Southwest Airline Case Study

BUS 330 Writing Assignment The paper is about how the airline company named as the Southwest Airlines has been able to cater to the needs of the customers while still holding a greater market share in the Airline industry specifically during the economic crises phase. Q1: As a high – contact service provider, how does Southwest Airlines ensure that its employees satisfy the customer? As far as the employee training is concerned, the employees are extensively trained so as such to ensure that they are able to satisfy the arising concerns and needs of the customers effectively and efficiently.They are actually made to practically exercise resolving complaints and other service problems on the spot. Moreover the employees are made to look professional and behave in a professional manner because they have to deal directly with the customer. One-on-one communication and query handling requires good communication and interpersonal skills to ensure the supreme satisfaction of the cus tomers and their complaints. Otherwise; the demand for their product will eventually die out. The product that this airline is offering is a travel solution for the customers; with the standards set as the low airfares and high service standards.They provide attentive service to the customers in the sky and on the ground and see every flight as an opportunity to underpin and reinforce its reputation for a friendly service that caters to all the flight related concerns of the employees. Another point mentioned in the case is that this Southwest Airlines has a mission statement as: delivering the services with a smile shows that the airline genuinely cares about the customers. A cultural committee is appointed at the headquarters that enables to keep the service spirit alive.Moreover for every airport, they have these committees that ensure service spirit eventually upgrading the customer service area. Furthermore, there are maintenance facilities available across the country. The ser vices of the employees are appraised as per performance and their relationship with customers. Actually these achievements are celebrated for that employee especially who provides outstanding service. This helps in employee retention and satisfaction to remain as a part of that network. Moreover an example can be quoted from the case itself that; the events or the employee appreciation are held around the country such as incoming flight passengers surprisingly with the crew members bringing along the cookies and milk. This shows a small gesture of appreciation and employee motivation. The concept of team work and tolerance is one of the most important concepts to be inculcated in the people who are being hired for serving the customers. Only those people are hired who can communicate, correspond and behave in a friendly manner and work cooperatively with their colleagues.Q2: What experience qualities might weigh most heavily in customers evaluations of the services delivered by the Southwest Airlines? What are the implications for the airline’s service marketing efforts? Actually from the perspective of the customer, it is the product that holds the greatest importance; however the product placement along with the services is the best combination to attract a bunch of customers. Mainly there are two important things that help a company to remain at a competitive position in the market; cost leadership and differentiation.Basically Southwest Airlines is catering to both these requirements to strengthen its stature in the market as one of the most competitive airlines. The Southwest airline was able to control their fuel costs and gained a greater market share while most of its competitors had to shrink their schedules and eventually tightening their belts. It was usually seen that the competitive airlines have been facing the issue of high fuel rates and eventually the lower demand, because they are forced to charge extra fee from the customers for check ing baggage and other services.However, Southwest Airline has tried to manage the lower costs and avoids charging extra fee for every facility and has offered a bundled service pack, as compared to the competitors; who have been unbundling the price and product. Bundling gives an edge to accommodate some of the extra charges and help the company as well as the customers. However since the seats are not reserved thus the airline also gives the chance to the passengers to jump forward on the flight, but for this service an amount is charged.Moreover instead of charging higher prices Southwest Airline accommodates the customers’ needs by providing bundles that are valued by the flyers. Some suggestions will be enhancing the expenditure on the advertisements and more promotional activities. The concentration on the actual and the augmented product will help the company in giving something extra and different to the customers. Cutting the costs and lowering prices will help in mai ntaining the customer demand for the brand product. Product pricing and the core product should be given eminent importance.Possibly, linking with a Public Relations organization will help increase the popularity of the products and services being offered by Southwest Airlines. Q3: What is Southwest Airline doing to manage the customer’s service expectations? In order to manage the expectations of the customers regarding the services provided by the airline, some new features have been introduced like the â€Å"bags fly free† campaign that enables the loading of first two items of checked baggage of the customers on the fare for free.Another more attracting feature is the â€Å"Business select† airfare, where the priority boarding is bundled as such that the customers are offered a free drink along with extra frequent flyer points at a slightly higher price. These points can be used later on any time. Moreover, if the business selects customer to fly on the sche duled flight then the airfare is applied to the cost of a later travelling schedule at any time in the next year. This is one of the main features that make the bundled services attractive to the customers. They use price bundling as an edge to keep the customers coming in and maximize on their profits.The annual profits since the previous 35 years have shown a remarkable record, in a row. However since the running of an airline is not an easy task which involves a lot of finances and efficiency, Southwest Airlines have made it through mainly by keeping the customers satisfied and have maximized their profits on the customer service side. The stock symbol is LUV, which of course is a very attractive caption, and the company aims at making the customers come back to them and use their services by ensuring that the customers remain smiling all the way long. Therefore they will eventually come back for the LUV.Conclusion The main aspect for an airline is to make sure that the traveller s remain happy and are treated properly because at the end of the day, it is the service that an airline provides to a customer by charging an amount of money; therefore the overall experience has to be made pleasant and memorable positively. Failing to do so will eventually lead the company to die a natural death. Reference Guardian Company; (2013); US airline complaints rose 20% last year, Transport Study; United Kingdom http://www. guardian. co. uk/business/2013/apr/08/theairlineindustry-air-transport

