Critically examine various aspects related to aviation ethics and how they Positively or Negatively affect the Aviation Sector.
Business ethics refers to the professional rules that any business organization is required to follow for its smooth running. Ethical issues, on the other hand, refer to the problems or controversies, which arise when businesses do not professionally adhere to the set international ethics. The chosen sector for this report is the airline (aviation) sector. The aviation sector is one of the sectors of any global economy, which contribute to the fast growth and development of that particular economy. According to (Shaw & Barry, 2015, p.67), the aviation sector has provided jobs to over 58 million people while accruing an annual profit margin of $2.4 trillion. Good business relations among nations emerge when transport to and fro those nations is easy. This is majorly made possible by the aviation sector. This sector, therefore, proves to be a very important area of study for this report. There has been a prolonged argument on the ethics that should be applied to the aviation sector. Some professionals argue that some of the activities undertaken by airline companies are ethical while others oppose such claims. On the basis of the above aspects, the following are the objectives of this report.
To identify the ethical issues in the aviation sector.
To discuss the major stakeholders in the aviation sector.
To review the importance of managing business ethics to the aviation sector.
The following is the detailed analysis of the aviation sector in relation to some major chosen concepts discussed below.
Ethical issues facing the aviation sector
Safety is a major ethical issue in the aviation sector. There are two major ethical issues regarding safety, which are really facing the aviation sector. One of these is the overbooking of flights. One might wonder how this is possible. According to (Hoppe, 2016, p.110),a website of Southwest Airlines indicated that the company would open a chance for passengers to book and get their air tickets when some passengers did not respond towards their travel, or when those who had earlier booked the flight did not arrive early enough at the respective airports. The problem now came in when all the passengers who had earlier and later booked the flight will all be available for the flight a few minutes before the plane took off. With no otherwise, the company would now decide to bump all the passengers in one plane. This is still practiced in many nations till today. However, this is very risky since the plane is designed to carry a specific measured weight which when exceeded; chances of the occurrence of an accident are very high. Relevant and quick action should, therefore, be taken on this ethical issue to ensure that safety is maintained.
Secondly, there is also an ethical issue on cramped seats. Several airline companies insert and fix unlawfully designed seats on their planes so as to accommodate more passengers and hence make more profits. According to (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015, p.33), these seats are uncomfortable and may lead to severe medical problems to those passengers who sit on them. Several passengers have reported cases of back pains and blood clots, which started after traveling on planes. Investigations on the illegally fixed seats showed that these seats are really uncomfortable and back pains arise on passengers seated on them, due to up and down movements of the plane in the course of the flight (Thomas & Burgess, 2015, p.56). This has been a major ethical issue, and the right action to redesign the plane seats according to the expected requirements should be taken.
Another major ethical issue in this sector airline sector is the use of false advertising. According to a research carried out by (IATA, 2014, p.44)which is famously known as the International Air Transport Association, some airline companies advertise falsely, especially in the flight charges. According to this research, passengers in the consumer travelers’ website gave their grievances about this false advertising. One case is pointed out where one famous airline company advertised that it was offering a trip from Newark to London for $236. However, after other charges were added, the price rose to $803. Those who had booked had no otherwise other than paying an extra amount which they had not planned for. Prompt action should be taken by such airline companies, and the relevant organization, to stop the use of such false adverts.
Ethical issues of discrimination have also been evidenced on different occasions. Cases of some passengers being discriminated on air travel flights have been reported by scholars in various articles. One of these articles, which were posted in the famous “New York Post” in November 2012, indicated that one woman (passenger), who was a New York resident, was denied the right to travel from Hungary to her hometown (Tani, 2017, p.112). According to the report from this article, the woman was denied an air ticket since she was obese. On seven different occasions, this passenger was denied the opportunity to travel by air. Involved airline companies argued that they had no insurance policy which would cover her in the case of death. Later, the woman died. Interrogations with her husband revealed that the husband claimed that the death happened because she was denied the opportunity to travel to get further treatment.
However, despite all these ethical issues, aviation sector still holds a strong sustainability focus. The sector has committee’s boards which are put in place to ensure that all activities run well. For example, a licensing program is developed to ensure that all planes are in accordance to the required standards before they fly.
Additionally, measures have been taken by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), to reduce noise emissions. This body intervenes in airline companies to check the performance of engines, which are major emitters of such noise. In the recent years, the noise emissions have been reduced by 8% (DesJardins & McCall, 2014, p.100).
Sustainability measures have also been taken to increase fuel efficiency. IATA proposes that planes should use an average of 5.4 liters of fuel for 100km. However, most planes recently use an average of 4 liters of fuel for 100km.
