S. Department of Labor over using
Medicaid as a replacement for providing their own healthcare, per the
(Department of Labor, 2005).
Wal-Mart has become a symbol of what happens when manufacturing costs
in developing nations drop faster than manufacturing efficiency in
developed nations can compensate for. Wal-Marts' ethical lapses stem from
their willingness to take overt advantage of this market dynamic, at the
expense of child-staffed 3rd world factories, illegal immigrants cleaning
stores in the US and Canada where the common retort is "no one wanted the
jobs who were citizens" is no excuse for the ethical lapses
, driving smaller suppliers off-shore or out of business by unreasonable
pricing demands, and most serious, attempting to bend the labor laws of the
United States to their competitive advantage.
Wal-Mart's initial insistence there was no variation in their pay
levels for men versus women, both at the associate and managerial levels,
has since also been proven statistically wrong (Richard Drogin, Ph. D.
2003). Dr. Drogin has shown that despite women being more loyal employees
by both delivering exceptionally high levels of performance and more years
of service than men, their pay scales at significantly lower. The most
glaring is the difference in salaries for Regional Vice Presidents. Women
occupy only 10.3% of these positions and earn $279,772 versus $419,435 a
$139,663 difference, equating to only 66%...
This is shocking, and really an indicator of the lack of consistency
between what Wal-Mart says regarding diversity programs and what they
actually do. When only one in ten Regional VPs is a woman, there are clear
ethical lapses in the leadership in an organization. The discriminations
against women appear very clear from the lack of promotions given to them
as well; from the research completed (Richard Drogin, Ph. D. 2003) it
appears that women are destined in the Wal-Mart culture to stay in
Associate roles, despite their higher levels of loyalty and performance.
Reference:
Department of Labor, (2005). Agreement With Wal-Mart Indicates Need For
Stronger Guidance and Procedures Regarding Settlement Agreements. Retrieved
July 25, 2007 from the Web:
http://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/2006/04-06-001-04-420x.pdf
Fishman, C. (2003). Fast Company Magazine and Website (2003, December) The
Wal-Mart You Don't Know. (article) New York, NY
Global Ethics Office (2007). Wal-Mart Stores. Retrieved July 25, 2007 from
the Web: http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=8
Richard Drogin, Ph. D. (2003) - STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF GENDER PATTERNS
IN WAL-MART WORKFORCE, February, 2003 Drogin, Kakigi & Associates,
Berkeley, CA 94705. Accessed from the Internet on July 25, 2007 from
location: http://www.walmartclass.com/staticdata/reports/r2.pdf
