Quality Management, Research Paper Example

Southwest Airlines

Many factors contribute to the quality culture. Involving employees in decisions relating to their work is fundamental to good management (Goetsch, D.L. & Davis, S.B., 2010, pp. 117). Southwest airline is the pioneer of low-cost model in the airline industry, and it is the third largest airline in terms of fleet size. The firm is one of the world’s most profitable airlines today. The big question to ask is what Southwest know that none of the competitors does? The firm keeps things consistent and simple, which keeps costs down, maximizes productive assets, and helps in managing customer expectations.

In contrast to other network carriers and their commuter surrogates, which operate different kinds of regional jets, wide-body, and narrow-body aircrafts, Southwest has only one type of plane, the Boeing 737 series. This helps the firm in saving millions in maintenance costs due to the uniformity. Network carriers rely on the hub and spoke system while Southwest operates short haul, point-to-point travel. This minimizes time that planes sit on the ground at crowded hubs.

Even though business travelers have always not liked Southwest’s simple in-flight services, it appears attractive as competitors cut back. They do not serve meals except for snacks and beverages. Keeping it simple allows Southwest to clean, unload flight and restock the plane, and board another flight with passengers within 20 minutes as compared to network airlines, which takes as much as 90 minutes. Industry efficiency experts have it that the savings allows each Southwest jet to make an extra flight per pay.

The company offers very low-ticket prices and only sells one-way fares with a few “buckets.” This helps in keeping costs down. The company has a lean management system (Mukherjee, 2006). Southwest has an innovative management style that maintains relentless focus on high-performance and its people-management practices, and this has been the key success to its unparalleled success in the airline industry.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa Regional came into operation as a regional airline, which strove to compete effectively with the low cost carriers that accrued following deregulation. The company was regionalized with the aim of adding economies of scale to its international strategy and to the Lufthansa’s market size. The Star Alliance Strategy is a global strategy that requires efficient operations across the network. Cooperation and coordination were vital to its success. The firm was able to increase its market share and profits.

Lufthansa restructured in organizational structure into six units. The aim was to avoid duplicate of functions across business departments, which resulted in a focused corporate strategy (Naagarazan and Arivalagar, 2009). Main controls included removal of intermediaries in ticket sales and cost cutting for regional airline. The firm also maintains high credit rating, strong financial discipline, and low debt service. It currently owns 70% of the air fleet dept.

The firm has integrated its personnel across the globe, employee training, safety in the work place, and diversity. The company has also increased its CRM strategy customer centric focused products and services. Lufthansa initiatives include infrastructure upgrade, operational measures, economic instruments, and technical progress. Lufthansa has segmented its customers into four groups: platinum customers, gold customers, iron customers, and lead customer.

References

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2010). Quality management for organiztional excellence: Introduction to total quality. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Mukherjee, P.N. (2006). Total quality management. Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd

Naagarazan, R.S., & Arivalagar A.A. (2009). Total Quality Management. New Age International