In terms of implications of spirituality for both employees and companies,
we can relate our analysis of SWA in several important ways to recent findings
which link a highly satisfied workforce (a core aspect of a spiritual-based
company) to organizational financial performance. First, Grant (1998) found
that in order for the ``best'' (from an employee satisfaction perspective)
companies to be profitable, workers must see a connection between their jobs
and the company's mission. Further, in support of the earlier contentions of
Collins and Porras's (1994) Built to Last, it was found that this sense of mission
is not making a profit, but involves some notion of making a real difference in
the world or personal betterment of the company's customers (Lieber, 1998).
Concerning this point, SWA's core values of a sense of community and cause
directly relate to SWA's business strategy of offering low-cost air travel to
customers who ordinarily couldn't afford to fly. In addition, the emphasis SWA
places on emotional expression and humor directly connects to offering an
extremely personable and fun-oriented brand of service quality.