Navigating Ethical Quandaries, a Case Study on Foxconn Technology Group

An ethical dilemma is a decision-making issue between two ethical imperatives, neither of which is unmistakably suitable or preferable (Nisenbaum, 2015).

The purpose of this report is to indicate the ethical issues confronted by a chosen company, which is in our case, Foxconn Technology Group and demonstrate the ethical issues with appropriate ethical systems. This report will be divided into several sections as followed:

The first part will examine the ethical issues within the organization, while the second part will evaluate the ethical issues linked with appropriate ethical systems to demonstrate ethical knowledge and understanding.

The report will also demonstrate the possible solutions in order to resolve the problems. The final part will identify whether the possible solutions are feasible.

There are a large number of ethical problems that Foxconn company faces such as suicides, child labor laws, dangerous working environment, overtime, and underage employees. According to Pratap et al., (2011), Foxconn situated in Shenzen, China, approximately 5% of the workplace is consist of underage employees. Moreover, young workers work for over 15 hours without providing any overtime pay. Hays (2008) pointed out that a typical employee must share a space with at least nine other employees and eats on the campus where they do have only simple food. Despite this, workers are required to work in a dangerous environment without any protection (Pratap et al., 2011).

When it comes to suicides, in 2010 Longhua employees started killing themselves. There were approximately 18 reported suicides and 14 deaths that were confirmed (Merchant, 2017).

Utilitarianism is a theory of ethical behavior, this theory carries that a process is ´´right´´ to the area that it satisfies people or society, either by creating happiness, improving well-being, or diminishing suffering. Utilitarianism within the workplace focuses on ethics, democracy, rights, and duties required within the organization (Gilani, 2017).

As mentioned above, Foxconn faces suicide cases. A good example could be the process of resolving the problems with the serious suicide cases; the employers who are responsible for Foxconn´s actions did not take the sound of all in their decision-making. In other words, they only provided emotional advice to a department of employees. Moreover, they built bars with nets to avert employees from hitting the ground if they decide to jump down and commit another suicide. The team of employers also made their decision to vend all the rooms to the government to reduce the risk of taking duties. These decisions were not functional since it was against the rules and regulations they are required to follow within the workplace.

The management was required to allow the employees exercise their own autonomy and being treated ethically. Moreover, managing psychological training and development for approximately a hundred employees was not effective taking into account the large number of 800,000 employees. Despite this, the use of bars and nets only prevents employees from falling out of their properties but does not make them stop from committing suicide.

There are a lot of other ethical issues appearing within the workplace that worsen the situation.

Demonstration of possible solutions to Foxconn problems

Firstly, Foxconn has to improve living standards for its workers by employing psychiatrists in order to have a free consultations about their problems. Implementing a free session talk every Friday will help them to be more opened to their colleagues and provide them an opportunity to relax. With respect to the monetary rewards, the minimum wage which is approximately 900RMB is not enough even for the basic standard of living and therefore an increase in the salary will be significant for workers. Moreover, this can possibly prevent employees from getting depressed for long working hours and commiting suicides. Thirdly, employers should focus on happiness of their workers by providing bonuses for overtime. Foxconn needs to work closer with their subcontractors in order to avoid such massive situations like in the past. This could be done by Foxconn checking production on daily basis to make sure its ethical rules and regulations are being maintained and do not break any rules within the organisation (Bilton, 2014). Furthermore, as we all may know a discrimination is a common problem within the workplace and therefore Foxconn should treat employees the same way regardless of age, skin colour, race and other aspects.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Foxconn Technology Group faces numerous ethical dilemmas within the organization and as internationally knowc company these problems can be destructive to its reputation, brand name, relationship with its customers and employees. In addition , it is significant for Foxconn to include ethical rules in order to prevent situations such as suicide.