Behavior and Communication - Southwest Airlines

Behavior and Communication

Every organization needs a philosophy, mission, vision, or value statement. Many organizations use these statements to express their core values and goals. Often these values and goals act as the foundation for the principles the company to adhere to and follow. Southwest Airlines believes that it is important for a company to have set principles concerning their culture, communication, and values.

Southwest Airlines organizational culture is to have the development, the improvement, and refinement of the originality, individuality, identity, and personality of given people. Southwest Airlines started because the owners Rollin King and Herb Kelleher by sticking with one main philosophy. They maintained that "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" (Southwest Airlines Co., 2011). This philosophy coincides with their mission statement "dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit" (Southwest Airlines Co., 2011). In order for Southwest Airlines to stand by their philosophy and mission statement, they must first start with their employees. To have happy customers, an organization must have happy employees.

Communication is the key to keeping employees informed and happy. If a company is not communicating effectively with its employees they will not know what is going on, what their expectations are, or what the goals of the company is. Furthermore, the company's organization culture of open communication allows employees to express new ideas, recommendations, and concerns. Therefore, Southwest Airlines' communication is very unique as they believe that communication is the key for a positive environment and for a successful accomplishment of the goals (Southwest Airlines Co., 2011).

Southwest Airlines' internal communication is done by using the intranet to deliver daily