Personal develop plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal develop plan - Essay Example It is the means through which ideas are exchanged between people. I believe developing effective communication skills is important to effect any change. Even though I have these positive attributes there are some weaknesses in my communication. Although am clear and concise, my speech is sometimes stilted, and too formal1. This is evidence of tension and not being relaxed enough. Sometimes people find it difficult to follow my argument. Feedback shows that at times it is not easy to understand the flow of my argument or presentation of ideas. These are challenges I need to work and improve on, and I will do so in the following ways. In order to present a perfect argument or presentation through speech, I have to practice public speaking more often. I have to practice in order to be confidence when speaking smoothen my presentation. As I gain confidence, I will see a marked improvement. I will utilize the learning support offered by the University, to improve my writing skills. This will have a positive impact on my grades as my ideas will be well thought out written works. Better grades will be the resultant effect of this2. I will also dedicate enough time to research to enhance the quality of my presentation. Team work refers to the ability to fit in a group and successfully achieve the set goal or goals. The ease with which one fits and work in a group is the above mentioned skill. Working as a unit is important as it leads to division of tasks or assignment, which in turn yields faster and credible solutions. As far as this particular skill is concerned I believe am well above average. I have been in many situations where it was mandatory to be a team player and also situation where I have exhibited my leadership qualities. I have worked part-time in my uncle’s repair store. I was just but one of the employees. The nature of the work was such that we all relied on each other in order to do a

Response to 4 students postings with 60 words and 2 references for Coursework - 2

Response to 4 students postings with 60 words and 2 references for each response - Coursework Example The writer presents his findings from an approach whereby he looks at how and why both validity and reliability can be determined by using basic tests and scales. Moreover, the combination of more than one scale at a time is highlighted (OConnor, 2011). This was an important aspect for the writer to have covered because clears researcher who may have some doubts with introducing new forms of scales with an existing scale they may be dealing with from their doubts (Gardener, 2009). An important perspective of the writer’s work has to do with the fact that he stated off by taking more about the advantages of using scales. In this, he explains that scales are used to â€Å"resolve the complexity inherent in people’s behavior† (Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias, 2008, pp.422-424). By this, researchers get a first hand information as to the need for them to settle for one form of scale or the other. The writer could however elaborate more on the weaknesses of using specific scales so that researchers can be on the lookout for these weaknesses and address them appropriately in their research processes (Gardener, 2009, p. 232). Much of the focus on the measurement of the validity with the use of scales was narrowed to the population that the researcher has to deal with. In this, the writer emphasized that the population is the accessible group of people that the researcher would have to be dealing with (Experiment Resource, 2011). By this, other researchers are offered an insight into how well to manipulate their populations to ensure that they achieve reliability and validity for each kind of scale that they choose (Gardener, 2009, p.

Review paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Review paper - Essay Example Their shape varies from simple helical and icosahedral (polyhedral or near-spherical) forms, to more complex structures with tails or an envelope. Viruses infect cellular forms of life and are grouped into animal, plant and bacterial viruses. There always been a discussion whether viruses are living organisms. Some consider them non-living as they do not meet the criteria of the definition of life. For example, unlike most organisms, viruses do not have cells. However, viruses have genes and evolve by natural selection. The viruses mutate and compete. They have been described as organisms at the edge of life. The main feature of virus is that it usually destroys or modifies the cell it infects , thus exist as a potential agent that could afflict mankind and cause numerous dieseases as ranging from common cold, rabies, small pox, mumps, polio ,chicken pox , measles, rubella, hemorrhagic fevers to the Acquired Immuno Deficiency syndrome. Viral infections in human as well as animal hosts usually result in an immune response and disease. Often, a virus is completely eliminated by the immune system. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses, but antiviral drugs have been developed to treat life-threatening infections. Vaccines th at produce lifelong immunity can prevent virus infections. The main area still now developed in antiviral therapy to stop the viral replication is targeted either on viral replication or the process of polyprotein clevage. Over a long period of known human history terrible epidemics involved humanity. The flu, smallpox, and plague killed millions of people. The epidemics of â€Å"Black Death† in the 14th century killed almost one third of Europe’s population. These terrible epidemics left traces in the genome of populations. There appeared a probability to resist diseases. Scientists find new surprising abilities of immunity to resist viral attacks. In this paper I would like to discuss some of the

