Ethical Business Analysis for Qatar Airways - Case Study Example

ID Number: Ethical Business analysis for Qatar airways Contents Suitable choice of organization 3 Current Issues an Performance Evaluation 4 Recommendations 8 Works Cited 13 Suitable choice of organization Corporate social responsibility and maintaining business ethics is essential in any industrial sector. In this study growing public concerns related to business role in the society will be thoroughly analyzed. Business ethics play a critical role in decision making process and also have a significant influence on business management activities. Ethical aspect is a major concern for all organizations and in highly competitive business environment it needs to be maintained so as to achieve business goals. Within modern business frameworks various issues need to be taken into consideration such as social responsibility, governance and organizational ethics. Ethical and social issues are greatly highlighted in company reviews since it denotes the overall performance of a firm. For such an analytical study it is essential to select an organization which is currently facing some ethical issue problems or has set its mark in terms of sustaining business ethical standards in the industry. The chosen organization for the study is Qatar Airways which is a state-owned flag carrier. This airline basically operates within a hub-spoke network and covers approximately 125 destinations such as Middle East, Africa, Europe, South Asia, Central Asia, Oceania, South and North America. It employs 31,000 employees and tries to implement the best work practices that are suitable for passengers as well as employees. Qatar Airways was founded in 1993 and it has commenced its operations from 1994. Since then the company has strived towards developing a competitive position in the airline industry as the most desirable luxurious airline. It is ranked as the leading five star airlines across the globe. This makes Qatar Airways an appropriate organization for analyzing corporate social responsibility activities and business ethics. A large organization with widespread operations will help in effectively conducting an ethical analysis of the firm. On the other hand it shall even reveal certain loopholes associated with business ethics formed in order to remain competitive in the global industry. Current Issues an Performance Evaluation The current issues of Qatar Airways are related to its business ethics. This airline has been able to maintain a competitive position in the industry due to its innovative strategies and favorable employment conditions. However in the current scenario demand has shifted towards offering best quality service to passengers than to satisfy employees in terms of good pay and wages. It can even be stated that increasing supply of skilled workers has made firms less concerned about individual interests of team members (Watson 185). Though it is the most desirable luxurious airline across the world but it enforces excessive pressure on employee base. This in turn violates business ethics as proper workforce management is not exhibited by the top authority. As per business ethics related to employment conditions, an employer cannot extend working hours of an employee. Qatar Airways in recent times fail to maintain such condition since in an attempt to keep overhead costs low it employs limited people. The company has widespread operations and when it not able to manage diverse airline shift then it forces team members to perform multi-tasks (Weber 90). On the other hand, there is a rising concern regarding environmental damage caused by aviation industry. Though the company has tried to adopt the green fuel approach seriously but there are areas which still need to be taken into consideration. The organization has invested lump sum amount in research and development activities so as to derive an effective strategy which can reduce on air pollution, noise pollution, etc (Weiss 134). There are allegations put on Qatar Airways that they try to gain high revenue margins and do not focus much on pollution caused on external environment. The fact of improper stakeholder management is a common issue amongst such luxurious airlines. It has been noticed that conditions were far better when this airlines operated in limited regions but diverse set of operations caused negative impact on its ethical scenario. Shareholders opinions are given importance to a certain extent whereas business ethics clearly states this entity is a vital component in the system (Walsh 167). In a broader context, shareholders are seriously taken into consideration when funds related aspect occurs but in operational failures often they remain uninformed. Hence the company is not only witnessing certain corporate social responsibility issues but even is surrounded by multiple ethical business problems. The organization has followed deontological ethical systems in their business practices. Over the years the Qatar based organization has given significant importance towards doing thing in right ways. The organization has given significant importance towards the passenger’s safety and its employee development program. The organization always has managed its ethical operational outlooks where each of the strategic decision is being taken on the merits of their right and wrong. Apart from that the organization has given significant focus towards utilitarianism also, where the company always wants to gain maximum benefit for the most of the people related with it. In 2008 the organization created 600 jobs for the Tanzanian people. All these indicate ethical performances of the company. Over the years the Qatar based organization has managed child education program. The organization has taken this responsibility on a global basis. The organization has extended its helping hands towards the UNESCO. Recently the organization has signed a MOU to provide quality educations to the millions of children across the world. The airline company has extended its helping hands towards the Children’s brain tumor foundation. The airline company provides financial supports to the nonprofit organization (Michael 67-68). In 2008 the organization invested significant amounts of money into the Chinese youth development program. Almost 1500 students were benefited in China. All these facts and figures are indicating that the organization has given significant importance towards the corporate social responsibilities and corporate citizenship. Over the years the organization has given significant importance towards the leadership and corporate governance. The organization has come up with leadership development program. In 2012 the organization has given leadership training to the 100 fresh graduate Qatari pilots. It indicates that, the company has given significant importance to the leadership development program. Over the years the company has managed its corporate governance significantly. The organization faces significant interventions from the side of the Qatari Government. That means the organization has to depend upon the various government policies