Reference no: EM133334560

Case Study on Southeast Airlines

Case descriptionJames Parker, as former CEO of Southwest Airlines, has a pretty impressive résumé as a leader. While he was CEO, Southwest Airlines was one of America's three most admired companies, ranked among the best corporate citizens in America, was one of the most socially responsible companies in the world, and was worldwide airline of the year. His proudest accomplishment as CEO was protecting the jobs of all of Southwest's employees (the only major airline to do so) and remaining profitable after 9/11. As Parker (2008) explains in his book, Do the Right Thing, it is the people that Southwest Airlines has hired over the years that have made the difference-one of his chapter titles indicates, Great Organizations Have Great Leaders at Every Level (p. 83). So how have Parker and Southwest gone about hiring these leaders at every level? As he explains in a chapter provokingly called "Who Wants the 'Best' People?" (p. 105), Southwest does not always want the best people; instead, it wants the right people. If best is defined as the candidates with the highest college grade point averages (GPAs) and the most job experience that does not guarantee getting hired at Southwest. Instead, Parker wants the right candidates-leaders whose personalities and attitudes make them a good fit for Southwest Airlines' fun, team-based culture. Southwest's hiring motto is "We hire for attitude and train for skills" (p. 105). True, they hire many people with outstanding GPAs from top colleges and with valuable work experience-and since they hire only 1 to 2 per cent of the 100,000 applicants they receive every year, they can and are choosy about those who they hire. But what differentiates the successful applicants from those with similar qualifications, are their personalities and attitudes. In many companies, managers do not want to spend much time interviewing and selecting new employees -this is likely to be especially true in high turnover companies. But what Southwest Airlines and other great companies have learned is that people are less likely to quit if they are the right fit for the job. When all applicants are hired to be leaders, hiring the right person is especially important. New employees either improve the company's team or drag it down. As Parker puts it, "The better you do at selecting new employees, the less time you will waste down the road dealing with performance, discipline, and discharge issues. Selecting poorly can make your future very stressful. Selecting the right people can make your future a joy" (Parker, 2008, p. 106). Because Southwest is a customer service-oriented company, it values employees who can interact pleasantly with customers and with each other. Parker prefers people with positive attitudes: We used to say that we took our jobs seriously, but not ourselves. In other words, we were looking for people who could laugh, savor life, and enjoy being around other people. We didn't want self-absorbed prima donnas. We wanted other-oriented people who genuinely cared about and respected others. (Parker, 2008, p. 110)

Parker gives a great example of this hiring philosophy. Once they interviewed a pilot with an outstanding flying record, with experience flying a wide variety of aircraft, and with leading people-he truly had a superstar résumé, yet he was not hired. Why? He had been rude to the receptionist (Parker, 2008, p. 124). Parker also realizes that people want to be able to express their personalities at work. His book is full of references about Southwest Airlines being a place where employees "were allowed to be themselves and have fun" (Parker, 2008, p. 111). The best employees want more than just money from their jobs-they want to be able to be open and authentic about themselves, and be able to express their individuality at work. He gives an example of a time he recruited a lawyer named Cindy away from a major law firm. While visiting Southwest Airlines, Cindy noticed that one of the paralegals was wearing a toe ring and open sandals. Years later, she confessed to Parker that seeing the paralegal have the freedom to wear toe rings was what made her decide to work at Southwest Airlines. Although most corporations throw the occasional office party, Parker says office parties are not the key to having a fun workplace (although Southwest does have a strong tradition of holding parties every Friday after work, and of going all out for Halloween and other holidays). Instead, when listing 15 ways to make people enjoy their work, he lists this as his third point: "People feel they can be themselves and express their personalities". Interestingly, number 1 is "People find their work fulfilling" and 2 is "People feel appreciated" (p. 170).

Question:  This case study considers the leadership style of Southwest Airlines' former CEO, James Parker. In particular, the case focuses on and asks readers to evaluate Parker's creative philosophy for hiring new employees: the right people, not the best people.