Ronnie Das

As I complete Purdue University’s MS in Communication program, I’ve gained advanced expertise in strategic communication, grounded in both cutting-edge research and practical application. My studies have focused on digital communication, crisis management, and global communication strategies, all aimed at delivering impactful, data-driven results. With a strong foundation in leadership and innovation, I’m ready to elevate your organization’s communication efforts and contribute to its continued success.

As a graduate of the Strategic Communication Management Graduate Certificate program, I bring a strong foundation in advanced communication strategies, developed through rigorous coursework led by industry experts. My training has equipped me with a versatile skill set, including:

• Strategic Planning and Execution: I can design, implement, and assess comprehensive communication plans that align with organizational goals.
• Global Perspective: I’m adept at recognizing and addressing communication challenges on a global scale, ensuring messages resonate across diverse audiences.
• Campaign Measurement and Evaluation: I have the expertise to measure the effectiveness of communication campaigns, using data-driven insights to refine and improve outcomes.
• Crisis Communication: I am prepared to manage communication effectively in high-pressure situations, ensuring clear, consistent messaging during times of crisis.

These skills position me to contribute meaningfully to your team and help drive successful communication strategies for your organization.

Strategic communication harmonizes stakeholder motivations and internal organizational objectives. A corporation’s goal is to maximize profits and while individuals may denounce unethical labor practices or environmental exploitation, companies like Amazon and British Petroleum (BP) continue to show record profits. The key for these businesses is highlighting customer value while adapting to calls for corporate responsibility. Amazon increased wages and pumped out advertisements on employee benefits when they saw news stories about drivers not being able to use the bathroom hurting their bottom line. BP shared its environmental initiatives after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and even sponsored Team USA during the Olympics held in Great Britain.

Cornelissen describes corporate communication as a management function and strategy as linked to objectives, but further defines objectives as precise (short-term) statements in line with formulated vision (Cornelissen, 2017, pp. 5-7).

However, narrowing the focus of strategy in relations to corporations as short-term led to the Verizon reputational crisis case example (Cornelissen, 2017, pp. 8). The organization had a defined objective of throttling internet speeds in line with its vision to have consumers purchase higher price-point plans. In terms of Hallahan et al, Verizon’s Marketing Communication promoted sales of services internally which were relayed by Management Communication to supply information needed in day-to-day operations. The textbook response by a staunch account manager is to steer the exasperated customers’ attention toward a robust plan or upgrade. The crisis was that Public Relations (Cornelissen, 2017, p. 9) did not maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with key constituencies, specifically government officials.

The statement should have been, “we support our frontline workers and appreciate their continued use of the most reliable internet service in the country. Our throttling policy was to prevent the abuse of streaming services like Netflix and YouTube from disturbing the bandwidth of firefighters during these critical life-saving operations. While we are providing a free upgrade to our frontline workers as they continue to fight the fires in Santa Clara, we are asking our customers to support those who serve our communities by upgrading to a our more robust plan that includes the first 20GB for only $99.99 and $8/GB thereafter. This ensures all our customers have the most affordable plan on the largest internet service providers in the USA.”

Strategic communication recognizes that purposeful influence is the fundamental goal of communications by organizations (Hallahan et al p. 10).

On October 28, 2022 Elon Musk officially took over Twitter and fired key executives. The communication business has a brand reputation and corporate culture plummeting 280 characters at a time. Days before the more than $44 billion acquisition, the communications department was a proactive, global team embedded in product, trust and safety and public policy. Since taking over, Musk has failed to communicate strategically and the consequences of that failure were upending corporate culture, jeopardizing brand reputation and hurting business prospects as advertisers flee (Hawkins, 2022).

If profit is the key internal organization goal and not a more nefarious attempt at misinformation, then the CEO must abandon short-term objectives to implement strategic communications with a more long-term vision. While stakeholders have lost the trust they had during the “Black Lives Matter” movement with the social media platform, Twitter does have a large user base and continues to provide a free service. It will be interesting to see how the company weathers the storm.

References

Cornelissen, J. (2017). Corporate communication. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Hallahan, K., Holtzhausen, D., Van Ruler, B., Vercic, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2007). Defining strategic communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 1(1), 3-35.

Hawkins, E. (2022, November 10). Twitter ditches communications. Retrieved May 3, 2023, from https://www.axios.com/2022/11/10/twitter-ditches-communications

The following piece is based on a written assignment in COM 65100: Organizational Culture and Internal Communication at Purdue University.

To optimize the effectiveness of their counsel, communications professionals ideally should have a “seat at the table” among the senior leaders of the organization. Make a convincing case for how you would earn or maintain a credible, legitimate role in senior leadership of an organization. Describe how you would convince senior leadership of the strategic impact of employee communication.

Seat at the Table

Our brand recognition is built on our mission and values. Customer experience is directly connected to our organizational culture and any gaps in what we do externally and how we act internally creates a critical enterprise risk.

My role in senior leadership is a functional area that is fundamental to reaching our metrics in sales activity or as measured on financial statements. “Many people assume others are motivated by what motivates them” (Hutchinson, 2019). However, there could exist a “disconnect somewhere in the company, a barrier to the full import of leadership messages reaching their target audience with their intended effect” (LeMenager, 2023, p. 43). As credibility erodes, we could face issues in retention and in a 21^st century model where social media lacks a gatekeeper, a disgruntled employee or employees could tarnish the legacy of the organization with bad press. “It is simply impossible to become a great leader without being a great communicator” (Myatt, 2012).

The important questions to ask are “how do [you] perceive the current state of the company? Is the company as good as it can get, or is there a gap between what is and what could be?” (Hutchinson, 2019). The reality is as we strategically focus on the future, we get busy. The key is not to blame or excuse a behavior which leads to organizational dysfunction, but as a communicator I have an important role in “creating a sense of shared context in [our] organization” (Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick, 2022, p. 3).

