Servant Leadership Model and Southwest Airlines

Introduction 

Notably, various people believe they have a good idea about what it means to be a good leader. Nonetheless, when it comes to conceptualization of leadership, the picture is not always so clear. For instance, others consider leadership as motivation, while others view leadership as results or inspiration. From the simple definition, leadership refers to the art of motivating others or a group of people in acting toward the achievement of the common goal. In the organizational or business context, leadership relates to directing workers and colleagues with the strategies aimed at attaining the organizational objectives and needs. Leading focuses on the optimization of a vision while sharing it with others. Leadership translates to the utilization of the shared vision and art of motivating and serving others in pursuit of the desired state of the organization or group of interest. The purpose of this analytic paper is to explore the use of the servant leadership model in the achievement of success by Southwest Airlines.

Southwest Airlines Overview 

Critically, in 1967, Herb Kelleher and Rollin King focused on the development of the initial Southwest Airlines concept in the case of San Antonio. In this original business concept, the plan did incorporate a triangle on the cocktail napkin to integrate three lines connecting Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. The airlines began its operations in 1971 with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving the three Texas cities on the road to becoming a leading low-cost airline in the context of the United States. In modern society, Southwest Airlines is a competitive institution serving over 100 destinations across more than 40 states in the United States.

In its operations, Southwest Airlines creates a vital purpose aimed at connecting people to the most important elements in their lives through the optimization of reliable, low-cost, and friendly air travel. The vision of the firm is to realize its goal of becoming the most loved airline in the world based on the number of travels and revenues or profit levels at the end of each fiscal period. Southwest Airlines’ mission is to depict dedication to the highest level of customer service quality under the influence of the desired level of warmth, individual pride, friendliness, and organizational spirit.

In becoming a competitive institution, Southwest Airlines focuses on illustrating commitment to the employees through creation of a stable work environment associated with the equal opportunity for personal development, growth, and learning. Moreover, Southwest Airlines focuses on encouraging creativity and innovation among the employees to aid improvement of the effectiveness of the institution in the optimization of the revenues and satisfaction of the changing needs and expectations of the consumers. Moreover, the firm offers employees the same concerns and respect, as well as caring attitude to share externally with the customers in the improvement of the image and reputation of the firm in the highly competitive industry.

Moreover, in becoming a competitive firm, Southwest Airlines has had the chance to depict values. For instance, there is the warrior spirit in the operations of the firm. In this aspect, the firm strives to be the best while depicting the sense of urgency and never giving up in the exploitation of the strategies in pursuit of competitive advantage. Furthermore, as part of the business model, the firm uses the servant’s heart value, which adheres to treating others as you wish them to treat you (Law & Breznik, 2018). The approach ensures that the firm treats others with respect while embracing the Southwest family. Another aspect of value in the achievement of the goals and targets of the institution, there is the fun-LUVing attitude, which ensures that employees remain passionate team members contributing to the achievement of success and celebrating the outputs of successes while ensuring that they do not take themselves seriously.

In its culture, Southwest Airlines has had the chance to coin its way of doing things in the achievement of the set goals and targets while reducing the cost of operations. In this context, the firm creates room to ensure prioritization of safety by the standard operating procedures, as well as identification and reporting of the hazards. Based on this, the firm uses the opportunity to show respect and compliance with the regulations. Southwest Airlines focuses on wowing the customers through delivering excellent hospitality and creating memorable connections and improving its image through friendly and warm services to the consumers. Southwest Airlines also focuses on ensuring that the costs remain low. The approach creates room for the organization to show up and work hard in attempts to finding better ways of pursuing sustainable growth and development. At the heart of this organizational culture and success, Southwest Airlines has focused on the utilization of the servant leadership model. In this aspect, it is appropriate to explore the aspects of this leadership theory before assessing its implementation in the case of Southwest Airlines.

Servant Leadership Model 

Servant leadership integrates diverse ideas, which are ancient. Nevertheless, the model is a famous output of Robert Greenleaf’s perceptions of leadership. Servant leadership refers to the leadership philosophy associated with the practices aimed at enriching the lives of people in the construction of better institutions and the ultimate creation of a just and caring world. The servant leadership model has ten critical principles articulating the leadership process and optimization. These include listening, empathy, healing, awareness, and persuasion, building community, commitment to growth, foresight, stewardship, and conceptualization (Jones, 2012).

Listening 

In traditional contexts, leaders have had the attribute of success based on their communication and decision-making characteristics. In this aspect, it is the duty of the servant leaders to reinforce these communication and decision-making skills through enhanced commitment to intentional listening to others. Servant-leaders must identify and clarify the will of the group (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002). Servant leaders must listen receptively to the intent of the communication rather than the content; thus, the influence of this skill to encompass getting in touch with the inner voice. The objective of this principle is to enable leaders to comprehend the body, mind, and spirit in communication.

