Business - Management Strategic Management Process/Vision, Goals, Objectives

"The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit" (Southwest Airlines, 2011).

A mission statement defines the company's purpose and primary goals. Its main function is internal to classify the key measure or measures of the company's achievement and its prime viewers are the leadership team and the stockholders. A good mission statement should: express the core competency of the business, including the organization's strengths, values and purpose, state the organization's overall strategy for determining long-term success, explain why they organization exists and explain what the organization is trying to accomplish (Mission Statements and Vision Statements, 2011).

Southwest's mission statement expresses its core competency in its dedication to the highest quality of customer service. They explain their strategy for providing this high quality customer service by providing warmth, friendliness, individual pride and company spirit. What their mission statement does not state is the organization's strengths, values and purpose. They also don't explain what the organization is trying to accomplish. These are two very important things that should be included so that the mission statement would be complete.

Vision

"At Southwest Airlines, we consider ourselves much more than just a business; we are a neighbor in the community where you live. We champion causes that matter most in the communities we serve by developing relationships with nonprofit organizations on both a local and national level" (Southwest Airlines, 2011).

Vision statements also classify the company's purpose, but it's done in terms of the company's values rather than the bottom line measures or the things that are guiding beliefs about how things should be done. The visions statement communicates both the purpose and the principles of the organization. For workers, it gives direction about how they are anticipated to act and encourages them to give their best. Shared with consumers, it shapes consumers' understanding...

A good vision statement should explain what the business wants to accomplish, should set the time for accomplishing the goal, inspire creativity, energize growth and motivate employees.
The vision statement for Southwest is good, but it is not as good as it could be. They state what it is that they want to accomplish, which is being a neighbor in the community by championing causes that matter most in the communities they serve by developing relationships with nonprofit organizations on both a local and national level. They set no time frames for accomplishing this goal, so no one knows how long they want to try and accomplish this goal. There are a couple of things that are lacking in this vision statement. The company does not having anything in here that necessarily inspire creativity, energize growth or motivate employees. These three things are very important for the company as a whole as well as individual employee. People need to know where the company is, where they want to get to and how they are going to get there.

Values

"Our people are our single greatest strength and most enduring long-term competitive advantage" (Southwest Airlines, 2011).

Corporate values have become an ethical foundation for business, particularly over the last few years. Core values became very popular as a result. They document established principles in key areas of importance. They also provide standards for behavior at every level of the business. Core values provide a vision of a company's intended principles, as they relate to dealing with employees, serving share holders, and accepting responsibility for their community and the environment (Stacey, 2007).

Southwest has identified their greatest value as their employees. The see their human capital as their most enduring long-term competitive advantage. This is definitely an area that a company should value the most. Without good employees most businesses do not stay in business very long. What appears to be missing is that they could have stood to identify some other values for the company. They need to identify some that relate to the share holders,…