Southwest Airlines: Culture, Values and Operating Practices

The following is a brief but concise report on southwest airlines operating principles, culture and overall values over the years. In essence, the paper explores two main areas of the company: First is the full strategic analysis of the company and second is the strategic formulation and recommendation section. Consequently, the first part contains about 11 appendixes and the second part contains five. Each section of the report is discussed separately in connection to others. 

FULL STRATEGIC ANALYSIS 

Appendix 1: Operational Costs and Efficiency 

In order for any company to operate efficiently, the circulating resources it requires, or simply put, operational costs need to be determined. Southwest Airlines has managed to stay on top because of controlling a good balance sheet and with very low operations on the balance sheet. According to Srinivasan, the highest cost to the company include: labor—which accounts for about 40% of the operating cost and fuel costs accounting for about 18% (2006). South West Airlines is able to maintain low operating costs because of the following reasons: maintaining the same type of planes, flying point to point and to secondary airports. 

Important strategies like flying point-to-point help the company to save on costs. Essentially, point to point incorporates short haul flights of less than 600 miles ( Thompson & Gamble, 2017). In the same way, efficiency is enhanced by: using only one type of plane—this means less training time and better versed pilots and crews. Secondly is the e-ticketing procedure that they stared in 2002 and lastly is the use of secondary airports. These airports are less congested and allow better and faster service to customers. 

Appendix 2: Employee Relations 

Southwest Airlines has maintained significant trust and loyalty from its employees. The phenomenon is mainly because of the No-layoffs policy that the company operates on (Sunoo, 1995). The policy sees to it that management only hires employees enough to operate the company. In this way, top management makes decisions to cut costs that exclude letting go of employees. The company’s mission statement has significant emphasis on the growth and nurturing of employees ( Thompson & Gamble, 2017). In this way, the nurturing of employees is transferred to customers as well. 

The commitment to employees starts from the hiring process that ensures the right people are recruited into the company. The main motivation for recruitment is having an attitude that reflects the company policies. The hiring and recruitment process therefore follows two steps. First, employees have close interviews with the recruits in order to determine their overall attitudes. The next step is the professional interview where the necessary skills are evaluated. The process ensures that the company maintains people with attitudes in line with the company policy of customer satisfaction. Consequently, the Southwest Airlines insists that every part of the company is customer service even departments that are not directly related to customer service. 

Employee relations are closely related to the company’s culture because new employees are expected to continue the already established culture. Significantly favorable employee relations have enabled the company to maintain an 80% unionized staff (Southwest Airlines, 2015). Negotiations with employee unions are observed to take significantly shorter time. 

Appendix 5: Customer Service 

Southwest Airlines is observed to have strict customer service policies that enhance the overall customer experience. Essentially, the company is dedicated to creating feelings of warmth, individual pride and company value. 

One of the ways Southwest enhances customer experience currently is by incorporating the “Positively Outrageous Service” (Thompson & Gamble, 2017). The main aim of the POS is to encourage every single person in the company to be involved in customer service. The trend is expected to start from top management to the lowest employee. An instance is given where; the founder of the company is involved in baggage handling during Thanksgiving Day. In this way, the company has created a full proof customer service oriented company. Simply put, the company is strategized in a way that the pilots can be said to be technical team customers and flight attendants are caterers’ customers. 

Consequently, the results of the “Positively Outrageous Service” have been significant. Apart from being used as a strategy, the POS move has been made part and parcel of the company. That is, POS is the company. The move makes it most likely for employees to treat customers in a unique way that is not observable in other Airlines. As a result, the company has been able to rank best in customer service provisions (Freiberg & Freiberg, 1998). However, this barely means that other airlines lack significant customer service but suggests that Southwest Airlines hold customer service dearer. In conclusion, it is clear that culture plays a relevant role in Southwest Airlines operations. The company seems to emphasize long term cultures on operation as opposed to short term-profit seeking strategies. The same is observed in the ‘no lay-offs policy’ as well. In this way, the customers experience a deep culture of impeccable service with consistency. 

Appendix 6: Current Technology 

In the modern age, technology plays a significant role in the daily operations of many companies—almost every company in the world depends on it. It is very significant that it is also observed to reduce work significantly. Southwest Airlines uses technology is various ways to enhance efficiency and maintain consistency in the company. The very first technological leap that the airline took was to introduce ticketless flying. The method involved logging in passengers into the system and letting them fly hustle free. However, over the years, the company has improved its technological stands significantly. 