Empathy 

In this principle, servant leaders must work towards comprehending and empathizing with others. In the business context, employees or workers want acceptance and recognition for the unique and special contributions or art in pursuit of competitive advantage. The approach creates room for acceptance of coworkers as people even if the performance or behavior warrant rejection (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002).

Healing 

In the third principle, servant leadership calls for healing as a powerful tool for the transformation and integration in the optimization of the revenues and reduction of the costs of operations (Northouse, 2017). Servant leaders have the skills to depict potential healing at the personal and interpersonal levels. Servant leaders need to use the opportunity to realize wholeness in the realization of organizational goals and targets.

Awareness 

For the servant leaders, general awareness, particularly self-awareness, is important; thus, the need to depict commitment to foster awareness (Northouse, 2017). Rather than the provider of solace, awareness is the opposite as a disturbed attribute. Servant leaders do not seek solace but optimize their inner security to help achieve the set goals and targets at the organizational and individual levels.

Persuasion 

Moreover, in the optimization of the revenues at the end of each fiscal period, servant leaders need to rely on persuasion as opposed to the positional authority in coming up with the ideal decisions. It is the duty of the servant leaders to convince others. They should not coerce others into complying with the set regulations and rules (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002). The approach is ideal in the provision of the clearest distinctions between the traditional authoritarian model and the servant-leadership. Servant leadership aims at depicting effectiveness and efficiency in the development or facilitation of consensus within the groups.

Conceptualization 

In this principle, servant leaders aim at nurturing their abilities in dreaming great dreams. In looking at the problems from the conceptualizing perspective, servant leaders have the chance to look beyond the daily realities (Northouse, 2017). Servant leaders need to use their skills and attributes to achieve the desired balance between the daily focus and conceptualization.

Foresight 

Servant leaders have the skill to understand lessons from the past and realities of the current situation and likely implications of the decision in future contexts (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002). The principle is a reflection of the intuitive mind of the servant leaders to optimize the revenues and profit levels at the end of each fiscal period.

Stewardship 

In the servant leadership model, institutions have CEOs, directors, and employees, as well as trustees contributing significant roles in holding the institution in trust for the betterment of the society. The approach is vital in enabling servant leaders to practice their characteristics for the optimization of the benefits of society.

Commitment to the Growth of People 

Servant leaders have the perception that people have intrinsic value beyond the visible or tangible contributions as employees. In such aspects, servant leaders depict commitment to the personal, spiritual, and professional development and growth of the different people in the society.

Building Community 

Based on this principle, servant leaders have the skills to facilitate identification of the means for the development or building of the communities among the workers of the specific institution.

Southwest Airlines and Servant Leadership Model 

Employees First Principle 

In the achievement of success in the modern context, Southwest Airlines focuses on using the servant leadership model in prioritizing the employees or workers. The leadership approach ensures that the firm uses employee first principle. The approach ensures that when leaders interact with the employees, there is always undivided attention. Moreover, in the optimization of the output of the workers or employees, the firm creates a stable working environment to ensure that employees do not show bad mood at work, thus, the chance to enjoy themselves in the achievement of the desired goals and targets. Servant leadership approach in the prioritization of the workers ensures that employees and leaders smile at each other when interacting on the phone or face-to-face engagement (Chon & Zoltan, 2019). The leadership approach creates an appropriate working environment for the workers evident in apologizing whenever there is a mistake.

Leaders of the institution empathize with the workers through eradicating any technical jargon and utilization of the words, which are familiar to the workers. The approach also creates room for the maintenance of eye contact or avoidance of doing other things when interacting with the workers. The managers must use servant leadership model at Southwest Airlines to find some people to help employees when they are not in a similar position to do so. In practicing empathy as a principle of the servant leadership model at the organizational level, Southwest Airlines has leaders who put themselves in the employees’ places to see things from their perspectives. Leaders at the institution also focus on working hard to ensure that they exceed the expectations of the employees. These practices and activities are vital in ensuring efficiency in the achievement of the set goals and targets at the end of each fiscal period.