“The subtleties of how we judge the role of communications have to be weighed against the importance or strategic impact that a programme of communication might have on the organization,” (Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick, 2022, p. 5). My role adds value as a supporter and facilitator helping leadership communicate to get results. I will create specificity where there may be ambiguity using simple and concise language. Beyond learning and gathering information while communicating, as an asset grower I’m also adept at transferring ideas, aligning expectations, inspiring action, and spreading your vision (paraphrased from Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick, 2022, Myatt, 2012).

As leaders, “[t]ime has never been a more precious commodity than it is today” (Myatt, 2012). My focus is protecting your most precious commodity in the four value spaces seen below:

Get the basics right: “Creating and managing a reliable system for delivering news and information to staff, getting people talking, listening to feedback or supporting collaboration” (Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick, 2022, p. 14) is essential for our internal stakeholders. Quite simply, this is the stage where the rubber meets the road in successfully taking your strategy and making sure they turn into a reality.

Drive outcomes: We should consider our plans and objectives through the lens of “what do we want people to do?” That focus on the attitudinal or behavioral outcome creates an ecosystem where business problems turn into impactful communications plans. Often this will lead to results-oriented processes which we can explore, understand, and measure.

Supporting others: As a communicator my role is acting as a partner and adviser in taking the strategic concerns of leaders and bringing solutions on what makes our organization successful.

Asset builders: My role is shaping the strategic assets – brand, culture and ethos – of our organization by building an emotional culture.

“Unlike cognitive culture, which guides how organizational members think and behave, emotional culture sets the tone for how organizational members feel […] Pride arises when employees are immersed in a positive, encouraging work environment and when they develop a sense of identification with their organization,” (Men & Yue, 2019, p. 1).

As a modern leader, you understand how communication is a part of the management process. “Internal communication is about “managing interdependence and building mutually beneficial relationships between the organization and its employees” (Men & Bowen, 2017 as cited by Men & Yue, 2019, p. 3). As a business partner my focus is helping you achieve your goals through employee retention (reducing staff turnover and managing employment costs), promoting collaboration between colleagues, helping workers focus on the right things, following rules, and the inherent motivation emotional culture exponentially grows a productive work environment. As a leader these are genuine, positive possibilities for the organization and together we can work towards these goals.

I see a larger strategic impact on the organization as a supporter, facilitator and asset grower but will begin as a behaviour driver to prompt the right actions based on knowledge and attitudes. Our first objective is we must “[s]top issuing corporate communications and begin having organizational conversations – think dialog not monologue” (Myatt, 2012). Using purpose-driven and planned communication to drive behaviors which then influence attitudes. The “outcomes can be best seen in terms of knowledge, understanding and behaviours (Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick, 2022, p. 7).

The “value of internal communication goes beyond goes beyond changing employee perceptions and attitudes or developing mutually beneficial relationships (Men & Bowen, 2017), more importantly, it changes employee behaviors in accordance with the needs of the organization,” (Men & Yue, 2019, p. 9). As a senior leader of the organization, I’d like to optimize my effectiveness in the strategic impact of employee communications to promote a pathway to engagement and sustaining a positive culture.

References

Dewhurst, S., & Liam Fitzpatrick. (2022). Successful employee communications : a practitioner’s guide to tools, models and best practice for internal communication. New York Kogan Page Ltd.

Hutchinson, C. (2019) How Do You Coach Your CEO to Take Action? Asking for a Friend.  Trebuchet Group. https://www.trebuchetgroup.com/blog/2019/1/21/how-do-you-coach-your-ceo-to-take-action-asking-for-a-friend/

Lemenager, J. (2023). Inside the organization : perspectives on employee communications. Fells Publishing.

Men, Linjuan Rita, & Yue, Cen April. (2019). Creating a positive emotional culture: Effect of internal communication and impact on employee supportive behaviors. Public Relations Review, 45(3), 163-174.

Myatt, M. (2012). 10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/04/04/10-communication-secrets-of-great-leaders/print/

Employees are often undervalued resources for an organization. They are generally measured using two metrics: production value and payroll liability. However, successful organizations utilize employees to be brand advocates and develop an organizational culture which builds on institutional knowledge through retention, innovation through internal communication, as well as elevating the mission and vision to external stakeholders.

The following piece is based on a written assignment in COM 65100: Organizational Culture and Internal Communication at Purdue University.

This assignment asks you to contemplate an impending change that will have major impact on the organization. With the major change in mind, you’ve been tasked with developing the communication plan that will facilitate a smooth transition. Your proposal must be convincing and persuasive to earn the approval and buy-in of the CEO and the senior leadership team, thereby demonstrating your value as a senior leader.

The following prompts should be addressed within the paper:

• Succinctly provide a situation overview with background information at the start.

• Create a SWOT analysis of the opportunities for success as well as potential roadblocks to overcome. Assess indicators and whether they are internal and/or external.

• Recommend how the organization will address its communication issues both internally and externally.

• In your “consulting role,” describe the steps that leadership must take to ensure success of the plan.

• What will success look like? Describe how the organization should measure the results.

Situation Overview
Before the ink dries, the major announcement is making headlines. Gaining a critical eye from regulators and a glint of opportunity for investors, organizational structure will be critically tested during mergers and acquisitions. 

“Despite the headlines, mergers aren’t completed when the deal closes. That’s just the starting point […] [a]t its heart, the integration of two companies is all about hundreds of small but important tasks, the dotting of I’s and crossing of t’s, that consume thousands of man-hours in bringing together two different organizations to assure that the original value and intent of the acquisition are realized,” (LeMenager, 2023, p. 18).

Change is constant but change management communication proposals provide the groundwork for a smooth transition. The development of the communications plan will focus on two independent aspects a potential internal roadblock to overcome and an external opportunity for success.  

SWOT Analysis – Potential internal roadblock
Mergers create uncertainty and fear among employees, and the first major roadblock is internal communication. “If employees are rallied around a shared sense of purpose, facilitated by an internal communications program, the brand will radiate meaning from the most luminous and authentic stars: the people who work there. Motivation, loyalty, and retention all supervene on an internal passion for the brand,” (Brain, 2020).

