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| CREDIBILITY |
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| | Continental Airlines |  | President/CEO:Mr. Gordon Bethune | | 37636 employees | | HQ: Houston, TX | | www.continental.com |
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| Houston-based Continental Airlines is the fifth largest airline in the United States, with nearly 30,000 full-time employees. Management's credibility shows up powerfully through its communication practices and accessibility. |
| The airline's CEO, Gordon Bethune, visits with employees in a different city every month at "CEO Exchanges," talking to employees about the company and answering their questions directly. The CEO also sends a voice mail message to employees with weekly news every Friday, which any employee can access at any time through a toll-free number. To make sure the message gets across, a transcript of the voice mail is made available on the company's Intranet. |
| To offer feedback, employees can leave a message for Bethune in the Chairman's Voice Mail Box, which he personally checks to hear comments, questions and suggestions. These practices are the norm throughout the Continental organization. Most department heads record their own departmental voice mail updates. In fact, the senior vice president of Field Services, the Company's largest division, updates his voice mail message twice each week. |
| By keeping the channels of communication open at all times, Continental's managers create a "small company" feel throughout their huge organization. |
