Christian Worldview: Impact on Mission, Vision Statements and Business Practices

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1. Christian Worldview: Impact on Mission, Vision Statements and Business Practices

   A Christian worldview, often referred to as Biblical Worldview is a framework of beliefs and ideas for which individual Christians, Christianity cultures or groups interpret the world and interact with it.  Despite the existence of various Christian denominations, fundamental elements and themes of the Christian worldview are commonly agreed upon by all Christians.  The high number of Christians all over the world means that their belief and perspectives influence business practices. As such, Christian worldview is becoming a central factor to consider when making key business decisions such as developing mission and vision statements.  The focus of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the Christian worldview on the mission, vision, and business practices of Southwest Airlines.

   Christian Worldview

   The Christian worldview is primarily based on the word of God is infallible. A common theme in the Christian worldview is that God is the almighty and is sovereign of all existence.  As such, there is a rejection of any dualism as it is in principle, as opposed to God (Anderson, Clark, & Naugle, 2017).  Consequently, Christian worldview rejects all forms of secular authority. Notably, every person has a worldview which is a perception of how they view worldly affairs.  Even though some individuals are not aware of their worldview, it comes out when they make biases and presuppositions that influence how they view reality and life in general.   Often, our worldview is informed by the levels of education, culture, upbringing, and the media we frequently interact with.  However, something unique about individual worldview is that it develops unconsciously as nobody thinks about it strategically, which makes it almost impossible to explain a rationale for having a specific worldview. 

   Christianity, which advances the concept of a biblical worldview is based on faith; it is reasonable faith as its rationales are in the bible.  In this regard, everyone has faith. Some have faith in the government, institutions, their business, employment, education or themselves.  However, one key feature of faith is that it is virtual, and it can fail (White & Kirkpatrick, 2020). For instance, one can lose a job, fail to secure employment or have a relationship breakdown. As stated in Hebrew 13:5, life can change, but God remains the same: thus, he will beaver forsake or leave those who belong to Him. Another central theme in Christian world view is the belief inequality. In this regard, since God is the origin of all individuals, people are similar in all aspects. As such, they should all be treated equitably.

   Vision and Mission Statements

   Southwest Airlines is an American Airways company whose headquarter is in Dallas, Texas. The company prides itself as the largest low-cost airline career in the world.  Having started as interstate airways, Southwest Airlines has developed to operate over 100 destinations in the United States while also serving ten additional nations (Wu et al., 2019).   The company's position puts it in direct competition with United Airlines and American Airlines.

   Vision statement- To be the world's most loved, most efficient, and most profitable airline.

   The vision statement of Southwest Airlines reflects its determination to achieving the greater social good. In this regard, the focus on being "the world's most loved' airline means that the company aims at influencing perceptions of customers to like it.  Therefore, the firm is focused on enhancing the experiences of customers which means carrying out activities that enhance the greater social good not only to their clients but the whole community.

   Mission Statement - Dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit (Airlines, 2018).

   Southwest Airlines' mission statement reflects its commitment to promoting the greater social good in its operations.  Notably, this is reflected in the whole statement, which is customer-centric. In this regard, the company wants to offer customer service of the highest quality while also appealing to the emotions of the customers by being friendly and warm.

   Commitment to the Greater Social Good Relation to Elements of a Christian Worldview

   Southwest Airlines focuses on offering greater customer experiences. Notably, the company allows flexibility is rescheduling flights is as late as ten minutes before a flight. Moreover, they offer free non-alcoholic beverages to customers on all flights. Similarly, they provide two free boarding passes for all passengers' luggage. While these practices enhance customer experiences, they eliminate inequality. For instance, everyone gets a drink while also being able to carry luggage without extra fees. The equality in treating people is central to the Christian worldview, which advocates that everyone is equal having been created in the image of God (Gibson & Augsburger, 2019). Moreover, the focus on customer experience depicts the company as being a commitment to serve the people. The approach resonates with a Christian worldview perspective of "being of service to the people."

   Company's Practices Consistency with a Christian Worldview

   Southwest Airlines' practices are consistent with Christian Worldview. In this regard, the company's main focus is on the people as they advocate for great customer experiences. For instance, they are the airline which offers free several on-board services. Moreover, customers can cancel flights and get credits without any complications. As such, the company is focused on servicing the people as it is detailed in the Christian worldview. Similarly, the treatment of each customer equally, especially in spreading out seats after booking reflects treating people equally, thereby resonating with the equality theme within Christian worldview.

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Assessing Risk and Reward

The Nissan Motor Company is one of the leading automobile makers in the world. The Japanese carmaker has primarily enjoyed a successful run, allowing it to enter various regional and international markets such as the United States. However, the changing business environment was not favorable to the company in 2019. Notably, the cooperation recorded losses amounting to 7.8%. The experience pushed the management into making tough decisions, requiring almost all of its North American workforce to go for unpaid leaves.

In late 2019, the company announced that the decline in sales necessitated a two-day unpaid leave for the North American workers. The stated days for the vacation were January 2 and 3^rd    (Chicago Tribune, 2019).  Notably, this move was a crucial decision for the company because of its conflicting impacts. Whereas on the positive side, it could help the firm minimize expenses, it threatened to affect the public perception of the company regarding employee welfare.

The rewards for the decision involved cutting expenses by not paying the workers on leave, which eventually would translate into reduced expenses. Another reward was that the decision could allow the company to optimize performance by evaluating employee performances then developing new milestones. However, on the low side, the company risked affecting its public image and brand name, especially in the North American market. As per Chakravorti (2010), the way an organization treats its employees influences the firm's public perception. Thus, Nissan risked eliciting a negative public perception. With a distorted public image, the company could fail to revive its declining sales.

I would have advised the management of Nissan to utilize the Predictive Analytic perspective in determining the right decision to take. Ideally, the approach tries to predict what might happen in the future if particular decisions or actions are undertaken at the moment (Traymbak & Aggarwal, 2019). Looking at the situation at Nissan, the company needed to develop a goal such as increasing sales. After that, they would have made decisions aimed at realizing the set goal. In this regard, the predicted outcome could give the management an overview of whether more risks existed or significant rewards could be realized.

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