Organizational Environment and Ethics: Creating an ethical Infrastructure - Research Paper Example

“Foxconn to Use 1m Robots to Replace Workers.” China Daily, August 2, By Ben Yue Factual of the Event The article states that Foxconn Technology group is an electronic manufacturing company based in China. The company manufactures electronic components for the Apple Computer Company among others. Foxconn Group has been assembling Apples iPads and iPhones in China. According to the article, the management of the Foxconn Group has decided to integrate more robots in the operations of the company on a three-year plan. The management planned to increase the number of robots to one million over the next three years. The article explains that the move by the management has come after a series of labor disputes. The labor disputes include employee suicides and major strikes that have rocked the company. The article notes that The Company employs more than one million workers worldwide. The company is on the verge of expanding its operations to inland china and markets that are emerging. According to a fund manager at the Eastern Bay Investment Management, the salaries for workers are increasing at a raid rate such that companies cannot sustain the employees. The chairperson of the Foxconn Group stated that currently the group is using around ten thousand robots, which are expected to increase up to a hundred thousand. The article says that Foxconn is experiencing cases of employee’s suicide mainly in its china factories from last year. The chairperson, Gou said that this is the main reason why the company is planning to use robots to assemble procedures in its line production. The suicide and labor issues in china have been due to the tough economic conditions in the country. The employees are asking for an increase in wages but the company management is saying that wages are already too high for the company. Foxconn has recently been censored over the working conditions in the factory. In July 2011, a worker at a factory in Southern China committed suicide as reported by the local news media. According to the China Business News, as quoted in the article, many of the workers committing suicide in Foxconn factories are immigrants who come to work in the manufacturing plants in China. Foxconn said that the reason for using automation is to make the routines of the employees more desirable by adding value to their positions in the company. However, one worker from the company said that work in the company could be repetitive and fast for the workers. Analysis of the Event One of the major principles of ethics is to treat all stakeholders of a company in an equitable manner. Employees are stakeholders of the company and the company directors have a responsibility to treat the employees with respect. In May 2011, a watchdog group known as Students & Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) cited that Foxconn is known for abusing workers rights. The group stated that the company had made promises to improve the working conditions of employees but the company continues to expose the workers to safety and health risks. SACOM claimed that Foxconn was making workers to work for one hundred hours a week but never increases the employee wages. SACOM claimed that Foxconn had not implemented any measures or policies to improve the working conditions of the employees in the factories. SACOM claims that the organization practices a military like management where workers have no otherwise but to compel to the organizational culture. The management of Foxconn denied the allegations and Apple Computer Company did not respond to the allegations. Organizational structure involves the allocation of duties and responsibilities to relevant employees in the organization. Leadership in ethics involves taking in to account all the decisions in the organization, being transparent on all the outcomes of the decisions made. Over the years, the management of the Foxconn group has not been very transparent on the causes of strikes and suicides taking place in the organization. The company instead has opted to come up with robots to address the issue of workers suicide. As the community they are entitled to know what the organization does is not harmful the society. One of the main principles of an ethical leader is that the activities of the business should be beyond the profit-making objective of the organization. The main objective of an organization is to make profits and maximize shareholders wealth. The profit however should not be generated at the expense of the stakeholders such as the workers. Providing a good working condition for the worker is an ethical act that every firm should follow and enact in their policies. Cost management of an organization should consider all ethical factors before their implementation. The Foxconn Company should take into consideration the job loss that the use of robots will have on the Chinese community. Cost management should consider the ethical factors affecting their corporate and commercial world. Taking an example of the retrenchment in 1998, there was a major fall in the sales of the company as workers transferred their skills to other companies an Apple suffered a great loss from competitors. The inadequate response of the Foxconn management on the deaths of the workers shows that the management is not fair on families and the people affected by the event or situation. The management should respect the employees as stated by the ethical principles of respecting each other. Looking at the claims by SACOM where management of Foxconn has established an authoritative leadership on can only conclude that the rates of suicide in the organization happen due to frustration of the workers in the work environment. Further, more the management has not found another reliable source of the cause of suicides in the organization. It should be an ethical act for companies to provide a good working condition for their employees, which in turn increases production of the company. Assessment The management of Foxconn has started to help workers by setting up a twenty-four hour facility for counseling. The company management aims at helping the employees to deal with the external and internal issues affecting the workers. The company is also issuing policies that will see that the workers salary has been increased are being put in place. The company also said that it is following all the labor laws laid down by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition of the work outline of sixty hours per week. The management has also decided to come up with more robots that will reduce the workloads for the employees as well as reduce costs. The company argues that by using robots inline processes the duties of the employees will be les and more desirable. From this case study, it is essential to understand that the organizational theory should be able to accommodate the views and share aspects of leadership with the others. The recommendation for the Foxconn Company is to put forward reliable measures that will put in to consideration all the grievances of the employees. Employees should be understood and appreciated by management as equal stakeholders of the company. In conclusion, Foxconn group should look in the compensation policy of its workers as well as the safety and health standards in the organization. The management should create, explain, and criticize the manufacturing segment with the realities in the environment surrounding the employees and the company should apply the organization theories. Read More