Ethical Analysis of Boeing 737 Max Lion Air Flight and Recommendations

This report examines the Boeing 737 Max Lion Air Flight case, focusing on the ethical implications of the accidents. It analyzes the importance of ethical standards within the aviation industry and the impact of unethical practices on organizational reputation. The report discusses the specific failures of Boeing, including software malfunctions and sensor issues. It explores the potential consequences of prioritizing profit over passenger safety and investigates the broader implications for the global business environment. The report provides recommendations for Boeing, emphasizing the need to adhere to ethical codes, prioritize safety, and ensure rigorous quality control in the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of aircraft. The report highlights the significance of ethical behavior in the aviation sector to ensure safe flight operations and maintain public trust.

Running head: RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
Executive Summary
The aim of this report will be to discuss about the case study related to Boeing 737 Max Lion Air
flight along with the significance of reputation of the organization within the aviation sector. The
reputation of an organization depends on the products and services that are sold by the
management of the business houses to their customers. In this context, the quality of services
offered by the organization of Boeing through its 737 Max Lion Air Flight helps to possess the
reputation of this business entity within the aviation industry. It can also be said that the
objective of this report will be to to analyse the unethical behaviour that the companies are
following to enjoy the competitive advantage over its rival institutions and whether they should
be allowed to operate in the global business environment or not. Recommendations will also be
provided regarding ethical standards that need to be followed by the management of Boeing.

2RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Summary......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................4
Ethical Practices...........................................................................................................................4
Importance of Ethical Standards..................................................................................................5
Organizations involved with Unethical Practices........................................................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

3RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
Introduction
The purpose of this report will be to discuss about the case study related to Boeing 737
Max Lion Air flight along with the significance of reputation of the organization within the
aviation sector. Ethics refer to the moral codes that define the behavior of an individual or the
way they conduct an activity. It can be also defined as the branch of knowledge that involves
moral values. It is in fact the branch of philosophy which includes the process of systemization,
recommendation and depending on the concepts of correct and incorrect behavior (Ciulla 2014).
Ethics are principles that are based on the standards of what is right or wrong and suggest what a
person must do in terms of certain virtues, obligation, rights or social benefits. The reputation of
an organization depends on the products and services that are sold by the management of the
business houses to their customers. In this context, the quality of services offered by the
organization of Boeing through its 737 Max Lion Air Flight helps to possess the reputation of
this business entity within the aviation industry (theguardian.com 2020).
Summary
Two major fatal cases due to plane crash or accident were recorded for Boeing Business.
The first one in October 2018, in which 189 passengers got killed in Indonesia. A flight of the
mentioned company suddenly nose-dived and drowned in the sea just a few minutes of the take-
off. The second incident occurred in March 2019 where a similar accident was reported in the
outskirts of Addis Ababa. Both the plane crashes were suspected of software malfunctioning and
sensor issues. The Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MACS), which is
designed specifically to keep an airplane in the stable position, itself had flaws which resulted in
the sudden downwards nose dive of the aircraft. In addition to this, there were issues with the
airspeed as well as a part of the wing that was diagnosed with fractures. The broken parts of the

4RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
wing play a major role in safe take-off of a flight. The chairperson and CEO of Boeing, Dennis
Muilenburg, had refused this fact initially and blamed the actions of the pilot (Білоус 2017).
He further claimed in restoring the trust of the customers. Thereafter, the jets were
banned by The Federal Aviation Administration on a temporary basis. The company is trying to
ensure a rapid and proper upgradation of software. In this case the moral issue is whether Boeing
put profit above safety of passengers. Thus, it can be stated that the main aim of this report will
be to analyse the unethical behaviour that the companies are following to enjoy the competitive
advantage over its rival institutions and whether they should be allowed to operate in the global
business environment or not. Recommendations will also be provided regarding ethical standards
that need to be followed by the management of Boeing (Johnston and Harris 2019).
Analysis
Ethical Practices
It has been already discussed that the main aim or purpose of this report will be to
analyse the unethical behaviour that the business entities are following to gain and enjoy the
competitive advantage over its rival institutions from the same sector and whether they should be
allowed to operate in the global business environment or not. The example that will be taken in
this case is Boeing 737 Max Lion Air Flight Model from the provided case study, where
recommended steps will also be provided to the management of the organization of Boeing,
which will help them to follow ethical standards throughout the offerings of the services by
them. In this context, it can be said that advancement in the area of technology has increased the
competition between the business houses within a particular business industry, and unethical
practices are followed by the management of these business entities in order to gain the
competitive advantage along with increasing the market share as well as the revenue earning for

5RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
the companies. This may provide advantage in short-term but will adversely affect the
organizations in long-term aspects (Pasztor et al 2019).
From the case study, it was clear that the management of Boeing, a multinational
corporation from the United States of America that is engaged in designing, manufacturing and
selling airplanes, satellites, rotorcraft, missiles and telecommunications, and is one of the largest
aerospace manufacturing company across the world, is engaged in unethical practices, which
resulted in two fatal accidents (boeing.com 2020). One of them occurred in October 2018, where
189 passengers were killed in Indonesia, when a Boeing flight suddenly nose-dived and drowned
in the sea just a few minutes of the take-off. The second one was occurred in March 2019, where
an accident similar to the previous one was reported in the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
where the disaster cost the lives of 346 people, including the passengers and crew present in the
flight. It can be stated in this context that both the plane crashes were suspected of software
malfunctioning and sensor issues, which fall sunder the unethical standards and practices that
were followed by the management of the company of Boeing (KONERT 2019).
Importance of Ethical Standards
From the given case study related with the organization of Boeing and fatal accidents that
occurred with the model of 737 Max Lion Air Flight, it can be stated that it is important to follow
the ethical standards by the management of an organization, specially by those business houses
who offers emergency services like that of the aviation sector. The importance of ethical
standards plays an integral part in the overall business operations of the business houses which
exists from this particular business industry. In this context, it can be stated that ethical standards
are the set of principles which is established by the owners of the business entities like Boeing in
order to communicate the moral values which are underlined in nature. All these codes provide a

6RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
structure which can be used as references for the decision making processes performed by the
management of the business houses. Within the inner environment of the companies, both the
present performance and future demand and growth of the highest regard and attention are driven
by following the ethical standards that are set before starting the business operations in a
particular region. For example, some ethical standards were also designed by the management of
Boeing, but were not followed while manufacturing the model of 737 Max Lion Air Flight,
which resulted in two fatal accidents and loss of life more than 500 people.
It can be noted that the reflection of the high ethical standards in the workplace of Boeing
did not demonstrate to the people who are engaged around the company, where all the principles
and values that defines confidence, respect, trust, integrity and moral character were not ethically
followed and caused such accidents. Ethics along with professionalism plays an important part in
the aviation sector, as it has been already discussed that this particular business industry provides
emergency services to the people across the world like the services that are offered in the
hospitals and nursing homes across the world (Akpotu and Lebari 2013). It can be noted that in
aviation sector, high professional as well as ethical standards are required to everyone present in
the chain of services that are offered to the passengers globally, from the designer of the flight of
the companies like Boeing to the pilot who is flying the models like 737 Max Lion Air Flight to
assure safe flight operations. The safety of the aviation sector depends on these ethical as well as
professional conducts of all the people who are associated or engaged in this sector. It is
mandatory for the management of the organizations like Boeing to properly check all the
requirements and standards of a flight after making it ready for flying, so that any kind of
technical issues can be identified before any fatal accidents occur. The same is applicable for
maintenance of the flight before it takes off after completion of a journey. This will help to

7RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
identify any fault if present within the flight so that it can be cancelled and fatal accidents that
has occurred with Boeing 737 Max Lion Air Flight can be avoided (Ondieki, Paul and Mbura
2017).
Organizations involved with Unethical Practices
It had been already discussed in this report that unethical standards has been followed by
the management of Boeing while manufacturing the model of 737 Max Lion Air Flight, which
resulted in two fatal accidents that has been provided in the case study. Increase in demand of
availing the services of different aviation companies. Increase in the air traffic are happening in
order4 to meet the ever-increasing demands of the passengers across the world, which is
resulting in getting lesser time for checking the status of the flights after completion of a journey
and beginning of a new journey (Gupta and Gupta 2017). If the occurrences that has happened
with the model of Boeing 737 Max Lion Air Flight increases, then the companies involved with
these accidents need to be banned from operating their business across the world, at least for a
particular period of time. It can be stated from the viewpoint of these two fatal accidents that
occurred in Ethiopia and Indonesia that the black box data which was recovered from these two
planes indicated the bad engineering practices followed by the engineers of the organization of
Boeing and it has been found surprisingly that there were errors present while designing the
sample of the final model of Boeing 737 Max Lion Air Flight, which was the model for both the
calamities that has occurred. Thus, it can be noted in this context that recommendations need to
be followed by the management of Boeing in order to avoid the disasters that has occurred in the
above mentioned regions (Alameeri et al 2017).

8RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
Recommendations
The three recommended actions which need to be followed by the management of Boeing
are discussed as follows:
The first and foremost action that must be followed by the people associated with Boeing
is to manufacture the design of the model that must be follow all the code of ethics of the
National Society of Professional Engineers, so that no fault can be transformed into
manufacturing of the final model, which will be ready to be used. This was not performed by the
management of the organization of Boeing, which caused two such incidents that are described
in the case study.
Another step that need to be followed by the people involved in the management of
Boeing is to assure the safety, wealth and health of the passengers who are availing different
models of flight of this company, which also includes 737 Max Lion Air Flight. It must be
checked properly after completion of a journey, so that if any fault is present within the overall
operating system of the flight, it can be cancelled or delayed, which will help to save the
priceless lives of the passengers along with the crew of the organization.
The new models need to be crossed-checked by the management of Boeing, so that any
faults in the engineering or manufacturing of a particular model can be identified and fixed
before transforming it into a final model, which will be capable of availing services to the global
people. If this was followed by the management of the organization of Boeing, then fatal
accidents that occurred in the regions of Indonesia and Ethiopia. Cross-checking will help to
reduce these kind of incidents want will help to save the life of thousands of people who are
attached with the aviation industry (de Miguel Molina and Montagud 2018).

9RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that ethical standards and practices plays
a vital role in the aviation sector and need to be followed on highest priority. The management of
Boeing failed to follow the ethical standards and followed unethical practices for their model of
737 Max Lion Air Flight, which resulted in two fatal accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia and
caused casualties of more than 500 people. It has been identified that there were faults in the
engineering process, the data was recovered from the black box. Recommended steps need to be
followed by the owners and management of this company, which will help to reduce the number
of fatal accidents that occurred in the above mentioned places.

10RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
References
Akpotu, C. and Lebari, E.D., 2013. Relational Virtues and Organizational Health in the Nigerian
Aviation Sector. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(23), p.60.
Alameeri, A., Ajmal, M.M., Hussain, M. and Helo, P.T., 2017. Sustainability practices in the
aviation sector: a study of UAE-based airlines. International Journal of Sustainable
Society, 9(2), pp.119-147.
Boeing: The Boeing Company. (2020). Retrieved 11 March 2020, from https://www.boeing.com/
Ciulla, J.B. ed., 2014. Ethics, the heart of leadership. ABC-CLIO.
de Miguel Molina, M. and Montagud, M.Á.C., 2018. Legal and ethical recommendations.
In Ethics and Civil Drones (pp. 77-86). Springer, Cham.
Gupta, M. and Gupta, N., 2017. Utilizing Magnesium based Materials to Reduce Green House
Gas Emissions in Aerospace Sector. Aeronautics and Aerospace Open Access Journal, 1(1),
pp.1-6.
Johnston, P. and Harris, R., 2019. The Boeing 737 MAX saga: lessons for software
organizations. Software Quality Professional, 21(3), pp.4-12.
KONERT, A., 2019. AVIATION ACCIDENTS INVOLVING BOEING 737 MAX: LEGAL
CONSEQUENCES. Ius Novum, p.119.
Latest financial, market & economic news and analysis | Business | The Guardian. (2020).
Retrieved 11 March 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/uk/business
Ondieki, D.O., Paul, S.N. and Mbura, L.K., 2017. Influence of strategic management practices
on productivity of state corporations in Kenya: A case of Kenya Civil Aviation
Authority. International Academic Journal of Human Resource and Business
Administration, 2(3), pp.556-579.

11RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC SKILLS
Pasztor, A., Tangel, A., Wall, R. and Slider, A., 2019. How Boeing’s 737 MAX Failed. The Wall
Street Journal (Mar. 2019)(cit. on p. 11).
Білоус, Н.П., 2017. Professional competence as a required component of professional ethics of a
future interpreter in the area of aviation.