Case Study: Boeing Corporation

Boeing Corporation is one of the largest aircraft companies in the world that supplies its products to customers globally. It supplies top of the line commercial aircraft as well as high technology military aeroplanes to various organisations. The products are the passenger, cargo and military aircraft which have strict safety and performance regulations binding them.

The operations of the company are complex and at a huge scale which make management planning an absolute necessity for the company to carry out business in an efficient manner. Management planning comes into play at every level in the company’s hierarchy and has a pivotal role in the success that the company has attained.

Management Planning is the procedure of earmarking goals and objectives for an organisation to accomplish over a specified period of time. All actions and tasks requiring completion in order to attain the final goal are encompassed in a plan. Plans must have enough flexibility to cater for account variables and unexpected events and avoid the confusion that may arise in a case of unforeseen challenges or troubles.

The Boeing Corporation has a number of departments; mechanical department, engineering department, quality checking department and sales department being the major ones. The aspect of planning is of paramount importance in all these departments. In each of these departments, efficiency is achieved by setting goals and outlining the methods to be followed to achieve the set goal. This includes explaining the steps that need to be followed by addressing issues of resources, management etc., finally aimed at achieving the best levels of efficiency

The process of management planning undergoes five basic steps.

Initially, a situational analysis is carried out. This involves deciding on the various factors and the manner in which they are likely to affect goal attainment and the manner in which these factors will affect the attainment of the goal. This assists the management to understand which steps are vital for goal accomplishment.

In the next step alternative goals and plans for it are thought of. Formulation of multiple plans and then comparing them against one another is extremely beneficial, giving the management an insight into the pros and cons of each plan. Subsequently, all alternative plans and goals will be amalgamated into a single plan.

The third step involves evaluation of the goals and plans created, and arrive at the benefits and drawbacks of each goal in the overall plan. Simultaneously, the most important steps in the plan can be prioritised, and roles assigned to the staff who the manager thinks are best suited for the job.

In the fourth step, on the basis of the input of the first three steps, the management is required to shortlist the final plan to be used. This calls for acute judgment and analysis on the part of the manager to finally decide which plan is to be implemented.

The actual implementation of the final plan by the manager is the last step. The manager has an important role in explaining the salient aspects of the plan to all staff involved in its execution, to ensure that all members are aware of the overall plan, and success is assured.

In Boeing Corporation, since a large number of departments are involved, the plan of each department needs to be coordinated and synchronised with other departments. In this manner, the entire company is able to function as a well coordinated and oiled machine.

Legal issues assume great importance in Boeing Corporation as the products can get the company involved in legal tangles, as human lives and safety aspects are involved. The company, therefore, has to ensure that all legislations and regulations are adhered to in the process of aircraft manufacture. For example, for every aircraft manufactured, an operating manual has to be created for both mechanics and pilots, so that safety aspects are taken care of. The requirement of the manuals has to be kept in mind during planning so that plans are made for dealing with any malfunction or repair issues that may arise in the future (Pritchard & MacPherson, 2004).

The management planning is influenced by many ethical issues also. When the company is bidding products to the United States Army, the company has the largest ethical issue concern, because they follow the guidelines (Pritchard & MacPherson, 2004). The laws have been formulated and followed rigorously to avert the company authorities from unlawfully beguiling the concerned armed forces personnel with pecuniary offerings. So the responsibility lies with the sales and accounts department to consider theses factors while making their bidding plans and sales plans for the company.

An individual or an organisation’s actions that benefit the society more than oneself or the organisation is known as social responsibility. As a corporation, Boeing is also concerned about its corporate social responsibility. As an airlines company, one of the major social responsibility that the company carries out is Research and Development to increase costumers’ choices and to be able to provide safe and effective service for its costumers. This can be seen in the high safety standards that the company has been maintained by constant research and improvement. Another example of corporate social responsibility was shown by Boeing when a national effort was made to raise finances for funding medical research to find cures for leukaemia affecting children under the leadership of the CEO of Boeing (Besser, 2002). Though this was under the overall stewardship of the CEO, the initiative of a member of the organisation does reflect on the entire organisation itself.

Boeing being a large corporation is more focused on its strategic planning, which results in establishing the objectives broad enough for the operation of the company. The strategic planning devised by the company is used while doing business with the Airlines Industry, Community and the Military. An airline manufacturer is always concerned about the reliability and performance of his products (Prichard 2004). So when a company formulates its strategic planning, it helps him to look at the wider range of objects resulting in his production of products which are high in reliability as well as give peak performance. In recent years even the customers have started to demand more environment-friendly products, which could be because of the environment changes, one of the reasons being Globalization.

For a large corporation as the Boeing, the main broad objective set by the organisation is the strategic planning. This is the tactical move; the company makes use of while doing business with the Airline Industry, Community or the Military. According to Prichard 2004, for an airline manufacturer, two aspects are the most important; they are the Reliability and the Performance. So to create products of high reliability and to achieve peak performance from it, the most helpful device is the strategic planning. This helps the company to have a broader vision of the environment while helping to formulate strategies. Recently, the customers are more inclined towards the products which are environment-friendly, which may be due to the changes affecting them due to Globalization. So the company had to rework on its strategic plans to satisfy the growing needs of its customers (Gonzalez 2007).

Not only this, the company uses tactical planning in each of its departments. Through tactical planning, the company is able to achieve the highest order of efficiency in all its departments. For example, the manufacturing department formulates tactical planning of producing assembly stations within the plant, which facilitates the workers to assemble the aircraft parts efficiently and swiftly. The tactical planning is similar to the operational planning but only differs in dealing with managers at the lowest end of the hierarchical chain. These managers ensure that the non-managerial staff is performing their duties properly. These managers are also concerned with the quality control of the physical operations being done by the company.