Introduction
The human resource department of Southwest Airlines is famous for prioritizing the needs and wants of its employees. For instance, in 2017, this airline decided to share its profits for the past fiscal year with its employees (Google Sites, n.d.). As a result, this company records a relatively high rate of organizational citizenship behavior. Besides treating its employees with a high level of dignity, the human resource department of Southwest Airlines is rather strict when hiring to make sure that all people who are employed are qualified to provide superior quality services to their organization. More so, the hiring technique of Southwest Airlines focuses on the attitude that employees illustrate during the hiring process (Li, 2021). The human resource managers in this company emphasize that hiring employees with the most suitable attitudes has proved rather effective in ascertaining that they easily align and conform to the company’s mission, vision, and culture. However, maintaining all the aforementioned human resource demands requires considerable financial input, hence the need to conduct a feasibility report to understand the most optimal implementation techniques.
Current Strategies and Issues
As mentioned above, one of the major strategies utilized by Southwest Airlines is equipping its labor force with the most qualified personnel. It has proved to be a strength of Southwest Airlines as the employees of this company offer the best services to their clients, which has led to an increase in satisfied consumers (MarketLine, 2022). The human resource department of Southwest Airlines treats its employees with dignity, boosting their morale. Moreover, Southwest Airlines has invested significantly in its infrastructure to increase its availability across the United States and serve as many prospective consumers as possible.
The strategy Southwest Airlines is following.
Southwest Airlines is also keen on how it runs its daily operations as it ensures seamless operations that run at relatively low costs. The focus on low operational costs implemented by the Airlines in context has extended to fair pricing, making it more favorable to consumers than other freight couriers within its category.
HRM Implications for Southwest Airlines
The first human resource implication for Southwest Airlines is its robust corporate culture and dedication to employee happiness. The managers of this esteemed company perform their due diligence to make their employees enjoy their work (Gupta, 2020). Secondly, they work with individuals whose attitudes perfectly align with the core principles and beliefs of the company. It is imperative to consider that finding and keeping top personnel is difficult. For Southwest Airlines to find and retain the best employees, it may need to invest in focused recruiting and retention tactics. Southwest Airlines pays much attention to employee training and development since it may enhance employee happiness and work performance. However, considerable funding must also be allocated for training initiatives and materials. Good labor relations have always existed between this Airline Company and affiliated labor unions. Thirdly, human resource managers at Southwest Airlines have a rigorous employment technique.
Business Strategies for the HRM Implications
Treating working staff with respect is a smart business strategy because, in the long run, being considerate has motivated employees in this airline to offer high-quality amenities to consumers who end up satisfied with the quality of service (Gupta, 2020). Emphasizing employee attitudes is shrewd because it ensures that employees can easily adapt to the organization’s culture even as they gradually improve their skills via training sessions. The advantage of scouring employees’ qualifications to settle with the best talent is a proper business decision because it saves time and resources often associated with employee negligence and subpar service delivery.
Conclusion
A human resource strategy that would benefit Southwest Airlines is improving employee communication, especially when challenges emerge. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant damage to air travel, which then affected the ability of Southwest Airlines to maintain its labor force. This organization must be transparent during such periods to maintain its good reputation of being considerate of employee needs.
References
Google Sites. (n.d.). Southwest Airlines Executive Summary—Southwest Airlines Case Analysis. Web.
Gupta, P. (2020). Sustaining Competitive Advantage through HRM: Developing Strategic Intent. Annamalai International Journal of Business Studies & Research, 12(1).
Li, T. (2021). How Southwest Airlines Has Won Over Travelers. Investopedia. Web.
MarketLine. (2022). Southwest SWOT Analysis June 2022 (2).pdf. www.marketline.com. Web.
