In a number of large US corporations, it's against company policy to engage in a romantic relationship with someone who reports directly to you, or is lower in rank than you. This policy is nearly always applied company wide, at all levels of management.
This policy is designed (amoung other things) to prevent opportunities for corruption within the company. The primary issue that Stonecipher may have caused, is that the policy can become unenforcable if a high ranking executive is allowed to break the policy, while asking others to follow it. It's the possibility of corruption that caused Boeing to emphasize in the press release that the female executive's employment position was not effected by the relationship.
Sarbanes-Oxley is also a factor here, and this is why Boeing has emphasized that the financial and operational condition of Boeing was not effected by the relationship.
The bottom line, this CEO did a very stupid thing. There was no way Boeing could afford to look the other way, not after the ethical problems they've had recently.
(edited to add Sarbanes-Oxley comment)
Last edited by Flight Safety; 7th March 2005 at 15:13.