While merged organizations are unable to avoid the natural human reaction to change or answer all questions promptly, they can manage people’s expectations. Organizational leadership can provide insights on how decisions affecting employees’ lives will be made. “Companies die because their managers focus on the economic activity of producing goods and services, and they forget that their organizations’ true nature is that of a community of humans,” (LeMenager, 2023, p. 2).

Recommendations
The best way to ease fears among employees is for leadership to analyze how coherent the organization is after the merger. The McKinsey 7-S framework was developed in the late 1970s and identifies seven internal elements of an organization that need to align for it to be successful.

“Strategy: this is your organization’s plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage over its competitors.

Structure: this is how your company is organized (how departments and teams are structured, including who reports to whom).

Systems: the daily activities and procedures that staff use to get the job done.

Shared Values: these are the core values of the organization and reflect its general work ethic. They were called “superordinate goals” when the model was first developed.

Style: the style of leadership adopted.

Staff: the employees and their general capabilities.

Skills: the actual skills and competencies of the organization’s employees.” (Mulholland, 2017).

The model proves useful during a merger by helping identify which elements need to be realigned to improve performance by examining how various parts of the organization work together. This will help develop a baseline for our internal communications strategy to employees. “Studies show that when people believe that their work matters, they’re four times more likely to be engaged, are more motivated, learn faster, and are more fulfilled,” (Mercurio, 2019). The 7-S model focuses our attention on using shared values to create a uniform purpose for employees to get behind. “A 2018 study showed that 83% of people in diverse occupations say finding meaning in work is a daily top priority,” (Mercurio, 2019). Therefore, our purpose-driven organization will help retain motivated employees through the merger and into the future.

Leadership Steps
“Without a sense of ownership and passion for the products-services-brand worked on therein, employees are prone to distrusting their company’s external message and advertising expectations,” (Brain, 2020). To build employee loyalty, leadership must connect people to the organizations’ purpose to ensure success of the plan.

“Connecting people to purpose starts regularly showing people how their work matters. The results can be transformative. In fact, Wharton School professor Adam Grant and colleagues found in a landmark study that meeting just one person your job impacts can increase motivation and productivity by 400%.

• When delegating or assigning anything, before you tell people what to do and how to do it, show them why it matters through a story
• When giving positive feedback and recognition, don’t tell someone they “did a good job,” specifically show them the difference they made
• Invite employees to tell stories of their impact on others and incorporate these stories in regular team touchpoints
• Encourage people to keep a weekly “contribution” journal that documents the ways they made a difference for team members or end users

In an archival study of organizational practices at NASA, researchers uncovered that each functional unit had a “ladder to the moon” – a tangible view of how each group’s tasks accomplished tangible objectives which would enable a moon landing.

• Ensure the organization has a clear, contribution-focused purpose statement to harmonize energy and that it is able to be articulated at all levels
• Make sure each team has a “ladder to the purpose” and that every person and position can see how their core work tasks and processes meet measurable objectives that enable the purpose to be delivered
• Make the pathway to purpose a daily discussion
• Regularly assess whether employees can articulate the bigger contribution their core tasks enable
• Provide the space for each individual to build their own purpose statement and provide a clear path for how it connects to delivering the organization’s purpose

Psychologists find there are two types of goals: self-image goals and compassionate goals. Self-image goals are those used to get ahead. Researchers find that those who set other-centered goals experience more motivation, learn more, and form more supportive relationships than those who don’t.

• Review the goals set for employees, are more of them achievement-oriented or contribution-oriented?
• Set organizational goals that are measured by their relative impact on others, not on organizational gain
• Encourage individual employees to set goals that result in a contribution to others
• Create a rewards structure – yes even financial – that reward for purposeful behavior” (Mercurio, 2019).­­­

Measuring Success
Evaluation starts with deciding why we are tracking and then determining a methodology for how to monitor that goal. The more areas we try to monitor the more cumbersome the project becomes, so focusing on a key aspect whether it is inputs, outputs, satisfaction, out-takes, and outcomes will be necessary to measure success.

“If leaders are not part of the process, communication is bound to be seriously hampered,” (Dewhurst et al, 2022, p. 29). Measuring success being with SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely) objectives such as: what do we want people to do in the future?; how do we want people to feel in the future?; OR what do we want people to know in the future?

Using the ARROW (aim, reality, roadblocks, opportunities, who and when) framework we need to ask ourselves: What do we want people to be doing differently?; what’s happening now?; What obstacles might we expect to encounter?; What’s the one thing that matters most over the next six months?; Who exactly needs to do something differently?; AND When do the targets need to be achieved?

An employee communication audit provides quantitative and qualitative data we could use to research efficiency and effectiveness. “Organizations run on data; without it you’re just someone with an opinion, and there’s no shortage of those when it comes to employee communication,” (Dewhurst et al, 2022, p. 217).

SWOT Analysis – External opportunity for success
After Kraft acquired Cadbury in 2010, the CEO promised that a plant which had been scheduled to be shut down before the acquisition could not be saved. The miscalculation ended with lost jobs, became a hot political issue, and was a blatant contradiction of the CEO’s words. The lesson: “[c]ommunication in the early days of a merger or acquisition should avoid assumptions and blanket public statements,” (LeMenager, 2023, p. 25).

Fortunately, the CEO is not the only brand advocate, and this presents an external opportunity for success. “According to Edelman Trust Barometer 2016, employees embody company culture and values and therefore are three times more trusted than CEOs,” (Polverino, 2019). Brand advocacy allows organizations to drive active employee participation which reinforces shared culture and values. “A global study of some 2,300 employees (ages 18–65) found that 50% of employees shared something on social media about their employer,” (Biro, 2016).

Gallup found employees in the last decade are more engaged and committed to their workplace than every measured before. However, individual organizations can take that engagement a step further by making employees feel appreciated. “Gallup has studied hundreds of organizations during the past two decades. Many of these organizations have improved substantially over time — some going from less than 20% engagement to over 70%. These organizations have focused on creating high-development cultures, where people can see their impact on the organization and its customers through their work. They have opportunities to develop their strengths and purpose into a career. This is essential, since the top reason that employees change jobs is to pursue career growth opportunities,” (Harter, 2020).

