Southwest Airlines: Management & Leadership

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Dear Student,
Hello. Below is your academic solution. The functions of management is an extensive topic but the limitations on words made me put a 'budget' on the information indicated. It is however enough, I believe for your purpose. Do not forget to to visit the web-references, especially the ones on Southwest. It is easy to relate the functions of management to South west once you get to have a clear understanding of what management and leadership and the functions are. Good luck & Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/ Xenia Jones

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Organizational Culture & Leadership: Southwest Airlines

Culture fostered within organizations is influenced by the vision of its leaders for the organization, the management skills of its administration and the input of all its members according to their varied personas. The culture that results in return becomes a referential source of identity for all its members as well as how the organization is perceived by society. Studying the culture and dynamics of an organization is referred to as organizational studies. Organizational behavior is also referred to as the organizational studies, utilizing varied theories drawn from the social sciences, especially sociology & philosophy to put together a systematic method of understanding human behavior, focusing on individual & group behavior & the varied mechanisms that influence & affect them. Of late, this particular field of study has become a focus of interest for business studies. Leadership is both formal (corporate hierarchy/government) & informal (friendships). Some people are said to be born leaders - it is just in their personality to take charge; some people train to be leaders or are pushed to take the helm out of responsibility & necessity which is usually the case in a corporate setting. The vision of Southwest Airlines started in the minds of its founders in 1967 - Rollin King & Herb Kelleher. They wanted an airline that is affordable and served domestic locations. Quoting from Southwest's website -

"More than 37 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline."

It is this concept that King & Kelleher have envisioned that created then 'Air Southwest' servicing Texas cities Dallas, Houston & San Antonio. Air travel was then a bit of an expensive undertaking run by 'Big' airlines whose operations are national & international. Tiny Southwest playing was a threat to the Braniff, Trans-Texas & Continental Airlines. So they took Southwest to court and Southwest with Supreme Court opinion in the favour of King & Kelleher's little domestic player which in turn deregulated the Airline Industry in America ensuring competition. The manner by which the founders & leaders of the then little airline influenced that kind of 'to-do' culture within Southwest making it the airline 'that can'. Hence, "what began as a small Texas airline has grown to become one of the largest airlines in America. Today, Southwest Airlines flies over 104 million passengers a year to 64 great cities all across the country, and we do it more than 3,400 times a day (SWA, 2008, press)".

Leadership vs. Management & maintaining Organizational ...