Current Issues in Business Ethics - Essay Example

TEESSIDE BUSINESS SCHOOL Current Issues in Business Ethics and CSR Assignment TWO Feedback Sheet: Criterion Indicative Weighting % Mark % Wide Reading (wide reading, use of academic literature, thorough knowledge) 40 9 Application of concepts (informed thinking; effective use of source material to create well-informed, compelling and robust argument) 40 11 Conclusion (appropriate, thoughtful and workable conclusion). 5 2 Contribution and Presentation: Class Contribution (10): One side of self-reflection on: how you contributed to “GROUP PRESENTATION” activities in seminars. Assignment presentation (5): written in clear error-free English and in correct format; correct and accurate referencing in both text and bibliography) 15 3 Total 100 25 Note that pass mark is 40%. Comments: Hi Luay, Your essay is very disappointing because other than one brief mention of Sachs book you fail to make use of any of the material from the module. There is a total dis-connect between your essay and my reading-list/seminar material/ case-studies /lectures. In addition I think you are getting snippets of books from Google because a quick search of the books on your bibliography on the University catalogue showed very few entries, including the Chandler book which you use quite heavily at the start. The assignment brief clearly states you need to make use of course reading material. Your essay also suffers from having some reasonable points/themes but little follow-through in terms of evidence/support. See the comments alongside the text for detail about course material that really would have been useful support for points you make. You also throw away 10% of the marks available by not writing a self-reflection on your class group presentation. Of the 60 or so students on the module you are just about the only one not to submit a self-reflection- why? Just what have you learnt from studying the module? As far as the two weeks of teaching on sweatshops goes I don’t see any evidence of you engaging with the module. Andrew "This feedback is being given for purposes of advice and guidance and to assist your learning and development in this module. References to standards or marks are entirely provisional and subject to confirmation following University procedures. Only University Assessment Boards are able to issue confirmed, definitive marks” Student Name: Luay Qindil Student Number: L129593 Submission Date: Friday 17/01/2014 Word count: 2041 Current Issues in Business Ethics and CSR “The problem with sweatshops is that there are not enough of them”(Jeffrey Sachs “The End of Poverty”). In light of the Rana Plaza Bangladesh sweatshop fire that killed 1,100 people (2013) is it wrong to love sweatshops? Business ethics involves the concept of social responsibility towards the stakeholders. The stakeholders include the investors, customers, workforce, and government. They are those people who are involved in the corporate processes and also are impacted from the corporate decisions and any changes that happen in the corporate. Corporate stakeholders are also those people who can affect the corporate decisions and functioning as well (Werther & Chandler et al, 2010). Stakeholders, especially the workforce needs to be given equal opportunities and their rights must not be violated. The workforce drives the corporate functions, especially the people that work in the lower classes as in sweatshops. These groups of people follow orders and work for the production of goods for the company functioning for long hours in a day. The stakeholders of a company need to be satisfied and their demands have to met at all times (Werther & Chandler et al, 2010). This is because as mentioned earlier they are very important for the company. The workforce in a company especially in sweatshops undergo great deal of pressure but also helps in increasing the production of the company goods as well. In 2013 the collapse of Rana Plaza, an eight-storey commercial building brought the entire world’s focus on the treatment towards the workers of sweatshops. It showed how the garment workers worker in the building were forced to worked despite the warnings. So the question is would it be unethical or wrong to like or promote sweatshops as it employs a lot of people and helps in production too? Treating the workforce with respect and dealing with their issues is also a part of business ethics (Werther & Chandler, 2010). The corporate should cater to the needs of their workforce. The changing attitude towards the employees of the company is a new change bright about by the transformation in the social dimension which is a result of the social issues brought into the limelight by many civil societies for the betterment of the entire workforce sector of the society (Sims 2003). The needs of the workforce in every company have changes changed over the years. Earlier when it was limited to proper supply of daily or monthly wages, now it is extended to benefits, bonuses, insurance, hike in wages, etc. The needs of the workers and other employees have increased over the years (Gordon 2007). People working in sweatshops are but given very less focus and their needs are not met at all times. Their working environment is also deprecating to them and also makes them hard to survive. People are still ready to work in such places. According to Zwolinski (2007) individuals who work in sweat shops do so out