Recommendations
Creating a high-development culture takes effort. Harvard Business Review found notable gaps between managers’ and employees’ perceptions with a stark difference between how much managers appreciated employees and how appreciated employees felt. Managers incorrectly assumed employees knew how they felt about them, and people have a tendency to overestimate how visible their emotions are to others.

“The power of employee advocates is unlimited, and it dovetails beautifully into the new perception of work as an investment not only in hours, but in engagement,” (Biro, 2016). Therefore, it is essential to create a high-development culture within the organization.

High-development cultures have “a well-defined purpose and brand — why it exists and how it wants to be known. Everyone in the organization understands that employee engagement is a system for achieving unity of purpose and brand. Leaders explicitly connect engagement elements to their business issues. This means making engagement relevant to everyday work rather than an abstract concept,” (Harter, 2020).

“1. While regularly taking time to say hello to employees and check in with them might seem like an unnecessary drain on your productivity, these interactions are actually valuable points of connection for your employees (and for you). They prevent your staff from feeling invisible.

2. Employees want to know both what they’re doing well and where they can improve. The trick is to avoid giving both types of feedback at once. When managers try the common sandwich technique, stuffing negative feedback between two layers of positive feedback, employees just get confused. So be sure to clearly separate out the positive feedback from the developmental feedback.

3. Employees want to know what the future holds for their careers. When managers take time to explicitly discuss growth potential or provide opportunities and “stretch” assignments, employees interpret it as evidence that they’re valued. Conversely, when managers neglect to address people’s development, employees take it as a sign that they are not

4. Whether managers gave people the option to work remotely or even simply suggested someone come in late the day after working extra hours, employees were quick to interpret it as an important signal of trust and appreciation.

5. Simply taking a few minutes to tell your employee specifically what you value about their contributions can have a tremendous impact. The idea isn’t to create an automatic system for thanking employees, however; it’s more about giving yourself permission to express your appreciation in a way that feels natural to you.” (Roberts Gibson et al, 2020).

Organizations that create a high-development culture are utilizing their most valuable asset, employees as brand advocates. “Integrating brand advocacy into your marketing plans will allow you to receive support with content production from your own employees,” (Polverino, 2019).

Leadership Steps
“[Organizations] with the highest engagement levels see employee recognition as a means to develop and stretch employees to new levels of success. Recognition of outstanding team leaders sends a strong message about what the company values,” (Harter, 2020). Leaders identify where the organization is and where they want it to be in the future and therefore are the primary initiators of developing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that cascade throughout the culture. “Make sure brand advocates will be recognized by the executive leadership and invited to join special projects that will help them in their career development,” (Polverino, 2019).

The communications team should encourage executive leadership to constantly communicate about the brand and additionally communications can assist with examples to share on how you bring the brand to life. “If top leadership within an organization lives and breathes the brand, employees are much more likely to embrace it as well. It is therefore critical that an organization’s CEO leads by example and always acts as an advocate on behalf of the brand,” (Schade, 2007).

Measuring Success
The success of brand advocates can be measure using a range of key performance indicators (KPIs), including social leads, reach, mentions, and engagement. “Track who’s participating, who’s really taking the ball and running with it, and where. Then you can take the successes and focus on them, refining the program with meaningful data,” (Biro, 2016). These metrics help track information and the trajectory of a campaign.

References
Brain, J. (2020). How to Build an Employee Communications Strategy That Unifies the Team. Everyone Social. https://everyonesocial.com/blog/employee-communications-strategy/

Biro, M. (2016).  5 Way to Grow Employee Brand Advocates. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2016/05/27/5-ways-to-grow-employee-brand-advocates/#35327feb8c43

Dewhurst, Sue, and Liam Fitzpatrick. (2022). Successful Employee Communications: A Practitioner’s Guide to Tools, Models and Best Practice for Internal Communication. Koganpage.

Harter, J. (2020). 4 Factors Driving Record High Employee Engagement in U.S. Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/284180/factors-driving-record-high-employee-engagement.aspx

Lemenager, J. (2023). Inside the organization: perspectives on employee communications. Fells Publishing.

Mercurio, Zach. (2019). How to Connect Your People to Purpose and Why It’s Vital. Thrive Global. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-to-connect-your-people-to-purpose-and-why-its-vital/

Mulholland, B. (2017). 8 Critical Change Management Models. Process St. https://www.process.st/change-management-models/

Polverino, S. (2019) Brand Advocacy: Unleashing the Power of Employee in 4 Steps. HubSpot. https://blog.hubspot.com/customers/brand-advocacy-power-employees-4-steps

Roberts Gibson, K., O’Leary, K., & Weintraub, J.  (2020). The Little Things That Make Employees Feel Appreciated. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-little-things-that-make-employees-feel-appreciated

Schade, J. (2007). Creating brand ambassadors: How to help employees promote the brand. JRS Consulting. http://www.jrsconsulting.net/freearticles_12.html

Executive Summary

The ongoing crises at Boeing underscore fundamental ethical failures in process, accountability, and transparency.

This report examines ethical theories from more than a dozen scholars including Ki & Kim, Gower, and Bowen & Zheng that were systematically disregarded by managers at Boeing. Publicly available information from Boeing is used to show how communications professionals within the organization addressed a multitude of crises, all related to ethics. To gain insight on public perceptions, these statements are compared to media reports on the different issues to provide a more holistic storyline on the gravity of these issues and responses.

The report shows how ethical issues directly impacted procedures and processes linked to quality control.

Subsequently, the lack of quality control enforcement created a production process riddled with safety issues. These issues have been internationally documented since 2018 with the earliest allegations dating back to 2012. Additionally, managers did not act when issues were brought up by employees, and employees allege facing retaliation for whistleblowing.

The results of the safety issues have damaged Boeing’s reputation and taken an economic toll on the organization. Passengers are concerned with getting on Boeing aircraft, and stock prices have dropped considerably as issues continue to mount for the aviation company.

