Components

Boeing 737 Max CI

Ethics in the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX

Norma Juma, Washburn University, Sunita Rao, Washburn University
January 19, 2021
SKU:
BUS-007307
Region: 
North America
Topic: 
Ethics & Social Justice
Length: 
3 pages
Keywords: 
ethics, Ethical decision-making, corporate social responsibility (CSR), Boeing, Grounding Aircraft
Copyrighted by: 
Society for Case Research
Student Price: 
$4.00 (€3.75)
Average rating: 
0

This critical incident describes a situation in which two airplanes crashed within five months of each other in the Java Sea and Ethiopia, respectively. Both crashes involved Boeing MAX jets, which were known for their fuel efficiency. While many countries around the world grounded the MAX jets on the day of the Ethiopian crash or the day after, the U.S. and Canada maintained that the planes were safe. Boeing had manufactured the MAX jets based on earlier models and had installed a software called MCAS, which overrode pilot manual controls. The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority, a regulatory body responsible for civil aviation safety, grounded the MAX jets four days after the Ethiopian crash.

Learning Outcomes: 
  1. Analyze different strategies firms adopt in response to ethical dilemmas
  2. Evaluate to whom and for what organizations are socially responsible
  3. Evaluate different stages of moral development of decision-makers