The question is reproduced verbatim from a Prentice Hall "Companion
Website" page: "Boeing's Ethics Challenge" by Patrice Luoma.
[ Ms. (?) Luoma is a member of the PHLIP (Prentice Hall's Learning on
the Internet Partnership)/CW Faculty Project Team, "Introduction to
Business":
http://myphliputil.pearsoncmg.com/phlip99/teams.html ]
Question #5 from the Luoma-CW page:
"Why would a company like Boeing put this type of information on their
web site?"
http://myphlip.pearsoncmg.com/cw/mpviewie.cfm?vieid=808&ubcid=847
A "standard" answer can easily be gleamed from the opening paragraph
of the above page:
"(this type of (interactive) information is)...an active step to
promote ethics and ethical behavior within the organization"
It's quite clear from the Challenge page itself, that Boeing is using
the information/test as an "ethics integrity trainer":
"To help our employees maintain their business ethics expertise, we
ask them to take ethics refresher training each year."
Boeing Ethics Challenge:
http://active.boeing.com/companyoffices/ethicschallenge/cfm/initial.cfm
I tried several of the scenarios ("Show Me The Money", "Where's The
Beef?", "Trouble In The Tank"), and it's apparent that the Challenge
not only spotlights "ethically-impaired" employees, but those who are
ethically sound yet not savvy enough to simultaneously cover Boeing's
legal rear-end.
(a particularly interesting (and incorrect) answer in this regard can
be found in "Show Me The Money"; in response to a $100/month bribe to
deal exclusively with a sales rep's company - "B) Dismiss the offer
but note that Boeing expects to negotiate a quantity discount with
exclusive suppliers of products that it uses a lot")
Counterpoint to Boeing's Challenge and declarations of ethics and
values: the company's interactions with whistleblowers and the number
and scope of lawsuits brought against it.
Boeing and whistleblowers:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=boeing+whistleblowers
'Blowing the whistle on Boeing' by Mark Worth:
"...when I go to Boeing and say there's something wrong, they do
nothing..."
http://www.speakeasy.org/wfp/15/Boeing.html
("The government's ties to Boeing are as strong as any that exist
within the military-industrial complex.")
"A DCAA audit revealed in 1989 that Boeing submitted $18 million in
invoices to the government for unauthorized work."
'Air Farce One?'
"Whistleblowers claim Boeing built unsafe planes on a ramped-up
assembly line marked by sabotage..."
"Boeing sacrificed safety and quality for speedier production lines."
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/9924/features-anderson2.shtml
Basics - whistleblowing:
http://legacy.eos.ncsu.edu/eos/info/computer_ethics/basics/whistle
Boeing lawsuits:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=boeing+lawsuits
(...North America Boeing sued by hundreds for pollution of groundwater
near Santa Susana Field Lab in Simi Valley...lawsuits concerning
racial and sexual discriminaiton; 737 rudders, civil fraud, cases
related to TWA Flight 800 (center fuel tank)
"When jets crash: How Boeing fights to limit liability" --- by
Pulitzer Prize winner Byron Acohido (for beat reporting) / The Seattle
Times
http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/beat-reporting/works/737-4
"In Sept. 2002, Brett Roby, quality assurance engineer awarded
$10,000,000 in settlement from Boeing concerning defective Chinook
helicopter transmission gears"
(Helmer, Martins & Morgan)
http://www.hmm-law.com
"Boeing, the Media's Sacred Cow: 'the giant moo of them all'"
http://www.speakeasy.org/wfp/01/Boeing4.html
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