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Name: The Southwest Airlines Way: Gittell, Jody Hoffer: 9780071458276: Amazon.com: Books
Price: 22.16 USD
Availability: LimitedAvailability
Rating: 4.4 (211 reviews)

Jody Hoffer Gittell

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The Southwest Airlines Way Paperback – May 5, 2005

by Jody Hoffer Gittell (Author)

4.4 211 ratings

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"If you look at Southwest Airlines, and I admire what they do, they've been the most successful airline in the industry."

--Gerard Arpey, CEO, American 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

In an industry with losses in the billions, Southwest Airlines has an unbroken string of 31 consecutive years of profitability. The Southwest Airlines Way examines how the company uses high-performance relationships to create enormous competitive advantage in motivation, teamwork, and coordination among employees. It then goes further to show how any company can foster these powerful cooperative relationships and explains how to:

Lead with credibility and caring
Invest in frontline leaders
Hire and train for relational competence
Use conflicts to build relationships
Make unions its partners, not its adversaries
Build relationships with its suppliers

From the brand

As a leading global education company, our mission is to partner with educators, learners, and professionals to help them access all the value that education can offer, no matter where their starting points may be.

For over 130 years, we have never stopped innovating to meet the ever-changing needs of educators and learners around the world – and will continue to support and celebrate their efforts every step of the way.

WARNING: California’s Proposition 65

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

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.

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

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0071458271
Publisher ‏ : ‎ McGraw Hill; 1st edition (May 5, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780071458276
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0071458276
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.8 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,019,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #172 in Air Travel Reference (Books)
- #1,569 in Company Business Profiles (Books)
- #8,436 in Business Management (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 211 ratings

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Jody Hoffer Gittell

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Jody Hoffer Gittell is Professor of Management at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy & Management, and co-founder and board member of the Relational Coordination Collaborative.

Gittell is interested in how stakeholders achieve their desired outcomes by coordinating with each other. For this purpose, she developed Relational Coordination Theory, which proposes that highly interdependent work is most effectively coordinated through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect, supported by frequent, timely, accurate, problem-solving communication. The Relational Model of Organizational Change shows how stakeholders can join together to design structural, relational and work process interventions to support more effective coordination of their work. As of early 2020, this theory was tested in 36 industry contexts and 73 countries (see Bolton, Logan & Gittell, 2021). For purposes of research - or to assess dynamics among stakeholders and open up dialogues for organizational and social change - the Relational Coordination Survey can be helpful.

Gittell is currently exploring the relational dynamics of multi-level systems change in complex systems in multiple sectors around the world. With founder Shyamal Sharma, she co-leads the Relational Society Project - a research and innovation lab that helps communities bring stakeholders together to create local solutions to global challenges. With Olawale Olaleye, Brandeis PhD Candidate and healthcare management consultant, she is working to develop a diversity management curriculum based on principles of relational coordination, called Relating Across Difference. And with Heba Naim Ali, Brandeis PhD Candidate and RC data analyst, she is working to innovate and expand the impact of relational coordination through their new book Relational Analytics: Guidelines for Analysis and Action (Routledge, 2021).

Gittell received her PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and currently serves as treasurer of the Seacoast NAACP, on the editorial board of the Academy of Management Review, and on the board of Greater Seacoast Community Health.

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211 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book well-written and interesting. It provides valuable insights into Southwest Airlines' business processes and user experience. Readers appreciate its practical application and mention it sets an example to other sectors. The book provides useful analysis of performance evaluation and conflict resolution, with immediate results.

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Readability Insight Use Performance

27 customers mention "Readability"27 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and useful for understanding Southwest Airlines' business model. They appreciate its well-written content that looks into the management practices and their focus on relationships. The book is informative and a must-read for managers, providing insights into the hard work required to build integrated and team-oriented businesses.

