Case Study 1

Sunday the 9th of April, 2017 was a very long day for United Airlines employees, Chicago Aviation
Security Officers, and the passengers and flight crew of United flight 3411 (McCann, 2017). Most people
heard of this situation as it blew up on the news and social media within hours and was a hot topic for
several weeks following. The flight was fully boarded when four United crewmembers approached the
gate agent and advised that they needed to board the flight. This threw the flight into an overbooked
situation. A typical overbooking situation means that the airline sold more tickets for the flight than
there were seats on the aircraft. This is a standard practice of almost all airlines in effort to fill as many
seats on the aircraft as possible to compensate for people who miss their flight, or do not show up. This
is done to maximize profit for the airline (Victor &Stevens, 2017). The United Airlines employees
followed their standard process of requesting volunteers to give up their seat in return for
compensation (McCann, 2017). After not receiving any volunteers, the airline selected four people and
advised them that they were being denied boarding. Three of them left their seats, but one passenger
refused to follow airline and crewmember instructions stating that he was a doctor and needed to be
home in order to see patients the following day (Victor & Stevens, 2017). After requesting several times
that the passenger abdicate his seat, the passenger still refused. The airline workers then contacted the
Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist. The officers were unsuccessful in gaining his cooperation and
they then resorted to physical force to remove him from the aircraft (McCann, 2017). The scene that
unfolded was disturbing for everyone on the aircraft. The officers were recorded forcibly removing the
man from his seat, wrestling him onto the aisle, and dragging him up the aisle towards the aircraft door
(Victor & Stevens, 2017).

The days and weeks that followed is where the ethical dilemma lies. Oscar Munoz, the CEO of
United Airlines was faced with the issue of responding to the event (McCann, 2017). The options he was
faced with was whether or not to accept responsibility for what happened, or to disperse blame among
all of the parties involved. Oscar Munoz could have easily placed the blame on the officers who are said
to have used unnecessary force in removing him, or on the passenger himself for refusing to comply
with crew and security officers’ instructions (McCann, 2017). There was a lot of speculation on the first
statement released by the CEO that the airline was placing blame on the removed passenger (McCann,
2017). The CEO later released a statement indicating that the airline was accepting full responsibility for
the incident from start to finish, and profusely apologized to the doctor, and all of the other passengers
involved.
 It could not have been easy to decide how to handle this situation. I know from my experience
working with an airline that when passengers purchase tickets, they agree to what is called a contract of
carriage. A contract of carriage is the terms and conditions that the passenger and airline must abide by.
Among these terms and conditions, the passengers must agree to follow all crewmember instructions or
risk being removed from the flight. According to this information, it would have made sense for the CEO
to say that the root cause of the problem was the passenger not complying with crew and officer
instructions. The CEO chose, instead, to state that the airline was taking full responsibility for the
incident and promise the public immediate review and improvement to how they would handle these
situations in the future. They also promised that United Airlines would no longer ask security officers to
remove any passengers from an aircraft unless it were a matter of safety and security (McCann, 2017).

The result of these decisions was a lot of scrutiny from the public and the press. The CEOs first
several attempts at reconcile were not appreciated as the media it seems that the public felt the airline
was trying to alleviate themselves from responsibility.

I chose this ethical dilemma as a case study because the CEO of United was in a very tough
position. He had to do what was right by so many different parties, and he also had to protect his
employees and the airline because of how quickly the incident went viral. I felt that this was a good
scenario to use as a case study because it is very relevant to how crises are handled in todays’ society.
Everyone has a smart phone, which means that everyone has a video camera. Wherever you are, you
must be aware that your actions could quickly be made available for the whole world to see. As a
manager in the airline industry, people trust that the airlines are going to be accommodating every step
of the way. When something happens like this, even though the airport police were equally involved,
the airline was the party that took the brunt of the blame. The CEO had to set aside his pride, in a way,
and let the Airline take the fall because that was going to do the most good overall.

This ethical dilemma came to mind when I read about this assignment because when it
happened back in 2017, I was shocked at seeing how the events transpired. This is a situation that I have
dealt with frequently at my job and I put myself in the position of the airline workers who were there
that day. The airline workers had to make a lot of decisions that day too and they were scrutinized for
simply following the procedures set forth by the airline. I feel that understanding this ethical dilemma is
important for leadership development because the airline industry is all about safety. The way these
events transpired is going to leave a lasting impression on the passengers who were present that day, as
well as anyone planning to travel on that airline in the future. As an employee of any large corporation,
we have the responsibility of portraying ourselves in a way that appropriately represents the company
that we work for. With the world being in everyone’s pockets in the form of social media, we have to be
careful especially as leadership of a large corporation, of what we put out there and know that anything
can be seen by anyone at any time. Anything that is said must be done so thoughtfully and tactfully.

Case Study 2

Two African American men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia on the 12 th of April,
2018. The men initially came in and asked to use the restroom but were told that they could not
because they had not bought anything (Stevens, 2018). The two men remained inside the Starbucks
without purchasing anything and when asked about their intentions inside the establishment, they told
the location manager that they were waiting to meet someone. Eventually the two men were asked to
leave. The two men did not leave, and the manager called the local police who eventually arrested the
two men (Tangdall, 2018). The two men were not charged with anything and were eventually released
with there being no evidence of trespassing or any crime being committed (Stevens, 2018). Starbucks
responded with multiple apologies vie social media and voiced a desire to meet the young men in
person to issue an apology. The location managers decision to call the police was ethically questionable
and got the company in a bet of a predicament. The Starbucks company had to work hard to ensure the
public that they hold very high standards for their employees and that they have strong policies against
discrimination and racial profiling (Stevens, 2018).

This case is another example of how large corporations handle public relations in the aftermath
of an incident that has a strong public and media reaction. The response was handled by the CEO and
the public was reassured that this is not how ordinary situations are handled by any Starbucks
employees. I chose this case because of the way that the public relation side was handled by the CEO.
This case aught my attention because it is a good example of how quickly one decision by management
can spiral out of control and end up being a huge scandal. This dilemma is important to leadership
because it shows how to respond to crises that arise within your company. You must reassure the public
of the company values and ensure that steps will be taken to learn what caused the situation and how
to prevent it from happening again.