When I viewed the video from Southwest Airlines I had a feeling that there are some employees in the company who wanted to help other employees on a peer level. The idea of Hookie day is a great concept where it allows the employees to give the helping hand.
In establishing a cultural norm in the organization the employees who participate in this event I feel they are making efforts to strive to establish a cultural norm. I did notice that a majority of the crews that were surprised by these participants say that they had heard of it but never been exposed to it. That made me kind of wonder whether this was a public relations tactic to show the company really cares about their employees. The one flight attendant who was surprised to see the crew and the camera appeared to be really surprised that they were there.
The purpose of the Hookie day event is an effort by the cultural committee to create change on how the employees inside the company view each other. The effort of the committee could be looked upon as the upper management trying to convey a warm fuzzy we care about you attitude. I understand that the upper management probably does care about their employees but the fact that line workers are doing the dirty work with upper management personnel being present strikes me as a weak effort to connect with its employees.
In my organization we have efforts similar to a culture committee where the upper management says they have an open door policy. The upper management tries and reconnects with the employees of the company by coming around to the local sub stations and talk to employees. The upper management has a tradition also where after every joint roll call where the Sheriff and his staff hold meetings quarterly and shake the hands of each and every officer leaving the meeting and tells them they are doing a great job. The flip side to this is that employees jokingly label the shaking of the hands as walking down the gauntlet. This confirms in my opinion the distrust the employees have for the upper management.
I take away the purpose and reasoning of why it is helpful for not only the employees but the management of the company to have an atmosphere of trust and cooperation. Employees helping employees is a very important process to maintain a smooth working environment.
I have observed the efforts Southwest made to show the employees that they care but I still ask the main question. Why isn’t the upper management directly participating in these events?
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