MOD003325 Academic and Professional Skills 

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION
Task: Write a report of 2000 words answering the 2-part question below.You should base your answer on one of the following case studies:

• If you are studying a degree related to Health and Social Care, you should base your report on the Stafford Hospital casestudy.
• If you are studying a degree related to Hospitality, Tourism and Events, you should base your report on the Boeing Travel casestudy.
• If you are studying a degree related to Business or Law, you should base your report on the Boeing Business casestudy.

(100 marks) Stafford Hospital
Stafford Hospital, run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, became known as an example of the NHS at its most negligent. Between January 2005 andMarch 2009, 400-1200 patients died due to poor care. This poor care was the result of a severe lack of staff so that patients went without food, drink and medication. In addition, inadequately trained staff were given responsibilities beyond their capabilities. For example, junior doctors were left in charge of wards at night on their own, and non-medical reception staff were asked to triage patients as they arrived at the hospital.

The Francis Report in 2010 found that a staff shortage, lack of staff morale, lack of compassion in some staff, and a decision by the board to cut £10m from spending led to the situation. The responsibility for the failure of the hospital lies in the hands of the board, the management and external bodies who were supposed to be scrutinizing and monitoring hospital care. Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the scandal reflected the crisis in standards of care brought on by rising demand and tight budgets.

The moral issue here lies with the contradiction between the type of care that is expected from a hospital, which is to be treated with compassion and dignity in a safe environment, and hygienic conditions by highly skilled medical professionals, and what was all owed to happen at Stafford Hospital over a period of over four years. This was described by the Health Care Commission (HCC) chairman, Sir Ian Kennedy, as a shocking story of appalling standards and chaotic systems for looking after patients.
Adapted from:https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/06/mid-staffs-hospital-scandal-guide

Boeing Travel
In October 2018, 189 people were killed in a Boeing 737 Max Lion Air flight in Indonesia, when the aircraft went into a sudden nose dive crashing into the sea 13 minutes after take-off. In March 2019, 157 people lost their lives when a Boeing 737 Max Ethiopian Airlines flight nose-dived into the countryside outside Addis Ababa. Both accidents were blamed on software flaws and issues with the sensors, specifically, the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MACS), which was designed to keep the flight stable was malfunctioning, pushing the nose ofthe aircraft down,overriding any actions by the pilot.

The Boeing 737 Max is the fastest selling aircraft in Boeing’s history of the 700,000 commercial flights per week 6,548 of the mare Boeing 737 Max aircrafts. Now that the whole fleet has been grounded, the airlines most affected by this areSouthwestAirlines,AirCanadaandAmericanAirlines.

This has had some impact on the travel and tourism industry, including an increase in travel anxiety. Although, according to the National Safety Council there is only a 1 in 188,363 chance of dying in an airplane crash, manypeople have a fear off lying. Social media have also exacerbated this anxiety. Further to this, online booking sites such as Kayak, have now introduced a filter so that specific types of aircraft can be selected or avoided.
Adaptedfrom:https://online.jwu.edu/blog/boeing-plane-crashes-how-they-could-impact-tourism
Adapted from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47549327

Boeing Business
In October 2018, 189 people were killed in a Boeing 737 Max Lion Air flight in Indonesia, when the aircraft went into a sudden nose dive and crashed into the sea 13 minutes after take-off. In March 2019, 157 people lost their lives when a Boeing 737 Max Ethiopian Airlines flight nose-dived into the countryside outside Addis Ababa. Both accidents were blamed on software flaws and issues with the sensors, specifically, the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MACS), which was designed to keep the flight stable was malfunctioning and pushing the nose of the aircraft down, overriding any actions by the pilot.

Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, initially refused to admit there were any flaws in the software and said that if the pilot did not follow the exact procedure, the software would notwork correctly. He went on to say that the trust of the public could be restored.
Apart from the software/sensorproblem, there have also been concerns about airspeed issues, and most recently a component of the wing was found to be susceptiblet of ractures. The affected components help to provide lift during take-off.

The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned the jets. Boeing is planning software upgrades to be finished by the end of the summer, and it is estimated that the aircraft should be back in operation before the end of 2019. The moral issue here lies with whether the company was putting profit before safety.
Adapted from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/16/boeing-max-737-jet-crisis-we-shouldve-been-more open-says-ceoand
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/29/boeing-boss-rejects-accusations-about-737-max-jets-that-crashed

Your report should follow the structure and suggested word counts below:

Cover Page

• Title of the report
• Title of the module
• Student Number (1xxxxxx)
• Date of submission
• Word count

Executive Summary (not included in the word count)

• Summary of eachs ection of the report
• Main section headings with page numbers

Contents Page

Introduction (suggested: 250-300 words)

• Definition of ethics
• Brief summary of the casestudy
• Significance of reputation to an organisation within the sector
• Asentence summarising the main aims of the report

Analysis (suggested: 1250 words, 3-4 points)

• Short introductory paragraph including a statement with the aim of the report and a map sentence.
• Identification and selection of 3-4 distinct aspects from ‘Points to consider’ or from student’s own research.These aspects should be the topics of the main body paragraphs.
• Each body paragraph should include a topic sentence.
• In order to analyse each aspect, research from relevant sources should be used to support the evaluation of the extent to which the reputation of the organisation has been damaged.