In this era of globalization, sustainable development, ethical business practices and Corporate Social Responsibility is the need of the hour. Perhaps the best example of a contemporary organization that has used these principles effectively is Southwest Airlines. McGee-Cooper, Trammell, & Looper (2008) describes how Colleen Barrett, a leader at Southwest works passionately with her followers by holding herself accountable to their needs and creating a supportive environment for them. She leads selflessly by encouraging a strong spirit of service, caring for her employees, and creating an engaged and inspired workforce thereby ensuring that all the employees participate towards sustainable business practices. She …show more content…
By embracing servant leadership, companies are able to instill teams that are committed to productivity and product development (Hamideh & Mahmood, 2012). When followers feel that leadership cares about their needs, they are more willing to work hard and seek out innovative solutions to tackle challenges in their industries. Growth in modern business involves a balance between employee satisfaction and motivation, customer satisfaction, and financial performance as well (Melchar & Bosco, 2010). Without a detailed focus on all of these elements, companies will often fall short when seeking to differentiate and dominate their respective …show more content…
It is interesting to study the way Southwest Airlines treats its employees. The leaders and management of Southwest Airlines consider its employees as the partners of sustainable development. Southwest Airlines treats there employees. By focusing on their needs, they create an environment in which the employees want to focus more on creating better relationships with customers, because there needs are being met first. They create a genuine and positive experience in which they care more about the customers because they have more respect for the company that they work for. When considering a change in leadership with a struggling organization that is suffering with negative brand repercussions, servant leadership is a natural fit to turn the page and create a better environment for followers and customers as well.
As far as the framework is considered, Southwest Airlines used triple bottom line framework of sustainable development. With this framework, Southwest Airlines wants to focus collectively on profit, people and planet. The company realizes that focus on profit will be good for the company in sort term only. The long