Organizational Behaviour And Hr Management At Southwest Airlines

A Report on: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND HR MANAGEMENT AT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Prepared By: Instructor: Institution: Date: Introduction The aviation industry has experienced tremendous growth over the past two to three decades. There have been various inventions as well as innovations, in both machinery as well as the way things are done. It is one of those industries whose success greatly depends on a collective effort of virtually everyone. At Southwest Airlines, this isn’t any different. Every employee is mandated to carry out specific tasks and responsibilities, but there is always the need to do more, based on the organizational behavior and culture. The Human Resource department therefore, constitutes an essential bit of all the operations within the organization. Management of the human resource revolves around every aspect that affects the employess, from the culture to organizational behavior. Problem Statement With the increased competitiveness of the industry, the company has therefore decided to come up with various ways in which to also remain as competitive. The first way to go about it has been through the review of its human resource policies, as well as examining various OB and Human Resources related functions in the organization. Organizational Structure Southwest has a functional organizational structure. It has 3 layers of management. Handling planning and strategy include: CEO, COO, CFO and senior Vice presidents. The directors, vice presidents and senior managers handle analytical and organizational processes. Managers, Supervisors and team leaders assign work, control and evaluate performance of the employees. Basically, the organization’s structure is hinged upon the creation of a highly efficient and reliable human resource network. The structure is hierarchical, where most of the decisions are usually made from the higher levels of management. Instructions and orders drop down this hierarchy, unless in a few instances where the opposite can also happen, such as in meetings or emergencies. As a result of this structure, there is an almost total control of the company’s operations by the top echelons of management. This paves the way for a clear path of not only communication but also progression. According to Aquinas (2010), such a structure is an almost complete guarantee for stability within the organization, as there is a procedural way of doing things. For such a big organization, it also allows for some flexibility due to the economies of scale. The only drawback from this can perhaps be the risk of timely and accurate communication from the top to the bottom (Lauer, 2010). Such a drawback is what the organization has managed to go around, successfully, through a number of targeted as well as indirect human resource policies. According to Okumus, Altinay and Chathoth (2010), the organization has combined the organizational structure with a great team of highly professional employees who have in turn ensured a healthy organizational culture. Southwest Airlines is known as a low-cost carrier due to its eccentric business model. This model includes flying one airship type, that is, the Boeing 737, on routes throughout the United States. Its "low-cost" business model is also expounded by the airline not offering many services, which are often offered on most traditional American Airplanes. Examples include: offering first Class cabin, VIP lounges, assigning reserved seat, and video or audio programing. The airline’s mission reflects its strong organizational culture. That is, “dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride and Company Spirit.” Critical Issues The human resource management of Southwest Airlines ensures that employees and other personnel in the organizations are able to work towards the goals of the organization. However, despite the efforts of the human resources management, there are various issues that might be facing the employees. If these issues are not addressed in appropriate manner, the productivity of the organization can decline. The Micro Human resource management focuses on the Human resource policies and practices. One of the critical issues the organization is experiencing is diversity of the workplace. According to the demographic analysis that was conducted last year , it showed that there was no diversity in the workplace(Bamba et.al.,2009). The management does not have the knowledge and the knowhow of holding a distinct advantage when it comes to hiring and recruitment of employees. It is very important for an organization to cultivate a culture that is more diverse and inclusive. It is almost very important for the management to understand what constitutes the diversity of the workplace. Therefore it is very important to have variety of differences among the employees. Diversity does not only comprise the people in this organizations and how others perceive them. However, in South west Airlines the management has a lot of discrimination in terms of ethnic groups, gender, race, religion and physical conditions of the workers(Philips & Gully,2014). According to the survey, during the recruitment of workers 60% of the job seekers were discriminated in terms of their race and physical status. Employees were also not interview and assessed during recruitment. The management is also biased when it comes to hirin...