Is the Culture Committee at Southwest effective in establishing cultural norms?
My response to that question is no. The reason I say that is because although their actions and motivations are good, they seem like they only preform these actions here and there. Basing from what I saw in the video, the group was formed at LAX that day to do something that they don't normally do. A cultural norm would revolve around daily operations and more employees at Southwest would know about these sort of events and would have more knowledge. It seemed like the video was made to raise awareness about the event, it hasn't become a norm yet.
From what you can tell, what is the purpose of the culture committee at Southwest?
I think their main purpose is to provide employees with knowledge that Southwest is trying to show that they care about their employees. The committee seems as though they are there to help the crews when they can, boost moral, and raise awareness about the culture in Southwest. It seems like they're in the early stages of this, at least that actual program we saw in the video. I was surprised to see that most of the crews hadn't experienced anything like that before, although some said they had heard of it. I would have thought that the committee was bigger and did things like this more often, not just in cases like this where they film it to get exposure. I hope that they do that nationally, more often.
What would you see as a viable mission for a culture committee in your place of work?
At the current time, there is an increased awareness on fatigue and safety in our organization (and nationally). What would be viable is that a committee could actually spend a small amount of time at each facility a get a better grasp of what factors are contributing to those issues. It would be beneficial for our organization and us as employees is there could be a way to fix schedules, rotations, and work loads. There is such a contrast between one facility to the next, that the committee should spend some time fitting individual needs to each facility.
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
I've learned that employees want to know that their company is actually making an effort to address issues within the organization. Sometimes, we hear about programs but we never see them in action or they never end up being relevant to us personally. I now see that just by showing some initiative, we can really have an immediate impact on the daily operations. Short term, I'll try to make sure that we can all see the benefits of the current schedule or rotation we are in my highlighting its advantages. Not being in a management role yet, I have limited access to change in our current facility.
Reference
Southwest Airlines "A Day in the Life of Culture Committee" (2008, May 31). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7P0T9IbYKU&feature=player_embedded
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