Ethical Perspectives Essay

Abstract This essay will research a a global organization and cultural issue that affects the organization’s interactions outside the United States. It will also define the cultural issue within the global organization as well as provide an analysis of the ethical and social responsibility issues that the organization must deal with as a result of being a global organization. The analysis will identify ethical perspectives in the global organization and it will compare these ethical perspectives across cultures involved in the global organization. Ethical Perspectives Paper Due to many strict regulations placed on corporations by the United States, a lot of them have moved their factories overseas as a way of escaping the strict regulations. South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and China are examples of various Third World countries that have a readily available and abundant cheap labor source. These companies take it vantage of this cheap labor as a means of fulfilling the consumer’s needs while at the same time cutting costs production. Many of these organizations have been noted by the media as abusing these forms of cheap labor and are highly criticized because of their organizational culture. The use of child labor or work conditions in the labor force are some of the malpractices these organizations are noted as using on both the local and international level. Although these organizations have been reported for doing this very little has been done to correct the problem unless someone has either gotten hurt were the people go on strike to rally for the workers’ rights. Nike Corporation is among those corporations that have been highlighted and criticized for its organizational culture. This Corporation, founded by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight, has had companies based abroad from the very beginning in an attempt to increase its profits around the world. By doing this the company has managed to save money on production and labor costs and has been labeled a blue ribbon sports organization. There many different countries that this organization has expanded into. One of these countries is Pakistan. Pakistan, Nike company faced serious cultural issues including the use of children for labor and poor work conditions. The allegations range from situations where children’s job was to stitch soccer balls to stitching of and support garments. Boje & Khan (2009) indicate that Sialkot, Pakistan has been the place where soccer balls of Nike company and then produced for several years and it is estimated it thousands of children have been used as workers in the production process of the company’s goods. Khan (2010) indicates that childhood is perceived in different ways and that it is not across countries but also in a specific culture had across various ethnic groups (Khan, 2010). Child labor is the main cultural issue that affects the Nike Corporation. The company has been highlighted by the media through illustrating the conditions under which the Nikes factories were operating overseas and the minimal standards that had to be attained by the employees. This company’s goal was to achieve financial gain while exploiting its workers. Due to these malpractices the Nike Corporation received ceaseless attacks. Strict recommendations were set in order to improve these back conditions. With the media being involved Nike had to do something to improve how it was operating in other countries. Due to Nikes global expansion, the company was faced with various aspects of concern, costs being among those issues. In order for them to stay competitive, as it pertains to price without the need to reduce its workforce, they decided to outsource some of its manufacturing overseas. By doing so, it gave the company an advantage over its competitors as well as opening other doors of marketing for the company. Even though the shifting of jobs from the US to other countries may be viewed as an unethical  practice by others, it can be said that Nike’s decision was in the best interest of the company, as well as the employees working at the company. A company that is unable to maintain its competitive advantage within its current markets and at the same time thinking of expanding its business, will end up experiencing a stagnating growth and loss of jobs among many employees. No one will then be the winner when the company has lost his competitiveness in the industry (Etienne an d Lewis, 2005). Another thing that has to be taken into consideration are the customers. This falls within the ethical responsibility field of the company which had been overlooked for a long time. It is apparent that the Nike Corporation failed to comprehend the consequences of not following the required base market ideologies in a place where they were not required to follow stringent labor regulations. Taking jobs out of the United States is hard enough to justify, never mind the fact they were taking those jobs and moving them to a place where children were given those jobs. With child labor being a major problem is clear that Nike did not consider its ethical obligations and wound up paying the price for its malpractices. Nike was accused of lowering the human standards rights single-handedly with the goal of maximizing profits. Furthermore, Nike products have been linked to forced overtime, slave wages, and habitual abuse. The main difficulties in diversifying an organization is based on the principle of cultural adaptability while ensuring that ethical and social standards and maintain. Groundwork of the organization or company can be well described when there is a clear analysis of what takes place in organization. Nike’s decision to take the company’s business abroad was with good intent and motive for cutting costs, increasing the company’s competitiveness and profits, but should not have come at the expense of abusing child labor. The accusations placed on Nike Corporation by the media were based on poor working conditions, use of child labor, and the exploitation of wages to its employees abroad. The company was not only criticized these accusations, but were also criticized for taking jobs away from the American people. Through corporate social responsibility laws, the Nike Corporation was forced to adhere to the recommendation in order to  improve the poor working conditi ons in its factories abroad. References Boje, D, & Khan, F (2009) Story-Branding by Empire Entrepreneurs, Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, p 9-24. DeTienne, K & Lewis, L (2005) the Pragmatic and Ethical Barriers to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure, Journal of Business Ethics, p 359-376. Khan, a (2010) Discourses on Childhood, History & Anthropology, p 101-119.