Literature Review 54j4y
This document was ed by and they confirmed that they have the permission to share it. If you are author or own the copyright of this book, please report to us by using this report form. Report 2z6p3t
Overview 5o1f4z
& View Literature Review as PDF for free.
More details 6z3438
- Words: 6,893
- Pages: 18
Literature Review As the starting point of this report, the topic which we have chosen reflects on Ethics and Employee Rights and Discipline. With that, we have conducted a research based on the company that we chose which is Apple Company to study the ethics and employee rights disciplined in this company and the issues faced, if any. The research was based against the theories that we have studied in Managing Human Resource. We have compiled several academic journals and attained the necessary information to the selected topic. Keywords: Ethics, Ethical behaviour, Employee Rights Ethics Yildiz (2007) illustrated that there is a greater need to have a sound working ethics in business environment especially when work life gets more difficult, dynamic and highly competitive. Negativity tends to arouse in situations like this. Hence, it is without any doubt that instilling moral values will curb this negativity to create a more conscious and systematic working environment, (Arslan, 2007; Bulutlar & Oz, 2009). When businesses prioritize morality among its employees, businesses will gain respect and dignity as explained by Beyster, 1998. So what technically are ethics? Ethics refer to the principles governing the conduct of individuals and groups or the standards that one uses to decide on what their actions should or should not be like. Ethics are implemented in businesses to ensure that trust exists between the consumers and various other forms of market participants with businesses. Ethics is defined as a discipline that manages what is good and bad or right and wrong or the moral duty and moral obligation. (Unabridged, 1961). The origins of the word ethics comes from the Greek word that means moral. Individuals live by their values which are taught and learnt through religion, philosophy, culture, law and through what other profession require of them by-conduct. Individuals make ethical decisions based on morality, which means standards of behaviour highly accepted by society. An individual holds morality as either absolute or relative. Absolute morality means what is wrong is always wrong whereas relative morality is the good that is defined in part by other factors. Hence, with all these explained, every company has its own ethics defined that guide their conduct as they pursue with their own business operations. A company that is built with a strong firm of high ethical standards, belief and truthfulness, will succeed and gain prestige in the society. This is vital for every company to ensure survival and the prolonged existence of the company. (Dundar, 2010; Ucar, 2007).
As clear as it is on how ethics is generally explained as above, how is ethics incorporated in companies? Firstly, business ethics or rather corporate ethics is defined as the principals and the standards that what is acceptable and what is not in business companies. It examines the ethics conduct and issues in a business environment. Mihut describes ethics as being categorized into 4 categories which are objectivity ethics, virtue ethics and character ethics, rights, duties and ethics results. Ethics objectivity is seen like an ideal model, a maximized evaluation and value rankings but deems incompetent to humans as every individual has their own personality traits assigned to their very outstanding interests and their different ways of viewing things. Virtue and character ethics on the other hand is seen to have its origins rooted in systems in which the cultivation of values like love, cooperation, modesty, empathy and courage, is highly valued. The concept in which the establishment of compound rights and duties governs the live of humans, in which the behaviour of humans should be managed. The last one which is Ethics results means requiring the attainment of positive results for a larger crowd but negative results are obtained when dealt with a smaller crowd. A decision is seen to serve a good purpose if it benefits the people as a whole but a bad purpose if it is seen to negatively affect the interests of many. Milton Friedman described that only one social responsibility of business exists in an economy and that is to use its resources and participate in activities that increases a company’s profits, as long as it abides by the rules, free from any unethical conduct. Wrongdoings in a company can lead to various negative impacts towards a particular company like, causing a diminishing amount of sales, increasing turnover and resulting in lower profits. Of which are abusing or causing intimidation towards other employees, providing false information to employees, customers, sellers, or even to the public, misrepresenting in taking someone else’s work and making it as their won, violating the safety regulations,
misstating the time worked, theft, whistle blowing and many more.
