Introduction
The company that is known today as the main competitor to Boeing was established in 2000. Now, the Airbus Group is headquartered in France while having divisions in many European countries (Airbus Group 2013). The mission of the company is to preserve the leading position in the sphere of aeronautics and defence while focusing on providing high-quality services, on competing in the global market, on driving innovation, and on following the professional and ethical principles strictly. The purpose of this report is to analyse the effectiveness of Airbus Group’s practices and policies related to the professional and ethical conduct, to identify strengths and possible challenges in the sphere, and to provide recommendations to improve the situation.
Professional Standards and Ethical Policies
The activities of the Airbus Group are regulated according to the professional standards declared by the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD). According to these standards, the company operating in the industry should develop the programme of compliance with laws and regulations, focus on prohibiting corruptive strategies, develop the policy regarding gifts and donations, and implement integrity programmes (Common Industry Standards 2013). Referring to the experience of the Airbus Group in developing the ethical and professional conduct programmes, it is important to state that the company developed the effective Airbus’ Ethics & Compliance programme. It proposes strategies to improve communication and training in the organisation and to conduct ethics and compliance investigations. The main focus is on following the principle of “Prevent/Detect/Respond” to predict the situation of violating the professional standards (Ethics & Compliance 2014).
Corruption is prohibited in the industry, and it is one of the most challenging questions for aerospace companies. It is stated in the Airbus Group’s ethical principles that the company “has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption of any kind” (Ethics & Compliance 2014, para. 7). In spite of the issues of bribery in the past, the Airbus Group established the effective Anti-corruption Compliance Programme, and its efforts were evaluated by the specialists in the field as effective. The company also developed the detailed integrity programme and formulated the basic integrity principles that are commitment to people, commitment to the company, commitment to building trust, commitment to conducting business ethically, commitment to corporate citizenship, and the focus on responsiveness (Airbus Group: ethics & compliance 2014).
The Company’s Professional Impact
Referring to the mentioned professional and ethical standards and principles, it is possible to analyse the company’s professional impact on stakeholders. Intending to address the needs of the employees, suppliers, shareholders, and customers, the Airbus Group developed the ethical code of conduct, according to which the focus is on respecting diversity, fostering the talent, and supporting the safety and health. In addition, the company’s leaders focused on promoting the ethical standards widely, including India, Brazil, Russia, and Saudi Arabia (Airbus Group 2013). As a result, the commitment of stakeholders to ethical principles promoted at the company increased as well as the quality and safety of the provided services. One of the main steps of the Airbus Group to contribute to the development of the ethical conduct and compliance in the company was the organisation of the International Forum on Business Ethics Conduct (IFBEC) (IFBEC 2013). The Airbus Group became a founding member of the forum focused on commitment to ethical standards in the aerospace industry.
Community and World Issues
The Airbus Group is an active community member, and it works to address the main community and world issues. The reason is that the company works in many regions of the world, and it concentrates on different issues, depending on the community’s needs. The global priority is the focus on the environmental protection. The development of an eco-efficient firm is the requirement for working in the European, North American, and Asian regions. It is necessary to use innovative technologies to reduce the emissions of the carbon dioxide, and the corporation needs to develop specific environmental regulations to address the community’s needs. The next issue is the necessity of the sustainable business development (Airbus Group: ethics & compliance 2014). Much attention should be paid to technology acquisition and implementation of innovations in the technological process.
Corporate Social Responsibility
To respond to the identified community and world issues, the Airbus Group developed the corporate social responsibility policy. According to this policy, the main spheres to address are innovation, environment, employees, and community. The Airbus Group chose to focus on innovation in order to improve the quality and safety of products and to provide services at a lower cost. The company invests into research and development and implements advanced aircraft programmes. New technologies aim to improve the quality of products and decrease emissions (Ethics & Compliance 2014). As a result, the complex programme is oriented to both innovation and efficiency. The Airbus Group pays much attention to making the production eco-efficient while integrating new approaches and technologies in the manufacturing process.
Employees are the other area of concern for the company. Having employees in many countries, the company focuses on promoting diversity, cooperation, and engagement. As a result, the female workforce is about 17% in the company, and the number of training hours is about 3.9 million a year (Airbus Group 2013; Table 1). The community’s needs are addressed through the charitable activities. The Airbus Corporate Foundation controls the workforce’s issues and the charitable activities of the company. The company’s programmes include the events to address the environmental and social concerns in different parts of the world.
Table 1. Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, 2013.
Comparison of Ethical Policies in the Airbus Group and Boeing
Boeing is the main world competitor of the Airbus Group, and it is necessary to compare their ethical policies and approaches. The areas of similarities in the companies’ strategies are the investment in the employees’ education; the focus on protecting whistle-blowing in the companies; the promotion of the principles of accountability and integrity; and the focus on respecting diversity. The differences are in the fact that Boeing has the more developed programme for encouraging the work-life balance approach and for distributing benefits and the proposed ethics training is more advanced because of a number of revisions made as a results of the company’s past ethical failures (Boeing Case 2011). Furthermore, the Airbus Group is more focused on the fair competition as one of the business ethics priorities.
Ethical Issues and Missing Areas
The current CSR programmes and ethical standards followed in the Airbus Group can be discussed as the efforts made to prevent the unethical situations associated with the issues of conflict on interests, bribery, and corruption typical for the company’s past. In spite of the fact that the corporation is discussed as one of the most ethical in the world, the employees of the company often breach standards provided in the Airbus Group’s code of conduct. The company needs to pay more attention to focusing on the protection of the company’s assets and information, to regulating conflict of interests, and to addressing bribery and corruption. Although the Airbus Group developed the effective strategy to address the corruption issues, the cases of bribery are observed in several countries where the company operates. The other problems are the misuse of the company’s assets and clients’ private information that are the strict violation of the company’s ethical norms.
Recommendations
In order to address the ethical issues observed in relation to the Airbus Group, it is necessary to focus on implementing the following recommendations:
- The company needs to revise the approach to auditing and monitoring the ethical behaviour as well as to conducting investigations on the cases of misuse of assets and bribery in order to address the problems in a timely manner.
- The situation of breaching the ethical standards regularly in spite of the development of the effective ethical programme points at the necessity to improve the employees’ training regarding the ethical conduct in the company.
Conclusion
Although the Airbus Group focuses on developing and following the effective ethics and compliance programme, the company faces many ethical challenges associated with the impossibility to promote the ethical principles effectively in all the company’s departments in many countries and regions of the world. As a result, it is important to follow two recommendations that are necessary to follow while revising the company’s current ethics and compliance programme.
Reference List
Airbus Group at a glance. 2013. Web.
Airbus Group: ethics & compliance. 2014. Web.
Boeing Case. 2011. Web.
Common Industry Standards. 2013. Web.
Ethics & Compliance. 2014. Web.
IFBEC 2013. Web.