Boeing Company: Leadership Crisis and Recommendations Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the leadership crisis at Boeing, triggered by the 737 MAX crashes. It explores three modern leadership aspects: ethical, authentic, and distributed leadership, discussing their applicability and challenges in the context of a major organizational crisis. The report examines the leadership style of Boeing's CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, identifying both positive and negative elements of his visionary approach. It also offers strategic recommendations for Muilenburg to navigate the crisis effectively, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing human values, transparent communication, and fostering a culture of accountability. The report uses Google LLC as a contemporary example of ethical, authentic, and distributed leadership, highlighting the challenges of implementing these leadership styles in a crisis and the importance of adapting to the current situation.

LEADING BUSINESS
ORGANIZATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Overview of 'Ethical, Authentic and Distributed Leadership', its applicability and challenges
associated with practising these awhile dealing with major organizational crisis......................3
Muilenburg's Leadership style....................................................................................................5
Recommendations regarding the steps that Muilenburg should take in order to move forward.
.....................................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Boeing Company is an American corporation dealing in satellites, aircraft and rotor craft which
are supplied worldwide (Serrat, 2017). At present the company is undergoing through a crisis
which involves crashing of two air crafts based on the 737 MAX model and the CEO, President
and Chairman of BOD of the company, Dennis Muilenburg, is facing a lot of criticism. In this
report, three modern aspects of leadership which are Ethical, Authentic and Distributive
leadership have been discussed and the problems in their implication have also been identified.
Further, this report also highlights the leadership style adopted by Muilenburg and the manner in
which he is dealing with the current crisis has been discussed upon highlighting the various steps
that he can take in order to improve the situation.
MAIN BODY
Overview of 'Ethical, Authentic and Distributed Leadership', its applicability and challenges
associated with practising these awhile dealing with major organizational crisis.
Ethical Leadership can be defined as that type of leadership under which is based on the
concepts like fairness, trust, consideration and honesty. It exhibits the values and morals of the
person appointed at the leadership position and how effectively he is demonstrating such virtues,
character and morals. An ethical leader is very professional in his approach and yet is extremely
ethical in the work done by him while performing different duties. This helps in setting good
standards and examples at the workplace. Authentic leadership is another aspect of leadership
based on the term authenticity of an individual in his actions (Schutt Jr, 2018). There are four
basic elements which are included in this leadership type :- showing the true nature while
performing the duties assigned rather than adopting a facade; being truly motivated by the
organizational objectives; taking those decisions which the leader perceives to be correct rather
than adopting those that norms dictate and focusing on achievement of long term sustainable
development. These element when incorporated by a single person during implementing
leadership can be termed as authentic leadership. Distributed Leadership includes a systematic
approach under which rather giving hype to the term leader and authority, and all the individuals
i.e. employees are given equal importance, the various tasks and roles assigned to them are
considered important in achieving organizational goals and policies. Collectively, ethical,
authentic and distributed leadership model proves to be a very modern and effective concept in
3

managing and leading employees in the dynamic world so that individuals tend to become
experts rather than experienced in their work field (Lewis, Cantore and Passmore, 2016).
Google LLC is a multinational company having its headquarters in America. This
company can be referred as that contemporary organization which practices ethical, authentic
and distributed leadership style while operating.
It can be called as a company practising ethical leadership because despite all the
criticism that it attracts, the company never fails to fulfil their motto: 'Don't be evil.' The
company has always been in news for the broad issues and mindset which they never fail to
express even if it garners negative publicity. The company has always been in limelight due to its
frequent conflicts with China regarding freedom of speech. The company given huge amount of
benefits to its employees in various forms like discounted legal services, free healthcare and
treatment etc. and has a stellar record with their employees and in raising social awareness.
(Karakuş, 2018)
The company can be referred to as an authentic leader because despite the cut throat
competition that it faces, they never fail to grow and innovate. Their efforts to develop a stronger
sense of humanity in people, the information that they make easily accessible for all, the vast
benefits to all the stakeholders of the company etc. are some aspects that makes the company
being termed as authentic. Their very basic activities like internet browser chrome etc. Are those
software which can be easily copied or malified yet the company never hesitated in giving such
free and useful services to their users. Also, when it came to expressing view points, Google has
provided everyone an open base and they themselves never hesitate like the instance when they
openly supported the rights of Gay people (Waters and White, 2015).
Google has always supported that leadership style which believes in empowering their
employees and this is the reason they been termed as the best company to work for employees.
They implement distributive leadership by giving their employees the freedom to work
according to their convenience and in a hassle free environment.
A situation of crisis is always a tough time where the tenancy of the leaders or manager
gets tested truly. Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of Boeing Company is currently experiencing the
most defining time for the company due to the crash of 737 MAX and consequently loss of 346
lives occurred (Gao and Chen, 2018). In tough times like this, it gets difficult for the leaders and
managers to deal with the crisis in such manner that they come out in a stronger and more
4

