Southwest Airlines

Introduction
This case is about the South West Airlines. In the early 1990s the dean of Stanfords Graduate School of Business decided to take the notion "human resources are our most important asset seriously. For this purpose he along with major heads of different companies from all over the world decided to start a program of research and teaching in the general domain of HR. One critical part of the initiative was to develop the expertise necessary for achieving competitive advantage through people was one week Human Resource Executive Program(HREP). The design of HREP was to link business strategy to human resource policies and practices in ways that might give the firm a competitive advantage. Participants in HREP met in study groups to prepare the cases for the session with Southwest Airlines. The HREP members conducted five indepth interviews from two customer service agents (Buzz and Diana), supervisor (Paulo) and agent at the gate (Judy) and from a pilot (Tony) who was waiting for the flight to Las Vegas.

Problem Identification
The problem on which whole case lies is that how Human Resource can be used as a competitive advantage. To recognize this, the HREP team decided to conduct five questions from the employees of different levels in Southwest Airlines. The questions which they conducted are as follows,
1. What makes Southwest Airline different?

2. Why should we fly SWA? 3. Who do you compete against? 4. Why do you work for Southwest? 5. What don't you like about Southwest?

Analysis
For the first question Diana replied that the people, the friendly attitude and team spirit makes the Southwest Airlines different from others. The Southwest Airlines lets people be themselves. The company empowered to make on the spot decisions. Beside these the team comes to know that the company sends birthday and valentine's cards to their employees and customers.

For the second question Diana replied that they love their customers with an "up with people" tone. They believe in outrageous service. If the flight delays the employees play games with the customers and give them prizes just to show the loyalty to the customers. Buzz said about the second question that we want to have fun together. This shows that they consider their customers as the most important part of their company and they do not want to loose them.

For the third question about the competitor the answer came out that Shuttle by United and Morris Air are the airlines with whom they compete but they just bought their competitor names Morris Air. This shows that how the Southwest Airlines is progressing that it bought its competitor by defeating it in customer loyalty, in revenue generating and in many aspects.

For the fourth question Tony the pilot replied that he love to come to work each day because the company lets them have fun. No pay cuts are there rather they get a raise in their salaries every year even in lean times. The company rewards excellence. They focus on positive rewards rather than punishment. The company trains the employees even in rough times. Diana for this question indicated that all employees get three weeks of training before starting their job. Then when they begin on the front line they are teamed up with an experienced person until they are comfortable dealing with the customer. Judy the supervisor replied for this question that we all relate well to each other. Everyone helps out around here. Pilots help unload bags or work ramp duty.

For the fifth question no one replied rather than they shrugged their shoulders because there was not any single thing about which they could say that they don't like. This can be related to the text in a way that the interview was conducted to the staff authority (supervisor) and line unit member's i-e customer service agents and pilot.

Result.
The Southwest Airlines got the HR as a competitive advantage in the following categories 1. Training programs 2. Compensation 3. Reward system 4. Unity in Work 5. Increase in the salaries every year. 6. Best Environment for Work.

In short how well Southwest Airlines does treat its employees and customers no other company does so.