Southwest Airlines selections system - Case Study Example

Southwest is also the largest carrier based on scheduled domestic departures.. Yearend results for 2006 marked Southwest's 34th consecutive year of profitability. Southwest became a major airline in 1989 when it exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark. Southwest is the United States' most successful low-fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier(southwest.com 2007)" However, the success of the airline did not only revolve on how they deal with the customers in which majority of the businesses deems that they are the most important element of the company, South West airlines also deals with their employees which the management also deems that it is very important to give them the right compensation as the said company believes in meritocracy wherein they tend to give rewards for the employees in order for them to do more.

With this, the company gives incentives and perks for the employees. With this, there are a lot of individuals who wishes to be employed in the said company. To date, the said company provides work for 33,000 total employees. Considering the fact that the company has the prestige and volume of applicants, the interesting part that one must look into and garners interest is the selection process. Of course, it is an established fact that due to the aforementioned premises, the selection process is much different from other employment method.

The question, how the selection process is done in line with the standards of the company and the demand of the job without sacrificing the prestige and the name established by the company This is indeed a subject that is worth dealing with specially, the selection system of the company. The company focuses on the strength and weakness of an individual in which, this is the basis on how an employee is selected. Of course, there is an advantage for those people who can project their strength much more than their weakness in a certain job description but this kind of bearing is not the sole basis of the company in order for one to be employed in the job.

There are instances that hired applicants are assessed how they can adjust their weakness into strength and how a job description could be suited in an individual's personality- even if it means that a person's weakness is the main reason of why he/she is employed. Petree (2003) further added that "Southwest philosophy is to hire for attitude and train for skill," and having a process for assessing and developing needed skills for the job is a part of the learning management strategy. "That done, we also want to focus on increasing people's strengths-not always focusing on where you may have development opportunities, but where you have strengths that we want to enhance to make you even more effective in your job" Upon analyzing the costs that the company shoulders whether direct or indirect has something to do with the operation of the company.

In this case, some companies would suggests that the lesser the cost, the better and the more it would benefit the company. There are a lot of considerations that are needed in order for its impact in the company to be analyzed. In this case, one should look into a more concise and deeper perspective. This means that we should look into the price that the company should pay in order for the said system to be utilized by the company. If we are to analyze, the company