After viewing the video in the previous activity, reflect on the following questions in a well-written post on your Reflection Blog.
Is the Culture Committee at Southwest effective in establishing cultural norms?
From what you can tell, what is the purpose of the culture committee at Southwest?
What would you see as a viable mission for a culture committee in your place of work (or your last place of work if you are not currently working)?
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
Once you have reflected upon these questions, list any other questions or insights that have come to you as a result of this exercise.
“A corporate culture is a system of shared values and beliefs that interact with a organization’s people, structure, and systems to produce behavioral norms. It is the tangible and intangible characteristics of an organization including aspirations, reward systems, behaviors, assumptions, performance, rituals, communications, and heritage” (Brown, 2011).
The culture committee was formed in 1991 due to Southwest’s rapid growth rate. Southwest believed that in order to maintain success (away from their Dallas HQ) Southwest wanted to insure their core value, their spirit, their corporate culture was transmitted to new hires and employees at other locations.CEO Gary Kelly admits that “the Southwest Culture has thrived, but it hasn’t been easy.” He adds that the culture’s longevity “has been both our biggest accomplishment and our most significant challenge.” Creating and maintaining a positive corporate culture is hard work (Oswald, 2009).
Kelly states a few steps for creating a successful corporate culture are to make culture everyone’s responsibility; create a culture committee (Southwest has two: Local Culture Committees and a Corporate Culture Committee) (Southwest, 2008); avoid promoting people who don’t reflect the company culture; and include a evaluations of culture on your annual employee performance appraisals (Oswald, 2009).
From this list of creating a winning corporate culture, Southwest’s purpose for having a Culture Committee can be realized: making employees aware of the company’s culture, inside promotion and employee job performance. In my organization, Embry-Riddle, I believe the culture set is clear in the actions of the leaders, though it may not be evaluated through employee reviews. Our corporate culture has been established by the Chancellor, and is reflected in the easy going nature of the Dean of Students, the Dean of Admissions, and many of the department directors. However, it is clear these head have an understanding and commitment to business affairs of the organization, of which treating employees well is a strategy. Within my department is where I see it the most - the Director is smart in his balance of knowing the strengths, weaknesses, habits and backgrounds of the employees. He expects a high level of customer service and satisfaction from every employee and it is exemplified in out departmental tenets of customer service, community and care. In fact, in describing our individual positions as professional staff, all of our responsibilities have these three words as the forefront. By his words and actions, he has created a culture of professionalism without pressure, which are both needed in a position dealing with young people as consumers of knowledge. Our culture committee, the Workplace Environment Quality Committee, is responsible for celebrating new arrivals to the institution, assuring everyone gets a birthday card, and acknowledging the commitment to the school through anniversary and random "person of the day" recognition. They are also a large part of planning and executing the monthly Service Excellence Awards.
In the video on CBS News on Southwest, a woman standing with a group of fellow workers dancing states that the executives of the company are greatly admired. "We are a family, they love us, we feel the love and it shows in the way we behave" (Merlis, A. (2007). Should not every employee feel as wanted and valued to say something so positive about their workplace?
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organizational development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Merlis, A. (2007). Something Special About Southwest Airlines. CBS News. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-3221531.html
Oswald, Dan (2009). Corporate culture Done Right: Southwest Airlines. Retrieved online fromhttp://blogs.hrhero.com/oswaldletters/2009/11/29/corporate-culture-done-right-southwest-airlines/
Southwest Airlines (2008). Southwest Airlines “A Day in the Life of the Culture Committee” video presentation. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7P0T9IbYKU&feature=player_embedded
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