as well. The organization receives required funding from the UAE Government. The organization enjoys leadership of highly experienced professionals. All the given arguments are indicating that the company enjoys suitable high degree of corporate governance and leadership into their business practices. The organization is significantly focused towards the environmental sustainability. The company is committed towards the environmental stewardship that is why the company is trying to improve its carbon foot print. To reduce the carbon foot print the company is going for the most efficient aircraft in the world which will result into less carbon emission. The organization has a separate environmental department (Jack 45-46). That department always focuses towards the optimum utilization of the water resources. To increase its sustainability the organization is thinking to recycle its airport and onboard wastages. The company has specific fuel optimization department to minimize the fuel consumption. All the above facts and figures are indicating that the company has given significant importance towards the long term business and environmental sustainability. Over the years the organization has managed its stakeholder significantly. The organization gives equal importance towards the internal and external stakeholders. The organization always tries to give significant importance towards the suppliers, society, government, investors and creditors (Andrew and Miles 89-91). The company always tries to give significant benefits to its investors and the company shares there profitability by distributing dividend to its share holders. Various governmental standards and rules are being followed by the company. The organization always manages close relationship with their suppliers. The airline company manages supplier database. It helps the company to mange long term relationship with the suppliers. Leadership development program helps the organization to create highly efficient and productive employees and managers. That means the organization with its various practices follows the stakeholder theory. The organization provides top priority towards the stakeholder management. The organization always gives top most priority to its customers. Customers are the promoter of the company. With their various kinds of quality services, the organization closely manages their customers. The company always tries to satisfy their customers with the seamless journey. The organization gives importance to the investors (Lynda 45-48). They always try to satisfy investors because their investments are significantly important for the company to earn profitability. With their proper communication the UAE based organization always try to inform various activities of the company. Stakeholder management is an important factor for any organization. Over the years the organization has managed this thing significantly. The organization has prioritized its stakeholders effectively. As discussed earlier the organization has introduced ethical business practices in their global business operations. The organization follows a clear cut code of conduct in their business operations. Environmental stewardship and inclusive growth are the integral parts of the organizational business ethics. Equal opportunity and cultural diversity are the two important components of the organizational business ethics. The company always manages its accounting practices in transparent way. The organization always audits its resources after regular interval of time. The company always conducts both internal and external audits. Over the years the multinational organization has abide by all the global civil aviation standard procedures. The modern aviation industry is getting highly competitive in nature. Profit margin in the industry is decreasing in a fast pace. Increasing costs of the air turbine fuel are making the situation even more complex for the global aviation industry. Being a part of the global aviation industry the organization also has faced all these difficulties. It is very difficult for the organization to manage all the CSR and business ethics under this cut throat situation (, Mark 56-58). It has been a significant matter of concern for the UAE based organization. That means impacts of changing business scenario are quite natural with the airline company. Recommendations Qatar Airways operates in an intensely competitive business environment. In order to survive in this industry certain elements have to given equal important in comparison to revenue margins. A company initially targets to achieve high profit margins so as to substitute its operational costs. On the contrary, there are some firms which mainly focus on sustaining their ethical standards. If viewed from long term perspective, an organization following a set of business ethics is expected to survive more in the industry. The reason behind this is target audience at times closely analyzes these factors apart from the services or products delivered by a company. Performance of a company can be judged on basis of these factors and hence needs to be given significant importance. Social and ethical performance denotes the future growth and prospect of an organization. As in case of Qatar Airways business ethics shall be given more importance since there are large number of players operating in the same sector and offering similar services to passengers. It can even be stated that achieving higher standards in ethical performance provides a firm with competitive advantage. Firstly, Qatar Airways can enhance ethical performance by investing more on green technology research and development. This would not only convey positive message about the company but will even set up a strong base for the firm in nearby future. In highly competitive industry, this factor is avoided by majority firms and this has resulted into degrading environmental conditions. Though Qatar Airways has shown interest towards green fuel technology but effective strategies has not been incorporated. In order to do so research teams need to be formed by the company so as to design an advanced technology for eradicating pollution caused by fuel burning, noise, etc. In the initial phase of implementation the overall costs of the company might be higher but it is bound to give productive results in future years. There are others ways to incorporate such approach, the top authority can even hire experts of green technology from various corner of the world who can provide then required guidelines. As the starting step, the firm needs to design a model which can support this technology. The company can even involve other team members for contributing innovative ideas. This would not only facilitate collaborative workplace environment but can motivate employees in context of applying creative skills. Social performance shall be enhanced through this approach as passengers will be well aware that this company’s business operations is not affecting external environment negatively. On the other hand, a positive image of the company in terms of being socially responsible might