Fun is a stimulant to people. They enjoy their work more and work more productively," says Herb Kelleher, chief executive officer at Southwest Airlines. Kelleher credits the enormous success of Southwest Airlines to the positive attitude of its employees. And he works--and plays--hard to maintain that attitude.

Southwest Airlines is a relative newcomer to the airline industry. Launched in 1971, with four planes providing service to Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Southwest now flies 120 planes to thirty-two cities all around the country. It has a solid record and is now the most profitable airline in the U.S. Southwest has accomplished so much partly because of the "work hard, play hard" attitude instilled in its employees.

Southwest offers very frequent, short-distance flights at low fares. It does this by capitalizing on operational efficiencies to stay lean. Because all of its flights are short distances, Southwest needs only one type of aircraft; it entire fleet is composed of Boeing 737s, a medium-range jet. This practice saves in maintenance, training, and parts inventory costs. Southwest doesn't rely on travel agents and avoids using major airports. There are no assigned seats, few connections, and no meals. What Southwest does do is get you between point A and point B with a crew that goes the extra mile when needed.

Southwest owes most of its success to the productivity of its employees. One Southwest ticket clerk even flew to another city with a frail, elderly passenger just to put her at ease and make sure she made her connection. Everyone at Southwest chips in to do whatever needs to be done. Pilots sometimes man the boarding gate if things are running slow; ticket agents voluntarily haul luggage if it will help get planes into the air faster. Airplanes are cleaned only once per day. Flight attendants and pilots pick up trash between flights, allowing Southwest to lead the industry in turnaround time between flights--less than fifteen minutes on 80% of its flights.

Most of the major airlines' cost per seat-mile is nearly 100% higher than Southwest. The company gets this cost advantage by paying its pilots and flight attendants considerably less than the competition and having them fly more hours. It makes up for the lower pay with generous profit sharing and stock option plans. Because a large portion of a Southwest employee's compensation comes in the form of stock options, they have worked harder and more flexibly than their peers at other airlines.

Herb also strives to maintain the same family atmosphere the company had when he knew every employee by their first name. Headquarter walls are filled with employee photos and memorabilia. "It you're sick, if you lose a relative, if you get married, if you have a baby, you hear from us," say Herb. Southwest also holds Christmas parties on different dates in four different locations so employees in each city get a chance to meet with corporate executives. Kelleher has been described by one industry analyst as "the sort of manager who will stay out with a mechanic in some bar until four o-clock in the morning to find out what is going on. And then he will fix whatever is wrong."

Southwest resists over hiring during good times so it can avoid layoffs when times are tough. Lean staffing means everyone works hard. But hard work doesn't get in the way of having a good time. Herb Kelleher believes that good customer service depends largely on a high level of esprit de corps. Kelleher wants Southwest employees, and its customers, to have fun. "I've always felt that there's no reason that work has to be suffused with seriousness, that professionalism can be worn light." A sense of humor has long been a basic criterion in the selection of new employees.

Kelleher goes out of his way to make sure everyone has fun. The dress code is informal and comfortable. Attendants wear shorts, casual shirts, and sneakers. On-board antics are encouraged--the zanier, the better. Passenger safety briefings are often delivered in a rap beat, and the comments from the cockpit crew often border on the outrageous. One example from a Southwest pilot: "As soon as y'll set both cheeks on your seats, we can get this ol' bird moving." And Kelleher does his share of clowning around, too. Whether flying on Easter dressed up as the Easter Bunny or visiting with maintenance employees in the middle of the night dressed in drag --Kelleher loves to have fun.

Extremely selective in whom it hires, Southwest looks for people who like other people, who enjoy providing the best service possible, and who have a real zest for living. According to Kelleher, "We draft great attitudes. If you don't have a good attitude, we don't want you, no matter how skilled you are. We can change skill levels through training. We can't change attitude."

Does this emphasis on hiring people with great attitudes and keeping these people happy pay off? Southwest employees and customers think so. The productivity of its employees has made Southwest the lowest-cost company in the airline industry, 15% lower than its next-lowest-competitor, American Airlines. Southwest makes more money per revenue dollar earned than any of its competitors. Customer satisfaction is very high, as is employee job satisfaction. Southwest's relationship with its employee unions are cooperative, and it has one of the lowest levels of employee turnover in the industry.

