Westjet: Building Culture Solutions
Solutions to Case Study
Ans1: The competitive advantages that West Jet has are:
➢ Unique Corporate Culture: The main competitive advantage that WestJet had was their unique culture. Even the executives and pilots help the customer whenever necessary; encourage employees to share suggestions for improvement. They maintained the policy of Care for People.
➢ Low operating cost: They have low prices to attract more customers, who would otherwise take train or bus.
➢ No union environment: Unlike others air lines, West Jet don’t believe in any unions, and spending money on it but have Pro Active Communication Team (PACT). In case of issues West Jetters are expected to take the initial and resolve the issue on their own.
The source of the competitive advantage comes from management and employees both. To Management culture was defined by the actions of the executives. The company was managed from the bottom up. The employees were allowed to do job without much interference from team leaders. They always tried to come up with new ideas which customer could avail with less cost eg introduction of sleeper cabin. They hired new and fresh staff which was enthusiastic and had good sense of humor. WestJet made their own culture and did things differently, which turned out to be of great advantage to West Jet.
Ans2: Yes, the culture at WestJet is as important to the competitive success of WestJet as its management team believes it to be. It is because culture consists of shared values, beliefs and assumptions. They had strong coordination, conflict resolutions system and great financial success which is clearly shown in the study. Their working culture was an advantage in their success. A culture of care was regarded necessary for providing customer satisfaction. The following policies were adopted in their culture which helped West Jet making achievement.
➢ Re-label task and responsibilities: passengers were not
Ans1: The competitive advantages that West Jet has are:
➢ Unique Corporate Culture: The main competitive advantage that WestJet had was their unique culture. Even the executives and pilots help the customer whenever necessary; encourage employees to share suggestions for improvement. They maintained the policy of Care for People.
➢ Low operating cost: They have low prices to attract more customers, who would otherwise take train or bus.
➢ No union environment: Unlike others air lines, West Jet don’t believe in any unions, and spending money on it but have Pro Active Communication Team (PACT). In case of issues West Jetters are expected to take the initial and resolve the issue on their own.
The source of the competitive advantage comes from management and employees both. To Management culture was defined by the actions of the executives. The company was managed from the bottom up. The employees were allowed to do job without much interference from team leaders. They always tried to come up with new ideas which customer could avail with less cost eg introduction of sleeper cabin. They hired new and fresh staff which was enthusiastic and had good sense of humor. WestJet made their own culture and did things differently, which turned out to be of great advantage to West Jet.
Ans2: Yes, the culture at WestJet is as important to the competitive success of WestJet as its management team believes it to be. It is because culture consists of shared values, beliefs and assumptions. They had strong coordination, conflict resolutions system and great financial success which is clearly shown in the study. Their working culture was an advantage in their success. A culture of care was regarded necessary for providing customer satisfaction. The following policies were adopted in their culture which helped West Jet making achievement.
➢ Re-label task and responsibilities: passengers were not