Since Southwest Airlines took to the skies in June 18 th 1971, the company has operated in an industry that is short of talent. According to Weber (2015), a job application is submitted to Southwest Airlines every two seconds. However, the company does not rush into recruiting candidates, even those qualified to work in the industry. Instead, Southwest Airlines has a culture of adherence to a strict human resource strategy that has served it effectively over the years. The objective is to ensure that candidates selected are those capable of improving the efficiency of the business. Southwest Airlines employs a rigorous personnel selection process that uses scientific tools and means to identify and investigate candidates with the objective to distinguish their personality, skills, and job performance prospects. Southwest Airlines operates its human resource management strategy under the mantra “The Southern Way emphasizes on personal attributes rather than skills” (Yanga & Xinde, 2004). Candidates are selected based on their fun-loving attitude, (passion and joy for the job) a servant’s heart (prioritizing others, treating then with fairness, and dedication to customers), and warrior spirit (desire for excellence, courage, innovativeness, and perseverance) (Weber, 2015; Yanga & Xinde, 2014). The implication of this approach to the company’s human resources management is self-evident. Weber (2015) showed that since Southwest Airlines was founded, it had used it extremely selective criteria to review more than 287,000 resumes, of which it shortlisted about 102,000 applicants for the interview. Of those interviewed, only about 6,550 were hired, representing two percent of the total applicants (Weber, 2015). Successful candidates are informed about better remuneration, opportunities for personal progress, collaboration, shared vision, as well as the firm’s mission. However, the company engages in what it calls healthy nepotism by giving priority to recommended personnel who are relatives of its current employees (Yanga & Xinde, 2004).
The strategy used by Southwest Airlines is consistent with the insights identified in Stewart and Brown (2019) as critical contingency human resource management strategies for achieving competitiveness. The fact that Southwest Airlines operates in a service and hospitality industry where needs and comfort of customers is paramount implies that its human resource management must align to the business objective. In this regard, the company’s strict selection criteria are adapted to resonate with its competitive strategy, which is above board service delivery. Employees are the central cog in the realization such competitive strategies, and their motivation and satisfaction in the job is critical. A survey conducted on employees of Southwest Airlines asking them whether they thought their “job was just a job, a stepping stone, or a calling,” illustrated that almost seventy-five percent of them viewed their jobs as a “calling” (Weber, 2015). The outcome of the survey demonstrate that hiring based on values is essential for organizational effectiveness.
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Yanga and Xinde (2014) observed that Southwest Airlines operates through a differentiated business strategy and a limited customer service because of its small customer based. However, global economic difficulties may impact the company negatively, implying it may need to adopt a pragmatic competitive business strategy. Under the circumstances, the company must revise its recruitment criteria to:
Focus on managerial skills and knowledge in competitive business strategies in the industry rather than values alone.
Revise its healthy nepotism strategy to ensure racial and cultural diversity in its workforce.
Adopt interview techniques that capture the diversity aspect needed in the workforce and global marketplace.
References
Stewart, G. L., & Brown, K. G. (2019). Human resource management . Wiley.
Weber, J. (2015). How Southwest Airlines hires such dedicated people. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/12/how-southwest-airlines-hires-such-dedicated-people .
Yang, D., & Xinde, C. (2014). Innovation research of enterprise human resource selection: The selection of Southwest Airlines. International Journal of Business and Social Science , 5 (7), 234-241.
