Term Paper Proposal: Boeings Max Probe

Introduction

For millennia, man has been fascinating with air travel. History is riddle with risk takers, using the innovations of their time to engineer mechanism for air travel. These mechanisms often failed, resulting in both death and disappointment. However, these setbacks never deterred the human spirit of innovation as it relates to air travel. Even back, in 1506, Leonardo Da Vinci in his book Codex on the Flight of Birds detailed many aerodynamic principles of nature and flight that where the precursors of modern aviation. 200 years later in 1783, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-tienne created the first hot air balloon using a duck, a sheep, and a roster as its first test subjects. By 1809 the study of aerodynamics became much more mainstream due to the contributions of Philosopher George Cayley and his seminal book On Aerial Navigation. By the early 1900 hundreds, the Wright brothers, during the industrial revolution, altered air flight forever with their well-documented flight at Kitty Hawk. This monumental event ushered in a entire industry that has ultimately had unfathomable impacts on human civilization. With this achieve came the rise and viability of entire aerospace industry. People where better able to move from place to place in a more efficient and safer manner. Goods were now able to be transported seamlessly across borders. Even space travel became much more possible due to the innovations first established by the Wright brothers. Unfortunately, as with most innovations in society, those with nefarious motives also took advantage of this progress. Many of the deadliest wars were fought shortly after the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers. Just as people and goods could be transferred through air travel, so too could weapons of mass destruction. We witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 from Japanese airplanes. We witnessed the horrifying destruction of the September 11TH, terrorist attacks. All of these events both the good and the bad results from how humans leverage and utilize these innovations to serve mankind as oppose to destroy it (Adamson, 2020).

Within each of the decisions, innovations and technological breakthroughs discovered above, there was always an element of ethics. Ethics underlie many of the attributes and principles prescribed to each of the historical figures above. As noted above, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-tienne created the first hot air balloon, but sent animals instead of human to test the innovation out. It would have been unethical for them to send human test subjects within a unproven and unreliable aircraft. This is particularly true, as there was no benefit or difference between sending a human and sending another object. Likewise, there were ethical considerations involved in using aircraft as a tool of war, which was also detailed above. On August 6, 1945, America, through aircraft innovations, was the first nation to ever use nuclear weapons in armed conflict. The two bombs killed over 350,000 people many of whom where civilians. The bombs incinerated children, killed many innocent Japanese and resulting in untold horrors. Here again ethics within the industry played a major role in how air innovations are used in society. The same issues apply to the use of airplanes during September 11 and other terrorist attacks as well. Although there are many ethical considerations with the aerospace industry, many vary in depth and magnitude. As innovations continue to occur in the industry, so too does the ethical considerations surround these innovations. Of recent note is the innovation surrounding the Boeing 737 Max. Here, the company had to battle a variety of ethical considerations that ultimately...

…its recognizable brand, and its ability to investment heavily in research and development. This allows the company to course correct many of its ethical mistakes as it has the financial capital and management team to do so. The weakness of the organization relates to having a shareholder base that may be short term oriented and looking for quick profits and cost cutting initiatives that may compromise the performance often business. In addition, the company has strong competitive pressures from airbus that may cause it to shortcut process development and safety oversight.

Make recommendations for changes within your organization which would reflect a more ethical and socially responsible approach to the issue.

First, Boeing should invest heavily within proper internal oversight as it relates to product development. Here, the internal oversight committee must be charged with looking after the interest of consumers and how they will interact with the product over its lifecycle. In addition, the company must invest heavily on customer services initiatives including proper training and development. This investment should also include a revamp of the user manuals related to its products. Training and manuals should all be comprehensive and holistic as it relates to all features of the product. The company should change its culture to be willing to incur higher costs and lower profits in an effort to earn higher profits in the future. The company should not sacrifice short term performance due to competitive pressures or shareholder demands. The company should evaluate all the needs of all stakeholders and provide policies that enhance the overall outcome for all stakeholders. Management should be empowered to ensure the safety and security of its products. Management should also ensure transparency related to communications with customers. The FAA should conduct its own due diligence as oppose on relying on the information provided by…