Customers as Second Priorities 

As part of the servant leadership model, Southwest Airlines focuses on achieving success by offering friendly, warm, and quality customer service to valued customers. In interacting with the customers, the firm trains employees to maintain undivided attention while ensuring that they remain in good moods when speaking to customers rather than showing bad mood at work. The approach translates to smiling with the customers in person and on the phone. Employees depict empathy through working hard to exceed the expectations of the customers while putting themselves in the shoes of the consumers in attempts to improve the image and reputation of the firm. In these aspects, it is the duty of the employees to show humility, which is not thinking less of themselves but thinking of themselves less in the optimization of the strategies at their disposal. The practices depict the role of the employees in showing consumers that Southwest Airlines is a corporation of people rather than an institution of planes. The company is in the customer service business, but happen to fly airplanes, thus, the platform to optimize servant leadership approach

Followers and Leaders 

Critically, servant leadership reflects the prioritization of the employees as Southwest Airlines comprehends the role of the workers as the foundation of the success of the company. Just like the case of celebrities without fans, businesses are nothing without the people. In this aspect, Southwest Airlines documents the role of the servant leaders acting as great followers and depicting happiness in doing so. Southwest Airlines has leaders focusing on empowering workers to lead and take actions while capitalizing on their strengths. In these aspects, the leaders tend to become followers rather than leaders in aiding the empowerment of the workers.

Teamwork 

In the optimization of the servant leadership model, Southwest Airlines focuses on creating platforms for the workers and leaders to work as a team in the collective aspect. In this context, Southwest creates employment opportunities for more than 55,000 people. These employees exist all over the United States. In spite of the scattering of the employees across the nation, there is the development of the feeling and importance of ‘us’ over ‘me’ in the achievement of the set goals and targets (Sendjaya, 2010). Employees function as a team through aligning their actions around the concept of ‘us’ over ‘me’ as part of the organizational culture and reflection of the role of servant leadership model in the achievement of the set goals and targets at the end of each fiscal period. In this aspect, Southwest Airlines has employees who are servant leaders. For example, when customers need help, employees of the company take over the situation through working hand to make things right. Besides, in the emergence of challenging situations, employees focus on working together to generate creative solutions for the situation. The approach reflects in the role of teams to enable the achievement of the set goals and targets through facilitating development of the communities among the workers.

Appreciation of the Employees 

In the exploitation of the servant leadership model, Southwest Airlines focuses on the creation of a stable working environment aimed at appreciating team members, tasks, roles, and jobs. In this organization, there is no hierarchy to determine the most important or less significant positions, individuals, and roles in the achievement of the shared vision (Covey, 2018). For example, like organizational culture, the employees at Southwest Airlines focus on completing 6-month intro period to ensure that they work in different roles other than their own. The approach is vital in enabling workers to comprehend and respect diverse facets of the business going into the successful whole. The approach or strategy also reaffirms the commitment of the workers or employees to the company.

Treating People like People 

Southwest Airlines focuses on using the servant leadership model as a platform to enable encouragement of individuality, diversity, humanity, and personality among the workers. Employees have the chance to be who they are in offering quality services to the customers, which is a natural approach to the development of interest and enthusiasm in the achievement of the revenues and set goals or targets (Kohntopp & McCann, 2018). Workers also have fun through the fun LUVing approach aimed at achieving the desired outcome by enjoying spending time at the company and interacting with other workers through fun. Finally, Southwest Airlines prioritizes workers over profit, thus, valuing employees, consumers, and shareholders in that order. The servant leadership approach ensures that the company serves and supports workers to enable the emergence of results naturally. This is the essence of servant leadership as a practice to motivate and inspire others to achieve set goals and targets.

Conclusion 

Conclusively, servant leadership refers to the leadership philosophy associated with the practices aimed at enriching the lives of people in the construction of better institutions and the ultimate creation of a just and caring world. In the case of Southwest Airlines, integration of servant leadership model has been ideal in enabling the firm to achieve success. This is through prioritizing employees, functioning as a team, treating people with adherence to the golden rule, and putting people before profits model. These practices as the aspects of servant leadership ensuring that employees achieve the set goals and targets while enabling the firm to create lasting impressions among the customers.

References

Chon, K. K. S., & Zoltan, J. (2019). Role of servant leadership in contemporary hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management .

Covey, S. M. (2018). Servant leadership at the speed of trust. Servant leadership in action: How you can achieve great relationships and results , 603-720.

Jones, D. (2012). Servant leadership’s impact on profit, employee satisfaction, and empowerment within the framework of a participative culture in business. Business Studies Journal , 4 (1), 35-49.

Kohntopp, T., & McCann, J. (2018). Servant Leadership in the Workplace. The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment , 301-328.

Law, K. M., & Breznik, K. (2018). What do airline mission statements reveal about value and strategy? Journal of air transport management , 70 , 36-44.

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Leadership: Theory and practice . Seventh ed. Sage publications.

Sendjaya, S. (2010). Demystifying servant leadership. In Servant Leadership (pp. 39-51). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Sendjaya, S., & Sarros, J. C. (2002). Servant leadership: Its origin, development, and application in organizations. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 9 (2), 57-64.