ENGR 482 Lecture 26
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"Bovay" lecture.
Michael Levin
Director - Ethics and Business Conduct
Office of Internal Governance (Government Operations)
The Boeing Company
Engineers: Excellent by Design
Issues that arise when students become workers.
Video:
- Boeing's goal is to "be the best integrated aerospace defence company in the world"
- Who are you interacting with on a daily basis?
- Not just other engineers, customers/clients, but also fields and all who affect the development process
Most if not all leaders at Boeing were once engineers who got into the management field.
Potential, Well-Intentioned Missteps
Nobody is perfect; no one wakes up thinking about violating these:
- Buisenss Courtesies (e.g. a candidate supplier buys lunch for representative; accepting an expensive gift on behalf of the company, not individual, and keeping it under company jurisdiction)
- Conflicts of Interest
- Information Protection
- Intellectual Property
- Export Compliance
Scenarios
Working with Suppliers
Procurement agent raises concern about engineer who might be misleading a potential supplier with the prospect of work.
In an effort to meet technical and schedule demands, the engineer contacted the supplier to discuss the supplier's capabilities to produce some redesigned parts to replace near-term obsolete parts.
Issues:
- Is the engineer authorized to disclose this information?
- If the information is technical, does it violate company secrecy or national export law?
- Is the supplier a current or prospective supplier?
- Might lead supplier into wasting resources producing a product when they might not have the work.
Lots of multi-billion-dollar fines are procured by individual decisions
- Boeing wants a "Culture of openness and accountability"
- Don't be afraid to question anyone (even authortiy)
Protecting Company Assets
An ethics advisor is contacted by an employee who is concerned an engineer might not be adequately protecting the company's intellectual property.
In an effort to exceed personal performance goals, the engineer sends work to his home email account, works at home in the evening and sends his completed work to his company email.
Issues:
- Who else might see the information? (at home, at Starbucks, etc.)
- Information going through other companies' servers
- If information bounces through router outside the country, then export laws come into play.
Conference Raffle
An ethics advisor is contacted about an engineer who recently attended an industry supplier conference.
After returning to work, the engineer shared her experience with her team, what she learned, and that she won an iPad in a drawing. She indicated that her name was chosen from among the conference attendees.
Issues:
- Was raffle fixed?
- Was raffle open to public or closed to attendees?
- Who provided the prize?
- Did prize influence decision?
- Was iPad rigged to steal company secrets?