Southwest Airlines ‐ living total quality in a service organization Available to Purchase

The foundation blocks for quality in a customer service organization are management commitment, customer focus, and employee involvement; operational and administrative aspects are built on these basic issues. This article presents a detailed analysis of how a major customer service organization was built to succeed and continues to improve by applying quality management principles. The example presented is Southwest Airlines, whose employees see themselves not as an airline with great customer service but as a great customer service organization that happens to be an airline. This case study is examined within the framework of the model used by the Canada Awards for Excellence, the internationally recognized quality award program in Canada for more than ten years.