Westjet case

Consultant Report
I. Introduction
WestJet began as a Canadian low-cost carrier which has been growing rapidly and has experienced domestic and non-domestic expansion. Its unique corporate culture of engagement and invested interest is based on creativity, innovation, care, productivity and fun which has been its sustainable competitive advantage in the market.
II. Issues
WestJet isexperiencing some underlying issues and problems which threaten the success of future growth. First of all, there is a lack of knowledge and experience necessary to further develop their cultural-business complex to assure the sustainability of the corporate culture in their growth. As well no discernable succession plan for management may lead to the inability of executives to maintain the corecompetencies. Finally the requirement of staff at all levels to be youthful is facing a future workforce that will have a high demand for young talent thus pressing WestJet to find new ways to recruit employees and employee retention.
Some symptoms of the associated growing pains WestJet is undergoing are: in 2009 WestJet’s disagreed with the new contract proposal based on the lack of a strategicretention policy, the outsourcing of activities in foreign countries to organizations that do have a vested interest in the success of WestJet and the underlying corporate culture, and the increased need for upper level management personnel creating the potential for a bureaucratic disconnect.
III. Analysis
The success of WestJet resides on its corporate culture, and its tremendous growth of the companythreatens the stability of the culture and consequently a loss in the market. Therefore, the success of the company will reside on its people who follow the principles and the values that characterize the core competencies of the company. The company has a Human Resource Management system which includes practices such as training programs, mentoring programs, and rewards programs which permitthe constant improvement of operations and retention of employees. However, if this system does not have the foundations and flexibility to support the growth, it will be very difficult to assure a sustainable corporate culture.
WestJet’s system has worked since the foundation of the company; however, they need to know if the system is flexible enough to make adjustments based on the marketsituation. If they want to grow, they need to hire people who fit with their culture, and to develop employees inside of WestJet who embody the culture to fill the new positions derived from growth. According to Chatman and Cha (2003), it is more convenient to hire people who fit in their culture than to hire people who fit in the job. People can acquire knowledge develop new skills; however, it isdifficult to fit them in a specific corporate culture (pp. 26) . If they do not train and motivate employees to follow the procedures and the values which characterize West Jet culture, they will lose their competitive advantage.
An example of the issue of growth and sustaining corporate culture is the outsourcing of positions in foreign countries. WestJet’s outsourcing dilutes the corporateculture it depends on. WestJet has externalized these positions because they do not provide a competitive advantage however as WestJet grows more foreign positions will be required. The growth of outsourcing will become an issue as the two competing factors collide: efficient cost-effective operations versus sustaining corporate culture. They need to consider whether to engage these people in thecompany or to simply internalize these positions or to find some middle ground between the two.
Another example of the issues facing WestJet is the pilot negotiations. The pilots’ disagreement with the contract offered threatened the future operations and the growth of WestJet. A major element WestJet’s success is that their pilots are non-unionized, and have cross-functional jobs. According to...