attract higher percentage of target group. It can even incorporate certain measuring tools within the system. Through this approach designated team members can measure the degree of harmful impact caused by their widespread operations. This in turn shall put across the areas of further improvement. The management should even reveal such performance report to public in order to make them aware about certain negative impacts caused by business operations of airline industry. Such performance records will even outline the position of the company in the industry along with effective steps taken to manage ethical performance in global business forum. Green technology adaption shall serve a two-fold purpose – it will develop a positive image of the company and would be an entry barrier for new entrants. Future business performance of the organization cannot be improved only through advanced technology incorporation but there also lays a need to sustain ethical standards within the organization. To be more precise shareholders should be considered as a vital component in the entire operational procedure. Shareholders are not only concerned with desirable profit margins but even are focused towards efficiency of business operations. Qatar Airways in most critical scenarios do not give much importance to shareholders. This in turn violates its business ethics to a great extent. In order to avoid such phenomenon, firm need to organize periodic meetings with shareholders where top management can directly interact with shareholders to analyze their allegations and implement some creative ideas put forward by the members. This kind of sense of ownership would eradicate negative image about the company. Ethical business performance of the company can be enhanced through other ways such as sustaining transparency between target group and business operations. This shall build strong customer relationship as they would believe in quality service to be delivered by the airlines. Ethical performance is closely knitted with trust formation amongst passengers. If the company is not able to deliver guaranteed service, it exploits the bond between customer and company. To sustain customer loyalty it is important to adopt best practices such as setting reasonable charges and delivering service as per the cost paid by travelers. Luxurious airlines charge a higher price in comparison to other airlines and hence it is ethical responsibility of such firms to deliver best services. The organization should improve its employment conditions. Currently the organization has lesser amount of employees in compare to their large scale business operations. That means employees of the organizations are over burdened with their duties. This situation should be addressed in a war footing manner. The organization should enough number of employees for running their business operations properly. Otherwise employees of the organization will lose their motivations. The company also can arrange shifting duties for the employees where employees of the company will get enough time to balance their work lives. Employees are the back bone of the company. That is why Qatar Airways must give significant focuses towards the better employment conditions. The organization must take more proactive measures for improving its future business performances. The organization can contribute extensively towards the global health care and public safety. Currently the organization is giving significant focuses towards the brain tumor only. To increase its business performances the company may focus towards the highly fatal disease like AIDS and Cancer. The company can spend more money for the global people who are affected by these two dangerous diseases. Arab world is badly known for illegal human trafficking and illegal sex rackets. The organization can come up with several activities to counterattack these two social evils. The company can introduce more female person into the organizational context. It will help the organization to eliminate the scope of gender discrimination. With this kind of idea the organization can create an example for the rest of industry. The company should take more active participation in the various projects of the United Nations. With this kind of participation Qatar Airways will be able to the reach up to the bottom levels of the global society where the airline company can contribute towards the betterment of the global society. The organization must try to improve its technology for the purpose of the customer safety and security. Presently the company is significantly advanced in this aspect but still there are enough opportunities for the company to improve the situation. It will help Qatar Airways to create a unique image in the minds of the customers. This unique image will certainly help the company to improve its future business performances. The company should focus towards the global employment generation. It will be a small but important contribution from the side of the company that will change the global economic outlook. In business, profitability is important but that profitability should not come from any kind of unethical business practices. The company has a clear cut code of conduct. That code of conduct should be adhered at every point of time. It has been observed that due to the changing business situation often organizations flout ethical business practices. But Qatar Airways should not allow any kind of unethical business practices under the most adverse situation also. There is no scope of complacency. The company should carry on its social and ethical activities without any distractions. If the organization wants to improve its future business performances then it should not divert from the path of enhanced social and ethical performances. Works Cited Bourne, Lynda. Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organisational implementation. Surrey: Gower Publishing, Ltd. 2012. Print. Friedman, Andrew and Samantha Miles. Stakeholders: Theory and practice: theory and practice. London: Oxford University Press. 2006. Print. Hopkins, Michael. Corporate social responsibility and international development: is business the solution?. London: Earthscan. 2012. Print. Plunkett, Jack. Plunketts airline, hotel & travel industry almanac 2009: travel industry market research, statistics, trends & leading companies. Houston: Plunkett Research, Ltd. 2008. Print. Schwartz, Mark. Corporate social responsibility: An ethical approach. New York: Broadview Press. 2011. Print. Walsh, Adrian. HRM and the ethics of commodified work in a market economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. Print. Watson, Tony. Ethical Choice in Managerial Work: The Scope for Managerial Choices in an Ethically Irrational World. Human Relations 61.1 (2005): 167-185. Print. Weber, Leonard. Profits before people? Ethical standards and the marketing of prescription drugs. Bloomington, In: Indiana University Press. 2006. Print. Weiss, Johnson. Business Ethics. A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. Boston: South-Western College Publications. 2003. Print. Read More