Harassments also take place in organizations – discriminatory harassment, sexual harassment, quid pro quo, racial harassment, personal harassment and psychological harassment. Ethics bring significant relevance to the company. With ethics the driver to a company in operating its business, will certainly attract customers to the products and services of a company, thus increasing sales and profits of the company due to its value being delivered to the customers. With ethics practised, employees would remain in the company thus, decreasing turnover and increasing productivity. More employees will also be attracted to want to work in that particular company. This will benefit the company in reducing its
recruitment costs and enabling talented employees working for the company. Not only employees, but investors will also be attracted to company who practise a value of ethics in company. This will protect the company from takeover as the share price of the company is kept high. Thus, to ensure that a particular company sustain its value of ethics, one should first of all identify the ethical issue or problem being faced by the particular company. Then, list down the facts that are most affected by the decision. Determine the person who will be and how will they be affected by the decision made. List down the explanation in which that person would want the issue resolved. Then, list down the alternative courses of action and identify the best and worst case scenario for each, anybody whom will be negatively affected, any values conflicted and reasons in why that particular course of action should not be selected. Lastly, determine the course of action that s the ethical decision made. Ethical decisions in this case refer to forming trust and honesty in a company, deg an environment where it is safe for the people to voice out and deg solutions that respect the rights of everyone and that brings good to the company with the least harm. Hence, to sustain ethical behaviour in companies, moral awareness had to be emphasized; right norms, leadership, rewards systems and culture need to be cultivated to influence employee ethics; unethical behaviour should be punished and encourage the employees to talk openly on ethical conduct. A statement of organizational values that provide a specific structure of expected behaviour should also be established. Strategic plans and objectives should also be actively reviewed to ensure that they are not in conflict with the company’s ethical standards. Standard operating procedures and performance measurements of a company should also be reviewed to ensure that they are not set in a way that can promote unethical behaviour. Last but not least, business owners and managers should lead by example by treating their employees, customers and competitors in way that they should be treated that is sincere, and impartial, and take responsibility in dismissing any unethical conduct. Employee Rights An employee right on the other hand refers to right granted upon an employee based on contractual agreements made with their employers. A right denotes as the moral claim. A claim refers to an exacting type of right, which is correlated to the duty of the person whom carries the right (Hohfeld, 1919). It stems from the foundation of theoretical justification, and
offers ways in assessing which supposed rights are legitimate and which should be overruled in cases where the legitimate rights conflict. It can also mean the right granted upon an employee based on government legislation. Several other define employee rights like possibly the right granted independently of any contractual legislation. Rowan (2000) describes employee rights as, “one of the most important, yet complex, issues in the field of business ethics.” Employees have rights towards their involvement in a company they work for, (Radin and Werhane, 2003). Rowan (2000) affirmed that the foundation of employee rights centralizes on employees as persons. Duska (1999) pointed out that employee rights is the society’s concern for conserving and protecting human dignity. An employee right to solitude, like the right to significant work, has been derived from the right to be respected, Koehn (2002). Employee rights can be seen to having highlighted the moral claims that individuals are granted upon as their role of being employees within the confinements of the employment relationship. Being granted with employee rights mean being granted with health care benefits, rights to a specific number of paid holidays in year, and so on. Getting deeper, among the most vital rights being granted unto an employee is the right to receive fair pay. This will be seen from three different aspects. The pay employees receive should be just in an interpersonally relative sense, meaning it does not matter whether the particular employee is seen to be achieving in their performance, or of a more senior level compared to the rest working in the organization, every company has the obligation to be equal to all employees. The pay granted should also be fair in an intrapersonally relative sense, meaning that as the employee contributes their service to the organization for a particular length of time, they should be given a pay that is more to accommodate that duration as a way of compensation. Lastly, employees are seen as persons that have goals to be met and interests to be satisfied with. All of these will allow them to live the kind of standard of living that they wish to pursue. Thus, when company is giving out pay to their employees, all these too need to be considered. To hire an employee on a low amount of pay is just hiring that employee for their resources only. Another type of employee right that is utterly common is to have the right to safety in workplaces. Employers in every company should therefore provide and ensure a safe working environment for their employees and to make any improvements where necessary. They should also inform their employees of any risks if exists, that cannot be avoided so employees are well aware of any deficiencies their company is facing. Thirdly, is the due process in the workplace (Werhane, 1985) which means the just conduct practised