The report concludes with three recommendations on what Boeing could have done differently for the crisis management to be ethical and effective. To build back its brand reputation, Boeing must institutionalize an ethical culture, create ethical leadership to guide corporate conscience, and develop a comprehensive ethical issues management strategy.

Situational Analysis

The scope of this report shows safety concerns within Boeing being internationally documented since 2018 with the earliest allegations dating to 2012. I’ve chosen this particular organization because of their historically strong brand identification with safety and how unethical practices systematically created reputational damage and an avalanche of public relations crises.

Literature Review

Ki & Kim (2010) attempt to establish empirical evidence on the efficacy of ethics codes and are encouraged to find organizations with ethics statements decreased the “incidence of malpractice.” However, just two years later, Ki et al (2012) cites scholars who show the ineffectiveness of ethics statements and those conflicting perspectives showcase how Boeing was able to establish a code of ethics, but then blatantly disregard that code, which led to systematic crises within the organization.

Gower (2006) explores trust, truth, and transparency in a corporate setting. By neglecting these core elements, Boeing developed an upper-management culture removed from quality control and set up a working environment doomed to create safety issues.

In their examination of Toyota’s recall crisis Bowen & Zheng (2015) conclude that “[e]thics should be foremost among the considerations of an organization’s reputation.” The lack of ethical consideration created reputational damage for the Boeing brand.

Method

The core data for this report is centralized around the Boeing Code of Conduct, which was found on the official Boeing website. Boeing statements including Updates on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 were also found on the website but were cross-referenced with media sources to provide a public relations practitioner comparison with public perceptions. The lawsuit from John Barnett provides a rare insider perspective into the organization and follows the timeline of ethics issues followed by quality control breakdowns leading to the public relations crises and reputational fallout for a more comprehensive and in-depth look at Boeing’s ethical failures.

Results and Conclusions

Boeing’s Code of Conduct includes the statement, “I will prioritize safety, quality, and integrity above profit, schedule, or competitive edge. If I see something that raises a safety concern, I will speak up immediately,” (Boeing Code of Conduct). These words integrate many of the core values in the PRSA Code of Ethics, however it isn’t enough to simply have a code of ethics. Boeing’s recent safety woes illustrate the observation made by Higgs-Kleyn and Kapelianis that “there is no significant association between employees’ perceptions of the penalties for violating ethics codes and the frequency with which employees actually disobey them,” (as cited in Ki & Kim, 2010, p. 225).

“Every year, Boeing employees reaffirm their commitment to do their work in a compliant and ethical manner;” (Boeing Ethics and Compliance) yet “after the January 5 door plug blowout, causing a gaping hole in the side of the jet, Boeing’s reputation for safety and quality may have reached an all-time low,” (Isidore, 2024).

Scholars point to ethics statements as “meaningless rhetoric” or insufficient in leading organizations to ethical behaviors. In Boeing’s case, such rhetoric includes “Boeing employees are united by a shared commitment to our values—safety, quality, integrity, and transparency—above all else. We believe that compliance and ethical behavior are everyone’s responsibility,” (Boeing Ethics and Compliance). According to Gower, “[t]ransparency carries with it an implication of accountability—that executives will be held accountable either to the legal system or to their stakeholders if they violate the law or act in ways that adversely affect stakeholders’ interests,” (Gower, 2006, p. 95).

However, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun received a “total compensation in 2023 [of] $32.8 million […] despite overseeing a company that has been plagued by chronic losses and safety problems” (Isidore, 2024). Dave Calhoun’s departure from the aviation company is the latest of nearly six years of documented public relations crises and ethical lapses within the organization.

The Boeing Code of Conduct specifically tells employees they should “prioritize safety, quality, and integrity above profit, schedule, or competitive edge,” (Boeing Code of Conduct). However, safety has been an ongoing issue since at least October of 2018 when “[a] Lion Air MAX plane crashe[d] in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board,” (Reuters, 2024).

Less than a month after the crash, Boeing released a six-sentence statement affirming “[w]e are confident in the safety of the 737 MAX,” (Boeing, 2018a). Six days later, the company released a longer statement declaring that “[s]afety is a core value for everyone at Boeing and the safety of our airplanes […] [a]s our customers and their passengers continue to fly the 737 MAX to hundreds of destinations around the world every day, they have our assurance that the 737 MAX is as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies,” (Boeing, 2018).

The Lion Air crash raised international awareness of Boeing’s 737 Max, but the issues that led to that crash began years before. John Barnett made international headlines when he spoke to The New York Times in April 2019 more than two years after filing a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Boeing retaliated against him for bringing up safety issues. In his interview with The New York Times, Barnett stated, “[a]s a quality manager at Boeing, you’re the last line of defense before a defect makes it out to the flying public […] [a]nd I haven’t seen a plane out of Charleston yet that I’d put my name on saying it’s safe and airworthy,” (Chappell, 2024). Although Bivens applies the concept to public relations professionals, Barnett acted with accountability.

Barnett retired from Boeing in 2017 after a career of 30 years (Lagatta, 2024). During his career at Boeing, Barnett had been raising issues regarding “shoddy manufacturing practices” (Lagatta, 2024) and continued to do so after retirement. A spokesperson for Boeing stated that, “Boeing reviewed and addressed quality issues that Mr. Barnett raised before he retired in 2017, as well as other quality issues referred to in the complaint,” (Norman, 2024).

The timing of Barnett’s “retirement” raises a number of ethical concerns as Barnett “was taking legal action against Boeing […] in March 2017” (Norman, 2024). The lawsuit alleges that in January 2017 “Barnett was notified that his name was ‘1 of 49’ listed in an e-mail on a supervisor’s desk titled ‘Quality Managers to get rid of […] [and] [i]n retaliation for his complaints and identifying issues that needed to be properly documented and addressed, Barnett was given low Performance Management scores, he was separated from his team and moved to other areas in the plant, and blacklisted and blocked from transferring to other Boeing divisions,” (Norman, 2024). Barnett’s experience with his supervisors runs counter to three of the nine commitments in the Boeing Code of Conduct: “I will treat my colleagues with respect and understand that harassment will not be tolerated; I will promptly report any illegal, improper, or unethical conduct to my management or through other appropriate channels; and I will never retaliate against or punish anyone who speaks up to report a concern,” (Boeing Code of Conduct).

