Has Boeing Become Too Big A Beast To Successfully Manage?

28.03.2024 - 09:13 / forbes.com / Stan Deal / Dave Calhoun / Airlines / Larry Kellner / Steve Mollenkopf

Boeing has long been considered one of America’s greatest companies. Today the aerospace giant is one of its most troubled.

Planes built by Boeing have spanned the globe since the company’s founding in 1916. Iconic Boeing aircraft ranged from the stylish Boeing 314 flying boat to the B-17 and B-29 bombers that helped win World War II. The company has built legendary jetliners for more than 60 years, from the Boeing 707 transatlantic pioneer to the distinctive 747, the jumbo jet with a piano bar.

The company has sold more than 10,000 Boeing 737 twin jets to its airline customers. Yet issues with the 737MAX, including two fatal crashes that killed 346 people, have consumed the company and its leadership for the last five years. With only two companies, Boeing and Airbus, building the lion’s share of the world’s airliners, Boeing’s issues pose a challenge for airlines and their customers as well.

This week, just four years after the last management shuffle, Boeing announced the coming departure of top executives, including CEO Dave Calhoun and Chairman of the Board Larry Kellner. Boeing said, “Calhoun will continue to lead Boeing through the year to complete the critical work underway to stabilize and position the company for the future.”

Kellner will be replaced as Chair by Steve Mollenkopf, previously CEO of Qualcomm, who will lead the search for Boeing's next CEO.

Stan Deal, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO, is “retiring immediately.” He will be replaced by Stephanie Pope, a long-time Boeing executive who in January was promoted to chief operating officer.

No doubt the January incident on an Alaska Air Boeing 737 MAX, where a door that turned out to be missing four bolts blew off, depressurizing the plane, affected the ‘resignations.’ In February, the FAA blasted Boeing’s corporate culture and called for the company to make more than 50 safety-related changes and deal with its quality-control issues.

We spoke to Professor Ashley Fulmer, assistant professor of managerial science at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Dr. Fulmer is co-author of a recent paper, “What Happened to Boeing?” with Michele Gelfand, Professor of Cross-Cultural Management and Psychology at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Fulmer believes management shifts like those at Boeing this week can affect the trust of employees and consumers rather than fix the underlying issues. She did note in our discussion that CEO Calhoun “made sure Boeing survived the pandemic.” However, the exiting management team may not have been able to change the internal culture of a company of 170,000 people.

Forbes: What’s wrong with Boeing?

Fulmer: Boeing has all these problems, five years of disasters [with the 737