Boeing's Management Functions Under CEO McNerney
This case study examines how W. James McNerney, Jr., Boeing's chairman, president, and CEO beginning in 2005, applied the four primary functions of management — planning, organizing, leading, and controlling — to address the company's long-standing challenges. Drawing on industry reporting from 2005 and 2008, the paper evaluates McNerney's performance in each functional area. It finds that while he demonstrated notable strength in planning, particularly in advancing the 787 Dreamliner program, significant weaknesses remained in organizing Boeing's bureaucratic culture, leading its internal workforce, and executing timely corrective action on major projects.
- Introduction: Context for McNerney's challenges at Boeing
- Planning: McNerney's planning strengths and Dreamliner progress
- Organizing: Boeing's bureaucratic culture and structural weaknesses
- Leading: Internal workforce leadership gaps and labor disputes
- Controlling: Delayed corrective action on major projects
- Conclusion: Mixed overall assessment of McNerney's management
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What makes this paper effective
- Applies a clear, well-known academic framework — the four functions of management — directly and consistently to a real-world corporate case, making the analysis easy to follow and evaluate.
- Balances praise and criticism: McNerney is credited for planning successes while his shortcomings in organizing, leading, and controlling are clearly identified with evidence from cited sources.
- Uses specific, concrete examples (the 787 Dreamliner, the Future Combat System, labor disputes) to ground each analytical point rather than relying on vague generalizations.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied framework analysis — taking a theoretical construct (the four functions of management) and systematically using it as a lens to evaluate a real organization's leadership. Each section maps directly to one framework element, which creates a disciplined structure and prevents the argument from drifting. This technique is common in undergraduate business and management courses.
Structure breakdown
The paper is organized into six short sections: a brief introduction establishing context, four body sections each dedicated to one management function, and a conclusion that synthesizes the findings. This mirrors the framework being analyzed, making the structure itself an argument about the importance of all four functions working together.
Introduction
Like many organizations, Boeing Co. has faced a variety of challenges in recent years. This paper explores how the four primary functions of management — planning, organizing, leading, and controlling — should be, and have been, applied by newly appointed Boeing chairman, president, and CEO W. James McNerney, Jr. Drawing on a 2005 industry profile and a 2008 updated article by Weber, the paper evaluates whether McNerney has used these functions effectively in turning Boeing around.
Planning
One of the four primary functions of management is planning. This ongoing process of developing an organization's mission and objectives is critical to its success. Management is charged not only with developing the company's vision, but also with determining how that mission will be accomplished. When McNerney took the helm in 2005, he recognized that planning was an essential priority. Although the company already had major objectives in place — including the 787 Dreamliner and the Army's Future Combat System — previous failures to achieve targets, such as the production problems of 1998 (Holms, 2005), had damaged Boeing's reputation, competitiveness, and profitability.
Now well settled into his position, McNerney has demonstrated a strong ability to plan. Over the years following his appointment, he worked to keep objectives like the Dreamliner and the Future Combat System on track. In June 2009, the Dreamliner began gauntlet testing, moving it one step closer to production release ("787 Dreamliner," 2009). In addition, McNerney explored other growth opportunities for the company, recognizing that both the commercial aviation and defense segments of the business faced potential decline, and pursuing acquisitions as a hedge against that risk (Weber, 2008).
Organizing
Organizing is another critical managerial function that McNerney needed to address when he took the reins of Boeing Co. The internal organizational structure of the company was among its primary weaknesses. Holms (2005) described cleaning up Boeing's toxic culture as "Job One." Prior to McNerney's arrival, bureaucracy within the organization stifled innovation; Boeing resisted change and tolerated behaviors that were not conducive to success. Weber (2008) describes several changes McNerney introduced, such as toughening in-house ethical oversight. However, the multi-layered bureaucracy that had become a tradition at the company remained largely intact, preventing Boeing from becoming the nimble organization it needed to be in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Conclusion
Boeing Co. experienced a wide variety of challenges over the years leading up to McNerney's appointment. Taking the helm in 2005, he had to apply all four primary functions of management to ensure the company's continued growth while addressing those challenges. In certain areas — particularly planning — McNerney excelled. However, in organizing, leading, and controlling, meaningful room for improvement remained. Although he made positive strides in the four years following his appointment, McNerney still faced considerable work ahead in achieving a full organizational turnaround.
References
787 Dreamliner milestones. (2009). Retrieved November 2, 2009, from
Holms, S. (2005, July 18). I like a challenge — and I've got one. Business Week, 3943. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from ProQuest database.
Weber, J. (2008, September 29). McNerney's bumpy ride at Boeing. Business Week, 4101. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from ProQuest database.
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