Finalize Feasibility Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Finalize Feasibility Study - Essay Example The study becomes more feasible if another company already has such an idea. The company creates an outline for the study. A company will include a table of content, summary, cover page and description of recyclable products. Physical description of the product should be enhanced. The technology to be used by the company in recycling should be described. Marketing strategies of a mentioned business model need also to be implemented. Critical factors of risk encountered in recycling are also considered in the study. Various financial anticipations and conclusion have to be clear in the study. Recycled items are majorly categorized into; plastics, metals and glass. Under plastics items such as plastic papers, plastic containers like those of detergents are recycled. Metals such as aluminum, copper and steel are recycled. Glass which is majorly known as cullet is recycled. Cullet is then melted down to make glass bottles. Recyclable items are hauled away by trucks of sanitation where it is taken to several places. These places include a landfill, an incinerator until then it can reach a recycling facility.About14,300 tones of trash is incinerated yearly. This helps in provision of electricity for a given community. Landfills are prepared in a way that trash and other recyclable materials are deep down and covered to ensure no micro-organisms get exposed on the environment. When most recyclable items reach a land fill most of them get exposed on the environment which is quite not a good thing. Recycling has become more vital to our environment which ensures a perfect way of minimizing waste. For that matter recyclable trash should always get recycled. To make recycling economically feasible and make the environment more effective, a system should be put in place for extracting recyclables from wastes and reprocess them into more demanded recycled products. Without this initiative recycling remains collection rather than being

Change in Perception and Use of Information from the Internet Essay

Change in Perception and Use of Information from the Internet - Essay Example Reading a book or a long article used to be an easy task to many. The mind would automatically get drawn in into the narrative or argument turns enabling one to read for long periods of time sometimes without breaks. This is not the case now. Concentration gets often lost after a few pages of reading. The mind somehow shuts down and finds an alternative activity to do. Carr explains that long gone is the in depth reading that was the default brain setting. Carr sentiments are a true representation of the present series of events. People have lost interest in in-depth reading, not because they chose to, but because their brains just will not do it anymore (Carr 45). In the past, information got collected primarily by reading. One would have to read a book or the source of information inside out and in some cases repeatedly to lock the information obtained in the brain. This has changed now. One does not have to research or read widely in order to get information. It is all there on the internet. Information gets easily obtained through a click of a button. With a computer and access to the World Wide Web, information is literally on your screen. Sourcing information through the use of technology erodes whatever little that got left of the reading culture.

