Ethical Dilemmas Associated with Black Friday Directed at Walmart - Case Study Example

? Ethical Dilemmas Associated To Black Friday Directed At Wal-Mart Task Organization groups involved The organizational groups involved in the ethical dilemma of Wal-mart are mostly small retail shops and businesses. These organizations could not battle with Wal-mart; thus, most of them had to close down. Many citizens who worked in these businesses had to lose their employment since the businesses could not meet the competition standards of Wal-mart. Even though, Wal-mart led to the closure of many small businesses it has also offered jobs to many citizens in the USA and various other countries of the world. Every community and town where Wal-Mart is started has absorbed many workers consequently creating employment opportunities (Shaffer, 2007). Wal-mart has regulated the prices of its products by ensuring the customers purchase goods at low and fair prices, which will influence them to come back and shop at Wal-mart. Basis of Ethical Conflict By offering low prices to customers than the other retail shops, this has made customers not to shop from other retail shops apart from Wal-mart. It because of this that numerous retail shops have collapsed financially and closed down (Shaffer, 2007). Wal-mart has employed many people, which is a convenient way of creating employment, but they pay their employees poorly. Employees at Wal-mart receive salary below the standards of any USA citizens. Many workers are paid peanuts that they even have difficulties in sustaining and meeting all their basic needs. Half of the employees at Wal-mart have not enrolled in the health benefit plans, and many of them depend on the health benefit plan of their parents. This has resulted to the oppression of the other citizens since they have to pay large sums of taxes in order to compensate for wal-mart workers. This is because many of Wal-mart workers are not able to pay for the health benefit plans. Many activists and politicians are attacking Wal-mart because of their frequent oppressions to their employees (Shaffer, 2007). This has led to tarnishing the name of Wal-mart because the politicians and activists are educating the citizens on how they are being oppressed by Wal-mart. The frequent attacks did cost the company enormous amount of money as it tried to polish its name. The company has hired many public relations experts to polish the allegations made by many activists and politicians. It has also hired many FBI and CIA retired officials to monitor the workers who are against the company. A reasonable sum of money, which has been used to polish the company’s name, can be used to increase the salary of the workers and enroll them in health benefit plans. Countless improvements have taken place at an instance while there are economic problems to the American economy. The lowering of prices is something that has been used to by many competitors, and this does not hinder them from selling their goods normally. This is the main reason that Wal-mart has come up with new strategies of offering large amounts of discounts to people who purchase heavily at their retail shop. It is because of this reason that Wal-mart should stop afflicting their employees but increase their salaries as well as enroll them in future health care plans. What Impacts Did Legal Pressures Have On The Situation? Many legal pressures do not find Wal-mart to be oppressing the employees because Wal-mart gives the government a substantial amount of revenues. On the other hand, the legal channels find Wal-mart to be assistive since they have created numerous employment opportunities globally (Shaffer, 2007). The other issues that the government find Wal-mart to be assistive, is how they have reduced their prices drastically to ensure that their goods are affordable to the average paid employees. The legal channels suggest that there is no way Wal-mart is oppressing its employees, yet it is offering low prices to its citizens for them to afford their products. Now and then, citizens praise Wal-mart because most of the goods they need are found in Wal-mart and they are able to save many dollars because the prices are affordable. The legal channels support the company, because they argue that they offer durable goods with warranty of any electronic device. What Impact Did Societal Pressures Have? The societal pressures have made these companies employ highly qualified persons to help in retaining and polishing the name of Wal-mart. This is because the society is complaining of low wages their family members receive, yet the company is spending a lot of money trying to polish the company’s name. This money would instead have been used to increase the salaries of the workers. Employees, and societies are complaining that Wal-mart should not spend large amounts of money to polish their name instead they should treat their customers well, and they will spread their greatness. It is because of this reason that these companies are advised to take their employees to be a priority because workers come second to customers (Shaffer, 2007). The companies should not dwell so much on impressing the customers thus forgetting the worth of their employees. The company should strike steadiness among the employees and customers. The society is trying to influence the companies to regulate the prices of their goods that will make them receive substantial profit without oppressing the customer and employee. Was the Act Illegal or Unethical? The act was illegal, but it was on the most part unethical. This is because the company wanted to impress the customers at the cost of their employees. The company slashed a lot of money to ensure the customers enjoy low prices yet the salary of their customers is peanuts. It is also unethical because the company is ready to spend a lot of money in polishing the company’s name, yet this money could be used to increase the salary of their employees. A big company like Wal-mart not registering half of its workers on future health plans is unethical, because they are paying large amounts of taxes to the government (Shaffer, 2007). It is also highly unethical for a big company like Wal-mart to reduce their prices at a standard that other small business cannot, hence leading to their fall. This made many businesses to fall resulting in many people losing their jobs. Wal-mart is unethical because it is overworking their employees yet this company does not want to compensate them with descent wages and salaries. The illegal part of Wal-mart deeds is when they employee an extremely expensive public relation who worked for President Clinton to polish the company’s name, yet they do not want to compensate their employees (Shaffer, 2007). It is illegal not to pay for future health benefits of workers because employees can suffer an injury during working time. This is illegal as it is a way of denying the workers their rights. It is also illegal for a company to employee high government officials such as FBI, and CIA to monitor the employees who are talking against the deeds of the company. This is because every worker has the democracy to air his views, as long he is not inciting others. How Organizational Leaders Could Avoid This Issue? The leaders could have avoided this issue by constantly holding meetings with the employees to discuss on matters that need motivation (Shaffer, 2007). This way the employees will have a chance to give their grievances to the management group without them spreading and tarnishing the name of the company. The employees will feel appreciated and motivated when the leaders show they have considerable concern of their employees. The leaders should give rewards to employees who show superior performance at work because this will be a motivating factor. Leaders should make it compulsory for employees to open future health benefit plans. The company paying half of the money to the health benefit schemes can do this. The company should also standardize the salary of the employees according to the current standards of payments. This is to ensure employees are able to stay comfortable lives by affording the basic needs without struggling. The organization leaders can avoid this issue by motivating their employees each time. This can be achieved by allowing customers to make their own decisions when they are at work, which will make them feel responsible as they are working. Motivation can also be instilled to workers when the leaders listen to their suggestions and at times put these suggestions to practice. This usually makes the customers fell proud when they see their advice is being put into consideration. It is therefore important to prioritize the needs of the customers to avoid incidences that might arouse confrontations and misunderstandings. References (2004). E-business. Retrieved on December 15 2011 from: Shaffer, A. (2007). A Report of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute. Retrieved on December 15 2011 from: Bloomberg business week (2007). Stop the bullying Wal- mart. Retrieved on December 15 2011 from: . Read More