Introduction
Nike Company uses contractors who are responsible for the manufacturing of shoes. The year 2010 saw the reputation of Nike Company being tarnished due to ethical issues. There were complaints about the company taking advantage of the labor that is used in the manufacturing of shoes. The contractors involved in the manufacturing of the Nike products were accused of using sweatshop labor. They used cheap labor which they got as a result of paying the employees a lesser amount than the usual minimum wage payment and employing the under-aged group within the society.
Employee’s harassment
In any organization set up the breach of workers’ rights is viewed as an ethical breach and should, therefore, be strongly condemned. The employees working for the suppliers were subjected to both sexual and verbal harassment which they mainly got from their supervisors. These practices were criticized by various human rights industries in the US. The harassment was viewed as a breach of ethical behavior which the public strongly expected the Nike Company to uphold regardless of whether the abuse was from the suppliers or the Nike Company itself. This is because the public viewed the suppliers to be part of the Nike Company itself.
The supervisors of the contractors would impose overtime to the workers and through this, they would always get a good opportunity to sexually assault the junior employees. The Oxfam strongly condemned the sexual harassment activities of women who were taking place at the companies involved in supplying Nike products. Upon the condemnation, the Nike company responded by enforcing tough measures that were geared towards protecting the employees’ rights. The company came up with a research plan which was to examine any misconduct from the suppliers. Different supervisors were appointed to monitor any matter concerning sexual harassment.
Training of staff
Vigorous training of the suppliers’ staff took place to enable the employees to uphold the code of conduct. The company resources which would have otherwise been used for advertisements were fully dedicated to the training of the staff. Female employees were trained on how to report on any harassment within the workplace. The exploitation of laborers has so far reduced owing to the staff training conducted by this company.
Why the ethical breach is worth studying
Upholding ethical issues is a requirement for all companies. The public expects the companies to be at the forefront of maintaining uprightness within the organization. According to the case of breaching the code of ethics regarding the Nike company, Oregon University and other US universities reacted by declining for any sponsorship. This was prompted by the negative reports from the media concerning sexual assault. The decline of Nike’s reputation due to the breach of ethics led to a drastic reduction in the level of profits reported. This, therefore, makes ethical behavior an issue that needs attention from all the organizations.
Conclusion
For any organization to maintain a good reputation in the market industry, it needs to strictly adhere to ethical issues. The management of the organizations should come up with programs to ensure that any ethical breach is taken care of before the information is known by the public to avoid tarnishing the organization’s image. The current global communication reports on any breach of ethical issues as soon as they occur. Organizations should, therefore, avoid breaching ethical issues to maintain their reputation.
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