established manner. Organizations practising ethical, authentic and distributed leadership style
can deal with such crisis in an effective manner but there are some challenges as well.
Authentic leadership often leads to unnecessary delay in the clarification statement that a
company's authorities make. They try to accumulate and gather all the correct facts regarding the
crisis that occurred like in the present case, crashing of the 2 flights of Boeing. Muilenburg got
much delayed in releasing a public statement and apology which led to a negative effect where
people assumed the company did not really acknowledge the loss of human lives. Ethical
aspects also pose difficulty as often in crisis situation, people want to be sympathized with rather
than being rubbed repeatedly with the truth. Lastly, the distributive leadership also poses
challenges as giving too much decision-making power to its employees leads to some faulty
decisions being implemented like in the present case, the pilots whose little error of activating
MCAS software unintentionally (Ford and Harding, 2018).
Muilenburg's Leadership style
Muilenburg's is president, Chairman of board and Chief executive officer of Boeing, it is an
American Multinational organization that manufactures, designs and sells, rotocraft, missiles,
airplanes and satellites worldwide. He used visionary leadership style, in order to deal with
consequence of crashes including organization's 737 max 8 aircraft. Company is very innovative
and creative, they bring new commercial aeroplanes to market like 77XX, 737 and 787 Max.
Appreciative inquiry technique is used within operational management, it is one of the approach
to organizational situation and change which centring on strength than on weaknesses.
Muilenburg's have willingness to do something new and different from the others, according to
him all the workers must contribute in business growth and help through sharing and creating
creative ideas which help to grow Boeing effectively rather than Airbus as biggest competitors.
He always think additionally and for further business progress along with high risk factors which
is not appropriate for company. He believe in innovation and bring new commercial aeroplaces
which present good image of company within marketplace (Faivre-Tavignot, 2016).
Positive elements of Muilenburg's Visionary leadership-
He use Visionary leadership style shows in above case study, which is beneficial for further
business growth. It make him able to think and bring innovative ideas, strength of this style is to
allow person to have ability to create strong vision and motivate workers in order to achieve
business goals and objectives. A person like Muilenburg's along with visionary leadership style
5

able to take risks required to carry out their vision (Cooperrider and Whitney, 2016). He is able
to motivate and inspire entire team towards almost full dedicated and efforts at work, just as he
is. This style give sense of aim and guides hum as they work in present. With the help of
visionary leadership style within their work, he is able to vividly and clearly communicate their
team members what future holds, this elements of leadership style well working for him .
Muilenburg's is visionar person, he is ready to try something new and create vision for company
progress and success. He lead a team towards achieving goals and company objectives, he is
hard working.
Negative elements of Muilenburg's Visionary leadership-
But on the other side every leadership style could be advantages or beneficial for person. As like
Muilenburg's visionary leadership style have some negative elements that effect on its
performane as well as business. According to this style, it allow person to only think about future
and be visionary less than thinking about current requirement (Burton, Welty Peachey and Wells,
2017). Muilenburg's by its visionary character, centring on design of new devices and aircraft
leaving the little apart fact of making profitable investments that is already in market. It is one of
the weakness of this leadership style, he only focus on its vision not current requirement and
risks associated with visionary characteristic. Without focusing on potential risk, they cannot be
able to manage business and entire functions effectively which effect upon profitability and
productivity. For example, 737 Max accidents is one of the most dangerous and worst cries
which faced by Boeing company, in which 346 people were died and families lost their family
members.
After the crise of 737 Max aircraft Muilenburg's conduct interview in order to deal with issues
which they faced. Within its statement they apologise for all the lost of lives in recent 737 max
accidents, he show its sympathies to loved ones of crew members and passengers on Ethiopian
airlines flight 302 and board lion air flight 610 (Antonaras, 2018). he take responsibilities to
deliver and build air planes to its airlines consumers and to flying public that is safe and protect
to fly and be safely flown by each and every single one of dedicated and professional pilots all
around the world. It impact on his personal brand and assure public about their safety and great
security by company which is beneficial for business growth and success as global leader.
6

