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Ethical Issues: The Case of Wooden Wooden is a large manufacturing company which places certain responsibilities on the employers in regards to the stakeholders involving employees, local residents, government, taxpayers and so on. The circumstances revealed clearly portray a contrary situation. The employers are neglecting the safety conditions require to dispose of the wooden dust and reduce or eliminate the risk of any unnecessary event from happening. There seems to be less emphasis on the safety precautions and safe workplace environment rules in the company premises.
The employees of wooden seem to be concerned about the possible impacts of lack of measures regarding the issue. The employers are, however, neglecting their duty to carefully formulate a strategy where employees may be provided with a safe, clean and secure place to work. The Safety coordinator seems to reject the concerns, which is an alarming situation. The safety coordinator has the duty to perform all the necessary steps to make the workplace safer and better. Rhine is of the opinion that “wood dust is not explosive”.
The claim can be forfeited by explaining the issue to Rhine using different examples where wood dust did cause the explosion. Parse’s statement can be used as supporting evidence as Parse explains the devastating explosion in the plant near his place. However, if Rhine does not pay heed to the issue after explanation and further evidences, I still have the duty to report to the member of staff immediately above my rank. The organizational hierarchies allow this reporting pattern to ensure that each responsible person performs his/her duties as per the assigned roles.
Keeping the principles and ideals of corporate Social Responsibility, the corporation and its leaders are responsible to the stakeholders including for instance, the employees, suppliers, environment and the society. Neglecting the affects of possible explosion and the need for immediate safety measures is a breach of CSR requirements. Hence, the corporate governance position of the company may be questioned which is now adequately disclosed in the annual financial statements of the company in some jurisdictions.
The flawed corporate culture of the company, Wooden, justifies and meets all the conditions of ethically and morally acceptable decision of whistle blowing. The management and even the owner does not seem to take any action against the safety hazards that exist (Lecture Notes, 2011). The reporting decision may harm my reputation in the start. I can even be threatened of losing the job or face adverse situations in terms of bias and discriminatory behaviors. However, the eventual success of my claims will strengthen my position in the firm as well as ending up creating the workplace safer for the employees, environment and nearby residents.
If I fail to report the situation even after knowing that no actions have been taken by the management and owner to mitigate or eliminate the risk of explosion, I will be responsible to some extent of the explosion and loss. It is ethically unacceptable to stay quiet because of personal interests and job safety when a larger population or stakeholders may suffer due to poor corporate culture and practices. References (2011). Responsibility in the Workplace [Lecture notes week 6]. City, California: University of ABC, Department of B usiness
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