Professional Ethics: A Boeing Story
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Discover the Rise, Fall, and Lessons of a Cultural Shift
Boeing has long been a titan in the aviation industry, known for its unparalleled safety and quality. From its household name in commercial aviation to its role as a top contractor for the U.S. government, Boeing set the standard for excellence for decades. But in recent years, its reputation has been shaken by tragic crashes, whistleblower revelations, and a shift in organizational culture.
What happened to Boeing’s "Safety First" culture?
In this comprehensive 2-hour on-demand course, Professional Ethics: A Boeing Story, we delve deep into the factors that led to Boeing’s transformation and the critical lessons professionals can draw from it. From the historic merger with McDonnell Douglas to the cultural shifts that changed its identity, this course explores how priorities and communication broke down—and the consequences of those changes.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the attributes of Boeing that made them the gold standard for aerospace and airline production, and explain how these attributes contributed to Boeing's reputation for prioritizing quality over profit.
- Discuss the corporate culture of McDonnell Douglas and how this merger resulted in a change in philosophy and goals, prioritizing profit over quality.
- List the significant Boeing incidents and tragedies since the merger, and explain their impact on the company's ethical standing.
- Explain the reasons why the quality of Boeing’s safety standards has deteriorated.
- Describe the shift in company culture and management (profit over quality) before and after the merger and how it relates to Boeing’s current issues.
- Identify how poor Corporate governance and regulatory oversight contributed to the safety accidents at Boeing.
- Define psychological safety and analyze its importance in corporate settings, using the Boeing case to illustrate the consequences of a lack of psychological safety.
- Analyze the role of whistleblowing in the Boeing case, including its definition, the key attributes of an effective whistleblowing culture, and its relationship to psychological safety.
- Compare Boeing with Airbus, a company that demonstrates a commitment to culture, values, and psychological safety
- Identify how Boeing serves as a lesson in maintaining the five pillars of ethics.
The course is designed for CPAs and professionals looking to understand what can go wrong if our fundamental principles of ethics are threatened by low psychological safety and a toxic organizational culture.
2.0 hrs of verifiable CPD (Certificate will be provided upon course completion)
Additional information
- Program pre-requisites: There are no prerequisites for this course
- Advance preparation: None
- Delivery method: E-learning
- CPD/CPE credits: Participants will earn 2.0 professional development ethics credits (hours)
- Verifiable course: 2.0hrs.
Your Instructor
Garth Sheriff is the founder of Sheriff Consulting, a firm specializing in the design and delivery of professional and leadership skill courses for accounting and finance professionals. Garth has worked as an assurance professional and learning provider for over 20 years. He has prepared and trained CPAs for critical changes to the profession. He earned a Master of Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours - Accounting) from the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPAO), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). Garth has also acted in various stage and film productions. He is a graduate in improvisation from The Second City and a member of ACTRA (the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.