Boeing is among the most reputable airplane manufacturing companies, and it makes the planes for airlines as well as for military purposes all over the world. The organization has been able to climb the corporate ladder by striving to fulfill customer requirements. The reason behind Boeing’s success is designing and constructing tailor-made planes depending on their intended purpose.
Therefore, this paper analyzes the various roles played by Boeing, and how they influence management planning in the organization. The roles include ethical responsibility, legal responsibility, social responsibility, and other strategic and operational roles.
Ethical Responsibility
Boeing regulates the behavior of its employees regardless of their location through a set of rules. The organization’s ethics states that employees should never share information of a given client with another party. This implies that the details provided by customers must remain confidential.
Besides, the company should remain neutral at all times. Wilson and Gilligan (2005) argue that such ethics influence the management practices because regardless of the strategies that are to be implemented, the organization must adhere to the set code of ethics.
The work ethics in this organization sets the limits of employees’ aggression; hence employees are under obligation to put the interests of the organization before theirs. Moreover, the code of ethics creates barriers between employees and the customers of this organization. Likewise, the ethics apply to all the entities that interact with Boeing including suppliers and outsourced workers.
However, shared ethics may create conflicts because the firms that have been contracted by Boeing have their own code of ethics. According to Alexander (2008), the clash in ethics may affect operations negatively because what could be right to Boeing could be wrong to another contracted firm.
For instance, Korean Air, a supplier of Boeing 747-8 wing part, has different code of ethics that are restricted to the Korean culture, hence conflicts may arise. Therefore, Boeing is sensitizing its staff through training sessions to make sure that they understand the ethics better.
Legal Responsibility
Boeing is active in legal responsibility. This has been achieved through active participation in cleanliness programs that involve its employees. Boeing is on the frontline in creating awareness on the effects of carbon emissions, and because most of its goods are known to be powered by substances that emit carbon, it has come up with innovative technologies of minimizing the amount of carbon emitted from its engines.
Likewise, Boeing has been recycling its waste as an affirmative action towards sustainable development. This includes injecting a considerable amount of money into environment conservation projects, such as designing energy efficient airplanes.
According to Alexander (2008), recycling of waste influences management planning because Boeing now has to take care of its waste, and this means that more resources will have to be set aside for this purpose.
This was a task that was previously undertaken by another entity, but now Boeing has no option because it is against the expectations of the society for an organization to pollute the environment.
Moreover, the law is against the disposal of toxic waste into the environment. Therefore, Boeing designates funds at the commencement of every financial year for waste management purposes.
In compliance to the requirements of protecting the environment, Boeing has had to introduce new technologies as a way of reducing carbon emissions which are costly because the price of acquiring materials is high because of scarcity of reusable materials.
The emergence of new technologies comes with the need of hiring new personnel who can handle such tasks of implementation. Moreover, the new technologies, such as computer aided design (CAD), affect employment because the organization has to trim its workforce.
Similarly, the legal requirement for Boeing is to provide health care incentives and ensure employees work in a healthy environment. Boeing tries its best to meet these requirements, but there are other external factors that may undermine its efforts. First, employees can be injured while performing their tasks most probably because some of them ignore the laid out safety precautions.
In addition, Boeing can never fire any of its employees based on their medical background, and hence it has had to carry on with such employees who are certainly a liability in waiting.
Social Responsibility
Boeing has a social responsibility in fostering equality by hiring employees from different backgrounds. The organization owes its success to the different skills that are possessed by its employees, which are essential in achieving organizational goals.
Women have a special place at Boeing, and in fact there is an activist group within this organization that fights for the rights of women. Generally, Boeing is a multicultural organization because there are people from all races; meaning that Boeing does not judge employees according to their background.
Cultural diversity has enabled Boeing to excel in penetrating new markets. Randolph (2003) explains that diversity influences management planning because the operations have to be assigned to people who possess relevant skills, which is an advantage to Boeing.
In addition, Boeing has to lead by example, and that means it has to be the first to apply what it preaches. For instance, in taking care of the environment, Boeing had to introduce recyclable carpets in its planes; this had to come with extra costs.
Other factors that affect the operations of Boeing include environmental issues, innovation, and productivity. Environmental concerns are related to the issues discussed under legal responsibility.
However, one major environmental concern is the way the company has enhanced fuel efficiency in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Spindler (2008) asserts that the present airplane models are efficient with regards to air pollution; particularly, fuel efficiency has improved by 70% in the recent years.
Likewise, innovation and productivity can be attributed to the various research centers that the company has, including research and development department within the Commercial Airline. New models invented by different divisions help Boeing to be competitive and productive in the airline industry.
Conclusion
Boeing is a reputable company, and is still struggling to remain at the top of the most reputable companies. From the look of things, Boeing involves its employees in decision making processes, and that is why it has designated channels of communication.
Maybe, Boeing realized that it had to instill discipline on its employees, and thus they provided them with a direct telephone that is designated to handling matters concerning the code of ethics.
The communication decision is important because at times employees are tempted to bend work ethics, especially when there are no laid out rules. This is common in cases where employees have strict deadlines to meet. Moreover, in management planning, an organization is supposed to have a clear vision of future requirements, just like Boeing Corporation.
References
Alexander, M. (2008). Management Planning for Nature Conservation: A Theoretical Basis & Practical Guide. New York: Springer.
Randolph, J. (2003). Environmental Land Use Planning and Management. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Spindler, M.J. (2008, April 4). Management Planning – Boeing’s Future on Track. ArticlesBase. Web.
Wilson, R. & Gilligan, C. (2005). Strategic Marketing Management Planning, Implementation and Control. (3rd Ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.