The major stakeholders in the aviation sector include; the manufacturers of the planes, airport organizations, aviation sales departments, the tourism department, trade unions among many others.
Factors that enable aviation to manage business ethics
To effectively manage business ethics, the aviation secure utilizes some factors. To start with, the sector defines clearly the roles and rules governing each aviation department. By so doing, each department is given the opportunity to operate, but within its set limits. When organizations operate according to the set standards, business ethics are therefore likely to be followed correctly.
Secondly, the aviation sector conducts seminars, shows, and exhibitions, to educate its employees in the international business ethics set for aviation sector (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014, p.220). This helps to equip them with knowledge on what is ethically right or wrong. Rampant ethical issues can, therefore, be reduced when all the relevant individuals and organization have knowledge on aviation business ethics.
Thirdly, the aviation sector makes use of ethics related theories and philosophies, to govern their decision-making process (Hartman et al., 2014, p.89). Idealism is majorly encouraged in aviation sector on setting business ethics. Idealism deals with representing the ideas, opinions, suggestions, and views of others rather than an individualized decision making. Such philosophies equip the workers, managers and other authorities with the ethical knowledge that is useful in evading ethical issues.
Finally, addressing the ethical problems if groups and individuals, help to maintain business ethics. When peoples’ needs are fully handled, the chances of such people, breaking the business ethics become low. The aviation sector, therefore, seeks to handle such problems and needs an involving manner, with an aim of managing business ethics.
Importance of managing business ethics
The management of business ethics has really helped the aviation sector. First of all, this has helped to improve the working conditions and has brought more positive changes in the society also. It is through the management of business ethics that children are now no longer employed in the aviation sector since this is regarded as child labor. The working hours have also been reduced to ensure that workers get enough time to rest (Weiss, 2014, p.1). Issues of corruption and discrimination have also been consequently reduced. This makes the global society better.
Secondly, management of ethics helps to value and support employees (Vasigh & Fleming, 2016, p.50). The success of any sector is majorly bestowed on its workers. Ethics in aviation helps in supporting workers. They are given incentives and other subsidiary funds that help to motivate them to work with more dedication. The workers also feel as a part of the bigger society when their values and grievances are rightly dealt with.
Additionally, aviation ethics have also helped the aviation sector to maintain a good public perception (image). Due to adherence to good business ethics, the global public image of the aviation sector is viewed positively (Trevino & Nelson, 2016, p.210). Air transport is widely viewed as the most prestigious and comfortable means of transport in the world. Good ethics in aviation has partially contributed to this perception.
Finally, good and standard code of business ethics helps to make vital decisions in hard and tough times. When the aviation sector reaches a state of dilemma, where critical decisions have to be made, the code of ethics serves as a strong tool of reference in making the right decisions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this report started by stating the main objectives. Each of these objectives has been achieved through the detailed information above. From this report, it has been noted that there exist ethical issues in the aviation sector, which should be dealt with, for the smooth running of the sector. However, the report has also revealed that the sector is averagely performing well globally. Despite all the detailed information provided above, this report had one major limitation. To start with, the time allowed for the study was not sufficient enough. As a result, there was no time to carry out first-hand data collection. Therefore, the data analyzed for this research majorly came from secondary resources such as books, articles journals among other academic sources.
References
Carroll, A. & Buchholtz, A., 2014. Business and society. In Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. 3rd ed. Washington: Nelson Education. p.220.
DesJardins, J. & McCall, J., 2014. Contemporary issues in business ethics. 1st ed. California: Cengage Learning.
Ferrell, O. & Fraedrich, J., 2015. Business ethics. In Ethical decision making & cases. 3rd ed. Chicago: Nelson Education. p.33.
Hartman, L., DesJardins, J. & MacDonald, C., 2014. Business ethics. In Decision making for personal integrity and social responsibility. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. p.89.
Hoppe, E.e., 2016. Ethical issues in aviation. 1st ed. Nairobi: Routledge.
IATA, 2014. Air passenger market analysis. 1st ed. Montreal: International Air Transport Association.
Shaw, W. & Barry, V., 2015. Moral issues in business. p.67.
Tani, K., 2017. The Morality of Reporting Safety Concerns in Aviation. In In Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology. 4th ed. Translated by II. Texas. p.112.
Thomas, V. & Burgess, S., 2015. International Air Transport Association Vision 2050. Report Assessment, III, p.56.
Trevino, L. & Nelson, K., 2016. Managing business ethics. In Straight talk about how to do it right. 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p.210.
Vasigh, B. & Fleming, K., 2016. Introduction to air transport economics. In from theory to applications. 2nd ed. Colorado: Routledge. p.50.
Weiss, J., 2014. Business ethics. In A stakeholder and issues management approach. Minnesota: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. p.1.
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