Leaders of large companies must constantly develop internal processes. This allows them to have a beneficial effect on both employees and customers. As a result, all these stakeholders are satisfied and more willing to cooperate, shop, work, and perform other activities (Riggio, 2013). Southwest Airlines is an outstanding example of an organization with streamlined processes and a healthy corporate culture. However, there is always room for improvement, so the current state of affairs can be changed for the best. One of the problems to be addressed is the lack of a formal union-management structure of consultation and representation processes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss ways to address this issue and improve the company.
In this case, the company’s management structure acts as an Independent Variable, and the number of issues resolved by the unions is a Dependent Variable. Thus, this study hypothesizes that the organization’s existing governance structure can fine-tune processes so that unions tackle more issues with better results. This is essential for the company’s development and prosperity, as it allows employees to influence processes from the inside. They see weaknesses and come up with ways to address them, thereby improving the functioning of various areas of Southwest Airlines’ operations.
To conduct the research, it is necessary to study the organization’s current structure and collect complete information about the work of the unions. Probably, already now in other departments of the company, interaction has been established in one way or another. Therefore, these developments can be useful for this case. After that, based on this information, it will be possible to create a unified system of communication with company managers and develop rules for interaction. This system will need to be tested across all stakeholders and run to achieve maximum satisfaction for each.
To gather information about the current state of affairs, it is necessary to examine the interaction between leaders and representatives of the unions. To do this, one can communicate with these people personally, having previously compiled a questionnaire, and study the documents that record past appeals and subsequent changes. This will allow us to find out at what stage of development the interaction is now. After that, we can create a survey for all stakeholders. It should include questions about how communication between leaders and unions is organized and what changes are needed. Thus, we will better know the strengths and weaknesses and find new ideas. It will be useful to study competitors’ experiences, for example, by collecting data on the Internet. This will speed up the process of developing an interactive system and avoid the mistakes of other companies.
I assume that this work’s result may be the development of a unique system of inquiries from unions to the managers of Southwest Airlines. This system can be electronic or paper-based. Its use will lead to more productive interaction between different parts of the organization. It will probably be useful not only for the unions but also for other divisions of Southwestern Airlines. Thus, the company will be able to listen more closely to employees’ wishes and resolve incoming requests faster and more efficiently. This will have a beneficial effect on internal processes and, as a result, on the customers’ satisfaction. Consequently, Southwest Airlines will become a priority choice of travelers and will be able to differentiate itself from the competition.
Reference
Riggio, R. E. (2013). Introduction to industrial-organizational psychology, 6th ed. Pearson.