Discuss about the Ethical Dilemmas In Business Practices.
Business ethics are important for any organization to operate with reputation and sustainability. Ethical practice is based on the honesty and trust which is beyond the company’s only concern with profitability. In the business world of 21st century the ethical misconducts have caused great problems for many large organizations (Spencer-Cooke and van Dijk 2015). The following analysis of certain case studies demonstrates some practical examples of ethical dilemmas in business practices. Some ethical dilemmas are personal; some are in global perspective (Weiss 2014). Overcoming the ethical dilemmas successfully will help the company to build the commitment and trust among its stakeholders, employees and consumers.
As a responsible product manager it is my responsibility to ensure the productivity and competitive edge of the service. He takes initiatives that materialize the organization’s desired goals. However in order to increase the product managers often compromise with the ethical conducts. In the business of producing children’s toys the product manager did not consider the ethical practice of manufacturing the toys in the foreign country like most toy manufacturing companies (Tariq Anwar 2014). Even after experiencing that the host company is not following the procedures that are aligned with the organizational ethical codes and conducts. The manager also observed that how the children are involved as manufacturing labors (Rigg and Salamanca 2015). As the organization would experience large cut in the manufacturing expenses the product managers ignored all these issues.
There are three two ethical issues in front of me; one is that the manufacturing company is not following the standard manufacturing procedure and second is that the manufacturing involves child labor. If the company’s involvement with child labor is exposed it will not only greatly affect the organization’s reputation but also the adult employees whose lives are depending upon the manufacturing operations. As a deputy manager if I close down the manufacturing system some other company will take up the opportunity and the children will continue to suffer. As a responsible business practitioner I have ensure the educational development for the children. In order to do that I will have to raise the parent’s wages and make it mandatory for the children to attend the school for certain time of the day and then they will work for less time. The organization has to bear the education cost for those children as well.
The regional marketing manager of PharmChemCo has just come to know about a bad news from the recently held meeting by one of the Vice Presidents. The scientists at SFW University research lab the scientists have discovered that the best herbicide of the company has elements that can cause harmful side effects. The news has been kept hidden so far but news is going to get published soon that will harm the reputation of the company (Goldacre 2014). The meeting was held to find out possible solutions. The marketing manager was also suffering from another conflict whether he should inform his friend about it or not. His friend has invested significant share on the company and encouraged his clients to do so. If he tells him about the incident he will sell his share and will urge his clients to do the same which will cause the company great loss.
As a marketing manager I cannot afford to lose so many shares, at the same time the ethical dilemma should be overcome. The first thing is that I have to make sure the marked herbicides are not getting produced anymore and the already made products are not reaching the market. Then I will inform Freddie because as a friend it is my responsibility to inform him about the coming problems and let him take precautions. I will have to suggest him to withdraw his share but I will try to convince him not to urge his clients to withdraw the share prior to the publication of the news. This I will be able to save the share to some extent before the publication. Freddie will inform the clients but his faith over me and the company might prove to be helpful in this case.
The human resource manager of AllCure pharmaceutical is having an ethical dilemma regarding the employment of one new employee in her company. Two of the candidates have been finalized but as the work responsibility also requires social media activities the manager has been investigating their social media performances. The HR manager has found that one of the candidates has well maintained social media profile and she is experience of visiting many places (MacDougall et al. 2015). However the HR manager struggled to locate the other girl on social media but after searching a while the manager found that one of her intern is her friend on social media. From she could access her profile and got to know that she is involved in heavy partying and taking illegal drugs. So the manager is concerned what might the consumers say if they find that an employee of the company is involved in such activities but at the same time she has better than the other girl as a candidate, so she is struggling to take the final decision (Dijkmans, Kerkhof and Beukeboom 2015).
As a human resource manger it is my primary duty to select the most suitable candidate for the job profile. I have to take care of the fact that the company reputation is not being hampered by any of the new employees. Though the new girl has better employee potential on paper but her indecent activities on the social media can harm the company in future. Therefore it is easier for me to finalize the girl in this case. The first girl is better suited for the profile and I will make sure she is getting trained well especially in those areas where she is lacking behind.
Western market has been experiencing a flood of organic products in their supermarkets. Many recent investigative reports have exposed that the companies are applying many unethical practices to maintain the huge business of organic products. In most cases the companies are not offering what they have promised to their consumers. The USA government policies support products with 95% organic elements to be labeled as organic (Mosier and Thilmany 2016). Ingredients like monosodium glutamate or carrageenan are harmful for health but are allowed by the government in the organic foods. The government allows the companies the organic label if only they possess compliance record and system plan. The temptation of the huge profit in the organic business many companies have engaged themselves in unethical practices. American company Target, Aurora Dairy or many German organic egg supplier companies few such companies that are involved in similar ethical misconducts. The tradition wrong practice was buying general food and labeling them as organic food but now the companies are manipulating laws related to organic labeling of other countries in their countries; like an organic product in Moldova is being sold on an European company’s site as organic. Harmful chemicals have been found in organic products from China. The manufacturing of organic food in western countries is far more expensive than conventional food (Gray 2016). As a result the global manufacturing nations and farmers are pressurized to produce them in unethical ways.