"...Southwest is able to do this because they value user experience (hear relationship) above most everything else...." Read more

"...its performance, including those focusing on leadership, excellent union relationships, clear and appropriate performance evaluation, and conflict..." Read more

"...need from each of their leaders, however, is credibility— the ability to inspire trust; and caring—the ability to inspire a belief by employees that..." Read more

"...We all know that is not possible. Instead it is a practical list of ten practices that make southwest the success that it is...." Read more

7 customers mention "Insight"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides valuable insights into Southwest's business processes and analysis of how airlines work. They recommend it for airline management, as it provides detailed comparisons between carriers.

"...not just a cheerleading book for Southwest, but actually describes in detail a study which proves that the techniques used at Southwest result in..." Read more

"Excellent book. Gives a detailed comparison between carriers and their way of dealing with their biggest assets - their employees...." Read more

"...Provides valuable insight into the business processes which makes South West such a successful business. Good read for HR practitioners." Read more

"A very good analysis of why Southwest is what it is. The book doesn't go into how the company backs up their employees like the book Nuts does." Read more

4 customers mention "Use"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book useful and practical for IO Psychology classes.

"I listened to this twice in a row because of its practical application...." Read more

"...Highly recommended for airline management. It is also useful and sets an example to all other sectors. A must read." Read more

"Amazing book; really usefull if you want to understand the business model itself. Human Relationship as a factor of success" Read more

"Useful for IO Psyc class..." Read more

3 customers mention "Performance"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's performance effective. They mention clear performance evaluation, conflict resolution, and efficiency.

"...on leadership, excellent union relationships, clear and appropriate performance evaluation, and conflict resolution...." Read more

"...Efficiency...Quality...Controlled Growth Demand for Reliable Low-Fare Travel...Competitive Threats...Success Factors—Leadership, Culture, Strategy,..." Read more

"...large or small, can begin applying some of these practices and see immediate results. A very practical road map to follow." Read more

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Robert T. Hess
Why Southwest outperforms the rest
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2011
Verified Purchase

This book is loaded with tips about how to create and sustain a high quality organization. In a day and age when airline after airline is losing money or folding, Southwest continues to be profitable year after year after year. This book describes how they do it--through the power of relationships. Does that seem too simple? It should because it is. Simple to understand, extremely hard to pull off. Most organizations get lost in trying to win or make profits or prove a point. Southwest is simply trying to make the world a better place through relationships---and we all get to benefit from their methods. They have a system that hires for relational competence. When you call Southwest, a human will answer. Go ahead, try it, right now. I told you. When you use their website, it is easy, clear, and fast. Southwest is able to do this because they value user experience (hear relationship) above most everything else.

When it comes to employee reviews, they value learning over accountability. They are always trying to improve their employees as opposed to punishing or grading them. In a day when test scores are used to judge teachers, I hope we can learn from that one.Analysts have scratched their heads wondering how Southwest--the most highly unionized airline in the US airline industry--keeps making money in good and bad times. This book will reveal their secret of valuing their employees as much as possible. Southwest employees for the most part enjoy working for the company because they get respect and treated well. As a result, staff give all of themselves to the work, and when employees bring 100% to work, they kill competition that has people bringing 60 to 70% of themselves and not doing their best work.

Oh yeah, and your bags will fly free. It is nice to know someone is trying to be different.

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Frank L. Urbano
An Excellent Business Book That Happens to Be About Southwest Airlines
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2014
Verified Purchase
"The Southwest Airlines Way" is an outstanding book which looks at the reasons that Southwest Airlines is so successful. It's not just a cheerleading book for Southwest, but actually describes in detail a study which proves that the techniques used at Southwest result in better business performance when compared to United, Continental and American. The author describes 10 different techniques that Southwest uses to improve its performance, including those focusing on leadership, excellent union relationships, clear and appropriate performance evaluation, and conflict resolution.

What's really interesting about this book is that it's a book about a philosophy that happens to be shared and utilized by Southwest. When you read the individual examples of the different areas of focus, you will find that they are not necessarily limited to the airline industry or Southwest in general; rather, they are simply good, solid business techniques that any successful business should use. You may find yourself saying something like "Well, of course.." but then wonder why they don't do that where you work - I sure did.

