Walmart's ethical violations: labor practices, discrimination, and child labor

Walmart

Ethical issues at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer within the United States and it is an epitome of corporate success within the country. The organization has also strives to increase its global presence, but has been met with limited success. The primary reason for their failure within the global community is represented by the company's inability to adapt to the local markets, but their emphasis to implement the unchanged American model.

Aside from its business dimension, Wal-Mart is also noteworthy at an ethical level. Throughout the years, the company has often been subjected to accusations of poor treatments towards its staff members, but also towards its customers. At the level of the customers, the primary accusations included the company's lack of commitment to high quality products and services, but also a decreased safely level. While the stores are packed with cameras and security agents, the parking lots are not supervised and they represent a constant attraction for crime (Greenwald, 2005); this behavior interferes with the citizenship principle.

At the level of the staff members, the unethical behavior of the retailer is observed at various levels. At the general level, the underlying idea at the company is that of offering the lowest retail prices possible, and in this pursuit, they often sacrifice the employees. The staff members are often asked to put in long hours and these are not paid. As a subterfuge, the managers will ask an employee to complete a time consuming task minutes before their shift has ended, and then argue that the additional time spent in the firm is due to the employee's inability to complete their assigned tasks within the working hours. This behavior exploits the reliability principle, according to which the employee will commit to the employer.

Then, another ethical consideration for Wal-Mart is represented by the treatment of the employees from the standpoint of discrimination. Specifically, the company has been reported to favor male Caucasians in the detriment of minority populations. This behavior has been observed best at the level of middle management promotions, when minorities were disregarded for Caucasian males with lower skills and justification for promotions, breaking as such the fairness principle, as well as the transparency principle.

From the standpoint of compensation, Wal-Mart provides limited benefits. The wages are low, in some cases minimum wages. The incentives to the employees are also restricted, and the most common problem raised by the employees is represented by the poor heath coverage, due to which the individuals were forced to pay large sums in medical fees.

Last, aside from all these issues, Wal-Mart is also accused of violating child labor laws by employing minors in its stores in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arkansas. "Wal-Mart employed 85 minors, ages between 16 and 17, who performed prohibited activities, including operating cardboard balers and chain saws, which are considered particularly hazardous jobs" (Congress, 2005). In all this setting, the Wal-Mart employees have tried to better protect their rights by forming a union, yet the company prohibits unions and forbids its employees from joining unions. The entire behavior of the organization indicates that it breaks numerous ethical principles.

2. Questions for thought

2.1. Personal ethics and teleological frameworks

A couple of years ago, I worked as an intern to planning the campaign of a candidate to the local elections. One afternoon, I was approached by a 30-something male, dressed in a smart outfit. He represented a local company and wanted me to speak to the candidate on his behalf. He offered me $1,000 to set an appointment with the candidate. I refused to accept the bride, and as such, behaved in an ethical manner.

From a teleological standpoint, my decision was a positive one since it was made in the sense and the sake of the final goal, that is the preservation of a good reputation for the candidate. Also, the decision also empowered my personal morale. Still, the finality of the action was that the business man approached another campaign staff and the decision made impacted primarily myself, rather than the actual system of political bribes.

2.2. Personal ethics and deontological frameworks

At the level of deontological ethics, I also acted in full accordance with the specifications and moral expectations of the position I was occupying at the time. In other words, I acted based on the norms and rules of behavior applicable when acting on a campaign and I exercised my duty to the best of my abilities, and within the adequate ethical framework.

2.4. ExxonMobil and global warming

ExxonMobil has created a financial empire through the exploitation of the world's natural resources. In recent years, the population has become more interested in the organization's activities, especially since they appeared to fuel pollution and global warming. In order to preserve its financial status and continue operations unharmed, the company has supported research stating that global warming is not a real phenomenon (Adam, 2009). It as such strived to convince the population that the raising global temperature was a make-believe phenomenon and that its operations did not have any damaging impact on the environment.

By acting in such a manner, the company broke several principles in the Global Business Standard Codex. For instance, they broke the transparency principle by not supporting scientific research, but striving to influence the global warming research. Then, they broke the dignity principle by not focusing on the well-being of others, but striving to manipulate information to their won benefit. Through these actions, the company also broke the fairness principle, the citizenship principle and the responsiveness principle.

References:

Adam, D., 2009, ExxonMobil continuing to fund climate skeptic groups, records show, the Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/01/exxon-mobil-climate-change-sceptics-fundinglast accessed on June 1, 2012

Carroll, a.B., Buchholtz, a.K., 2011, Business and society: ethics, sustainability and stakeholder management, 8th edition, Cengage Learning

Greenwald, R., 2005, Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price

U.S. Congress, 2005, Congressional record, V. 151, Pt. 20, June 20 to June 27, 2005, Government Printing Office

2012, Code of ethics and business conduct, ExxonMobil, http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/files/corporate/investor_governance_ethics.pdf last accessed on June 1, 2012