Some of the stakeholders view handling of Muilenburg's of criss positively and some view it
negatively, as according to their personal perspective. Jim bridenstine is not in favour of
Muilenburg's, he think that they do not handling the situation effectively and less control on it
which is not beneficial for business as well as personal image within marketplace. Stakeholders
of boeing company like to have different view because they wants to improve business position
after the crises happen, they required the best and appropriate methods or techniques in order to
solve issues and overcome with this problem effectively (Anderson and Sun, 2017).
Recommendations regarding the steps that Muilenburg should take in order to move forward.
It is a very critical time for Boeing Company and questions are being raised on leadership
abilities of Dennis Muilenburg. In order to successfully face these challenges and move forward
with a positive reputation, there are certain recommendations that Muilenburg can implement :-
Humanity before Company :- The CEO of Boeing is persistently arguing that the failure of the
flights was due to a small technical fault and there aircraft 737 MAX is still safe to fly. He has
repeatedly said that his flights are safe to be operated despite being grounded in more than 40
countries. This has created a highly wrong notion in the minds of people making them think that
he is repeatedly giving the same statement because he does not want company to incur losses as
737 constitutes 33% of total revenue and 55% of the profit earned by Being company. There is
absolutely no mention about the graveness of the situation regarding loss of 346 lives.
Muilenburg can instead give acceptance that yes his 737 series need to be presently grounded
and until they can properly reform and refurbish the present technology, the company does not
intend to fly them again. Also, the absence of Dennis Muilenburg for the initial days after the
crash occurred was a very inhumane tendency which depicted his resistance in accepting the
seriousness of the situation (Painter-Morland and Deslandes, 2017). Therefore, by re framing his
statements and emphasizing more on how he acknowledges the importance of the fact that lives
do literally depend on the decisions taken by them.
Derive Benefit form Experience and Strong Knowledge :- The strong background knowledge
that Dennis Muilenburg has regarding the operations of his company and the regular tours, visits
and tests that he has been implementing and conducting are creditworthy and can be continued.
This will help in determining the solution regarding the inefficiency of flights. The hands-on
style that he has adopted has led to his primary image as an extremely insightful engineer who
knows what he is dealing with and can tackle the current situation (Boeing’s Dennis Muilenburg:
7

a career in the aerospace age, 2017). The Board of Directors and investors have confidence in
him that he will be able to thwart this crisis successfully and people still believe that the crashes
were not intentional or malicious on the part of the company and they acknowledge that fact that
if engineers knew about the fault in MCAS system, they would have not implemented it
(Muchaba, 2015). The stocks of the company have also held incredibly well showing only little
under performance which shows that people still believe in Dennis Muilenburg. Therefore, he
should continue with the approach that he has developed and the technical issues should be
resolved more quickly so that the company can be brought back on track as quickly as possible.
Hasty Decisions due to Rising Competition :- Boeing was an undeniable leader in the aviation
industry until Airbus entered the competition in 2011 with A320neo. This gave a kick-start to the
management at Boeing and under leadership of Dennis Muilenburg, the company remodelled
the old 737 presenting a new 737 MAX. there have been increasing accusation that company
accommodated some basic changes which led to negligence on their part regarding the proper
quality checks. Muilenburg has also been accused in the past regarding his carelessness and the
scandal of involvement in political and bureaucratic disputes which were hushed down by the
company executives (Abela, Roquet and Zeaiter, 2016). All this has led to scepticism on behalf
of customers regarding the true objectives of Dennis Muilenburg and he can overcome this by
presenting a wholesome solution to the present problem where he can give more emphasis to
factors like compensations and benefits to the relatives of the fliers who died and elaborate
accordingly on other aspects like technological improvements etc. which will help him in
repositioning his company.
CONCLUSION
After conducted the research in the present report, it can be concluded that Boeing is in a
grave situation. To successfully deal with these challenges and identify the proper steps that can
be implemented by Dennis Muilenburg, various recommendations have been made. Further, this
report also discusses how Muilenburg can improve his image as a global leader and strengthen
Boeing again as an aviation leader. This report also highlights the importance of Ethical,
Authentic and directive leadership and the manner in which these can be implemented
successfully in a company. Lastly, based on the various interviews given by Dennis Muilenburg,
appropriate steps have been devised.
8

9

10

11

12