Descartes’ Meditations Essay Example for Free

Descartes’ Meditations Essay Rene Descartes is not only a known philosopher, but he also contributed significantly in the field of mathematics. It is with the same vigor and methodological reason he applied in the realm of Mathematics by which he comes to his conclusions in the Meditations. Hence, we see him going about his arguments, thoughts, opinions, and conclusions in a reasonable, methodological fashion, forming skeptical hypotheses in every step. In a way, Meditations can be regarded as a guide for the readers: it seeks to take along the reader with the meditator in his journey of the unknown and knowing. It tries to convince them to follow his step-by-step argumentation and skepticism, and to accept the obvious logical conclusion of each. Yet, although his conclusions are impressive and convincing, a crack in his reasoning might break down his arguments. The purpose of this paper then, is to examine the ideas, assumptions, and arguments presented by Descartes. However, this paper will only concern itself with the first two parts of Descartes’ Meditations (Meditation I: Of the Things Which May Be Brought Within the Sphere of Doubt and Meditation II: Concerning the Nature of the Human Mind: That It Is Better Known Than the Body). The First Meditation: Methodic Doubt In the First Meditation, Descartes cast all things into doubt. He does this by first questioning all that he knows as he remembers his senses has deceived him before. He says: All that up to the present time I have accepted as most true and certain I have learned from either from the senses or through the senses; but it is sometimes proved to me that these senses are deceptive, and it is wiser not to trust entirely to any thing by which we have once been deceived (Descartes, pg. 0). He then continues to give proof of his reasons for doubting what he knows to be true. He considers if he might be crazy, dreaming, or deceived by God or an evil genius. He reasons out that he is not mad as the mad people who imagine things when these are clearly not the case, and dismisses that possibility. He considers that when is dreaming he is convinced that what his senses perceive are real, only to find out that it was not. Finally, he thinks that perhaps an omnipotent being, God, deceives him into believing all the things around him exists even if these are not true, yet he cannot accept that because it would go against the nature of God’s goodness, hence he supposes that it is â€Å"not God who s supremely good and the fountain of truth, but some evil genius not less powerful than deceitful, has employed his whole energies in deceiving me; I shall consider that the heavens, earth, colors, figures, sound, and all other external things are nought but the illusions and dreams of which this genius has availed himself in order to lay traps for my credulity† (Descartes, pg. 33). Ending the first part, he closes with likening himself to a prisoner who while sleeping enjoys freedom but knows that it is only a dream, and is afraid to wake up. The meditator knows that he has opened a Pandora’s box of questioning and yet chooses to go back to his former beliefs for the meantime. Descartes’ method of questioning and casting all that can be questioned as being false is the underlying concept of skepticism, and his has been called methodic doubt. One by one he stripped his notions of truth so he could get to the most fundamental part, for he says he only needs one immovable point on which to build truth. Descartes’ questioning of the senses and perception is useful in order to arrive at the fundamental point of his argument which is to find what is absolute, what cannot be doubted given that he is casting everything in the sphere of doubt. We find out in the second part of the Meditations that though everything can be cast into doubt, there is one thing that cannot: his thoughts doubting themselves. No matter what happens, there is an absolute truth: that he is thinking. And he thinks, he exists. But then what is the point of all these? When does an individual begin to think? Is it not that the thinking process is facilitated by the accumulation of ideas, ideas gleaned from the dubious world through imperfect senses? Does this mean that the mad person who can comprehend his existence is as sane as the rest? It seems convenient to cast everything into doubt and the senses in question to arrive at the fundamental point of the consciousness. But what is the consciousness, where does it stem from? Does it not have a vessel? Are we to accept that we are merely floating consciousness in the abyss? Or that we are simply consciousness being deceived by an evil genius? Descartes’ Belief in the Idea of God and the Evil Genius Which brings us to Descartes’ discussion of God and the evil genius. Descartes casts everything into doubt except God, that is why he could not accept that God will deceive him. Of course this can be argued as Descartes way of trying to coax the conservative Jesuits to read and accept his arguments, for if he downright casts God into the realm of doubt as he did his body then he might be excommunicated or ordered to be killed as Galileo. Then if it is not God it must be something as powerful yet evil, the evil genius. If we follow this train of thought, does it make sense? This borders on theological argument, but why would an all powerful, all good God as believed in by the meditator allow an evil genius to deceive him? If the All powerful, all good God is indeed all powerful and all good, then he will not allow this evil genius to exist, or would he? Because then if God and the evil genius are pitted against each other, who will win if they are both powerful and so on? Also, where did this idea of an evil genius come from? It is, according to the flow of arguments in the Meditations, necessitated by the theory of being deceived. Something must be doing the deceiving, and that something must be powerful enough to paint the world and deceive the beholder. A being as powerful as that can only be God, but since it goes against God’s nature, then t must be the evil genius. But what is the cause of this evil genius? Was it not the need of the meditator for an evil genius to support his arguments? Hence, can we not argue that there is no evil genius? In the same vein, that there is no God? Descartes said: I have long had fixed in my mind the belief that an all-powerful God existed by whom I have been created as such as I am (pg. 32). He provides no reason, no proof of God’s existence but proceeds with his meditations as though this was a given. Why would it be? Is God’s existence and goodness really necessary? Can these not be cast into doubt as well? Or the thought of casting God into doubt is unspeakable? For if we will really cast everything into the realm of doubt, would not there