One of the ways technological enhancement has been done is by using barcodes in boarding passes. Essentially, the barcodes take note of the boarding passengers and gives leeway to identify errors in the passengers boarding. The process of using touch screen scanners enables integration of various processes required to cross off passengers at the terminal gate. In essence, the bar codes technology enables integration of various software processes. 

Another enhancement in Southwest Airlines’ technology is the use of consistent software upgrades. The airline employs about 900 IT personnel (Southwest Airlines, 2016). In this way, in-house technology enhancement is made possible. The same also implies that the company rarely uses off-the-shelf software upgrades; instead the in-house IT team is involved in the development of essential software for the company. This means that the company has invested significantly in technology. The CEO puts it that technology is productivity (Southwest Airlines, 2016). It is important to note that Southwest has also invested significantly on Radio Frequency Identification technology to enhance the safety of flights. 

QUANTITATIVE FACTORS 

Appendix 2: Current Financials and Assets 

Southwest Airlines has experienced consistent profits for the last 45 years of operation. The profits can be owed to various operational changes and enhancements. The following section will give tables on the current performance of the company and a comparison will be made to other significant rivals in the United States. 

	2014  In $Mil	2014  In $Mil	%Change
Fuel and Oil Expense	5750	3550	65%

Source: Griffins Consulting Group 

The table above shows the most significant operational expense for Southwest Airlines. It provides insight into rising and falling fuel prices that affect Airline operations. 

OPERATING  REVENUES	2014  (mil $)	2015  (mil $)	Percentage  Change	Percent Change  (excluding AirTran)
Passenger	14,735	11,489	28.2 %	13.1 %
Freight	139	125	11.2 %	11.2 %
Other	785	490	60 %	6.7 %
TOTAL	15,658	12,104	29.3 %	12.8 %

Source: Griffins Consulting Group 

The above table shows that most of the operating revenue is derived from passenger transportations. In this way, Southwest Airlines is able to identify the ways to enhance customer experience through in flight treatment. The company is observed to operate on more than 92% passenger transport revenues. The acquisition AirTran is also observed to boost financials for Southwest Airlines. 

Appendix 3: Comparison to Other Rival Airlines 

The table below shows various income and profit data for some of Southwest Airlines major operations rivals. 

	Market Cap.  (bil $)	Revenue,  2011 (mil $)	Net Income,  2011 (mil $)	Net Profit  Margin	Operating  Margin
Alaska (ALK)	2.56	1044	64	6.13 %	10.93 %
Delta (DAL)	8.73	8,399	425	5.06 %	8.29 %
JetBlue (JBLU)	1.38	1146	23	2.01 %	7.24 %
Southwest (LUV)	6.34	4,108	152	3.70 %	3.58 %
Spirit (SAVE)	1.43	273	24	8.76 %	13.88 %
United Continental (UAL)	7.31	8,928	-138	-1.55 %	0.50 %
US Airways (LCC)	1.25	3155	18	0.57 %	3.42 %

Source: Griffins Consulting Group 

In the same way, the operations of the companies can be compared using share prices and asset returns. The table below shows various implications on share price and asset returns. 

	S&P Credit  Rating	Return on  Assets	Total Debt /  Equity Ratio	Price /  Equity Ratio	Earnings per Share
Alaska (ALK)	B+	4.91 %	-	10.24	1.01
Delta (DAL)	B	3.94 %	705.15	11.70	1.88
JetBlue (JBLU)	B-	1.32 %	54.54	35.67	0.23
Southwest (LUV)	BBB	3.39 %	111.40	10.81	3.34
Spirit (SAVE)	-	13.11 %	0.00	17.23	1.23
United Continental (UAL)	-	-1.44 %	178.49	18.10	0.27
US Airways (LCC)	B-	0.87 %	3,044.00	25.11	0.31

Source: Griffins Consulting Group 

From the table above, it is evident that Southwest Airline shares are receiving significant traction. The table shows that Southwest Airlines has prices per share that almost double other rivals. The credit rating given also shows significant competence in operations. A comparison to the AMEX Airline index shows very similar performance with Southwest Airlines. This shows that the company has been significantly adaptable in the volatile airline business. A concise comparison to, say, UAL, shows that Southwest Airlines outperforms it in a margin of about 3 times. Consequently, Southwest financials are 3 times better than UAL’s. The next section discusses external environment implications on Southwest Airlines. 

