Marketing of Alcohol: Who Is Impacted by the Issue and How - Essay Example

Marketing of Alcohol: who is impacted by the issue and how? Alcohol consumption at work is such a huge issue that it has called for taking stringent actions against the ones who are involved in the related practices. It not only is a gross violation of the work routines but is also a very immoral act. Unfortunately, with the times changing, one can easily find out that alcohol consumption at work has started to make inroads, and that too for a number of wrong reasons. There is just so much that an organization can do to keep away these issues but then again the menace might prevail, to the dismay of one and all within the related contexts. Alcohol consumption within my workplace setting started to come about as a major deterrent towards organizational safety when Matt was caught red-handed. Many employees knew that Matt was taking the organization for a ride for a long period of time but no one had the courage to get up and take charge of the matter. He was into alcohol consumption at work for the last six month and the matters had started to become worse as time passed by. It all began when Matt experienced domestic issues with his wife who had abandoned him to live with her boyfriend. This was a huge setback for Matt who thought that his wife had loved her for long. Much to his sadness, this was not the case. He worked from 9 to 5, five days a week yet somehow this was also a time where he consumed a great deal of alcohol just to make sure that he kept his mind away from his wife and how she had run away. He cried at times which left his colleagues bewildered regarding his management at work. Since the work climate was subdued on most of the occasions, Matt’s habits were becoming a problem. One would believe how an employee of Matt’s persona would be allowed to consume alcohol during work hours. The reality is that Matt would often run into the staircase and get his bottle and start drinking. He safely stored his bottle in the fire hose area which was strange considering it could be caught on camera at any time. Yet this never actually happened. Some of his colleagues knew that Matt would also take the bottle and sit in the washroom for extended periods of time. This was essentially a practice that he did on a daily basis. It called for understanding the dimension that Matt was in essence thinking too low of his own self yet was finding one reason or the other to make sure that he forgot his wife. However, he was paying too heavy a price in order to do this. With the stringent laws at the workplace where even smoking is forbidden, Matt was involved in consuming alcohol at work (Howard, 1995). What was even more serious was the fact that he was passing by the walkthrough gate everyday stuffed with a bottle of alcohol and no one asked him. He was never checked which leaves quite a few questions that remain unanswered. One would believe that Matt was indeed very lucky within these domains. The ethical dilemma for the workplace colleagues was that on the one hand they were safeguarding the interests of Matt while on the other; they were feeling guilty because they were doing something which was totally against the company’s rules and policies. Many times they would think of going up the related hierarchies and spilling the beans, but they never actually gathered the courage to do so. In essence, an ethical dilemma was being faced by around 10 of Matt’s colleagues, and they were feeling the heat since Matt had started to become a nuisance at work. The ethical debates seem to set in because Matt’s scenario has called for drastic measures on the part of the organization but the interesting bit is that no one apart from his close colleagues knows about this problem. The role of the human resources management department in underlining the situation is also very significant. This is because it must draft measures to keep a check on all employees at all times. If this scenario had been lingering on for the last six months, it is due to the gross negligence of the human resources management department. They are the ones to be blamed in the first place because it is due to their slack attitude and lack of comprehension of a sensitive topic that the scenario has transpired into something big and fatal (Klastsky and Armstrong, 1992). The human resources management department is seen as the monitoring body which puts its point across and having its say within such a situation where alcohol is being consumed on an active level comes about as a much significant entity. Having said that the role of his colleagues to make him understand what he was getting into turned out to be a futile exercise. This essentially meant that his colleagues decided amongst themselves to let the organization know what Matt has fallen into and how organizational sanity was seen as more imperative than anything else at that stage. They went up to their seniors who directed the human resources management department to find out how the consumption of alcohol was taking place within the organizational limits and that too during work hours. With the intervention of his colleagues and the organizational top heads, Matt was asked to give in writing regarding his gross mistake. Matt decided to bid goodbye to the organization and hence this matter came to an end. What was important is the fact that the colleagues around him realized it late that their quietness was indeed bringing in much disrepute to the organization and that they needed to do more than remaining silent for so long. As far as an elaborate analysis of the whole matter is concerned, it would not be wrong here to suggest that alcohol consumption within any workplace setting can leave quite a few scars that are irreversible. It can impact the organizational climate and the scenario can get even worse if the ones who know of the related situation keep it to their selves. Thus it is in the best interests of an organizational environment if such things are discussed at length. It will make the task easier to comprehend and the anomalies that exist along it would also be resolved in an amicable manner. Analyzing the matter from different perspectives often makes the entire exercise quite an interesting one. It also puts the relevant personnel under the spotlight and that too for good measure (Gordon and Kannel, 1984). One must also know where the recommendations need to be brought in. Within such a scenario, it would be of paramount significance to know how the human resources management department could have managed this situation in a better manner. It would have made the task easier for quite a few people and the organizational sanity would also have restored. The compromising element would have been kept at a minimum because the basis of any decent organization depends on the tangent of keeping its employees abreast of the related rules and policies. Alcohol consumption is a menace all over the world and should be treated as such by the organizations. If this is allowed under any circumstance, it can lead to immensely strange situations and scenarios cropping up at the workplace. The ethical debates surround alcohol consumption because it brings many problems which fall directly under the moral constructs. It would be significant to find out the related anomalies that come alongside the alcohol consumption settings. The people who can bring about a difference under the related basis should also be taken for their inputs so that this menace can be removed once and for all. Within professional domains, it must never be appreciated because it can leave a lasting impression on the minds of the employees. Also discrimination talks are quite apparent merely because someone is not being stopped from consuming alcohol at work. In the end, it would be imperative to state that the ethical debates emanating from the organizational standpoint when one discusses the tangent of alcohol consumption are quite a few. These must be discussed under the light of knowing how employees have been dealt with and what their related bases are. Also the role of the human resources management department is quintessential here to find out where these misgivings can be avoided to reach a common consensus on the subject at hand (Gribomont, 1993). This paper highlighted how a single individual was able to take the organization for granted for so long. It also mentioned the gross irregularities on the part of the human resources management department, the slackness of Matt’s colleagues and the blind trust of the top management hierarchies. One must remember that such discussions will keep on taking place if proper measures are not enacted for the betterment of the workplace environment and hence it is not a good omen for the employees working to their best within the organizational regimes. References Gordon, T. & Kannel, W. (1984). Drinking and Mortality. The Framingham Study American Journal of Epidemiology 120, 97-107 Gribomont, B. (1993). Morbidity Risk for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Relatives of Cocaine Addicts. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 19 Howard, J. (1995). Alcohol Problems among Adolescents: Current Directions in Prevention Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Klastsky, A. and Armstrong, M. (1992). Alcohol, Smoking, Coffee and Cirrhosis. American Journal of Epidemiology 136, 1248-1257 Read More