ENG3003: Engineering management-Management Principles Case Study

Internal Code: MAS193

Management Principles Case Study:

CASE STUDY: Phone hacking, corruption and the closure of News of the World The closure of the News of the World (NoW) newspaper is exemplary of many of the issues discussed in Chapter 5. NoW was published by News Group Newspapers, part of News International, a subsidiary of Australian born Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. According to media reports, the paper was ultimately closed down because of illegal and clearly unethical phone hacking. Its closure raises questions about regulation of the press, ownership of the media, the role of the police, and relationships between journalists and politicians. Using private investigators, NoW had been illegally tapping into voicemail messages of abductees, murder victims, politicians (among them even former British prime minister Gordon Brown), and prominent celebrities (like soccer star Paul Gascoigne, and actors Sienna Miller and Hugh Grant), All this was done in search of an exclusive story. In January 2007, NoW Royal Editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for several months after admitting that they had hacked into the voicemails of aides to the royal family. A senior police source at the time told rival newspaper The Guardian that evidence had been found that private investigators had hacked into literally thousands of phones. However, what is believed to have finally brought the paper down is its despicable hacking of the voice mails of murdered teenager Milly Dowler; Sarah Payne, the mother of a murdered eight year old girl; and the parents of murdered schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. There are also allegations that the voicemail messages of relatives of dead British soldiers’ were hacked, and that a police officer offered to sell the paper a book containing confidential details about the royal family and its staff. How did NoW hack into voicemail accounts so easily? Because customers very rarely change four-digit PIN’s, private investigators and journalists could ring the number and, if the phone was not answered, the default number could be entered and messages accessed. Phone hacking is a grave matter, because it is highly illegal. Secondly, phone hacking is also unethical and is disdainful of an individual’s right to privacy. How would you like it if your mobile phone messages were hacked into? One of the most disturbing features of this scandal was the role of the police. Allegations into phone hacking were first made to the London Metropolitan Police in 2006, who were subsequently criticised for treading too softly. In 2009, The Guardian claimed that NoW journalists had hacked into mobile phones of about 3000 politicians, sport stars and celebrities, but the police chose not to reopen their investigation. In July 2011, John Yates, assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard, said he regretted the 2009 decision not to relaunch the investigation. This may have been wisdom with hindsight, as the Metropolitan Police had finally reopened their inquiry in January 2011. Ian Edmondson, an assistant editor, was subsequently sacked because emails relating to the hacking were allegedly found in the system at Now. Question: 1.Review and analyse the role of engineers as managers 2.understand the planning process and distinguish the different types of organisational planning 3.evaluate the characteristics of effective management control, including elements of operations and financial control.