Introduction
The analyzed case revolves around Boeing company and the failure of its new aircraft. The corporation gives jobs to around a million people in the state and is one of America’s biggest exporters. For this reason, numerous accidents with Boeing 737 caused by the failure of MCAS became a significant problem. The investigation conducted by the FAA revealed that the changes in the company’s culture, the attempts to win rivalry with Airbus, and the culture of concealment became the main causes of crashes and the poor state of the new aircraft. In such a way, the case shows that radical changes in the organizational culture might promote the emergence of problematic issues and undesired outcomes.
Discussion Questions
The decision to move a top-management team to Chicago became one of the major mistakes leading to undesired outcomes. Analyzing this strategic move, it is possible to admit that the reasoning behind this decision was weak because of several reasons. First, the company managed to evolve and became successful by employing the model. It means that the management destroyed the effective approach and introduced a new one without any additional investigation. It radically altered the organizational culture and destroyed effective patterns of collaboration within a corporation (Palmer et al., 2016). Second, it resulted in a lack of understanding of engineering issues among senior executives. The ineffective information exchange is one of the major causes of poor outcomes (Palmer et al., 2016). As a result, the company lost its ability to consider the problems emerging during the design and testing phases and introduce the appropriate changes.
The crashes of Boeing 737 Max required immediate action from the company to ensure the aircraft could be used by various airlines globally. Thus, a new CEO, David Calhoun, managed to attain success and avoid new accidents. After the aircraft groundings, the company performed significant work to introduce necessary improvements and become safe (Cohn, 2022). As a result, most countries allow the use of Boeing again as it meets safety regulations. The plane carries around 2,400 uneventful flights globally every day and delivers passengers to various destination points (Chokshi, 2022). In this regard, the company managed to eliminate discovered problems. Moreover, it can be a result of using a more effective management model to address discovered defects (Palmer et al., 2016). However, it remains unclear whether Calhoun managed to reconsider the culture within the company and whether new issues will emerge.
Debriefing
In such a way, the case shows the critical importance of the organizational culture and relations within a team and their impact on outcomes. The successful development of Boeing was possible due to the effective collaboration between senior management and the engineering team. It provided both parties with specific benefits, such as the opportunity to report discovered issues and attain higher effectiveness of aircraft (Palmer et al., 2016). At the same time, the top management clearly understood how the company evolved and what technical issues it faced. At the same time, Boeing’s mistakes became economically devastating for the firm (Diss, 2020). In such a way, the unwise destruction of this bond created the basis for numerous misunderstandings and the corporation’s failure. It means that the radical change of existing patterns requires an in-depth investigation and correct understanding of whether the alteration is needed and will have a positive impact on outcomes.
Conclusion
Altogether, Boeing’s case evidences the critical importance of organizational culture and the complexity of change processes. The shift of priorities from effectiveness to finance-driven performance had a negative impact on designing and manufacturing processes. As a result, the Boeing 737 had critical flaws that resulted in crushes and numerous victims. After several updates made regarding the FAA recommendations, the plane is allowed to fly again. However, the culture within the organization might remain problematic, which can be a source of new accidents in the future.
References
Chokshi, N. (2022). Boeing 737 Max flies again, but crash victims’ kin say risks remain. The New York Times. Web.
Cohn, S. (2022). One year after the 737 Max’s return, Boeing is still trying to get back on course. CNBC. Web.
Diss, K. (2020). Troubled 737 MAX Boeing airplane had at least 13 other safety incidents, ex-employee says. ABC. Web.
Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Buchanan, D. (2016) Managing organizational change: A multiple perspectives approach (3rd ed.). McGraw Hill.