of their own free will. Their desire to work in such conditions hence, nullifies any or all arguments in favour of moral obligations of the employers. The fact that the workers are willing to work such conditions as those offered by sweatshops supports the moral legitimacy of sweatshops and hence the western governments or the developed countries that operate them must be free to import goods made in such sweatshops (p. 689). These sweat shops have conditions that violate the rights of every human. Sweatshops are so much necessary for a company to produce its goods on a large scale. They also help a lot of uneducated people to get employed even though it is for a very less pay. Sweatshops are highly crowded and lack basic amenities. They are also found to employ immigrants in most companies. Over the many years the availability of sweatshops has increased the trade for many companies. Sweat shops are also very unsafe in many instances. There have been incidents where these sweatshops met with unprecedented accidents claiming the lives of many people. Here the people who lose the lives have families who get to lose more than the company. The sweatshops in most countries and of many companies have very less developed safety standards. Big corporates face many accusations, which include environmental damage, violation of human rights and abuse of people as a result of having sweatshops (Wokutch et al, 2003 & Werther & Chandler et al, 2010). Also it is evident that most companies abuse people working in the sweatshops especially those who are from developing countries (Gordon, 2007). While meeting the demands of various local groups, environmentalists, customers, investors act it is important for all corporates to also meet the demands of the workforce who are employed in the sweatshops (Gordon 2007). It is a part of the corporate social responsibility where the corporates are subjected to or have a liability to explore, understand and remove the various hazards involved in the sweatshops and its functioning. People are said to have various health disorders arising from the continuous exposure to chemicals in such sweatshops where people work for very long hours in a day. Such diseases are known as industrial diseases and are developed over a long period of time if the environment the affected person is in does not change at all. Apart from developing industrial disorders the people working sweatshops are also forced to survive under an infrastructure which is very poorly built and has safety issues. These sweatshops have not contingency plans in order to protect the workers in case of an event. Though it might employ a lot of people it causes a lot of damage to human life and the number of victims could be large (Gordon, 2007). There is consequently confusion, or in other words a debate as to if these sweatshops are really advantageous or not. Now while examining the advantages one can say that it helps in the mass production of low-priced goods. Sweatshops are formed in those places where the people are less organized and have very less power and control over their lives (Gordon 2007). Sweatshops therefore in terms of humanity have very less scope of helping people and is more involved in indirectly abuse them and violating their human rights. Sweatshops have so many disadvantages that they might seem as a very cruel idea implemented by big corporates and companies in order to raise the production of their goods and in order to become rich at the cost of cheap labour. They people employed are the poor and uneducated people from the developing countries who have very less opportunity in their country. Sweatshops all over the world have the same issues and have people living and working in extremely difficult situations. Sweatshops are therefore in other terms against the business ethics. They also have very less prospects to make the company look good in the society when considering the plight of the workforce (Gordon 2007). There are now two aspects to the idea of work force. According to Jeffrey Sachs (2005) in his book “The end of poverty”, there are not enough sweatshops in the world. Almost all big corporates producing low-priced goods have sweatshops. They are a mandatory element for them to make huge number of products at very low cost. Lost cost labour gives more profit for companies. But the profit is at the expense of the workers security. Also the workers at sweetshops do not have benefits or rise in income. They do not have any kind of medical insurance hence finds medical treatment very expensive and even impossible. the workers also get no increase in their pay in spite of the long working hours they are forced to work. they also do not get any benefits which the other employees of the company would usually get. These workers have no power and hence usually do not complaint much or stop from working in spite of the rough and inhumane conditions. Most products which people use today come from sweatshops where people manufacture them in very harsh conditions. Sweatshops got occupies with the increase in immigration (Ross 2004). It was observed that the majority of people employed in the sweatshops are usually immigrants who may be even illegal at certain times. they are also deprived of the right to withstand against the violation of their rights. Considering all these factors it is quite evident that the factors against the sweatshops weigh more than that for it. There are