Product Description

This book offers management lessons from the world's most profitable airline. 'As a former Southwest insider, I often wondered why other organizations couldn't duplicate the business model. Anyone who wants to understand how it works should read this book' - Libby Sartain, Senior VP of Human Resources, Yahoo. 'Professor Gittell has tackled one of the hottest and most important topics in business circles today - why some airlines continually fly high over the economic wreckage of the rest of the industry' - Thomas Winkelmann, VP - The Americas, Lufthansa German Airlines. 'Through extensive research, Jody Hoffer Gittell gets to the bottom of what has sustained Southwest Airlines' positive employee relations and high performance through good and bad times' - Thomas A. Kochan, professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Global Airline Industry Program."Fortune" magazine calls Southwest Airlines "the most successful airline in history." In an industry that regularly loses billions of dollars, Southwest has had 31 consecutive years of profitability. "The Southwest Airlines Way" reveals the secret to Southwest's remarkable success - high performance relationships - and it creates enormous competitive advantage in motivation, teamwork, and coordination among Southwest employees. Based on Professor Jody Hoffer Gittell's eight years of field research, this book explores Southwest's innovative policies, strategies, and techniques, showing how these methods can be implemented in any organization, and explains how to: lead with credibility and caring; invest in frontline leaders; hire and train for relational competence; use conflicts to build relationships; and, encourage mutual respect among employees, managers, unions, and suppliers.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84693 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From the Back Cover

Management lessons from the world's most profitable airline

"As a former Southwest insider, I often wondered why other organizations couldn't duplicate the business model. Anyone who wants to understand how it works should read this book."

--Libby Sartain, Senior VP of Human Resources, Yahoo

"Professor Gittell has tackled one of the hottest and most important topics in business circles today--why some airlines continually fly high over the economic wreckage of the rest of the industry."

---Thomas Winkelmann, VP-The Americas, Lufthansa German Airlines

"Through extensive research Jody Hoffer Gittell gets to the bottom of what has sustained Southwest Airlines' positive employee relations and high performance through good and bad times."

--Thomas A. Kochan, professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Global Airline Industry Program

Fortune magazine calls Southwest Airlines "the most successful airline in history." In an industry that regularly loses billions of dollars, Southwest has had 31 consecutive years of profitability. The Southwest Airlines Way reveals the secret to Southwest's remarkable success--high performance relationships--and it creates enormous competitive advantage in motivation, teamwork, and coordination among Southwest employees. Based on Professor Jody Hoffer Gittell's eight years of field research, this book explores Southwest's innovative policies, strategies, and techniques, showing how these methods can be implemented in any organization, and explains how to:

* Lead with credibility and caring * Invest in frontline leaders * Hire and train for relational competence * Use conflicts to build relationships * Encourage mutual respect among employees, managers, unions, and suppliers

About the Author

Jody Hoffer Gittell is an assistant professor of management at Brandeis University and faculty member of the MIT Global Airline Industry Program. She focuses on human resources and operations management, and frequently presents the results of her work to managers, researchers, and policymakers.

---

Customer Reviews

Packed With Knowledge!
If you've wondered what's behind Southwest Airlines' uncommon success, wonder no more. Author Jody Hoffer Gittell lays it all out in The Southwest Airlines Way. Gittel, a university professor, explains that at Southwest Airlines, relationship building and collaboration aren't just given lip service - they're a condition of employment. This is an excellent case study of the airline and its competitors, wherein Gittell reveals the characteristics that make Southwest shine, traits other airlines have tried hard to emulate. She makes a compelling case for the power of relationships inside, outside and at all levels of the corporate hierarchy. Meticulously researched and offering abundant industry testimonials, this corporate exploration doesn't feel like yet another marketing book. We think this excellent exposition is just the ticket for corporate leaders who want to know not just how Southwest did it, but how they can do it too.

Packed with Knowledge!
If you’ve wondered what’s behind Southwest Airlines’ uncommon success, wonder no more. Author Jody Hoffer Gittell lays it all out in The Southwest Airlines Way. Gittel, a university professor, explains that at Southwest Airlines, relationship building and collaboration aren’t just given lip service — they’re a condition of employment. This is an excellent case study of the airline and its competitors, wherein Gittell reveals the characteristics that make Southwest shine, traits other airlines have tried hard to emulate. She makes a compelling case for the power of relationships inside, outside and at all levels of the corporate hierarchy. Meticulously researched and offering abundant industry testimonials, this corporate exploration doesn’t feel like yet another marketing book. We think this excellent exposition is just the ticket for corporate leaders who want to know not just how Southwest did it, but how they can do it too.

A bit repetitive, but well worth a read
This book contains a detailed account of the reasons behind the success of Southwest Airlines and how it manages to consistently out-perform it's competitors. Much of the content prompts you assess the way you work and most readers should be able to get at least a couple of ideas from the book on how to improve their own workplace.

The only issue I have is that I found the writing style a bit hard going for the first two thirds of the book, mainly due to numerous repetition of previous quotes and going over old ground over and again. However it was well worth the pain for the last third which was more to the point and much easier to read.

I would recommend this book to anyone in a business with more than a few employees.