Free Essay. Analysis of Southwest's Mission and Vision Statement

Southwest Airlines refers to an American airline that was initiated by Rollin King and Herbert Kelleher in 1996 as Air Southwest Company (Gittell, 2015). The company is one of the world's largest airlines in the world with low flight rates. Gittell (2015) argued that the competitive advantages and success of the company might be attributed to its sound mission and vision. The focus of this paper is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the mission and vision of Southwest Airlines.

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Mission

Southwest's mission is "commitment to the uppermost quality of customer service administered with a sense of friendliness, individual pride, warmth, and company spirit" (Gregory, 2020). The company is dedicated to providing a stable working environment for its employees with equal opportunities for personal growth and learning.

Strengths

The strength of Southwest's mission statement is its focus on customer service. The company's focus on customer service delivery it what has made it gain a stronger competitive advantage and emerge as one of the best airlines in the world. Besides, the strength of the company's mission is grounded on its friendly nature. Gregory (2020) argued that most comers prefer Southwest to other airlines due to its friendliness to customers.

Weaknesses

Despite the strengths of Southwest's mission, it can also be associated with some weaknesses. The first weakness of the mission is that it is very long and hence very difficult to master (Gittell, 2015). Besides, the mission fails to state the customer needs that the company tries to satisfies.

Vision

The vision of the Southwest is "to become the world's most loved, most flown and most profitable airlines" (Gregory, 2020). The Southwest's vision can be associated with some strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

The main strength of the Southwest's vision statement is its inspiring and motivating effect. It helps employees of the organization to easily align the vision with the organization's core values hence making them engage and commit to the company's activities (Gregory, 2020). Besides, the company's vision is short and precise hence making it easy for mastery.

Weaknesses

Just like its mission statement, Southwest's vision has some weaknesses. The first weakness is that the vision fails to show the impact of the company on the outside world (Gittell, 2015). Moreover, the vision lacks specificity as it fails to bring forth the image of the desired visionary goal of the company.

Conclusion

A company's vision and mission play a fundamental role in determining its success. Southwest's mission and vision have some strengths that play a significant role in ensuring that it remains on top of its competitors. However, there are also some weaknesses that can be associated with the mission and vision of the company.

References

Gittell, J. (2015). The Southwest Airlines way (1st ed., p. 336). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Gregory, L. (2020). Amazon.com Inc.'s Mission Statement & Vision Statement (An Analysis) - Panmore Institute. Retrieved 29 February 2020, from http://panmore.com/amazon-com-inc-vision-statement-mission-statement-analysis