DynCorp
Anthony Allen
ETH/316
August 25, 2014
Dr. Michelle Kuamoo

DynCorp
The US defense industry is a worldwide program that enables research and development, and maintenance of military weapons systems to meet U.S. military requirements. The Defense industry consists the DOD and thousands of defense based companies. The defense industry has companies located in countries all over the world that are vital to mobilization, deployment, and sustainment of military operations (Homeland security, 2014).
The defense industry has come under scrutiny, because of its work with the war in Afghanistan, the battles here in the US, and defense spending. These days, people and businesses are influenced by social media, television, peer pressure, and these outlets can change the way a company functions or operates. Despite the best logical responses to certain social pressures, the defense industry actions will not please everyone, but it will provide the most basic sense of security we are all use to. A good example is the F-22 military aircraft was created to revolutionize the way we fight a war, so far the F-22 raptor program consists of 187 aircraft and cost 79 billion dollars($420 million per aircraft), but matched with a cheaper aircrafts in other countries. After a series of highly publicized mishaps (faulty oxygen systems and the death of Capt. Jeff Haney) and media pressure, the aircraft was grounded till the problems were fixed (Lee Farran, 2012).
My employer, DynCorp International is one of these defense contractors, founded in 1946 as, Land Air Inc. and California Eastern Airways by World War II veterans. DynCorp began work directly with the US military as maintenance services technicians, then expanded to marine services and Acquisitions (logistics). DynCorp stance on ethics is there is zero tolerance of discrimination of age, race, gender, or sexual preference. DynCorp believe in employees should compete for their positions, and equal opportunity is given to all applicants that apply and believes in employees conducting business ethically and fair in the US and abroad (DynCorp, 2014).
Back in 1999 in Bosnia in, Ms. Kathryn Bolkovac, a DynCorp employee, assigned to an investigations office that monitors sex trafficking, domestic abuse and sexual assault. She alleges that the U.N. workers and international police are involved in sex trafficking organization and was falsifying documents to illegally transporting women into Bosnia. DynCorp employees are accused of rape and the buying and trafficking 12 year old girls. DynCorp was hired to perform police duties with the UN and aircraft maintenance for the Army. The result of these actions are the employees were deported out of the country, with no legal ramifications against them. DynCorp responded to Ms. Bolkovac’s accusations by firing her, and upon returned back to the U.S., and she filed a wrongful termination case and won. Was it wrong to blow the whistle on the whole operation, I believe so, Ms. Balkovac was hired to uphold local and international law ethically and without malice or prejudice. The negative impact of this scandal was scarred this company for years, and the bad publicity has haunted future involvement foreign contracts. Another case in 2004 in Columbia, where DynCorp workers sexually violated underage girls, but no criminal action was filed against any those employees.(Isenberg, 2011). Since then, DynCorp has undertaken a major ethical and moral changes, and we are required to complete an ethics awareness course annually, and the screening process for new employees are more in depth. The company will prosecute any employee accuse or found guilty of crimes outside the U.S (DynCorp, 2014). DynCorp has also started an ethics hotline, to discreetly report ethical violations, since the scandal.
The ethical and legal view of DynCorp conduct is that it involves every member of DynCorp to make wise ethical choices when doing company business. These behaviors should happen on a daily basis influenced by their character, values, judgment, social influences, and ethical behaviors. It may relate to a decision about businesses practices in the competitive defense atmosphere, and the laws that govern us may not cover every aspect the business, but personal integrity should cover the rest.
Critics and activist campaign against companies who use child labor as a method of production, companies who hurt the environment, and any involvement in moral misconduct. Companies placed a high ethical value on changing their image to fit social and political standards. Nike one of the largest shoe manufacturer in the world, was found to be using children to produce their products, after the media, newspaper published articles about this, Nike revamped the way the produced their products. When a company is providing a service or producing a product, there are socially responsible for doing so economically and ethically.
According to Baron, Maretno Harjoto of Pepperdine University, he says social pressure and social performance strengthen each other Social pressure is associated with a lower economic performance and can damage a company’s reputation. If protestors and activist called attention to a company's environmental record, the media would get involved, and they can persuade people not to buy its products, thus decreasing production and hurt employee morale and motivation (David P. Baron, 2010).
Companies conducting their business legally and ethically saves millions in lawsuits and settlements.

References
David P. Baron, t. D. (2010). Social Pressures Affect Corporate Strategy and Performance. Retrieved from http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu: http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/social-pressures-affect-corporate-strategy-and-performance-0
Department of Homeland Security. (2014, Aug 24). Defense Industrial Base Sector. Retrieved from www.dhs.gov: http://www.dhs.gov/defense-industrial-base-sector
DynCorp. (2014). Values, Ethics and Compliance: Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. Retrieved from www.dyn-intl.com: http://www.dyn-intl.com/about-di/values-code-of-conduct/
Farran, L. (2012, July 30). F-22 Raptor Loses $79 Billion Advantage in Dogfights. Retrieved from www.abcnews.com: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/07/f-22-fighter-loses-79-billion-advantage-in-dogfights-report/
Isenberg, D. (2011, May 25). It's Déjà Vu for DynCorp All Over Again. Retrieved from www.huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-isenberg/its-dj-vu-for-dyncorp-all_b_792394.html
LEE FERRAN, M. C. (2012, May 2). Family Demands Truth in Air Force F-22 Pilot's Death. Retrieved from www.abcnews.com: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/exclusive-22-raptor-flyers-family-demands-truth-air/story?id=16253815