Airline Disaster: Evaluating the Failure of Professional Code of Conduct

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Professional Practice and Communication
Airline Disaster

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Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to evaluate airline disaster by using two recent case studies relating
to air disaster. The two case studies involving the recent crash of Boeing 737 Max 8 were a
result of the failure of Boeing to comply with the professional code of conduct. The code of
conduct adopted by Boeing along with key guidelines for the professional code of conduct in
airline sector is evaluated in this report to understand the key policies which are
implemented in order to avoid airline disasters. The two case studies include the crash of
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 and Lion Air Flight 610 aircraft in which Boeing 737
Max 8 aircraft was involved. The reason for these airline disasters was the decision taken by
Boeing to change the design of the aircraft and implementation of a computer system that
enables the aircraft to override the instructions of pilots. Both of these case studies are
compared to determine how the failure of the company to comply with the professional code
of conduct resulted in these airline disasters. Utilitarianism and Deontology ethical theory are
evaluated in this report to evaluate the case studies from an ethical perspective. Lastly,
recommendations are given in this report that can assist Boeing in addressing this issue to
make sure that it complies with the professional code of conduct in order to avoid airline
disasters in the future. These recommendations provides that the company should focus on
adopting effective professional code of conduct and corporate social responsibility structure
in the organisation to make sure that it focuses on adopting ethical practices in the
organisation.

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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................ 3
Airline Disaster....................................................................................................................... 4
Professional code of conduct.................................................................................................4
Case Studies.......................................................................................................................... 5
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crash.........................................................................5
Lion Air Flight 610 crash.....................................................................................................6
Ethical analysis....................................................................................................................... 7
Recommendations................................................................................................................. 9
Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 11
References........................................................................................................................... 12

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Introduction
In today’s competitive business world, many organisations rely on illegal or immoral trading
practices in order to increase their profitability which resulted in adversely affecting the
interest of customers and society as a whole. These incidents have highlighted the
importance of compliance with business ethics to make sure that companies engage in
ethical practices while taking business decisions to protect the interest of their stakeholders
(Basart and Serra, 2013). The ICT (information and communication technology) and
engineering professionals play a major role when it comes to implementation and
compliance with business ethical principles in the company. Compliance with these policies
ensures that the professionals protect the interest of key stakeholders that are influenced by
the business decisions (Demirtas and Akdogan, 2015). One of key issue which is affecting a
large number of people across the globe is airline disaster. Even though the aviation
technology is advancing, the number of airline disaster has increased considerably in the
past few decades. There are many ethical and professional codes of conduct issues raised
in these disasters that resulted in affecting a large number of individuals (Vourvachis et al.,
2016). The objective of this report is to conduct research on the topic of airline disaster to
understand its impacts along with evaluations of key ethical and professional issues raised in
these disasters. Different events of airline disasters will be evaluated in this report; however,
the main focus will be based on two recent case studies relating to air disasters involving
Boeing 737 Max to understand the key ethical and professional issues which are raised in
these cases. This report will evaluate the professional code of conduct of the aviation sector
to understand the key issues which make it difficult for airline companies to engage in ethical
business practices.