Southwest Case Study V Deming’s Rules

Critical Business Skills

Southwest Case Study v Deming’s Rules

Questions:

1. Discuss which of Dr. Deming’s 14 Points For Management Southwest seems to be already employing in creating and maintaining its unique culture.  Give examples.

Reading over Southwest employee relations I found a few of Deming’s rules that the company uses to improve their program.

• Rule #5 “Improve every process.”

As noted in Southwest’s case study it spoke about how the company creates small employee committees to come up with programs, essays, and videos to talk about the values and benefits of the company.  This adheres to “Improve constantly and forever every process for planning, production, and service. Southwest is constantly trying to improve by creating innovative ways to keep their employees happy and satisfied.

• Rule #7 and 8 “Institute Leadership,” and “Drive out Fear”

These are a couple other rules that Southwest has harbored well. An example that could represent both is having a program in place to allow employees to have freedom to speak about complaints, issues, or problems they may have.

In the study it notes, “the primary channel for employee input is the company’s open-door policy, in which employees with questions are encouraged to write to Herb Kelleher with their concerns, suggestions, or questions. These letters forwarded on a daily basis to appropriate managers to prepare a response. All letters receive a response.” This is a bright advancement for management and shows the employees that they can feel free to talk to anyone including executive management about their feelings pertaining to their current position. The fact that all employee letters will receive a response helps to make the employee feel that their voice is being heard and that they matter. The excellent use of two way communication helps to drive out fear.

• Rule #14 “Top management commitment and action”

This rule can be drawn upon from the case study that states the top managers visit each year to meet with employees for them to learn about employee concerns and for employees to bring problems to management’s attention. This supports the employees’ belief in defining top management's permanent commitment to ever improving quality and productivity.  

1. What other aspects of the System of Profound Knowledge might Southwest use to maintain its culture in the future?

An aspect of the system that Southwest could elaborate on is to “encourage education.”  Southwest does a little of this in a sense but more so to its own advantage in “Back to Basics” contest for the company. Southwest should offer encouragement on a personal and professional level to their employees. Perhaps they could offer tuition reimbursement or self-help courses.