BA590 - Organizational Behavior - Exercise #1

Running Head : Corporate Culture and Socialization

Name

University

Course

Tutor

Date

Southwest Airlines ' Corporate Culture and Socialization

The organizational structure of Southwest Airlines is just like that of most airlines . This is due to the fact that planes must run safely and efficiently . The structure of our organization is formal and centralized (Buller and Schuler , 2006 . However , the structure of our organization has a slight difference from that of other airlines in that it has a loose tight design (Robbins and Judge , 2007 . Its operations are basically

mechanical , meaning that the operations aim for consistency and efficiency . The organization gives its employees informal job descriptions as concerns customer service . Despite the fact that there is very high standardization as regards operations , it is low when it comes to customer service . The organization empowers its workers to do whatever necessary to please its clients . Therefore , the organization follows both the mechanistic and organic models . The mechanistic model is used on the upper management levels like the corporate office and the flight crew . On the other hand , the organic model is employed on the lower levels , where safety and time are of lower priority . This enables the employees to experiment with new approaches on customer satisfaction , while maintaining safety (Buller and Schuler , 2006

There is a very positive and considerable role played by culture in Southwest Airlines . Our organizational culture is our most unique characteristic . The organization puts emphasis on the Value of People (Robbins and Judge , 2007 . Its focus is on...