Ethical Behavior in the Workplace 

Ethics: the rules/standards which govern the conduct of a person or group

Transparency: the degree to which affected parties observe relevant transactions/decisions.

Code of Ethics: written statements which guide an organization's decisions

Whistle-blowing: the disclosure of information by a company insider that exposes illegal or unethical behavior by others within the organization

Insider trading: the unpublicized information that an individual gains from the course of his or her job to benefit from fluctuations in the stock market

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWjln8MmOM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzq31hpGZOI

Sweatshops: "employer who violates more than one federal or state labor law governing minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, workers' compensation, or industry regulation"

60% of garment manufacturers in New York City could STILL be classified as sweatshops

Workplace Conditions:

• Low wages
• Long work hours
• Health and/or safety hazards
• Arbitrary discipline by managers or owners
• No job security
• Physical abuse, threats, and intimidation
• Workers have no voice in government
• Child labor

(Note: These conditions result when they occur in combination, are taken to an extreme and last time.)

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"…workers were paid less than half of minimum wage, told to lie on their time card about their hours and wages, and were forced to work 100 hours per week, seven days per week"

Contributing Factors:

• Dense populations
• Limited education
• High unemployment
• Few job alternatives
• Extreme poverty
• Workers with low productivity
• No social safety net
• Corrupt, weak or undemocratic government
• Secrecy and lack of workplace transparency, often in places without a free press
• No system of justice to protect basic rights
• Consumer ignorance about or neglect of the plight of sweatshop owner

Philanthropy: the donation of money, time, goods, or services to charitable humanitarian or educational institutions

Strategic CSR: social contributions that are directly aligned with a company’s overall business strategy that are ethical

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Nike is one of the biggest businesses which do not upkeep ethical standards

• “perfect case study”

America tries to fight against injustice and poverty but the companies that they buy from are unethical… hypocriticism

Society automatically assumed working for Nike in foreign lands helped you live like kings, ie grateful for the opportunity

LIFE:

• home: 9 by 9 cement box was the home, no air conditioning, no furniture, uneven floor
• outside: feces go into streets in the sewer system, it’s a cycle. rats & cockroaches would crawl to look for food in the night
• community was polite--but slowly built trust
• workers shared bathrooms with 5-10 other bathrooms
• shacks in rows would share a laundry corner, well, and kitchen

Wages after spending bills & taxes could only afford small items (bottle of tea, 2 rice meals, and dish detergent.)

Energy lowered, 25 pounds lost, fevers

Overtime hours worked just to get by because wages aren’t enough (15 hr a day)

Kids can’t go to school, cycle of poverty decreases

Nike burns rubber scraps of shoes in a village where kids play, gives off toxins and chemicals

Nike promised nothing to hide, yet denied access to factories + consequences

Local mafia worked with factory bosses, hired muscles 

THE PEOPLE WANT TO WORK BUT DON’T WANT TO BE EXPLOITED

CEOs and management turn a blind eye

Maximizing profits at the cost of human ideology and nature

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