Organizational Behavior at Southwest Airlines

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I am writing a research paper on the successful and/or unsuccessful application of organizational behavior concepts at Southwest Airlines. From the list below, I need to select and research three to five organizational behavior main concepts that, uniquely practiced, make Southwest either successful, unsuccessful, or a combination of both. From your assistant, I would like to be able to formulate:

? An introduction and a thesis statement
? A body with supporting evidence and in-text citations
? A conclusion
? A reference list with at least five to seven sources

Choose three organizational behavior main concepts. Your research should uncover how your selected organization successfully uses, or suffers by ignoring, any three of these concepts:

? Decision Making
? Motivation
? Group Behavior
? Communication
? Power and Politics
? Organizational Structure
? Organizational Culture
? Human Resources Practices
? Change Management
South West Airlines
South West Airlines is a low-fare airline based and it's the largest airline in the United States. Hence it's the first time that Southwest Airlines has topped the monthly list for combined domestic and international passengers, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Southwest Airlines is one of the world's most profitable airlines and in January 2007, posted a profit for the 34th consecutive year.(Wikipedia)

The Mission of Southwest Airlines
"The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit."
Motivation
According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary to motivate is to "impel or excite", oneself or other. If it means to impel or excite someone (the employee) then, the first requirement is that this process needs be continuous or on regular bases or any intervening interval will kill the excitement. Motivation composes of three acts; they are:
"Internal state or condition, which encourages the activation of behavior and gives it direction
Desire or want, which encourages directs goal-oriented behavior
Influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behavior" (Huitt, 2001).

At December 31, 2006, Southwest had 32,664 active Employees, consisting of 12,954 flight, 2,056 maintenance, 13,446 ground, Customer, and fleet service and 4,208 management, accounting, marketing, and clerical personnel. (Annual report, 2007). Thus it has large number of employees. In order to keep employees motivate they are providing good compensation package to its employees and providing lot of facilities and fringe benefits. (For details see Appendix-I) Not only compensation, but they are also focusing on the needs of self actualization. They are providing the balance life to the employees by laying emphasis on the flexi work, fitness membership and other aspects of the life. They are rewarding the best performing employees each month (By providing the award of "Star of the month".)

Granting of ESOPs

Employee Stock Option Plan, is a mechanism by which employees of a particular company are entitled to buy, at a 'fair' value, the stock of the company they work for. Thus it is an option to buy the company's share at a certain price. This price which could be the market price or some other price. Normally, to make an ESOP attractive, the option price is lower than the market price.

The option to acquire shares is generally exercisable over a period of time, known as vesting period (generally ranging from 1 to 5 years). Since options lapse if the employee leaves employment before the vesting period is over, ESOPs work as an incentive for the employee to stick around for that time

ESOP entitlements are usually vested with an employee to be exercised in equal portions over a period two to five years in the hope ...