Responsible and Ethical Business Practice: United Airlines
You should note that it is essential that your work will be extensively and appropriately referenced using APA 7 and includes a bibliography that demonstrates sufficiently extensive reading around the subject.
To secure at least a 2:1 (60%-70%) in any essay or exam question you will need to:
Provide evidence of relatively wide reading showing that you do not rely solely on lectures and associated notes or basic textbooks to gather material for your analysis.
Choose relevant and appropriate theory and use it to compare, contrast and evaluate different views rather than simply describing them.
provide a well-constructed argument that remains throughout relevant to the question
Communicate your argument in an effective style of English that can appropriately convey your meaning accurately and clearly.
Develop a clear conclusion to the question which provides either a positive answer or shows how the question itself does not currently admit to an obvious answer
Extensively and appropriately referenced and includes a bibliography that demonstrates sufficiently extensive reading around the subject.
You are unlikely to receive a 2:1 (or higher) if all that you do is feedback in your own words your lecture notes and lecture handouts without adding any evidence of your own reading and thought.
In order to gain a First (70%+) you need to develop these intellectual skills to a high order which will most likely be well above the average achieved by 2:1 students and also demonstrate a capacity to think originally. For example, if you find that a number of theories relevant to providing a satisfactory explanation to a question are in conflict you should be able to not only show why you favour a particular explanation but why other alternatives are not acceptable.
A 2:2 (50-59%) is usually the product of an answer that fulfils some but not all the criteria for a 2:1 but is not sufficiently thorough in its use of theory, knowledge, or relevance to generate a 2:1 and is frequently based on a very limited number of sources (i.e., does not show evidence of enough reading around the subject).
A 3rd (40-49%) is the result of a very sketchy knowledge base and is often devoid of any worthwhile theory. On occasion it may be the product of a somewhat irrelevant answer.
Fails (less than 40%) usually are for largely irrelevant answers that show little knowledge of the subject and very limited theoretical understanding.
The student intranet provides information on referencing. If you would like to try a quiz on referencing that is so bad it becomes plagiarism you might like to visit http://education(dot)indiana(dot)edu/~frick/plagiarism.
Responsible and Ethical Business Practice
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Responsible and Ethical Business Practice: United Airlines
Introduction United Airlines is an American airline headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1926 in Boise Idaho. Since that time, United Airlines had grown to become one of the largest airlines in the world. It operates a large fleet with a domestic and international route network that spans the six inhabited continents and serves more than 350 destinations. In 2010, when United Airline merged with Continental Airlines, it became the third largest airline on the globe. In 2021, United Airlines had the fourth highest domestic market share among United States (US) airlines, where it controlled about 13% of the market competing against Southwest, Delta, and American Airlines (Statista, 2022). the airline has a fleet of more than 800 aircraft and employs more than 90000 workers. United Airlines is a well-established airline with a range of travel services for its clients. It strives to offer a great experience to its clients to make travel more comfortable and convenient. The concepts of the Carroll Pyramid and responsibility apply to United Airlines. The Carroll Pyramid is a framework for understanding social corporate responsibility (CSR) through the four levels of economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropy (Carroll, 2016). United Airlines has a responsibility to provide returns to its investors. It must ensure that the required laws and regulations in the industry and the countries where it operates are followed. Ethical responsibility mandates the company to do what is right, even when the same is not mandated by law (Gilman, 2005). United Airlines is required to contribute to the well-being of society through charitable giving and involvement in community issues. Regarding responsibility, United Airlines is obligated to act ethically, and morally, considering the interests of not just the shareholders, but all the stakeholders. The business has a range of responsibility programs that address diverse needs like safety, sustainability, diversity, and inclusion. For instance, the business seeks to reduce its greenhouse emissions by 100% come 2050. The business is currently making intensive investments in renewable energy as a step towards the goal. Inclusion is critical to United Airlines because of the need to serve the diverse needs of its employees and clients. United Airlines has a corporate responsibility program that entails a commitment to ethical business practices. The airline’s mission statement indicates that the business is “mission is connecting people and uniting the world” (United Airlines, 2023). The company believes in celebrating people and communities around the world. Due to this, United Airlines is committed to undertaking the activities needed to improve people’s lives. For instance, for clients with disabilities, United Airlines seeks to offer convenient and comfortable services to them (United Airlines, 2023). The company's diversity program entails ensuring that employees and clients from different