I believe in this case, Consumer pressure would be a strong force that can lead changes. I would urge the government to evaluate the laws related to international trade, climate change and environmental protection and apply necessary changes in certain areas that could prevent such practices. The government will ensure that all the manufacturing companies and farmers are following the strict regulations before providing them with the organic label. If I was a part of any organic food supplier company I would make sure that the manufacturing is following the necessary rules and regulations. The company has to invest more on the manufacturing and finally I would urge the management to cut off the ties with manufacturing companies who are involved in unethical practices.
Uzbekistan is one of the world’s leading exporters of cotton. The Uzbek government forces millions of children to work as cotton harvesting and bearer labor (Bhat 2015). The government threats the citizens and forces them to grow cotton in order to meet the production quota. Working at the cotton field exposes the children with harmful chemicals and other health hazards. From the pressure of foreign companies who import cotton from the country; like Maarimekko from Finland, Mark & Spencer from UK, H & M from Sweden or Levi’s from USA have pressurized the national authority to change the situation. So in 2012 the authority implemented a policy that does not allow children under 16 to work in the cotton fields. Almost 150 companies took the cotton pledge that pressurized the government to take the initiative but it compensated the loss by forcefully employing adults as labors irrespective of their existing jobs (Islam 2015). The government is also targeting other markets like Bangladesh or China. Also the pledge signing companies cannot ban the Uzbek cotton totally as they will lose the export entirely and Uzbeck cotton will find another market. There is also the mix cotton strategy where cottons from different sources will be mixed and the Uzbek cotton can also enter the western market via Asian countries as well.
As a member of the working group who are working to eradicate the child labor of Uzbekistan we would first draw the international human rights watchers’ attention towards the wrong doings of the government of Uzbekistan regarding their use of forced child and adult labors in the cotton fields. We have to act as whistle blowers in this scenario. The laws related to the country’s human rights protection and child education have to be evaluated. The laws should protect the children’s basic education rights and the government should make sure that the unemployed youth of the country are employed in the place of those forced adults. The cotton importing countries has to invest more money on the importing so that it becomes easier for the nation to implement effective and ethical strategies.
Conclusion
Immediate unethical practices might bring the company profit but it will affect the organizational performance in the longer run. If the companies that are engaged in ethical misconducts should immediate start evaluating their policies and strategies in order to resist the future negative outcomes (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015). The above discussion over certain unethical practices in certain companies has highlighted how the practices have been affecting not only the consumers but also the employees and the organizations. The examples of ethical dilemmas in producing children toys, pharmaceutical companies and human resource management have demonstrated how companies can experience various circumstances which might be tricky. However the proper implementation of the suggested strategies can help the company to overcome such situations and ensure sustainable business for longer future.
References
Bhat, B., 2015. Cotton Cultivation and Child Labor in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan. Lexington Books.
Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P. and Beukeboom, C.J., 2015. A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, pp.58-67.
Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2015. Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson Education.
Goldacre, B., 2014. Bad pharma: how drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients. Macmillan.
Gray, N., 2016. Developing organic, fairtrade, and ethically produced products. Developing Food Products for Consumers with Specific Dietary Needs, p.241.
Islam, M.A., 2015. Legitimacy Threats and Stakeholder Concerns Within Supply Chains. In Social Compliance Accounting (pp. 35-57). Springer International Publishing.
Lawrence, A.T. and Weber, J., 2014. Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics, public policy. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
MacDougall, A.E., Bagdasarov, Z., Johnson, J.F. and Mumford, M.D., 2015. Managing workplace ethics: An extended conceptualization of ethical sensemaking and the facilitative role of human resources. In Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management (pp. 121-189). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Mosier, S.L. and Thilmany, D., 2016. Diffusion of food policy in the US: The case of organic certification. Food Policy, 61, pp.80-91.
Rigg, J. and Salamanca, A., 2015. The devil in the detail: interpreting livelihood turbulence from a 25?year panel study from Thailand. Area, 47(3), pp.296-304.
Spencer-Cooke, A. and van Dijk, F., 2015. Creating a Culture of Integrity: Business Ethics for the 21st Century. Do Sustainability.
Tariq Anwar, S., 2014. Product recalls and product-harm crises: A case of the changing toy industry. Competitiveness Review, 24(3), pp.190-210.
Weiss, J.W., 2014. Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
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