In the last couple of years, the environment has been changing for Southwest. First, it faces a number of new, upstart airlines in many of its markets. JetBlue, Frontier, AirTran, Song, and Ted are matching Southwest's low prices but offering benefits like reserved seating and free live-satellite TV. They're able to do this because they have newer, more fuel-efficient planes and have young, lower-paid workforces. In many markets, Southwest's planes and service look dated. Second, the declining stock market took much of the air out of Southwest's stock. The company's stock option plan no longer looked so attractive to employees. Third, Southwest has to deal with the reality that it is no longer the underdog. For decades, employees enjoyed the challenge of competing against United, American, Delta, and other major airlines. They loved the role of being the underdog and having to work harder to survive. Southwest's employees are increasingly vocal and aggressive in demanding higher wages and shorter hours. In the past, workers were willing to go beyond the call of duty to help the airline get on its feet. It's harder for management to motivate employees now by portraying the airline as the underdog. Finally, as the company has grown and matured, management has become more remote from the rank and file. When the company had a few hundred employees, it was easy for management to communicate its messages. Now, with 35,000 workers, it's much tougher.

Southwest's management realizes that times have changed. Now they face the question of whether they need to make changes in their basic strategy and, if they do, the effect it will have on the company's culture. For instance, the company was considering adding in-flight entertainment, although it would cost millions to install and many more millions to maintain; and purchasing smaller jets to maintain competitiveness in smaller markets. The operating costs of these smaller jets would be 15-25% higher than those of its current fleet.

 

How would you use job satisfaction theories to explain these results?

1. Do you agree or disagree with the information below and elaborate

Everyone at Southwest Airlines seems to be having the time of their life while working the best job possible. As Herb Kelleher said, "They enjoy their work more and more". According to the discrepancy theory, researchers believe that job satisfaction is the result of the amount of the discrepancy between what you want or what you think should be received on the job, and what you actually receive. Expectations become the most important thing, and if everyone is happy that must mean they are paid enough , they are satisfied with the pay, and they are completely fine getting paid what they do get paid already. Additionally, the social information processing theory is about believing that you process information and make a determination about your own job satisfaction based on what your coworkers are sharing. In this theory, the impact of co-workers is most critical. This is because, you model your coworkers and develop your own opinions based on how they express they feel. This can tie into the direct, and indirect manner as well. Having an uncertainty in a new job, coworkers can help to clarify the situation. In indirect manner, coworkers talk about, will draw your attention to the aspect of the job. It will make you focus your attention on something that you maybe would not have noticed otherwise. It seems like all the workers at the job are having a fantastic time. People wearing bunny costumes and shorts don't seem depressing to me at all. Lastly, the dispositional theory, where job satisfaction is determined by stable traits or dispositions. It doesn't have much to do with the organization, but determined by individual personality. That can incorporate with the grippe index. People that complain about more things in life, complain more things about their job.

2. Do you agree or disagree with the information below and elaborate.

Southwest is one of the largest airlines of the modern age. In the past, they were able to profit off an "underdog" strategy, where employees worked longer for less pay. This correlates with the discrepancy theory in terms of how employees were satisfied with lower pay due to them competing against larger companies at the time; they were offered stock options knowing that their hard work would increase their end pay. However, Southwest has become one of the main airlines which has caused a massive discrepancy in worker expectation and reality. Southwest airlines also place a large emphasis on positive work culture, ensuring that the workplace is an enjoyable experience where employees are expected to be dedicated and work as a team. In terms of the social information processing theory, Southwest airline employees are able to observe the positive characteristics and ideals of their co-workers which leads them to reciprocate the same outlook on work. Another characteristic of Southwest airlines is that they care more about individual personality over skill. Southwest seeks to create a fun, upbeat environment with employees who follow the same type of culture. This ties into the dispositional theory in which Southwest hires employees who would be more content with their position in terms of their own personality. In this case, Southwest was looking to hire those who worked well with others, placed customer satisfaction at the top of importance, and could have a fun time while doing so.