Leadership at Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines

Leadership at Southwest has grown the company. The leader has a strong personality and led the company to a great position. Herb Kelleher’s business decisions and out of the ordinary and have had success beyond belief.

Employee empowerment is needed to make any successful company. At Southwest Airlines, the empowerment has led the employees to lead themselves. They take pride in the actions. It allows them to get other involved and makes them more successful in the tasks they perform. When you have this phenomenon, we see that it makes them sufficient, making them less dependent on managers, making them more efficient in their positions. When they do have problems, they are more proactive in solving and lets the employees think for themselves. Southwest looks at the power of the person to provide feedback and make employees the caliber they need.

The leadership style of Herb Kelleher is a democratic team style. He demonstrates this with traits of building participation and support for a shared purpose, prospering the company. He shows a commitment to tasks, people and participation, which he also shows in his leadership. Herb was a democratic team leader that leads on being transformational. He leads his team in the right direction and it shows by some of these examples that his employees are doing: Ronald McDonald volunteering, personally recognizing the new employees with welcome gifts, and the Adopt-a-Pilot program. They demonstrate similar caring to the company as they do to the other individuals. Herb was obviously secure in his leadership style by being able to pass on his leadership ability by training and mentoring someone to take over his position.

One key to the continued success is that he had trained and mentored the two primary successors so that they were well prepared to take on the challenges of maintaining at the level he had attained. Being a large company in an unstable business sector, he was able to rely on them because of his grooming them. He had groomed them by bringing them up the ranks. Kelleher and his new management focused on the initial core values that he founded; altruism, luv, and humor.

Another key to the success is the commitment to customer service. Their mission statement is to provide customer service, not only to the customers, but also to their employees, which you never see in this day and age. Customer service is employed by giving back to their employees. The new leaders had a good product they know and have kept up the standards that customers expect. They had been with the company for long time and had worked their through the ranks and knew what was expected. Technology is everywhere at Southwest, allowing them to capture high class employees. The short haul focus has also had a great impact on their business. They have maximized their potential by focusing on a specific strategy in the business line.

Power and exercise influence, Herb had personal power of the people. He ultimately used all types of power and used them correctly for what he needed. Examples of the influencing his employees to be the best. The employees wanted to do good things, not just for the company, but also for the community. They spend money and time each year on projects like the time for volunteering, giving of gas, welcoming other employees that have been bought out to make them feel part of the team, and profit sharing offered by the company. Reward system based on employee initiative and performance, including free tickets for vacations and family members. Managers work with the employees and empower them to make corrections.

House’s path goal leadership theory is the leadership theory that provides the most logical explanation for the success that Southwest has experienced. He was an effective leader