In the end, if you are interested in understanding why Southwest is so successful, and how any other business can be the same, then read this book. It's first class business reading which will provides rewards for years to come.

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O. Halabieh
Performance through Relationships!
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2013
Verified Purchase
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- "How did this remarkable transformation occur? How did Southwest grow from an idiosyncratic Texas airline to an organization that managers all over the world are seeking to emulate? Efficiency...Quality...Controlled Growth Demand for Reliable Low-Fare Travel...Competitive Threats...Success Factors—Leadership, Culture, Strategy, and Coordination."

2- "However, leadership is not confined to the CEO. Leadership is better understood as a process that can take place at any level of an organization.^ Indeed, leadership is needed in today's organizations to motivate, support, and enable employees to work together in support of a set of shared goals."

3- "In their classic book on organizations, James March and Herbert Simon' describe the potentially disintegrative effects when employees in an organization pursue their owm functional goals without reference to the over-arching goals of the larger work process. Shared goals play an especially important role when different functions are involved in delivering the same service."

4- "The three conditions that increase the need for relational coordination—reciprocal interdependence, uncertainty, and time constraints— are increasingly common in the service economy of today. As advanced economies have shifted from a manufacturing to a service focus, work settings that require relational coordination have become increasingly common. Many service operations are characterized by reciprocal interdependence, requiring iterative interactions among service providers rather than the sequential handoffs performed by workers on production lines. Many service operations also have high levels of uncertainty relative to manufacturing due to the difficulty of buffering service operations from the external environment and from differences in customers themselves. Finally, most service settings are highly time-constrained; they are designed to provide a service to customers, real time, simultaneous with the demand, without imposing excessive waiting times on customers."

5- "Not every leader of a successful organization must be charismatic. What successful organizations do need from each of their leaders, however, is credibility— the ability to inspire trust; and caring—the ability to inspire a belief by employees that their leaders care deeply about their well-being."

6- "Leadership is better understood as a process that can take place at any level of the organization."^ Indeed, leadership at the front line can play a critical role in organizational success. Rather than undermining coordination among frontline employees, supervisors play a valuable role in strengthening coordination through day-to-day coaching and counseling."

7- "Increasingly, jobs require not only functional expertise but also relational competence—the ability to interact with others to accomplish common goals. Indeed, people who perform jobs that require high levels of functional expertise also tend to need high levels of relational competence to integrate their work with the work of fellow employees. Organizations like Southwest Airlines that recognize the importance of relational competence, look diligently for employees who have it, then develop it to even higher levels through training, will have a distinct performance advantage over organizations that do not."

8- "Organizations should proactively seek out conflicts rather than allowing them to fester. Then managers should bring the parties together to better understand each other's perspective. If organizations do not identify and resolve cross-functional conflicts, those conflicts will weaken critical relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect. When managers treat cross-functional conflict as an occasion for learning, they strengthen relationships between employees and boost performance of the work processes in which those employees are engaged."

9- "The energy and learning that employees gain from building strong family and community ties can be brought into the workplace and leveraged to achieve stronger working relationships and better organizational performance. Organizations should therefore be vigilant to ensure that relationships at work do not overwhelm and undermine the family and community relationships that are needed to sustain strong working relationships."

10- "Though information technology can be a facilitator, it is not expected to be an effective substitute. When a job is mediated largely through a computer or a telephone, an important element of social interaction is lost. The loss of social interaction weakens relationships, and weakens critical performance parameters. These limitations on the effective use of information technology exist because coordination is not simply about the transfer of information. Instead, coordination requires the construction of shared meaning in order to facilitate collective action. As we see at Southwest Airlines, boundary spanners can play this role, building relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect across functional boundaries."

11- "Traditional measurement systems are flawed because they orient employee attention toward functional rather than cross-functional outcomes and because they provide inadequate information for learning.' To orient employees toward cross-functional outcomes and to provide more useful feedback about what to do, cross-functional performance measures should be used to supplement traditional functional measurement systems."