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS 

Appendix 7: Marketing and Advertising 

Southwest Airlines has been founded on long standing cultures. For this reason, the company looks for ways to tell its story as concisely as possible through marketing and advertising efforts. Many of the company’s ad campaigns have been intentionally unconventional. Essentially most of the marketing done by Southwest Airlines seems to enhance the fun-loving and combative spirit created by the company over the years. One of the most significant marketing launches was introducing the TransFAREcy in 2015 (Thompson & Gamble, 2017). The feature composed of an easy to understand flight and ticketing procedure with no hidden fees for baggage and preferred seating. Most of the company’s ads have centered on providing the lowest fares in the industry. The TransFAREcy campaign seeks to set the company apart from other airlines by giving full transparency on flight travel. 

In the same way, other ways that the company has enhanced its marketing and advertising stands is by adopting more strategies that set it apart from other short-haul airlines. One is being the first airline to mitigate additional charges on checked bags and to give one free stroller and car seat in addition to two free checked bags. The additional fees are stressful to passengers who are not prepared for them, thus, the reduction in fees is bound to increase passenger volume. 

Another marketing and advertising strategy put in place is the utilization of sufficiently stocked in-flight entertainment system. Since the airline operates short-haul flights, it has introduced about 75 television series and access to internet services as well as messaging. The enhancement is meant to improve short-haul flights and mitigate competition offered by other long-haul operators with good-in-flight entertainment offers. 

Appendix 8: Competition and Rivalry 

The United States Airline industry is observed to be both highly volatile and expensive to operate. Further, the industry reports high operating cost with very slim profit margins. The costs have also been seen to be rising over the years. The Southwest Annual report for the year 2012 puts it that fuel prices have risen by about 300% since the year 2000 (Southwest Airlines, 2012). Over the years, Southwest Airlines has found ways to improve on efficiency by finding ways to do effective airplane maintenance, perform accurate baggage transfers and to improve percentage on-time departure and arrivals. The airline industry has had little space for new entrants. This means that by about the year 2003, the industry was controlled by 90% of the market being covered by the major airlines. The need for major players saw Southwest Airlines acquire AirTran in order to compete on a larger scale. The same move in the industry was observed when Continental Airlines merged with United Airlines. The strategies are observed to be incorporated in order to handle external influences brought about by competition on scale. 

The intense competition within the industry in addition to sellers offering a product major similarities and virtually no differentiation has been the cause of low profit margins across the industry as airlines use competition based on price as their primary mode of rivalry. Differentiation might be possible as airlines begin to single out particular sectors of the market to focus their efforts. Southwest has incorporated the strategy by focusing primarily on low budget, no hassle travelers. However, apart from the minor shifts in focus, however, there are hardly any essential differences between the products airlines are putting out. In addition, their methods of incentives through frequent flyer programs are employed across the industry and afford little actual customer loyalty. The phenomenon explains Southwest Airlines use of impeccable service to retain customers. 

Appendix 9: Promotion Efforts 

Promotion in companies helps to build motivation and enhance loyalty. For this reason, Southwest Airlines has endeavored to fill promotional positions, that is, supervisory positions using about 80% in-house fillings (Terry and David, 2003). The strategy is observed to solve most problems occurring from external hiring. One of the most important motivations for in-house hiring is to maintain consistency in the job. An employee working there over a period is more likely to transition easily than external hiring. In the same way, filling the positions internally leads to other employees’ co-operation and enhanced respect from peers and upper level management. In this method, employees can apply for available positions or they can be recommended by their current supervisors for open positions. 

Another efficient promotional strategy used by Southwest Airlines is training employees while still on their current jobs. Consequently, employees being considered for managerial—leadership positions are taken through every department for training. The up and coming leaders go through the training process for about 6 months while still undertaking their normal duties. After the six months, the candidates get comprehensive feedback from departments’ heads and evaluation and transition is conducted (Thompson & Gamble, 2017). The process allows for 360 degrees feedback from all the department heads in the company. 