through the normal judicial system. Every employee should be given with a fair amount of participation in their company’s decision-making processes. For example, when employees are faced with demotions or firing by their employers, they should be informed on the reasons for such actions and be granted with a petition or hearing. The right to privacy in the workplace and out of the workplace is also emphasized. Werhane (1985) noted that this refers to the right to be left alone and also the right to abstain from giving employers other personal information that is not of any relevance to the job. As clear as it is on how employee rights is generally explained as above and its following examples of employee rights, how is employee rights practised in companies? Initially, employee rights has been defined as the right granted upon an employee on the basis of contractual agreement made with the employer. In the agreement, both employer and employee seek benefits in the attainment of certain goods. Employers seek profit maximization, product quality assurance, long-term growth of company and company’s stability to be maintained and so forth. Employees on the other hand, seek for higher wages, greater benefits, a safe and comfortable working environment and so forth. Hence, due to the desirability of each employer and employee, this often conflicts like for example, with providing higher wages to employees means a reduction in profits as these are expenses to a company. To provide greater benefits to employees can affect the stability of the company in the long term. Thus, to resolve these conflicts, employers and employees engage in employment agreement whereby some goods are bargained or traded in such a way that other goods will also be secured. Hence, an example of securing the rights of employees in organizations; employees would be entitled to a group of employee representatives who are assigned to manage and observe the actions and decisions of senior managers. This is called as the right to be treated as every other financial investor. This provides the employees with the image that is similar to what the board of directors would offer for shareholders. Secondly, employees have the right to share in the firm’s financial success. This shows that profit-sharing should be mandated. Moreover, employees should have the right to well-timed, exact and adequate exposé of relevant information on financial and functional results, strategic plans and returns arrangements for directors and senior managers. Employees should also have the right to protection from any abusive self-conduct of senior managers. Employees also should receive fair dismissal payment when terminated without just cause so as to enable them the right to have an effective pension protection- all this refers to the right to the means for protection of employee’s financial investment in the company.
Apple Company Impressive leadership skills practised by the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, an innovative and enthusiastic corporate culture and the well-known advanced products of Apple are the building blocks of Apple’s success. The Apple I which is the first handmade computer kit shows a huge difference as compared to all the other Apple products as of today. This was developed by the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak. This first model has its cons in that it lacks the graphic interface (GUI), and thus, consumers needed to add their won keyboard and display. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, convinced Steve Wozniak that the Apple I can be sold as a business product. Both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak continued creating pioneering products and soon, their new company which is the Apple Computer Inc. reached maximum amount in sales. Still, the company faced with a few flaws like the one of Apple Lisa which was not success in sales. Other products like Mac I and Newton were not also successful and the company also had to endure with quite a few CEO changes. Stock prices were also declining. Steve Jobs saved the company by introducing a new era for Apple that is by changing the company’s corporate culture. A flattened organizational structure was also formed. Apple sustains its success by defending its technology and making sure that information remains proprietary. Apple’s growth into new product lines such as the invention of the iPod, which is a handy music player, added to its success. Adding more, are its iTunes, which is a type of jukebox software in which customers can transfer songs from CDs onto their Macs and then managing and classifying their library of tailored songs. iTunes Store was later developed which gives the customers the opportunity to millions of their favourite songs. Apple’s Ethical Issues Product quality The coming of iPhone 4 into the market has received complaints from consumers on problems that are caused by interference of the antenna when the phone is held in a particular way. Apple was criticized by public relations experts in that, Apple did not respond immediately to the problem but rather just minimized it. Apple then gave out bumpers and cases for free for a specific time period to work out the reception problems, after Consumer Reports would not approve on the product. Nevertheless, despite these problems, consumers still purchased this particular product. Still, Apple must take great care continuously to enhance its product quality. Product quality is viewed as an attribute that cannot be separated
