Based on the interview with Steven Barclay, our group strongly recommends that the managers of the Ethics and Business Conduct Program really need to change their mindset. These managers need to realize that even thought they work hard to make the program work, there is always room for improvement. If these managers continue to feel this way then the problems that they do have will persist. How management feels carries down to how employees feel, therefore since these managers see no need for change the employees will continue to violate company polices. Since Mr. Barclay does not have any recommendations for the program, our group has a couple suggestions for Boeing’s ethics program. In regards of employees’ overuse of company resources for personal use, our group feels that Boeing needs to state to employees how much is too much. Using the phone, copy machine, and computer for personal use all right at times, however it becomes a problem when it keeps employees’ from being inefficient. What Boeing needs to do is have the managers in each department keep track of efficiency. By keeping track of efficiency, managers will be able to tell who is getting work done and who is not. The employees that are significantly overusing company resources for personal use will be caught because they will be inefficient with their workload. What Boeing could also do is allow employees time besides break and lunch to use office equipment for personal use. They can designate times within every hour, such as fifteen minutes, in which an employee can use the computer, phone, or copy machine. By doing this, the employees may not feel like they are always doing work. This may also increase efficiency within departments because employees are given the opportunity every hour to have personal time, which in turn will make employees work harder. In regards to the viewing of pornographic material, Boeing could implement an anti-pornography monitoring system within the computer network. There are various types of monitoring systems that prevent employees from viewing pornographic sites and at the same time send messages to managers when an employee tries to access one. If Boeing were to implement a system of this kind, it would greatly reduce the viewing of this type of material. In regards to the overcharging of time cards, Boeing should implement a computer time card system. This system would keep track of employees electronically. Employees would have to clock in and out of work by computer, which would prevent employees from writing extra hours on their time cards. In regards to the accepting of business courtesies, Boeing should provide its sales people with courtesies every now and then. The employees in the sales and marketing department deal with individuals who really want Boeing products. The individuals that they interact will do whatever it takes to get Boeing products. If Boeing were to give its sales people a courtesies such as sporting or concert tickets once a month, then these employees might not be as tempted to accept courtesies from others.
The Boeing Ethics Program is very intricate in its detail and outlines rules and regulations on anything and everything related to the welfare of the company. Unfortunately, the requirements for ethical behavior among employees are not given much attention at all. The Boeing Ethics Code fails to outline standards for ethical behavior with regards to subjects such as: sexual harassment, discrimination, cultural awareness training, gambling in the workplace, abuse of telephone resources, etc. Basically, the code of ethics does not bother to mention how employees are expected to act amongst each other in the workplace in order to facilitate a smooth-functioning atmosphere. Despite what the code fails to accomplish, it does very nicely to touch on necessary ethical concerns related to the aerospace industry.
From the research that was conducted on this firm’s code of ethics, along with the interviews that I conducted, it seems as though there are several aspects of the ethical code that seem to be working. First, conducting the interviews was a challenge because the employees who were interviewed were very reluctant to give up too much information about their employer. This gives the impression that Boeing provides its employees with enough satisfaction enabling them to develop devotion and commitment to Boeing. The two people I interviewed seemed to be very proud of their ethics program and were confident that the program has accomplished its goal of informing every single employee of the rules and regulations outlined in the code.
All employees are given extensive training once they are hired and are thereafter expected to conduct themselves accordingly to what is prescribed in the code. Once hired, each individual must attend ethics training courses that include widely used business ethics learning techniques such as videos, seminars, etc.
Boeing’s ethics program is continuously reviewed to make sure all aspects of the program are pertinent to its current business relations. Just as a marketer must make sure that he is performing competitively and constantly developing new ideas as well as keeping up with the trends, an ethics program also has to make sure that it addresses issues that are prevalent in society during every time period. For example, an employee who has worked for a company for ten years and only received ethics training one time during his tenure, will most likely perform unethically if he participates in a football bet with an employee as a result of him being unaware that bets are no longer permitted by the company even though they were when he was first hired.
Considering the two interviews that I conducted and my findings from reviewing Boeing’s code of ethics, there a few recommendations that this company should consider in order to facilitate communication and outline conduct among employee relations inside the company as well as outside. First, Boeing should provide more program awareness training to the employees which should involve more person-to-person training instead of using mainly seminars, videos, etc. When given by a person to another person, the ethics training can seem more realistic and allow the trainee to actually react to another person in a given situation and have a more realistic training experience.
Unfortunately, the code mainly deals with business related issues such a insider trading and aerospace-specific issues, while deviating away from every day employee issues that employees face as humans, not just as employees. Employees need to understand how they should conduct themselves when a co-worker wants to gamble in the restroom at lunch or tell his girlfriend that he cant have any personal telephone calls. The employees are one of the most vital groups of stakeholders in a company and if those employees don’t have a universal understanding of their corporate culture, that culture itself cannot function fluidly.
Boeing should also have training in sexual harassment, discrimination, and other issues relating to the conduct of employees. There were no aspects of the code that focused on the rights of employees and how they should treat each other fairly and with equality. It would be advantageous for Boeing to include this in their program due to the fact that employees may be more likely to fall susceptible to actions such as sexual harassment, if the harasser doesn’t think that his love notes to a fellow employee are considered harassment. Boeing should also communicate the expectations for ethical conduct of employees daily. Communication is very important amongst managers and their employees. It is difficult for an employee to remember whether something he is doing is unethical, unless requirements for ethical conduct are communicated to all employees on a daily basis. This may involve office memos being distributed weekly throughout the office regarding a different ethical issue each week. Techniques like this can facilitate communication form managers to every employee every day in order to ensure that the work environment is fulfilling all of its functions by providing an ethical wok environment.
Reference:
1. Julie Jae
Boeing Ethics Hotline in Seal Beach
(562) 797-5918
2. “Chris” (didn’t want to give me his real name)
Boeing Marketing Department
(310) 67-747
3. Steven Barclay
Reference:
www.Boeing.com
Barclay, Steven. Ethics Manager. 310-
Boeing Ethics
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