Appendix 10: Management as External Environment Consideration 

Southwest Airlines endeavors to adapt a management style that leads to highly motivated workers, increased employee retention and enhanced company loyalty. One of the ways Southwest management style is different from others is the method of having mangers spend at least a third of their time out of their offices. The time is expected to be used walking around inspecting departments that the managers are responsible for and collecting relevant information for improvement. The time is also expected to be spent bonding with employees and collecting feedback on work performance. 

In the same way, being approachable is encouraged in Southwest Airlines with top managers insisting on first name basis. In this way, new recruits are invited into an informal-formal setting where work is fun to do. An open door policy has also being reinstated to improve interaction with executives in the company. The procedure allows employees to bring forward ideas that will enhance efficiency or reduce any costs significantly. In the same way, Southwest airlines pilots are involved in making decisions that are relevant to saving fuel costs and improving on the accuracy of departure and arrival times. The use of employee suggestion has enabled the company to save on significant costs. An example is saving about a million dollars on new computers by deciding to assemble the computers themselves. Another example is getting rid of company logos on trash bags which saved about $250000 (Hauck, 2008). Another major improvement on management is empowering employees. Southwest Airlines has only four layers between front line managers and the CEO. For this reason, employees at Southwest enjoy substantial authority and relevant decision making powers. Informal problem solving and constant feedback are observed to enhance overall management style at Southwest Airlines. 

Appendix 11: Southwest Culture in the Airline Industry 

Southwest growth strategy has been mainly to recruit, train and incorporate employees into the intricate company cultures. According to Kelly, about 3 things have been evident in Southwest Airlines culture, these are: fun loving attitude, warrior spirit and servant’s heart. The company therefore looks to enhance these three attributes in order to grow its culture. 

Other ways that the company is dealing with external influence by establishing culture is by forming a corporate culture committee. Like other departments the committee is expected to innovate ways to enhance corporate culture in Southwest Airlines. In essence, the committee is expected to oversee the improvements being made in the ‘Positively Outrageous Service’ initiatives as well as overseeing and organizing contests aimed at nurturing the Southwest way. Members of the committee are comprised of individuals looking to enhance company spirit from all departments, the committee number was close to about 100 individuals (Sunoo, 1995). 

In addition to the corporate culture committee there exists another culture services team in the executives’ part that is dedicated to ensuring the culture remains alive and well. The team was generally to oversee the activities of culture building. The spirit of culture is also enhanced by the various publications made by Southwest airlines recognizing employees and offering awards to those recognized (Thompson & Gamble, 2017). In the same way, the company set up software that enabled employees to site their achievements and awards and to nominate others for potential awards. The software also enables points to be given to employees that are redeemable at the company shops with various items to be redeemed. 

STRATEGY FORMULATION 

The TOWS matrix below shows the 5 most important strengths, opportunities, threats and weaknesses. These will be used to make Appendix 12-15 of the strategic analysis alternatives. 

Southwest Airlines TOWS Matrix 

External Factors/Internal Factors	Strengths (S)	Weaknesses (W)
	Lowest air fares on the market.  Airtight expansion policy.  Solid business model.  Highly efficient operations.  Significantly strong financial standings.	Less room for significant strategic development.  No existing established alliances.  Having fully valued share price  Rapid growth reducing reliable service.  Slow transition and adaptation after acquisition.
Opportunities (O)  Developing low cost position in the airline industry.  Continue Streamlining and automation.  Geographical expansion  Merger  Acquisition	SO strategies	WO strategies
Threats (T)  Cost of operation  Varied competitive factors.  Post 9/11 air traffic control regulations.  Adverse Weather conditions.  General economic conditions.	ST strategies	WT strategies

STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES 

Appendix 12: #SO 

SO#1: Ensuring expansion in ways that maintain the low cost fares and ensure increased efficiency through the use of more technology. (S#1&S#2&O#1&O#2). 

In order for LUV to expand gracefully and still maintain the low costs that is the company brand, there is significant need to explore automation and streamlining opportunities. In this way, the airtight expansion policies will remain strong. 

SO#2: Exploring more geographical areas using the same business model ‘Positively Outrageous Service. (S#3&O#3). 

Over the last 40 years LUV has used the same business model to expand to busy cities and states. The same is applicable to expansion to more geographical areas as long as the same business principles are maintained. 

SO#3: Significant mergers or acquisitions to help in expansion and to maintain the same strength in finances. (S#4&S#5&O#3). 

