Southwest Airlines Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Southwest Airlines Study - Essay Example In as much as such strategies are helpful in terms of expanding the business and eliminating competitors to penetrate the market, companies are always faced with various challenges in implementing them. One such challenge includes that of bringing together the human resources from the two sides and ensure they cope well and harmoniously to work towards achieving the objectives of the newly formed company. Southwest Airlines recently, in 2011, acquired AirTran Airways and the new company now is faced with the challenge of making the new acquired employees get used to the new culture at Southwest Airlines (Gary, The Mission of Southwest Airlines, 2014). Southwest will also add thousands of employees from a number of airlines from a variety of locations. The main purpose of this paper is therefore, to analyze the challenges that the Southwest Airline is faced with while trying to acquire the new employees and make them adapt well to its existing culture and ways of doing work. It will, therefore, carry out a SWOT analysis of the company to use in providing recommendations to address the issue. Looking at their strengths, Southwest Airlines has flexible employment guidelines even though the guidelines are monitored by the workers union. The airline can negotiate flexible work hours by the union (Stewart, 2008). This enables workers to avail themselves to work at times that they are most comfortable with, and their overtime allowances paid. The airline also has a warm staff relationship as it looks responsibly after its staff. This makes the staff be motivated and go extra miles for the benefit of the company as they know the company also cares for them. Looking at the weaknesses of the airline, we find that; the airline is flexible even though unionized since they can still negotiate for flexible work hours. This can be a weakness to the airline as the union