Southwest Airlines has a culture of supporting each other and having a friendly outgoing service culture that is translated into its customer service practices. One of these practices is that customers can arrive at the gate and pick their seats instead of reserving a seat. That has caused tension with their marketing department as an executive stated that their marketing department is not proud of the boarding practice and the Southwest was resistant to change (2013). This is an example of conflict between the two departments (operations and marketing) because strategy impacts them differently.Improvements in communicating the different department concerns would decrease resistance to change, which we see when Southwest experimented with its onboarding process to see what would work best while still meeting the needs of their customers.

Southwest's use of a "Culture Committee" to increase the sense of ownership and allow employee feedback is essential to maintaining their culture and coordination between different departments. While discussing the decision to bid to serve for La Guardia the CEO allowed a discussion between supports and those who were against it so that all concerns could be addressed. The financial department shared how they cut costs by hedging fuel which is a major expense. While the operating department was concerned that this would be a divergence from the original strategy and culture of Southwest (2013). Having the fianc department working to manage fuel cost and the operating department working to have planes wait on the ground instead of the air during delays is an example of the two departments coordinating to ensure that the strategy is implemented properly (2013). This will allow Southwest to continue to grow while working to ensure that their culture and competitive advantage is maintained.

What can be concluded from the above?