backgrounds and cultures are accommodated. The airline is committed to minimizing its emissions to ensure environmental sustainability. In addition to the mission statement, United Airlines has published a Code of Ethics and Conduct which demonstrates its commitment to business practices. The code outlines the essence of integrity, honesty, and compliance with established laws and regulations. The code also outlines issues related to conflict of interest, insider trading, and the protection of business assets (United Airlines, 2021). Employees are expected to adhere to the Code of Ethics and Conduct to ensure the provision of better services to all people. United Airlines must be ethical to comply with legal requirements, protect its reputation, and maintain trust with stakeholders. Since United Airlines is a publicly traded company, it is subject to US laws that govern such businesses. It must adhere to a set of laws and regulations to ensure that it enhances its safety and consumer protection. If the company acts unethically and hence fails to company with these regulations, then it could be subject to litigations and fines. Additionally, acting ethically is critical in protecting the reputation of the airline. The industry is highly competitive, with other major players seeking to gain a wider market share. Due to the existence of other players, customers have alternative airlines in case one does not act ethically. Engaging in practices like discriminating against employees and clients would adversely damage its reputation and force clients to consider other airlines that are more inclusive. When customers switch to competitors, United Airline would lose revenue. Lastly, United Airlines must act ethically to maintain customer loyalty. Ethical practices would create a positive image and build trust with shareholders and stakeholders. Scandal United Airlines has been involved in various scandals in the recent past. Firstly, in 2017, the company faced a backlash on social media when a video emerged of staff forcefully removing a passenger from an overbooked flight. In the video footage, a 69-year-old doctor, David Dao, is seen being dragged off a United Airlines flight while bleeding. The airline made it worse through what many believed was an insensitive response to the incident which included a publicly released company report referring to Dr. Dao as “disruptive" and "belligerent" (Matousek, 2018). The airline eventually settled with Dr. Dao when he sued the company. The public outrage had a negative reputation for the airline, with clients scolding the management for its handling of the passenger. Customers were concerned that the management did not care about its clients, with some opting to use other airlines. The second unethical behavior was the death of a dog in the overhead bin in 2018. A United Airlines flight attendant insisted that a passenger had to place their dog in an overhead bin, despite the passenger wanting otherwise. Eventually, the dog died, leading to an outage due to its treatment of the animal. While the business issued a statement apologizing for the incident and promising to take corrective measures, its image was already tainted. People thought that the business was insensitive in its handling of animals, something that did not sit well with pet lovers. People called for more drastic measures to address the problem and ensure that the same does not happen in the future. Thirdly, United Airlines was on spot in 2015 when the CEO and two senior executives resigned due to their involvement in a bribery scandal with the New Your Port Authority (Zernike & Mouawad, 2015). Internal investigation of the company on the matter revealed the bribery arrangement, forcing the CEO and the two senior executives involved to tender their resignations amid backlash from the public for the unethical misconduct. For a cooperate like the United States, engaging in bribery is unethical and against the law. Bribery is a serious offense that can land executives in jail. Using money to influence the decisions of officials meant that United Airlines was willing to compromise its standards and use money as a cover-up. Lastly, in 2020, The business was on the spot again for sexual harassment claims from a male passenger. The passenger, only identified using the pseudonym John Doe1, was an NFL player who was traveling from Los Angeles to Newark. The unidentified athlete filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the airline for failure to uphold protect its passengers. The player claimed that the female passenger, who was under the influence of drugs and intoxicated, made unwanted sexual advances before she was eventually moved (Graham, 2020). The player felt that the airline did not address the issue well, prompting him to proceed to court. Explaining the actions through ethical theories The actions of United Airlines can be explained through virtue, deontological, and theological ethics. Virtue ethics is a broad term for theories that emphasize the role of character and virtue in moral philosophy (Sakellariouv, 2015). Most virtue ethics take inspiration from Aristotle who indicated that virtuous individuals have ideal character traits. These traits are inert but need to be nurtured. When virtues are established, they become stable. In the case of the airline, the unethical actions can be explained by the failure to uphold virtuous values like empathy and compassion. For instance, when the Airline staff forcefully removed Dr. Dao, this shows the failure of the airline workers to uphold virtuous like showing dignity and fairness. The staff members should have instead engaged Dr. Dao or any other passenger to leave the plane. Similarly, the mistreatment of dogs in an inhumane way demonstrates the lack of compassion on the side of the flight attendant. The inabili...