be only the self talking to itself? Descartes’ unwillingness to put God to the test makes Descartes’ methodological reasoning biased. If Descartes is biased in his reasoning, can we accept the conclusions he has arrived at? He stubbornly holds that an idea of a perfect being is necessarily true and necessarily means that the perfect being exists for who will put that idea to him, him an imperfect being who must be incapable of conceiving anything perfect? Already there is a fallacy in his thinking, for this becomes evidently a tautological argument. But more than that, his defining this ultimate being, this perfect being as based on an idea of it throws off his arguments. What of the heavens and the sea? Of earthly things which he has ideas of also, then does it not mean that they are true because he has ideas of them? Will he point out that these are a different case because our idea of these material things are based on our perception of them through our senses? And that mythical figures such as mermaids are complex images formed out of simple things combined yet still has basis on sensory perception? Then, can we argue that his notion of an ultimate being must have come from the simple idea of an imperfect being and make that complex, let us say a carpenter who we know can build a house, and if he can build a house maybe there is a perfect carpenter who can build a world? For why would a perfect being, perfectly good, can be doubted if we so choose? The Second Meditation: Arriving at Consciousness Descartes’ argument supposes there are simple things that do not need explaining but which can be taken for truth. If there is no ultimate Being, and no evil genius, who then makes up all the illusion? The mind as the powerful deceiver, as it is the only thing that can attend to the train of his thoughts simultaneously. If we do doubt God, we will more or less arrive at the same conclusion, that the only thing that we cannot doubt is one’s own skeptical thinking. As Descartes makes clear when in the passage: is there not some God, or some other being by whatever name we call it, who puts these reflections into my mind? That is not necessary, for is it not possible that I am capable of producing them myself? I, myself, am I not at least something? But I have already denied that I had senses and body†¦ am I so dependent on body and senses that I cannot exist without these? Bu I was persuaded that there was nothing in all the world, that there was no heaven, no earth, that there no minds nor any bodies: was I not then likewise persuaded that I did not exist? †¦ but there is some deceiver or other, very powerful and very cunning, who ever employs his ingenuity in deceiving me. Then without doubt I exist also if he deceives me, and let him deceive me as much as he will, he can never cause me to be nothing so long as I think that I am something (Descartes, pg. 34). Here is saying that he thinks he is something, which lays the groundwork for: But then what am I? A thing which thinks. What is a thing which thinks? It is a thing which doubts, understands, conceives, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, which also imagines and feels (Descartes, pg. 37). Of course in this statement can be summed up the famous â€Å"I think, therefore I am†. But it is not merely thinking per se that Descartes is saying here, but rather self-awareness, or consciousness. One’s consciousness is absolute: it tells him that he does exist for certain, even if everything else is illusion. Hence, one’s consciousness implies one’s existence. The Consciousness and the Wax Argument The truth is fundamental, common sense. The consciousness needs no explaining because everybody understands what it is. But let us ask, where does consciousness come from? Perhaps this is no longer part of Descartes’ philosophy, as his thesis has been chiefly to prove that if one has consciousness then he exists. That is why the important construction of the statement, I think, I am. It is necessarily has to be the I who has understanding of being. How does one think though? Through the ideas garnered from sensory perception? To explain further, and in a way define himself better through example, Descartes turns to the analogy of the wax. Descartes asks how he knows of the wax, when its physical properties change? When its color, texture, size, shape, smell change, is it still not wax? Thus: what then did I know so distinctly in this piece of wax? It could certainly be nothing of all that the senses brought to my notice†¦ for all these are found to be changed, and yet the same wax remains†¦ (p. 39). Descartes argues that the wax does not change, but he knows it not through the senses but because he grasps the idea of the wax with his mind: But what is this piece of wax which cannot be understood excepting by the mind? †¦what must particularly be observed is that its perception [of the wax] is neither an act of vision, nor of touch, nor of imagination, and has never been such although it may have appeared formerly to be so (Descartes, p. 39). Further, he uses the wax to affirm his existence when he says that his perception of the wax no matter how distinct or indistinct only proves the existence of his mind as being the thing that processes all these, proving not the wax but the nature of his mind. In this way Descartes is actually saying that all we know, we know from the mind. That is why he believes that we know the mind better than we know the body. This not only affirms his consciousness, but also affirms Meditation I’s methodic doubt. After all, we only know the world through ideas – these ideas including dreams, concepts, images, perceptions, and memories – hence, we know the world indirectly. Also, these ideas represent something else – something that is external or separate from the self, that which we do not identify with I, making them separate from the mind as well. Since these are external to the mind, these can be illusions, false images or faulty representations. And if these ideas can be trusted, what can be but the absolute existence of the thing that conceives these ideas in the first place, the mind, the consciousness. Conclusion Descartes’ Meditations is undoubtedly an important text in history, and its methodic presentation convincing. His thesis that we could doubt everything but the existence of the self via the consciousness makes perfect sense – with or without the reference to an ultimate Being or an evil genius, as his insistence, or his inclusion of these, stains his logical arguments, for there is no logical basis for God or the Devil. But then, since these does not cripple nor in any way change the outcome of the meditations, then it could be safely dismissed as perhaps a necessary inclusion to encourage conservative readers of the time to consider a novel idea before they turn a skeptic eye on him.