from Apple products. Thus, any fault causing a diminished product quality can affect the strength of the brand in the market among all other brands. Privacy In 2011, both Apple and Google revealed that some particular features in the phone collect information on the phone’s whereabouts. This is seen as a breach on the privacy of s. Consumers can choose to render these features inoperative, as announced by the companies. However, some of Apple’s phones collected information on the whereabouts of the phone despite consumers disabling the feature. Google and Apple guarded their datacollection devices but still government officials disagreed with that. Because of this, the government is thinking on ing legislation on the privacy of mobile telecommunication. If they were to do this, these actions can highly affect Apple and other electronic companies. Sustainability In 2009, 9.6 million metric tons of metric gases were released from operations done by Apple. The environmental influence of Apple’s products has become a serious issue since Apple is continuously developing on newer products. Since Apple is coming out with newer and more upgraded versions of its technology, this has caused the old ones of its product to become obsolete and not wanted anymore. Hence, to solve this problem, Apple has developed products that are lasting and using materials that can be recycled. On the part of the consumers, Apple has encouraged them to recycle based on a recycling program at its stores whereby old iPods, mobile phones and Macs can be traded in for a ten percent discount on the newer versions or even gift cards for those that still have values like Macs. However, despite this program being implemented, consumers prefer that throwing away these old products that have no value will be more convenient than recycling them. One of Apple’s suppliers has also been accused of using a chemical called as n-hexane, which poisoned 49 of its workers. Apple has since come up with a new strategy to decrease the amount of toxic chemicals in its products like for example; cathode-ray tubes that contain lead are removed from its products, according to Steve Jobs. Even the iPods are fixed with LEDs (lightemitting diodes) instead of the fluorescent lamps. Toxic chemicals like polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame retardants are even removed from its products. However, Apple remains at a low ranking according to environmental groups like ClimateCounts, even though
it has improved over the past few years. Apple did not see itself making it on the Newsweek’s annual list of the “100 Greenest Companies in America”, not until when it took some 60 spots behind Dell, HP, IBM and Intel in 2010. Apple was deemed to be a slacker in its recycling programs and disclosure of environmental objectives by socially responsible investors like Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and As You Sow. Apple has declined to a huge alliance of businesses called as the Ceres, or the Eco-Patent Commons which was developed by the IBM, Nokia, Sony and other tech firms in sharing environmental ideas, in 2008. Intellectual Property Theft Apple had used the domain name of iTunes.co.uk, which was used to readdress s to other sites and was already ed by Ben Cohen in 2000. The domain name was then used by Cohen to readdress the s to the Napster site which is a main competitor of Apple. Apple then tried to acquire the domain name. However, the negotiations failed and this caused Apple to appeal to the UK registry Nominet. Cohen was then concluded that he had misused his registration rights and obtained an unjust gain over Apple, by the mediator, even though it is claimed for those who the domain name first gains the absolute right to that name. Because of that, Apple won the case to the getting to use the domain name. This led to complaints of unfair treatment that Apple was favoured at the expense of smaller companies. Another case is about when Cisco Systems filed lawsuit against Apple in 2007, claiming that Apple violated on its iPhone trademark. Cisco owned that trademark since 2000. Apple’s deceiving conduct remain controversial to buy with negotiations when Apple opened up Ocean Telecom Services and filed for the iPhone trademark in the U.S. after walking out from a discussion it had with Cisco to discuss whether or not Apple is permitted in using the trademark. The lawsuit ended when both sides agreed to use the iPhone’s name. Patents Apple has filed lawsuits against Samsung as it claims that Samsung copied the designs of Apple’s iPhones and iPad, against HTC Corporation claiming that it duplicates a variety of mobile phone attributes under Apple’s patents. What is questioning about this matter is whether or not the claims made by Apple are justifiable or not, that is whether is it just trying to push its competitors in the sight of a negative impression so that it can take control of the market or whether it truly does believe that these companies have indeed violated its patents. This lies in the decision of the courts on whether or not Apple’s
