Corporate Social Responsibility: The Obligation to All Stakeholders

Companies have a social responsibility towards the stakeholders that include shareholders, partners, employees, customers and the local communities living in the places whereby such companies operate from. Such decisions such as those involving how a company relates with its associates are decided at the top level of management of management and executed by the entire staff of an organization.

As a function of management, planning plays an important role in any organization. The planning role of the management in any organization encompasses input from the various departments of the organization and is widely responsible for many organizational decisions such as the strategic fit of the organization, business process engineering efforts as well as harmonization of all the above with to fit within the goals of the organization (Kapstein, 2004).

Overall planning is concerned with guiding the organization into the future, ensuring that the organization fully understands the business environment, the market forces as well as competitor activities that are likely to impact on the organization.

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For Boeing company, planning management has been practiced in terms of, strategic planning, project planning especially when the company has undertaken fleet expansion programs, program planning especially concerning marketing activities for new product or service launching as well as business planning for operational functions of the organization.

Boeing has also undertaken staffing planning in a bid to develop its staff in such ways such as compensating its workforce fairly and at par with other leading airliners, maintaining the best staff through good remunerations and career de elopement programs such as training and offering refresher courses to staff.

Boeing company engages in financial planning programs whose ultimate goals is aimed at cutting expenditure and maximizing profits, financial planning is crucial for any company as it is through financial planning that the organization is able to project financial performance, to forecast on future financial performance as well as to identify loopholes which could cost the company if not well catered for. Ethics for Boeing company means having a comprehensive plan on how to deal with emerging issues which if not well addressed may cost the company of its reputation, businesses partners, as well as any gains made.

So far, Boeing Company in a bid to ensure accountability from its employees, and partners has come up with company ethics policies which hold all employees accountable for their actions and to punish those who act in contravention to the company code of ethics. The code of ethics basically is about do’s and don’ts as well as a framework for corrective actions in case any issues such as those concerning corporate liability arise (Kapstein, 2004)..

Normally actions of violations have cost companies money, and even talented human resource as ethical violations are usually heavily punished. For Boeing Company, it has had its own share of ethical problems ranging from accusations unfair competition activities, extramarital affairs amongst staff members as well as pricing of products. For Boeing Company, nothing has impacted the company more than the litigations claims which have of late been preferred by some partners against the company.

Of all unethical practices cases ever preferred against Boeing Company, none has had so much impact that the 2003 incident in which Boeing was accused of illegal practices. The company was involved in unfair competition against its major rivals something which was in contravention to the federal laws as well as against the acceptable business practices. This alone cost Boeing Company approximately 4 billion in losses to contracts with the US Air Force contracts.

The same incident later led to the unearthing of deals involving the Boeing’s staff and various organizations. The investigations by counsels established that Boeing’s staff had severally been involved in illegal business practices such as fraud, collusion, under-valuation as well as financial misreporting in as far as transactions with the Air force were concerned. In terms of corporate social responsibility Boeing Company has come up with practices that help give back to stakeholders, while at the same time allowing the company to take liability for its mistakes.

Boeing Company recognizes that it has a duty to assist its employees become the best they can be, this is demonstrated by the training and development programs the company has put in place for its employees. Boeing Company is often involved in community by sharing its profits in terms of being responsive to the needs of the community through initiatives such as sponsorships, research, environmental clean up as well as through improving the social amenities of the areas where the company has operational offices.

One stunning ethical issue on Boeing Company is the recent accusation of the former Boeing Company CEO who was involved in an extra marital affair with one of the employees, something that led to the resignation of both. As provided by the code of ethic’s and other company laws, when such happens the company takes disciplinary actions against the concerned employees. Extreme rendition is a legal concern that has seen Boeing Company being accused by groups such human rights groups and other interested parties as working closely with CIA to fly terrorist suspects aboard their flights.

Although such claims cannot be termed as authentic, this points to a growing fear that Boeing Company indeed participates in illegal business activities. All changes when they happen in an organization, as it is the case with Boeing Company influences the planning function of the company in that, if an accusation is advanced towards Boeing company, it has to spend a lot of money for corrective activities such hiring consultancy firms, advertisements as well as doing public relations duties to help restore the company’s image which can easily be damaged by accusations whether they are false or true.

Such issues forces companies to plan for such happening as emergencies something which costs the company a lot of money. Naturally staff dismissals or resignations means that major decisions cannot be made, the company has to undertake the usually vigorous and involving and selection process so as to replace staff members this can result into loss of business. For Boeing Company, strategic planning is aimed at leading the company into profitability and being a market leader. The company has ensured this by implementing policies that are in line with its objectives.

By establishing joint ventures with other companies, Boeing Company aims at using the good will of such companies to venture into new markets, to acquire new technology, and to achieve the synergetic effects that come with the merger of different companies. Boeing Company has also undertaken several acquisition bids. When Boeing Company acquires a company or its subsidiaries effectively, such a company relinquishes its market intelligence to Boeing Company. This approach ahs helped Boeing Company to penetrate into some routes that it had not succeeded in penetrating in the past.

Tactical planning for Boeing Company is concerned with the implementation of the different strategies, turning them into reality and therefore achieving the goals of the company. Boeing Company sets aside considerable amount of money in its budget to implement its programs that have become an ongoing process designed to deal with the ever-changing business environment. Therefore, to ensure that tactical planning happens, Boeing Company trains and develops its top management so as to ensure that the top management is at par with the requirements of the job and indeed all staff members are up to date and well prepared for the job.

Tactical planning calls for the promotion of qualified staff in accordance with the code of ethics and the company policies in a bid to reward hard work and nurture talent while at the same time motivating the workforce (Brammer, & Millington, 2003). Tactical planning for Boeing Company has ensured that the entire staff of Boeing Company does not stray from the strategic goals but remains focused to their duties inspite of all the challenges that the company may be facing.

Tactical planning at Boeing Company is organized such that when projects are construed, they are approved by top management after which management teams are formed to oversee the implementation process. Proper planning means that the management undertakes all the necessary steps before entering into legally binding contracts. Contingency planning is essential especially when it comes to the acquisition of property assets or mergers and must be well addressed in the process of planning. Conclusion Boeing Company has been consistent in its planning for contingency, strategic planning, operational planning as well as tactical planning.

The above are evidence in the way the company goes abut its property acquisition, human resourcing, and expansion programs as well as how the company has embarked on corporate social responsibility. By coming up with a well laid out code of ethics for its employees, Boeing company ensures that chances of liability suits are minimized as employees are required to function within the required operational boundaries. References Brammer, E. & Millington, A. 2003. The Effect of Stakeholder Preferences, Organizational Structure and Industry Type of Corporate Community Involvement.

Journal of Business Ethics; 45, 3. Kapstein, M. 2004. Business Codes of Multinational Firms: What Do They Say? Journal of Business Ethics. 50: http://209. 85. 165. 104/search? q=cache:-175XF_pp2QJ:www. business-humanrights. org/Categories/Lawlawsuits/Lawsuitsregulatoryaction/AlienTortClaimsActUSA+Boeing+company+ethical+legal+CSR+issues&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=ke Accessed on 9/02/2007 http://209. 85. 165. 104/search? q=cache:Mvp3c9mbjUoJ:www. boeing. com/news/releases/2005/q1/nr_050307a. html+Boeing+CEO+extramarital+affair&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ke Accessed on 9/02/2007