Ethical Mishap: The Case of Boeing

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Table of Contents

Introduction
External Unethical Situation
Ethical Theory and Practice
Analysis
Leader’s Role
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Business organizations need to follow established ethical principles if they are to achieve their goals and meet the demands of all key stakeholders. Moral questions and inappropriate practices might affect the overall performance and image of the affected company. When ethical questions arise, leaders should apply the best strategies to address them and maximize the confidence of all business partners. This discussion offers a detailed analysis of the ethical issues arising from Boeing’s crisis.

External Unethical Situation

In 2018 and 2019, two crashes involving the 737 MAX aircraft forced airlines across the globe to ground their fleet. This crisis exposed the ineffective organizational culture at Boeing. Experts revealed that the flight control system intended to prevent the aircraft from stalling had serious flaws (Lopatto & O’Kane, 2020). The company introduced the software to keep pace with the increasing level of competition from Airbus.

The corporation was being insincere regarding the nature of this new technology. Several months later, one of the engineers filed an integrity complaint indicating that the top management had rejected a safety analysis plan. Such a decision was intended to reduce costs, thereby increasing the risk of recorded crashes (Hawkins, 2019). This ethical issue has become a model for analyzing various business practices.

Ethical Theory and Practice

Deontological ethics is a powerful theory that requires people to adhere to their outlined duties and obligations and make proper decisions. This aspect explains how and why it can provide the best framework for ethical analysis. Those who embrace it will uphold their roles without considering the consequences. Benlahcene et al. (2018) identify the theory as appropriate since it will result in actions that are acceptable and ethically correct. The leaders at Boeing should have subjected the software to numerous safety tests.

The best ethical practice that offers a practical framework for this analysis is that of accountability. This initiative allows individuals to act diligently, follow their codes of ethics, and focus on the outcomes and experiences of all other key stakeholders. The organization’s top leadership should have compelled all workers to focus on this practice and improve the level of safety (Hawkins, 2019). The relevant department’s failure to remain accountable could explain why this ethical situation exists today.

Analysis

Deontological ethics describes and guides people to act diligently and complete their tasks as required. Those who consider such a practice will pursue what is right without looking at the outcomes or consequences (Benlahcene et al., 2018). In this case, the involved parties should have applied the deontological principle to produce and deliver a secure system. Such an approach would have prevented such accidents.

Leader’s Role

The leader involved in this case should have presented powerful guidelines to dictate the actions of the relevant departments. The individual would have guided all participants to complete every security check (Gates, 2020). These approaches would have provided a different result. The current gap requires that the leader applies powerful steps to address the issue. The first one entails owning the ethical dilemma and accepting responsibility. The second step is being involved in the ongoing investigations and considering evidence-based ways to restore stakeholder confidence. The third one is introducing continuous improvement mechanisms to prevent similar gaps in the future.

Conclusion

The case of Boeing remains outstanding since it describes some of the malpractices that led to two crashes. Deontological ethics is a powerful model for analyzing similar challenges and guiding stakeholders to address them using evidence-based steps. The recommendations outlined above can, therefore, make it possible for this company to deal with the current gap.

References

Benlahcene, A., Zainuddin, R. B., Syakiran, N., & Ismail, A. B. (2018). A narrative review of ethics: Teleological & deontological ethics. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 23(7), 31-38. Web.

Gates, D. (2020). Boeing’s 737 MAX ‘design failures’ and FAA’s ‘grossly insufficient’ review slammed. The Seattle Times. Web.

Lopatto, E., & O’Kane, S. (2020). Boeing employees’ frightening internal messages released in 737 Max investigation. The Verge. Web.

Hawkins, A. J. (2019). Everything you need to know about the Boeing 737 Max airplane crashes. The Verge. Web.

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