A measure of decision making ethics within the aviation and aerospace industry

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to determine if a measure of ethical constructs of management personnel within the aviation and aerospace industry would indicate a difference when compared with similar studies conducted with other unrelated groups within our culture. Such a measure would help determine the level of benefit the industry could derive from academic course work in ethics. A method was developed to examine the ethical standards as they relate to decision-making criteria of mid-level, and above, executives within selected major aviation and aerospace organizations in the United States. The population was purposively divided into four separate segments designed to cover the major elements of the industry: (1) Support, (2) Regulatory, (3) Manufacturing, and (4) Operations. Sampling of this population utilized a purposive/cluster technique based upon expert knowledge of the industry composition and the use of proxy-agents for distribution of the instrument within the subgroups. The Defining Issues Test (DIT) was selected as the test instrument primarily because of its demonstrated ability to measure the moral construct schema of individuals. It has been used in over 400 separate studies since 1975. Data were obtained from 51 respondents within the identified subgroups and then compared with the results of similar studies.;Findings and conclusions. The DIT produced a P-Score for a calculated index reflecting the respondent's moral schema as defined by Kohlberg's levels and stages of moral development. The target populated of this study produced a mean P-Score of 36.0. Longitudinal research places this score between those produced by high school graduates and entering college freshmen. When compared against a series of comparable studies that included accountants, auditors, and graduate students in a variety of disciplines, the population of this study was consistently established in either the 1 st or 2nd quartile. Research indicates that respondents in this realm primarily exhibit moral reasoning at the conventional level. The conventional level of moral reasoning is defined by behavior motivated by an acceptance of the rules and standards of one's group. Postconventional moral reasoning is considered to be behavior motivated by ethical principals and is generally reflected in other studies of professional groups. The conclusion is drawn that the data suggest the aviation and aerospace industry could benefit from the establishment of a code of ethics and the administration of ethics courses provided in academic curricula.