Disregarding the code of conduct and whistleblower retaliation has its own inherent unethical and legal issues, but Barnett’s lawsuit also alleges he made “numerous ethics complaints” and was “pressured by Boeing upper management” to “violate […] Boeing’s processes and procedures by not properly documenting and remedying defects,” (Norman, 2024). This directly links ethics to quality control and creates an environment for safety issues to occur. In March 2024, Boeing released an update regarding Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 and the 737-9 that an FAA production audit found, “[t]he vast majority of our audit non-compliances involved not following our approved processes and procedures,” (Boeing, 2024).

The safety issues are not simply processes and procedures, but a larger ethical failing which will have long-term impacts for Boeing. “Scholars have argued that the corporation exists by permission of society, and, therefore, must serve society in a responsible manner,” (Bowen, 2008, p. 272).  Having not served society in a responsible manner, Boeing’s ethical issues are now impacting the bottom line. “Boeing said […] it had delivered 29 airplanes in March, down more than half from the 64 delivered in the same month a year ago, as 737 MAX production slipped on increased quality checks and audits by regulators,” (Lampert, 2004). Additionally, another whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, has come forward. Boeing stock fell nearly 10% from April 2 to April 10, “[t]he continued selloff com[ing] after reports surfaced […] that the Federal Aviation Administration was investigating claims made by a Boeing whistleblower who said the company was taking assembly and safety shortcuts with 787 aircraft,” (Kilgore, 2024).

While Boeing may bounce back from the economic damage, the reputational damage will take longer as “[a]n organization must work to rebuild any trust that it lost during the crisis. Once lost, trust cannot be regained overnight. Rebuilding trust is a long-term and continuous venture that requires a commitment from an organization’s leadership,” (Gower, 2006, p. 102).  The impact of this lack of trust is already taking effect. “A majority of Americans are willing to pay more for their flights to avoid traveling on a Boeing aircraft,” (Carbonaro, 2024) and “[t]ravel booking site Kayak offers a specific aircraft filter […] [i]n February, a Kayak spokesperson said usage of the 737 Max filter increased threefold in the days after the Alaska Airlines incident,” (Dong & Simpson, 2024). The results of the many issues laid out in this section show the results for Boeing are all indisputably bad. Time and time again, Boeing released ineffective statements about how they will address safety concerns and create quality products, but have failed to make any actionable changes to processes or procedures that would instill that confidence in consumers or regulators. “Ethics is connected to trust between publics in an organization. A breach of ethics causes an organization to lose the trust of publics, destroying long-term relationships, brand loyalty, and resulting in a tarnished organizational reputation,” (Bowen & Zheng, 2015, p. 42). Ultimately, Boeing’s unethical behavior led to this tarnished organizational reputation.

Recommendations

My first recommendation for Boeing is to reinforce ethical practices through ethical leadership. Boeing has an ethics and compliance section on their website that claims that every year employees must read and sign the Boeing Code of Conduct every year. This is a good baseline to build an ethical corporate conscience as indicated by several scholars: “Adam and Rachman-Moore (2004) discovered that the presence of an ethics statement in a firm positively affects practitioners’ perceptions of ethical behaviors. Weaver et al. (1999) presented evidence indicating that ethics statements have strategic benefits and positively influence long-term performance by discouraging inappropriate decisions,” (Ki et al, 2012, p. 268). Unfortunately, based on the allegations of whistleblowers, the organization has a disconnect in utilizing the code of conduct during production. However, this is where upper management has room to improve through ethical leadership. “In its National Nonprofit Ethics Survey, the Ethics Resource Center categorizes an organization as having a strong ethical culture when top management leads with integrity, supervisors reinforce ethical conduct, peers display a commitment to ethics, and the organization integrates its values in day-to-day decision making,” (Rhode & Packel, 2009, pp. 34-35).

My second recommendation is to have public relations practitioners take the lead on the ethical conscience of the organization. The Public Relations Society of America’s Code of Ethics guides members to be accountable, provide objective counsel, and “[i]nvestigate the truthfulness and accuracy of information released on behalf of those represented,” (PRSA Code of Ethics). Boeing communication professionals lacked accountability, which impacts transparency and trust among publics and stakeholders. Every public statement referenced in this report does not include the public relations practitioners’ names, which is a simple form of transparency. Under Be an Objective Advocate, The Page Society’s Joint Statement of Principles on Public Relations and the Internet states, “[a]ct as a credible information source, providing round-the-clock access,” (Hallahan, 2006, p. 109). Presenting information online without providing an easy way to contact the information does not “advance[e] the free flow of accurate and truthful information” in “the marketplace of ideas,” (Fitzpatrick, 2006, p. 1). While, “[a]n ethical conscience should normatively be a part of an organization that seeks long-term efficacy and strives to build relationships with publics and stakeholders,” (Bowen, 2008, p. 272) public relations practitioners should play a key role in credibility, accountability, transparency, and providing objective counsel. Ultimately, the public relations role avoids moral excuses by fostering ethical leadership in an organization.

“Often the most critical determinant of workplace culture is ethical leadership. Employees take cues about appropriate behavior from those at the top. Day-to-day decisions that mesh poorly with professed values send a powerful signal. No organizational mission statement or ceremonial platitudes can counter the impact of seeing leaders withhold crucial information, play favorites with promotion, stifle dissent, or pursue their own self-interest at the organization’s expense,” (Rhode & Packel, 2009, p. 35).

Boeing communication professionals are “boundary spanners […] [who] might be the only managers in an organization who understand the beliefs, interests, and values of publics enough to represent them and include those in strategic decision making and planning,” (Bowen, 2008, p. 273).