many reasons to substantiate the fact that in spite of the mass production or profit it makes sweatshops are not good for the mankind and definitely against the society. The idea of sweatshops is also against the philanthropic principles of any company. It gives them a very bad image in the eyes of the society. this negative image could hurt the company as most corporates need to please the society considering that society has a great influence on the corporates. Many activists and local groups have been fighting against sweatshops to either improve its conditions or shut it down. Their attempts are still going on and have also been successful in some places. Many companies have yielded to these protests and met their demands improving the conditions of the workplace in these sweatshops and also give these workers a safer environment. Companies have also started to keep a check on the health conditions of the people and avoid all those issues that could bring about industrial diseases in the workers (Gordon 2007). The workers have also started to receive medical insurance which makes them feel safe and confident. But this is not the case with all the companies. There are companies and big corporates who have still not changed their stand. They are more interested in profits than sustaining the lives of people. Sweatshops were discovered in the developing countries (Rosen 2002). They were first found there where companies produced products such as toys, shoes, apparel etc in order to be exported. This included large scale production for very cheap labour. But in most developing countries people would do anything to be employed and get paid. Considering this there is no wonder why the sweatshops actually saw a boom in the developing countries. In most developing countries all the lower- class people are employed in such sweatshops (Gordon 2007). Most companies these days abide by their business ethics in order to run a successful business and also to create a good image. The image in the society is very important to them they have figured out that being in good terms with the various elements of the societies is very important to have a safe and uninterrupted business. It also helps them in creating a good turnover. They also need to abide by the various safety rules laid down by the government to keep their business running and successful. Sweatshops can also be considered as the result of globalisation on the economy (Gordon 2007 & Moran 2002). When the companies reached the global market they also had the privilege to extend the production services to the countries where labour could be achieved in cheap. It also essential to note the fact that the countries to where the business is being outsourced they have their own rules and regulations. This allows these people of these counties from being exploited. These counties focus on the safety and well-being of their people. They would not allow anyone to set up a sweatshop which has no regard for the safety of the people and also which abuses their rights. They are also concerned about the health of their people (Gordon 2007). Therefore have more sweatshops is not the major concern here. The most important fact of concern would be the safety of the people. The sweatshops which are cruel to people must be shut down and not be encouraged. There are many civil rights movements which are focussed on shutting down such places and also having a close watch on every sweatshop in the country (Featherstone 2002). It is a company’s responsibility to understand the needs of its workers and also the kind of environment they work in. they need to give the workers their rights and their privileges. They need to make sure that the working environment is free from all the dangerous and life-threatening factors. Be it anywhere in the world and any person regardless of the class and creed and also whether he/she is an immigrant the individual need to be treated right with concern as well. every company must keep a check on their sweatshops in order to maintain their business ethics. Therefore having more and more sweatshops which do not consider the well-beings of the employees is not advisable. But those which are safe and which employ people are encouraged. References Sachs, Jeffrey D. (2005). The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: Penguin Books. William B. Werther, Jr., David Chandler. (2010). Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment. Sage Publications, ISBN-10: 1412913721 Sims R R. (2003). Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Giants Fall. Praeger publications, ISBN-10: 0275980391 Laura P. Hartman, Denis G. Arnold, Richard E. Wokutch. (2003). Rising Above Sweatshops: Innovative Approaches to Global Labor Challenges. Praeger, Praeger publications, ISBN-10: 1567206182 Jennifer G. Gordon, J., (2007). Suburban Sweatshops: The Fight for Immigrant Rights. Belknap Press Robert J. S. Ross. (2004). Slaves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshops. University of Michigan Press, ISBN-10: 0472030221 Ellen Israel Rosen. (2002). Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry, University of California Press, ISBN-10: 0520233379 Theodore H. Moran. (2002). Beyond Sweatshops: Foreign Direct Investment and Globalization in Developing, Brookings Institution Press, ISBN-10: 0815706154 Liza Featherstone. Molly McGrath (2002). Students Against Sweatshops, Verso Publications, ISBN-10: 1859843026 Read More