Running head: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FACTORS OF MANAGEMENT
Southwest Airlines Factors of Management
Andrew Carr
Charlie Minni
University of Phoenix
External / Internal Factors Paper on Southwest Airlines
In today employment world, having effective management skills are critical in a
companies desire to breed success. Within the airline industry, competition and
competitive practices would be a severe understatement. This paper will examine
Southwest Airlines core management team by indicating the possible internal and external
factors that impact the four functions of any successful management team, ((planning,
organizing, leading, and controlling). The second part of this paper will identify how
Globalization and Diversity impacts and at times redirects the four functions of
management. The final portion of this paper will explain how management uses delegation
as a tool within the four functions of management.
Internal Strengths and Weakness
How the airline industry handles their own internal strengths and weaknesses, will affect
the four functions of management including planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
Airline industry is, first and foremost, a customer service organization. This belief is based
on the fact that all airlines simply use aircraft to deliver their product. For instances, most
all-major airlines companies use the 737s aircraft which are similar to and apply the same
laws of physics as everyone else aircraft.
What began as a small Texas airline has grown to become one of the largest airlines in
America. Southwest Airlines knows and understands the vitality of proper management
and has created a successful organization based on proper management techniques. Today,
Southwest Airlines flies almost 100 million passengers a year to 63 great cities all across
the country, and we do it more than 3,300 times a day. With over 500 aircraft, Southwest
Airlines has one of the youngest fleets in the nation, with an average age of approximately
nine years. Included in the fleet are three flying killer whales, the “Shamu”“ aircraft; “Lone
Star One,”“ painted like the Texas flag, to celebrate Southwest Airlines 20th Anniversary
in a style and manner second to none.
As of recent, the airline industry as a whole has counter some negative perceptions from
their most important asset, the consumer. The FAA last month took the rare step of
ordering the audit of maintenance records at all domestic carriers following reports of
missed safety inspections at Dallas-based Southwest. The airline was hit with a record
$10.2 million fine for continuing to fly dozens of Boeing 737s, which carried an estimated
145,000 passengers, that hadnt been inspected for cracks in their fuselages. Southwest has