The practical reasons every member of an organization should follow ethics codes are “(1) improvement of the company’s bottom line (Leeper 1996; Werner 1992), (2) protection during litigation or regulatory actions (White and Montgomery 1980), (3) promotion of corporate social responsibility, positive employee behavior, management, and corporate culture (Robin et al. 1989), and (4) creation of a positive impression of a firm among its stakeholders (Berenbein 1988; Cressey and Moore 1983),” (Ki et al, 2012, p. 268). However, public relations practitioners have an additional vested professional interest in ethical practices given their “obligation to communicate with any group upon which they have consequences,” (Hon, 2006, p. 55). According to Grunig, teleology theory expects public relations to address consequences and when the organization violates this value system, “the public relations function has a moral duty to counsel the organization to change course. Otherwise, responsible and effective advocacy becomes impossible,” (Hon, 2006).

My third recommendation is to open a dialogue, internally at first, to gather input on ethical considerations during issues management events. The ethical policies of an organization can not be the sole responsibility of communications professionals. “Many public relations practitioners cite the fact that they do not have any training in ethics, feel ill-equipped to counsel others on such issues, or simply believe it is a matter better left to legal counsel,” (Bowen, 2008, p.290). Even if a communication professional feels they can rise to the challenge, “[p]eople vary in their capacity for moral judgment – in their ability to recognize and analyze moral issues, and in the priority that they place on moral values,” (Rhode & Packel, 2009, p.30). A communications professional or even a single department can exhibit cognitive biases, cognitive dissonance, skewed reward systems, situational pressures, and/or have moral blinders (Rhode & Packel, 2009). Furthermore, ethics should not be a closed-door policy that is simply shared to other members of an organization, but a collaborative process that builds on the experiences and knowledge of team members. Ethics is an organizational policy and “[m]atters of organizational policy are often decided in concert with top decision makers from finance, legal, operations, and other relevant departments in an organization. These representatives comprise an issues management team, and each member brings different strengths and weaknesses to the decision-making process,” (Bowen, 2008, p. 273).

By institutionalizing an ethical culture, having communications professionals objectively guide corporate conscience, and having a robust dialogue to determine issues management ethics, Boeing would have a solid foundation to address crisis/issues management ethically and effectively. I would recommend Boeing implement “access, process, truth, and disclosure,” (Fitzpatrick, 2006, p. 13) through the ethical frameworks recommended above so practitioners would have a template for evaluating public relations practices to better evaluate an issue before it becomes a crisis.

About the Author

Debabrata “Ronnie” Das is a strategic communicator who purposefully drives positive engagement through deliberate planning and fostering meaningful connections.

A current thought leader in public relations management and former award-winning journalist, Ronnie strives to navigate crises, enhance goodwill, and strategically communicate organizational values.

Ronnie is currently completing his MS in Strategic Communications with a Management Communication and Leadership Concentration at Purdue University’s Brian Lamb School of Communication.

Contact me to direct strategic communications in your organization, consult on your next project, and/or motivate your current communications team on effective strategies.

References

Bivins, T. (2006). Responsibility and accountability. In Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy (pp. 19-38). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452204208

Boeing. (n.d.). Boeing Code of Conduct. https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/boeingdotcom/principles/ethics_and_compliance/pdf/english.pdf

Boeing. (2024, March 12). March 12, 2024: Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO shares new actions to strengthen safety and quality. Updates on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 and the 737-9. https://www.boeing.com/737-9-updates#accordion-78d5956490-item-3affcd09db

Boeing. (2019, July 3). Boeing pledges support to families, communities affected by Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents. Boeing MediaRoom. https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2019-07-03-Boeing-Pledges-Support-to-Families-Communities-Affected-by-Lion-Air-Flight-610-and-Ethiopian-Airlines-Flight-302-Accidents

Boeing. (n.d.). Ethics and compliance. Ethics and Compliance. https://www.boeing.com/sustainability/ethics-and-compliance#anchor1

Boeing. (2018a, November 6). Boeing statement on Lion Air Flight JT 610 investigation. Boeing MediaRoom. https://boeing.mediaroom.com/news-releases-statements?item=130333

Boeing. (2018, November 27). Boeing statement on Lion Air Flight 610 preliminary report. Boeing MediaRoom. https://boeing.mediaroom.com/news-releases-statements?item=130336

Bowen, S. A., & Zheng, Y. (2015). Auto recall crisis, framing, and ethical response: Toyota’s missteps. Public Relations Review, 41(1), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.10.017

Bowen, S. A. (2008). A State of Neglect: Public Relations as “Corporate Conscience” or Ethics Counsel. Journal of Public Relations Research, 20(3), 271–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/10627260801962749

Carbonaro, G. (2024, April 5). Americans will pay more to avoid Boeing. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/americans-will-pay-more-avoid-boeing-1887254

Chappell, B. (2024, March 12). Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, who raised alarm over plane quality, is found dead. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/12/1238033573/boeing-whistleblower-john-barnett-dead

Dong, C., & Simpson, H. (2024, March 18). How to know if you’re scheduled on a Boeing for your next flight. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/boeing-737-max-9-booking-tools/

Fitzpatrick, K. (2006). Baselines for ethical advocacy in the “marketplace of ideas”. In Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy (pp. 1-18). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452204208

Gower, K. (2006). Truth and transparency. In Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy (pp. 89-106). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452204208

Hallahan, K. (2006). Responsible online communication. In Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy (pp. 107-130). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452204208

Hon, L. (2006). Negotiating relationships with activist publics. In Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy (pp. 53-70). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452204208

Isidore, C. (2024, April 5). Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was paid $32.8 million in 2023. CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/05/business/boeing-ceo-pay/index.html

Kilgore, T. (2024, April 10). Boeing’s stock extends long losing streak as the bad news keeps coming. MarketWatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeings-stock-heads-for-17-month-low-as-the-bad-news-keeps-coming-b7e1a715

Ki, E.-J., Choi, H.-L., & Lee, J. (2012). Does Ethics Statement of a Public Relations Firm Make a Difference? Yes it Does. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(2), 267–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0971-1

Ki, E. J., & Kim, S. Y. (2010). Ethics statements of public relations firms: What do they say?. Journal of Business Ethics, 91(2), 223-236.

