Complete the following two sections with quality, specific analysis in a 1 - 2-page typewritten paper. Use APA format when citing text and other sources. Do not email it, but upload it.

Case Notes Case 14.1: Changing the Culture at Boeing

Read the case study, and include concrete analysis as you answer specific questions:

1. Do some additional research and explain why cultures change when one acquires another company, as was the case with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. How did this affect the culture at Boeing?
2. Explain why employees at Boeing did not speak out about safety concerns with the 737 MAX. Why does this result in a toxic organizational culture?
3. Evaluate the steps proposed to change the culture at Boeingintegrity, excellence, and safety. Do you feel this will succeed? What else should the company be doing to change the culture, if anything?

Reflection & Research Interests

4. What was your most important takeaway from the case study? Why?

5. As a result, what is your most important research interest for your career/marketplace? Why?

6. What is one source (list in APA style) related to your research interest? These can be from popular sources like Ted Talks/articles or scholarly articles in journals.

7. End with 2 best practices related to the situation

5. As a result, what is your most important research interest for your career/marketplace? Why?

6. What is one source (list in APA style) related to your research interest? These can be from popular sources like Ted Talks/articles or scholarly articles in journals.

7. End with 2 best practices related to the situation

Case Study 14.1: Changing the Culture at Boeing

During a call with analysts and investors, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was asked, How do you change the culture as a big organization? He responded that it was a tough question. The Boeing workforce was demoralized due to media attention to text messages and emails saying that employees joked about safety, bragged about deceiving safety regulators, and described the flawed 737 MAX aircraft as follows: This airplane [the 737 MAX] is designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys. It is a bad look.

The 737 MAX Crisis

The failure of Boeings 737 Max Aircraft model resulted in the tragic deaths of 346 people in two crashes. For Boeing, this triggered significant financial losses in the billions of dollars, plus at least $1.2 million for the families of each crash victim. Industry experts are calling for an examination of Boeings company culture. The companys safety-first culture started shifting to profit maximization after Boeing bought their rival, McDonnell Douglas, in 1997 and worsened in the last decade, according to Cynthia Cole, who worked for Boeing as an engineer for 32 years. Carnegie Mellon University professor Brandy Aven says, Theres often tension between ensuring safety and increasing profits, but when times are good, [employees] can feel enormous pressure to stay quiet about safety concerns. This resulted in a toxic culture at Boeing, where employees who voiced safety concerns were not heard, according to Cole.

Change starts at the top, and it involves listening. However, there is more to it than that. If Calhoun is serious about changing corporate culture, according to Neil Hartmann of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, he needs to incentivize employees to come forward and be heard, particularly when it comes to concerns about airplane safety and design. Hartmann stated, In an open, honest, and transparent culture, it is likely the emails contained in the released documents would not have happened. Yale management professor Amy Wrzesniewski agrees: Organizations serious about change must establish new systems of hiring, promoting, and paying employees to support it.

Moving Forward

Barrons senior writer Al Root suggests three things Boeing needs to do to fix its broken culture:

Integrity: Boeing should dump its cost-saving program. At best, it makes Boeing more efficient. At worst, it squeezes supplier profit margins. The program started years ago under then CEO Jim McNerney. Boeing was not immediately available to comment when asked about the future of the program. A focus on costs up and down the supply chain is appropriate for most businesses. However, engineering quality needs to trump costs.

Excellence: Boeing should now focus on in-source engineering. Engineering excellence is important to an aerospace organization. Flying is safe but complicated, and passengers cede control when boarding a jet. Boeing should bring back more engineering in-house, reversing the trend. It would give the company more direct control over engineering output as well as the processes followed by aerospace engineers.

Safety: Boeing needs to increase oversight. They have formed a new board-level oversight committee. Other steps can be taken in partnership with the FAA. It has called for MAX 737 simulator training. Oversight, it appears, is going to be overhauled, and the role of the FAA expanded.

Changing the Culture

Calhoun should be listening, but he needs to do more. Changing corporate culture requires decisive action from the top, rewarding employees who bring change, and saying good-bye to those who cannot.