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Summary: The Southwest Way Revealed
Review: This book speaks wonderfully to both practitioners and to scholars interested in Organizational Theory and Human Resources Management. Based upon eight years of in-depth field research, Gittell distills principles for sustaining organizational performance in a competitive environment. The conclusions she draws are important for those in leadership positions in the airline industry and beyond -- in service businesses more generally. Gittell's ability to clearly describe her research while at the same time provide useful, tractable solutions for managers is impressive. Relational coordination, the central thesis of this book is thoughtfully laid out in a manner that is anything but obvious. Anything but "soft." Gittell makes the convincing case that relational coordination is smart business. Read and learn!
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Summary: Rich Data, Powerful Implications!
Review: This book speaks wonderfully to both practitioners and to scholars interested in Organizational Theory and Human Resources Management. Based upon eight years of in-depth field research, Gittell distills principles for sustaining organizational performance in a competitive environment. The conclusions she draws are important for those in leadership positions in the airline industry and beyond -- in service businesses more generally. Gittell's ability to clearly describe her research while at the same time provide useful, tractable solutions for managers is impressive. Relational coordination, the central thesis of this book is thoughtfully laid out in a manner that is anything but obvious. Anything but "soft." Gittell makes the convincing case that relational coordination is smart business. Read and learn!
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Summary: Flawed Southwest
Review: This volume contains a great amount of valuable information on the methodology that Southwest Airlines has used to become a force in the US airline industry. I found, however, a great amount of repetitive verbiage which appeared to be used primarily to increase the length of the volume. Was it really necessary for the author to note the number of sites studied in each chapter or repeat the three core aspects of the Southwest Airlines at every opportunity? This effort would have been twice the book if it was half as long.
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Summary: Southwest's "Eternal Flame"
Review: Why can't other companies (not only airlines) become as highly admired as well as profitable as Southwest Airlines? Here is an excerpt from Herb Kelleher's presentation at the Risk Management Association's annual conference: "Maintaining excellent customer survives involves a process of getting people to understand the importance of it to them in their daily lives as well as in others'. We were a little concerned as we got bigger that maybe some of our early culture might be lost so we set up a culture committee whose only purpose is to keep the Southwest Airlines culture alive. Before people knew how to make fire, there was a fire watcher. Cave dwellers may have found a tree hit by lightning and brought fire back to the cave. Somebody had to make sure it kept going because if it went out, there was was the most important person in the tribe. I said to our culture committee, 'You are our fire watchers, who make sure the fire does not go out. I think you are the most important committee at Southwest Airlines.'  I really do believe that to be the case. We have people come in from all over the world who are interested in our culture because they see it in the customer service aspect of it." Kelleher then notes that "Southwest Airlines had 162 companies at our last corporate day [open house], which we have twice a year. We started them off that day with the Macarena and they were all wondering, 'Hmmmm....I was looking for E=mc2 and I'm getting the Macarena.' But a fellow from Swiss Air was interviewed when he left and was asked, 'What's the most important message you're taking back to Swiss Air?' And he said 'For everybody to learn to do the Macarena.' Everybody's looking for a single Big Answer, an easy answer such as 'We'll communicate for six months, then get on with something else that's more important.' I keep telling them that the intangibles are far more important than the tangibles in the competitive world because, obviously, you can replicate the tangibles. You can get the same airplane. You can get the same ticket counters. You can get the same computers. But the hardest thing for a competitor to match is your culture and the spirit of your people and their focus on customer service because that isn't something you can do overnight and it isn't something you can do without a great deal of attention every day in a thousand different ways. That is why I say that our employees are our competitive protection." I cannot think of a better introduction to Gittell's book, nor to my comments on her book. Although she identifies "Ten Southwest Practices" and devotes a chapter to explaining each in Part 2, her key point (and Kelleher's) is that high performance relations are the key to Southwest's success. Gittell includes these comments by a Southwest ramp manager: "One thing we cannot teach is attitude toward peers or other groups. There's a code, a way to respond to every individual who works for Southwest. The easiest way to get in trouble is to offend another employee. We need people to respond favorably. It promotes good working relationships....You find an individual with an upbeat and positive attitude -- and you'll find that everything that needs to be done, will get done. It's very contagious." I have been a Southwest frequent flier since 1976. Not once, even once, have I ever had a less-than-pleasant experience with anyone within the Southwest organization. Kelleher is appropriately praised for his vision, charm, business acumen, inspiration, passion, determination, wit, etc. He should also be praised for the leadership he has encouraged and supported at all levels of Southwest. In my opinion, that is his single greatest contribution. As Jim Collins describes it in Good to Great, "getting the right people on the bus." In Part 3, Gittell explains how the "Ten Southwest Practices" reinforce (or undermine) each other; she then suggests what can be learned from Southwest, briefly discussing efforts by competitor airlines; next, she examines how Southwest responds to pressure and manages crises (e.g. September 11); finally, Gittell offers a number of suggestions as to how other organizations can implement high performance relationships. There is nothing wrong with any of those suggestions. However, obviously, listing the "Ten Southwest Practices" is far, far easier than convincing or inspiring most (if not all) people in another organization to follow them all day, every day, year after year. And it is even more difficult to create such buy-in when an organization is undergoing extensive growth and sustains it profitably as Southwest has. Especially in the ferociously competitive airline industry, the Yoda's admonition is correct: "Do or do not. There is no try."
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