Lagatta, E. (2024, March 12). Who was John Barnett? what to know about the Boeing employee and his safety concerns. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/12/john-barnett-boeingwhistleblower/72947086007/

Lampert, A. (2024, April 9). Boeing deliveries drop by half in March due to increased quality checks. Reuters Aerospace & Defense. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-deliveries-drop-by-half-march-due-increased-quality-checks-2024-04-09/

Norman, G. (2024, March 21). Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was spied on, harassed by managers, lawsuit claims. Fox Business. https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/boeing-whistleblower-john-barnett-spied-harassed-managers-lawsuit-claims

Public Relations Society of America. (n.d.). PRSA code of Ethics. PRSA Code of Ethics. https://www.prsa.org/about/prsa-code-of-ethics

Reuters. (2024, March 25). Boeing’s ongoing 737 Max crisis. Reuters Business. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeings-ongoing-737-max-crisis-2024-03-01/

Rhode, D. L., & Packel, A. K. (2009). ETHICS and NONPROFITS. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 7(3), 29–35.

“A faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide on Friday, grounding flights, knocking down some financial companies and news outlets, and disrupting hospitals, small businesses and government offices,” (Graham-McLay et al, 2024).

The outage highlights the importance of an incident response plan. Beyond the relevance, timeliness, and wide impact across industries, the most attractive aspect of the tech failure is that it creates a scenario with no variables in type.

“The global software outage Friday brought many computer systems across business, healthcare, technology and government sectors to a screeching halt in under 12 hours,” (Rothenberg, 2024).

An imperceptible detail in a comparative analysis can create a false positive in a statistical hypothesis. For example, we could always argue that two similar natural disasters created two different outcomes for organizations or that having the same type of crisis may have other factors in play that helped or hurt an organization. However, for this incident, the lack of lead time and consistency of the root issue provides the most valuable opportunity to specifically address the organizational response.

The comparative analysis between Scripps News and Delta Airlines.

Scripps News acted quickly and handled the outage well. “In the U.S., KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, aired Scripps News instead of local news until about 5:35 a.m., the stations said on its website. Other local stations owned by Scripps reported similar problems, though Scripps spokesman Michael Perry said early Friday that 90% of stations were able to air local news,” (Graham-McLay et al, 2024). The quick response was not only with Scripps News, but many of my friends who are journalists had videos of them putting together artistic suns and drawing clouds to acknowledge the issue while still providing the weather to their local audience. Anchors had print outs or hand-written scripts and cameras got hard-wired into servers and bypassed any downed computer to continue providing coverage.

For the worst-case scenario, a news station has the safety tape which begins playing if no signal is going out for as little as 30 seconds of a complete failure of a broadcast station. When I was at a FOX station the tape was of a Simpsons episode, NBC had Friends, and ABC showed Modern Family. These tapes provide 56 minutes of opportunity for a station to diagnose an issue and try to recover the broadcast or like Scripps they go to a master control where they play national news instead of local programming. In 2022, I worked for Sinclair Broadcasting Company when we had a cybersecurity issue take down our servers and computers. We have redundancy of machines and experts who can run every aspect of a newsroom manually.

News stations handle a crisis well because they are built to provide information and communicate during a nuclear attack in the Cold War or terrorist attack after 2001. It is why the National Weather Service suggests homeowners have an AM radio because it is built as a system to share information during critical moments. My recommendation goes back to the time-tested saying, “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This may not be the most cost-effective advice for a small struggling start-up, but building in redundancies, actively engaging in surveying for enterprise risk, and developing crisis communication plans it relieves the stress of not if, but when an incident should occur.

An organization that is still failing the CrowdStrike outage is Delta Airlines. “Delta CEO Ed Bastian arrived in Paris Wednesday morning for the opening of the Olympics as his airline struggled to recover from a five-day meltdown that left an estimated half-million customers stranded by thousands of flight cancellations,” (Isidore, 2024). Even though Delta is the official airline of the U.S. Olympic team, the attempt to justify traveling at the time is a public relations nightmare. Even worse was the statement from Delta to explain the trip. Delta said Bastian took a Delta commercial flight and not a private jet. “The union attempting to organize Delta flight attendants slammed the CEO for taking a “first class seat” to Paris instead of taking ownership of the massive meltdown,” (Isidore, 2024).

The obvious disconnect for external stakeholders (passengers, government officials, etc.) is egregious, but the actions also impact internal business partners. “Delta has been asking employees to pull extra duty to try to address the company’s problems, with its IT staff working around the clock to try to fix a tech meltdown caused by a corrupted software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike late last week,” (Isidore, 2024).

The extent of the impact is still unresolved, but so far Delta has canceled more than 8,000 flights, suspended its program for unaccompanied minors following reports minors have been stranded, reports of rebooked flights with layovers of 100s of hours, passengers went to social media to show bags piled up in major airports, the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating why it’s taking the airline so long to recover, and the Department of Transportation is also launching an investigation. Delta has done an awful job controlling the message, adapting systems to address the problems, or focusing on any resolutions that would slow down the hemorrhaging throughout the organization.

“Although many airlines’ operations were disrupted, the problems proved to be far more widespread and long-lasting at Delta than at other carriers. Delta encountered severe problems with its crew tracking software that made it difficult to locate the pilots and flight attendants it needed to operate the flights,” (Isidore, 2024).

The two organizations show a stark contrast in incident response with a giant question mark as to whether Delta even have a plan for this scenario and opening themselves up to major fines and potential lawsuits.

References

Isidore, C. (2024, July 24). Delta’s CEO went to Paris Olympics as his airline struggles to recover from massive meltdown | CNN Business. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/24/business/delta-ceo-paris-olympics/index.html

Graham-McLay, C., Kurtenbach, E., McHugh, D., Hadero, H., & Ortutay, B. (2024, July 19). A faulty software update causes havoc worldwide for airlines, hospitals and governments. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-crowdstrike-outage-australia-internet-banks-media-0a5f792b6571b37a35181d64028fefc4

Rothenberg, E. (2024, July 20). Timeline: How the CrowdStrike outage unfolded | CNN Business. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/20/tech/timeline-crowdstrike-system-outage/index.html