joke around with the employees of the Airline and also keeping a fun spirit around the organization and this was done by welcoming their employees to the party or to the barbeques. Other than that, he always tried to maintain the strong equality among the employees of the organization. He as a leader wanted their employees to have fun at their job and enjoy their tasks(Dyer, 2018). Moreover, the employees were valued such as their births, marriages, or deaths. He focused on the competition of the industry and applied it in terms of the safety, revenue and also the happiness at the workplace. Having a leader with the strong moral created that ambiance of successful and happy work culture which is being acknowledged by the employees of the organization. Therefore, what made the transition smooth for the organization is that Gary Kelly who is the transitioned leader for the airlines he was possessing the similar culture and also believed that the people are more important which is differentiating the southwest from their competitors in the market. As quoted by Gary Kelly “Our people our single greatest strength and most enduring long term competitive advantage”. Therefore, one of the primary reasons for the transition being so seamless that, Gary Kelly was possessing the similar qualities which is making the transition less bumpy(Kelleher, 2020).
Figure 3: University of people Challenge
Source: (Peters, 2019)
Coming to the second change within the organization was the merger with the AirTran and the Southwest. There were several hiccups at the beginning of the merger such as the steep fuel prices, the retirement of the AirTran’sBoeing 717 fleet and bringing in the single aircraft model the Boeing 737(KC, 2018). Other than that, the decision for the elimination of the hub and the scope system which have been inherited by the AirTran.However, the company succeeded in the following as they addressed the need of the customer and also met the concerns of the people properly and making them aware about the culture of the Southwest and their customs. The people and the employees who were at the AirTran were trained as per the customs and the culture of the southwest(Spasojevic, 2018). Other than that, the reason for the successful merger of the two was that they focused on the internal aspect of the organization and the leadership qualities such as offering programs to the people at the University of People. The following was providing the educational opportunitiesto their employeeswhich will help them to identify their strengths and their weaknesses. Other than that, this will also help them to become a good leader in the future. Which will also add to the culture of the organization as the employees are trained as per the customs and the nature of the organization which have been set by the two leaders(GIllespie, 2017). Therefore, these are some of the major reasonswhy the company was successful for the merger.
References:
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