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Research a contemporary crisis situation in the media. Evaluate from your perspective, what happened, how it happened, and what course of action you would recommend, from a manager's perspective, to improve the current situation. Pay close attention to the crisis in relation to the readings you have had in class.
The contemporary crisis situation I'll evaluate is the Boeing 737 MAX Crisis, specifically focusing on the initial two crashes in 2018 and 2019, and the subsequent grounding of the fleet, as this offers a profound case study in managerial failure, corporate culture, and ethical misconduct.
The Boeing 737 MAX crisis, which began with the tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 (October 2018) and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (March 2019), resulted in 346 fatalities and led to the global grounding of the aircraft. This was not merely a technical failure; it was a crisis born from systemic managerial and organizational failures that prioritized speed and cost over safety and ethical conduct.
The immediate technical cause of both crashes was the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), an automated flight control system. The MCAS was designed to automatically push the nose of the plane down if it detected a high angle of attack (AoA), a condition created by the larger, repositioned engines of the 737 MAX. In both crashes, a single, faulty AoA sensor provided an erroneous reading, which erroneously activated MCAS, forcing the plane into an uncontrollable nosedive.
The central crisis in the media stemmed from the subsequent revelations that:
Boeing concealed the true nature and power of MCAS from regulators and, critically, from the pilots, justifying this by arguing that it was intended to only activate outside the normal flight envelope.
Pilots were not provided adequate training or even detailed instructions on how to counteract an MCAS malfunction.
Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had known about pilot concerns regarding the system prior to the second crash.
The underlying causes of the crisis are deeply rooted in a shift in Boeing's corporate culture—a change highly relevant to organizational behavior and ethics studies.
Prioritizing Finance over Engineering: Following mergers (notably with McDonnell Douglas) and a leadership change, Boeing's culture transitioned from one driven by engineering excellence and safety rigor to one driven by financial metrics and aggressive cost-cutting. Executives explicitly stated the intent to run the company "like a business rather than a great engineering firm" (HBS, 2024).
Competitive Pressure and Speed: The decision to launch the 737 MAX was a direct, hasty response to competition from Airbus's A320neo. To save time and avoid expensive, mandatory flight simulator training for pilots (which would have alienated major airline customers), Boeing made significant design compromises. The MCAS was essentially a software fix designed to make the heavily modified plane handle like the older 737 models, thus avoiding the need for new training. This demonstrates a massive failure in ethical decision-making where shareholder interest was prioritized over public safety.
Ethical Misconduct and Lack of Transparency: Boeing intentionally downplayed or concealed the MCAS from regulators and pilots. This lack of transparency violated the fundamental management principles of accountability and stakeholder trust.