CEO accountability and the on-Time Airlines customer service crisis

¶ … ethical decision in the context of the proposed firing of the CEO of on-Time Airlines centers on the moral issue of whether one individual should be held accountable for the poor performance of the entire airline. The snowstorm event which delayed, stranded, and kept "dozens of passengers as virtual hostages on planes for several hours" (Case Study. N.D.) called for rational and forward thinking by airline staff and the executive management team. The overwhelming evidence to the contrary leaves the airline in a deleterious state with their only option to begin the process of rebuilding customer trust one flyer at a time. The recommended action to ameliorate the airline's reputation and image, and restore customer goodwill and confidence is to dismiss the CEO immediately.

Salient Moral Issues and Ethical Options

As CEO the number one priority is to protect shareholder value through intelligent business strategy and an unrelenting focus on providing customers with a premier product or service. On- Time Airlines CEO who founded the company, now stands poised to lose his position, because the rhetoric of excellence in customer service portrayed in corporate advertisements did not equate with the actual experience of passengers during the exigent event. CEO's are paid millions of dollars to be the figurehead of the organization and deliver results to customers, shareholders, and the Board of Directors. The CEO's failure to handle the passenger crisis, in particular the "virtual hostage" situation was an unacceptable lapse of leadership. The Board has no alternative but to terminate the CEO for cause. Executives are showered with praise when they move the company forward profitably; in the same vein the CEO must be held accountable for actions which detract from corporate value.

Conclusion

The Board of Directors of On-Time Airlines deserves considerable laudations for a decision to remove the CEO from his position. The image of stellar customer service which he tried to promote in company advertisements ran up against the brick wall of reality in the form of a snowstorm, which concomitant with airline negligence, inattentive employees, and an insouciant CEO caused stressful conditions for passengers. The CEO's dismissal is an ethically correct choice because the CEO is the head figure of the company and as such must be held responsible for actions both positive and negative. Through use of the Utilitarian lens the Board can feel justified in the removal of the CEO as a necessary prescription in delivering "the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong" (Thinkexist.com. N.D.).