In the modern world, where businesses strive to maximize profitability, the use of sweat shops is widespread. In order to decrease labor expenses and enhance profits, companies employ labor that functions in extremely poor conditions, often leading to human rights abuse. This practice adversely impacts the social, economic and environmental dimensions of community life. However, ensuring safe and decent working conditions for all staff should be a priority for every organization. Thus, it is important to establish the social responsibility of organizations that use sweat shops for profit.
It is crucial to recognize that organizations try to maximize profits, but they may use unfair business strategies to achieve this. On the one hand, the use of sweat shops enables the business to decrease workforce expenditures and improve revenue (Selznick, 2020). This is especially true in the international space, which is becoming increasingly complex. In addition, such enterprises provide jobs for the local population and attract investments in the development of the country’s economy. On the other hand, the use of sweat shops creates a number of social problems, including violations of workers’ rights and the worsening of their working conditions (Selznick, 2020). Many workers receive insufficient wages, do not have the right to vacations and medical insurance, and face unsafe labor standards. Moreover, this practice can lead to a sense of dissatisfaction among consumers, who may be unwilling to support companies that use sweat shops (Selznick, 2020). This has drawn criticism from social and human rights organizations and the public as a whole.
Nevertheless, an organization that uses sweat shops to achieve maximum economic benefit should pay attention to the issue of responsibility to society. First, it is essential to consider legal aspects, such as checking the company’s activities in accordance with legal requirements and rules. This is why the organization’s leadership must be accountable for legal operations and regulatory adherence. This includes such aspects as paying taxes and providing guaranteed rights to employees and third parties. Secondly, the ethical component of social responsibility implies that an institution that utilizes sweat shops should guarantee fair workplace performance for all staff. That is, the workload should be distributed evenly to ensure fairness in the workplace.
Moreover, the economic element of social responsibility is one of the most important because its observance ensures mutually beneficial cooperation. That is, if the organization’s managers choose to use sweat shops, they benefit more by saving on labor conditions. Accordingly, it would be economically fair to raise salaries and other benefits for employees depending on the level of danger of their work (Kunda et al., 2019). This would create a balance between social responsibility and fair payment for the risks involved in working for the company. Additionally, to perform its social duties, the organization should provide philanthropic assistance to the community where the production is located (Kunda et al., 2019). This type of social responsibility will allow the company to minimize the negative consequences that community residents receive from the location of production on their territory. For instance, a company that uses sweat shops does not minimize harmful waste or emissions during its operations. For this reason, it is critical that the organization’s management support the projects implemented by local authorities (Kunda et al., 2019). Thus, it is a way to enhance the quality of life of people who live near the production and are mostly involved in it.
Therefore, the organization’s management faces a dilemma between reducing shareholders’ wealth and adhering to the concept of social responsibility. The argument for not using the principles of social compliance is that, as a rule, people working in organizations that use sweat shops do not have opportunities for other employment (Kunda et al., 2019). Hence, the parties involved and the owner of the company do not consider it appropriate to emphasize the economic, ethical, legal, and charitable aspects of the organization’s activities. Instead, the concept of social responsibility is becoming more and more popular and is the only possible way for a company using the outdated sweat shop method to operate in certain locations (Kunda et al., 2019). Accordingly, the organization’s responsibility to society is a way to support the activities of an organization that does not meet modern labor standards.
In summary, the use of sweat shops by organizations is one of the problems that often arise in the modern world. This is because employees perform difficult work for low wages and in unacceptable working conditions. Consequently, companies are responsible to society for using sweat shops. Therefore, the way to reduce the injustice of using this method is to use the concept of social responsibility. Hence, the management of the organization can reduce its own profit but improve the legal, economic, and ethical aspects of the work of employees. Meanwhile, philanthropic activities will also help the community where the organization is located to minimize the impact of its work. Thus, setting standards of social responsibility to the outside world is a means of responsibility for the activities of an organization.
References
Kunda, M. M., Ataman, G., & Kartaltepe Behram, N. (2019). Corporate social responsibility and organizational citizenship behavior: The mediating role of job satisfaction. Journal of Global Responsibility, 10(1), 47-68. Web.
Selznick, P. (2020). Law, society, and industrial justice. Quid Pro Books.