12- "We have seen in this chapter the importance of flexible jobs for building strong relationships and high performance."

13- "At Southwest Airlines, respectful relationships between company management and the unions chosen by frontline employees appear to set the tone for respectful relationships throughout the company.As Southwest's leaders pointed out on several occasions, however, positive labor/management relations are not achieved once and for all. Rather they have to be reproduced every day."

14- "Southwest's partnership approach is radically different from the traditional approach to supplier relations. In the old model, organizations were independent parties who transacted with each other at arm's-length through formal contracts, keeping information close to the chest. Cooperation occurred only within organizations, while careful arm's-length negotiation with minimal information sharing was the normal mode for dealing with parties external to the organization.^ But when there is more uncertainty in the environment, there is much more that organizations can learn from one another. Because of the benefits of learning, both parties have more to gain than to lose from the sharing of information. Although there may be doubt and mistrust at the outset, "nee the cooperative exploration of ambiguity begins, the returns to the partners from further joint discoveries are so great that it pays to keep cooperating." Ultimately, this ability to partner is an acquired skill like any other, and one with potentially significant effects on organizational success".

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Teresa
Nuts and bolts
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2013
Verified Purchase
I listened to this twice in a row because of its practical application. The beauty of this book is that it is not some culture that the author wants you to copy. We all know that is not possible. Instead it is a practical list of ten practices that make southwest the success that it is. Any company, large or small, can begin applying some of these practices and see immediate results. A very practical road map to follow.

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Amazon Customer
Excellent book. Gives a detailed comparison between carriers and ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2014
Verified Purchase
Excellent book. Gives a detailed comparison between carriers and their way of dealing with their biggest assets - their employees. Good example of integrating work-life balance. Highly recommended for airline management. It is also useful and sets an example to all other sectors.
A must read.

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Lucas Andrade
O livro é muito bom!
Reviewed in Brazil on February 22, 2019
Verified Purchase

Esse livro ajudou para mudar minha visão frente as empresas e minha vida pessoal!

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Jenna L.
Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on August 28, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is actually a really great book. I've learned quite a few valuable lessons about people management from it!

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Pau P. F
Un “must” de los libros empresariales
Reviewed in Spain on September 6, 2019
Verified Purchase
Libro imprescindible para conocer, por interés empresarial o simple interés, la transformación que vivió Southwest Airlines y que repercutió en toda la industria de la aviación e incluso en otras industrias. Es una aplicación clara del tan de moda “pensamiento lateral” y es, bajo mi punto de vista, realmente útil.

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Ric An
múltiples consejos
Reviewed in Mexico on August 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
El libro resume de manera clara y simple consejos muy poderosos para desarrollar cualquier empresa siguiendo el gran ejemplo de southwest

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Gabrio P.
Testo che ha incontrato tutte le mie aspettative
Reviewed in Italy on August 11, 2013
Verified Purchase
Il libro risponde a tutte le aspettative che mi hanno indotto ad acquistarlo. Aiuta, chi vuole ed è pronto a studiato, anche più volte, ad avere spunti su come creare e far evolvere una organizzazione, di qualunque tipo essa sia.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Why Southwest outperforms the rest

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Business Book That Happens to Be About Southwest Airlines

4.0 out of 5 stars Performance through Relationships!

5.0 out of 5 stars Nuts and bolts

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. Gives a detailed comparison between carriers and ...

Top reviews from other countries

4.0 out of 5 stars O livro é muito bom!

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

5.0 out of 5 stars Un “must” de los libros empresariales

4.0 out of 5 stars múltiples consejos

4.0 out of 5 stars Testo che ha incontrato tutte le mie aspettative

Why Southwest outperforms the rest

An Excellent Business Book That Happens to Be About Southwest Airlines

Performance through Relationships!

Nuts and bolts

Excellent book. Gives a detailed comparison between carriers and ...

O livro é muito bom!

Five Stars

Un “must” de los libros empresariales

múltiples consejos

Testo che ha incontrato tutte le mie aspettative