Saturation in already explored areas dictates that the companies start to investigate potential acquisitions to help increase business while still maintaining the same financial position. The strength in finances should be used to acquire or form powerful partnerships in the future. 

Appendix 13: ST 

ST#1: Ensuring that the fairly low fares are set in prices that maintain operating costs even. That is, the fares should not be low to an extent that it greatly affects the threat of increased operation costs. (S#1&T#1). 

Increased operating costs eventually eat into other areas and in time lead to companies registering losses. For this reason, strategies to maintain low fares should first analyze the overall impact on daily operating costs. A resolution of two will ensure effectively low pricing. 

ST#2: Volatility in the airline industry dictates that the efficient business models be used to mitigate competition as much as possible.(S#3&T#3). 

Strong business models are the only solution to eventual competitive factors. Maintaining customer loyalty by offering unique services is the only way to set a company apart from its competitors. The strategy dictates that customer service and satisfaction be the main principles of operation. 

ST#3: The result of efficiency is efficiency. It is the only way to remain a float following unforeseeable factors like weather and non-opposable national safety regulations. (S#4&T#3&T#4). 

Economic conditions are controlled by the states of rest or unrest experienced globally. For this reason, an efficient business should maintain the same strict principles in order to ride out unforeseen economic, regulatory and natural storms. 

Appendix 14: WO 

WO#1: Technological advancement and automation solves the need for strategic improvement in the airline industry. (W#1&O#2). 

The airline industry is composed of ferrying passengers and goods, full stop. The fact makes it significantly difficult to leave room for creative strategy implementation. Most of the strategy is involved in ensuring that customers want to use the same airline when they fly. 

WO#2: Mergers and acquisitions can encourage stock holders of potential shift in share prices. (W#3&O#4&O#5). 

As long as the share prices maintain steady growth after a merger, the threat of having fully valued shares is mitigated by the unrest caused by mergers and acquisitions. The growth of stock will give investors circulating profits from trading shares. 

WO#3: Setting prior strategies before eventual expansion will lead to smoother transitions to more geographical regions.(W#5&O#3). 

Growth in new regions is expected to take time; however, allowing the slow transition to take place is only possible when other strategies for geographical expansion have been put in place. In essence, expansion to newer regions should be allowed estimated duration to maturity. 

Appendix 15: WT 

The following part derived from the TOWS matrix shows potential dangers to strategize on. 

WT#1: Established partnerships will lead to eventual mitigation of varied competitive factors. (W#2&T#2). 

Established alliances come equipped with enough arsenals to mitigate competitive factors. Therefore, the weakness brought by lack of effective partners will lead to the treat of being taken over by established partnerships. 

WT#2: Fully valued share prices are able to withstand harsh economic conditions. (W#3&T#5). 

Valued shares show potential stability in the business represented. For this reason, the weakness of fully valued share prices becomes strength during harsh economic times and should be used a strategy. 

WT#3: Reliable services should be maintained by first taking care of regulatory hurdles in order to maintain fidelity of the services offered. (W#4&T#3). 

Rapid expansion is coupled with regulatory requirements in the airline industry. LUV ought to take care of pending regulatory requirements before settling mergers and expansion endeavors. This will ensure that the services remain intact even through the transitions. 

Appendix 16: RECOMMENDED STRATEGIC REQUIREMENTS 

The recommendations below are suggested to boost LUV’s overall strategy: 

Adapt services and procedures that lead to the inclusion of other rural demographics in order to increase market share and expand geographically. 

In the same way LUV has used the same 737 Boeing to ferry passengers and goods over the years, a smaller type of plane should be chosen in order to include rural areas where large aircraft cannot operate. In this way, more customers can be brought to major cities and ferried back to their rural dwellings. 

Deferring delivery of new aircraft. 

The acquisition of AirTran means that potentially usable aircraft was acquired. Consequently, the smaller planes operated by AirTran should be incorporated into Southwest airline’s culture in order to expand to even smaller airports. 

Aggressive pursuit of internet marketing. 

The vast potential the internet has will enable the company to gain customers from a different paradigm. In addition the ease of online booking and ticketing should be incorporated into ground and boarding procedures to reduce customer hustle. 

Introducing timely training and refresher programs to review company culture. 

Routine training and seminars to emphasize the role of Southwest Airline culture should be had in order to retain employees and maintain loyalty to the company. Consistency in culture and customer service can be maintained through constant reminders on company culture. 

