Management Problems of a Campbell Soup Company - Case Study Example

The company should have mediated earlier. It is essential to act as soon as the workers concerns become apparent. This is because, as witnessed, the issues may heighten. The living and working conditions of the migrant farm laborers were appalling. A large number of them resided in overpopulated areas, without sufficient toilets, clean drinking water, and electricity. Campbell Soup Company should have improved its living standards to prevent criticisms from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. Third, the company should have researched the workers’ issues in person. Researching the workers’ concerns would have assisted in getting accurate information regarding the living and working conditions of the workers and helped management deal with the issues. It was Farm Labor Organizing Committee that highlighted the inequitable labor activities (Barger & Reza, 1994). If Campbell Soup Company highlighted the workers’ issues, it would have addressed them and avoided the case against the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.

Question 2
Internal stakeholders include migrant farm workers, Campbell Soup Company employees, and executives of Campbell Soup Company. External stakeholders include independent growers, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, the ombudsman, protesters, and children of migrant workers. All these stakeholders have a genuine stake, claim, or vested significance in Campbell Soup Company and more frequently, the activities of the company. Both internal and external stakeholders are impacted by the issue. First, migrant farm workers still did not have the right to coordinate and take part in collective bargaining. They also continued to endure harsh conditions because it was the responsibility of the growers to determine their conditions. Second, Campbell Soup Company employees' working conditions enhanced (Barger & Reza, 1994). This is because they were included in labor organizations and could take part in collective bargaining.
Third, executives of Campbell Soup Company had to raise wages and enhance their workers working conditions. They also had to change to mechanical harvesters. Fourth, independent growers had to improve the working conditions of laborers due to pressure from FLOC. Fifth, FLOC got support from significant organizations and leading national agencies to advance its activities. Sixth, the ombudsman advanced the accessibility of schooling facilities and guaranteed that the workers’ children went to school during the school period. Seventh, protesters continued with their protests until the company addressed some of the worker’s issues (Rosenbaum, 1993). Finally, migrant workers' children stopped accompanying their parents to the farms and started attending classes during the school period.

Question 3
The most appropriate ethical approach applicable to this situation is the utilitarian approach. The utilitarian approach examines an act in terms of its outcomes or consequences, that is, the total costs and benefits to every stakeholder on a personal level. The utilitarian approach attempts to attain the largest benefit for the largest number of people while generating the least degree of damage or thwarting the largest degree of distress (Barger & Reza, 1994). The approach asserts that everyone’s concern should be looked at similarly during the decision-making process, and this incorporates all individuals because they all can suffer. This approach looks at the most significant balance of advantages over damage for a large number of stakeholders.

The chief executive officer and president of Campbell Soup Company, Gordon McGovern, supposed that the company had done everything possible to ensure its existence. Nonetheless, the executives of Campbell Soup Company did not give in to Farm Labor Organizing Committee’s foremost requirement for a labor contract and union recognition (Rosenbaum, 1993). The company also paid the workers per hour due to the dissimilar techniques of picking tomatoes. It is also evident that Campbell Soup Company formed the position of Ombudsman for Migrant Affairs to advance the formation of daycare institutions and to make sure that the migrant farm workers’ children can go to class during the school period. The company also engaged in other activities to enhance the workers’ living situations.

Question 4
The Campbell Soup Company issue could damage it as a company in several ways. First, the issue would lessen the competency of workers. The Campbell Soup Company employees and migrant farm workers could have different competency levels due to their different working conditions thus reducing the production capacity of the company. Moreover, the migrant workers cannot function at the same level as the company’s employees because they were employed by independent growers.

This would also damage the company. Second, the workers would have an extra workload. This is because the company would be presumed as not having the capacity to determine how the workers raise and pick the tomatoes, therefore, having no say in their working conditions. Also, the idea that children accompany their parents to the farms, indicates that the workers are paid in terms of the work per hour, hence the need to be assisted by their children. Third, the company issue could damage the company itself, in that; there would be more unhappy workers who may opt to leave the work for a different one. This is because of unfair labor practices and inadequate pay per hour. Finally, the Campbell Soup issue may make the company lose its workers to rival companies that offer better working conditions and benefits. This is because the situation of the migrant farm laborer is appalling. Consequently, this will damage the company (Rosenbaum, 1993).