Incorporation of shared services into ground crew programs with competitors. 

Sharing ground crew reduces operation costs significantly since business using the same service can share the providers, that is, the shared crew also translates to shared costs in maintaining the crews. 

Maintain hedging of fuel prices. 

Constant anticipation and different suppliers ensures that LUV has sufficient choices to hedge on in case of hike in prices. Further, hedging fuel prices successfully aids in controlling the highest operating expense in the airline industry. 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Southwest Airlines has been in operation for the last 45 years. During this time LUV has taken different strategies to grow the business and maintain efficiency of service. The following has been achieved by considering proven strategic elements and ways of gaining competitive advantage. Southwest has clearly utilized all five of the porter’s generic competitive business strategies. In essence, the company has incorporated cost leadership into its operations (Porter, 1985). The airline boats of some of the lowest travel fares in the American air transportation business. Significant differentiation is also observed in the sole use of Boeing 737 planes in its operation. Further, apart from the use porters strategies, LUV also incorporates Hambrick & Fredrickson’s 5 elements of good strategy. Namely, LUV has chosen an arena that comprises of major cities and large airports. The sole planes that the company uses enable efficient operation in the chosen arena. Secondly, differentiation in customer service sets the company apart and has aided in creating lasting loyalty. The stage and pace of expansion into LUV has seen consistent profits over the years. Lastly, economic logic has aided in dictating prices that maintain operating costs as low as possible. Important strategies like flying point-to-point help the company to save on costs. Essentially, point to point incorporates short haul flights of less than 600 miles. In the same way, efficiency is enhanced by: using only one type of plane—this means less training time and better versed pilots and crews. 

Southwest Airlines is able to identify the ways to enhance customer experience through in flight treatment. The company is observed to operate on more than 92% passenger transport revenues as shown in the financials. The acquisition AirTran is also observed to boost financials for Southwest Airlines. The credit rating of BBB given also shows significant competence in operations. A comparison to the AMEX Airline index shows very similar performance with Southwest Airlines. This shows that the company has been significantly adaptable in the volatile airline business. The fully valued shares of LUV at 3.3 are observed to be almost 3 times higher than other airlines trading in the NYSE. 

In order for LUV to expand gracefully and still maintain the low costs that is the company brand, there is significant need to explore automation and streamlining opportunities. In this way, the airtight expansion policies will remain strong. Over the last 40 years LUV has used the same business model to expand to busy cities and states. The same is applicable to expansion to more geographical areas as long as the same business principles are maintained. 

Strong business models are the only solution to eventual competitive factors. Maintaining customer loyalty by offering unique services is the only way to set a company apart from its competitors. The strategy dictates that customer service and satisfaction remain the main principles of operation. Since, rapid expansion is coupled with regulatory requirements in the airline industry. LUV ought to take care of pending regulatory requirements before settling mergers and expansion endeavors. This will ensure that the services remain intact even through the transitions. Saturation in already explored areas dictates that the companies start to investigate potential acquisitions to help increase business while still maintaining the same financial position. The strength in finances should be used to acquire or form powerful partnerships in the future. 

The recommendations suggest adapting services and procedures that lead to the inclusion of other rural demographics in order to increase market share and expand geographically. The acquisition of AirTran means that potentially usable aircraft was acquired. Consequently, the smaller planes operated by AirTran should be incorporated into Southwest airline’s culture in order to expand to even smaller airports. In addition the ease of online booking and ticketing should be incorporated into ground and boarding procedures to reduce customer hustle. The recommendations are meant to increase productivity and find ways to reduce operating costs for LUV. 

References 

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Porter. M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage . New York: The Free Press Publications. 

Southwest Airlines. (2015). Southwest airlines annual report 2015. Retrieved from: www.southwest.com 

Southwest Airlines. (2016). Southwest airlines annual report 2015. Retrieved from: www.southwest.com 

Srinivasan. M. (2006). Southwest Airlines Operations - A Strategic Perspective. Ezine articles . P1-10. 

Sunoo. B. (1995).“How Fun Flies at South-west Airlines,” Personnel Journal 74 , no. 6 p. 70. 

Terry R. Bacon & David G. Pugh. (2003). Winning Behavior: What the Smartest, Most Successful Companies Do Differently. New York: Longhorn Publishers. 

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