allegations are legit. Lastly, Kodak has also filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that it has breached its patent on digital imaging technology. Apple responded by countersuing Kodak alleging that it had breached Apple’s patents. However, the U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled in Kodak’s favour in Apple’s lawsuit. Still, this issue stands on whether or not Apple has violated Kodak’s patents. Racial Discrimination After the death of Steve Jobs, several ethical issues have ensued surrounding the conduct of Apple Company. There have been accusations towards Apple Store Employees on racial profiling against Iranian-Americans and Farsi speakers. Apple Store Employees refused to sell the iPads and other products to the Iranian-Americans and the Farsi speaking consumers or Persians as of noted by the Council of American-Islamic Relations. Apple Store Employees are said to be isolating the Persians as for interrogation on how they wish to utilize the products of Apple, and this is clearly seen as being engaged in racial profiling as announced by the National Iranian American Council. Apple can be seen to be tarnishing its corporate image and definitely insulting and discriminating the Iranian-American community, if Apple persists on disabling on rendering any service to the Iranian-Americans and Iranian consumers on ethnicity basis. Apple has yet to issue a statement on the alleged discrimination against the Persians by its workers. The public will question more on the motive of the company if Apple delays on responding towards this particular issue and hence, the image of Apple will be affected by this issue. Also, there have been debates on the worker treatment by iPhone producer Foxconn and the analysis of the minority of women occupying the executive level as its executive team is an all-male executive team. Labour Abuse Apple’s suppliers have been accused of using child labour to manufacture the products. A Chinese company was accused of withholding employees’ pay and conducting excessive working hours. Violations of the law and Apple’s pledges about the working situations at factories operated by Pegatron Corp., a Taiwanese company, as claimed by China Labor Watch. These situations are under observance as complaints have been filed regarding the labor and environmental violations by a different supplier, Taiwan’s Foxconn which is a unit of the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Two factories in Shanghai and one in
Suzhou are under investigations which employ 70,000 people. The investigations have led to results of discrimination against ethnic minorities and women, extreme working hours, deprived living state, health and safety problems and pollution. According to China Labor Watch, most of Pegatron manufacturing employees worked around 66 to 69 hours a week which is greater than China’s legal limit of 49 hours. Sometimes, pregnant women are also needed to work for 11-hour days which are greater than the usual eight-hour legal limit. Even employees are forced to fake the time cards to cover up the violations. Pegatron was also accused of declining to recruit workers who are older than 35 years of age or of any of China’s Hui, Tibetan or Uighur ethnic minorities. This has caused a discriminatory hiring practise. There were also unethical conducts done by the workers themselves that is the discarding of water filled with hazardous chemicals from the cutting of tools into the sewers, by production line workers. Of all the unethical issues made against Apple Company, Apple itself has taken some measures to deal with these issues. Apple has employed an outside organization to investigate accusations made against excessive working hours, child labor and the depressing working situations at the Chinese factories that produce most of its i-toys. Still, there was another investigation regarding the low salary American employees are receiving at the company’s retail stores. Apple is called to be a follower of business ethics and not an innovator in it, as it is seen to not be at the same par when it comes to meeting the business ethics as other companies particularly in the electronics sector were. Solutions Apple Company can be seen to be dealt with many accusations and face some unethical conducts in its company. Nevertheless, Apple should see ways to curb these unethical conducts to arrive at a stage where it can be regarded by the public as not only producing innovative and more sophisticated products, but also a company that highly values ethical principles in its company towards its customers, suppliers, employees and investors. The following are a few suggested ways; For starters, apple can apply the corporate ethics and compliance programs towards its employees (Weaver and Trevino 1999). This is to ensure that the employees working for Apple Company avoid any unethical behaviour, is able to seek for advice when faced with an ethical predicament, is more committed towards the company and are able to report any misconduct when observed. Even the suppliers of Apple Company will have to sign the,
“Supplier Code of Conduct.” Those suppliers who refrain on complying with Apple’s standards, sees itself not making any business with Apple. An annual Apple Supplier Responsibility Report is released by Apple to highlight on its obligation towards responsible supplier conduct. The report explains expectations of it suppliers and the conclusions of its audits and any actions that the company will have to take against any factories that have incurred infringement. Another way to curb employees’ misconduct is, directly ing the employees to discuss on the employee’s feelings and perceptions when at work. For example, like what have been done by the Ethics Resource Center in 1994, the Ethics Resource Center directly ed employees at their own homes to survey on the employees’ perceptions of ethics at work. The result showed that almost one-third of the employees claimed that from time to time, they feel pressured into engaging in misconduct to achieve the business goals. Also, Apple’s ethics are also emphasized by projecting particularity in its policies on corporate supremacy, conflict of interest among directors and the guidelines on reporting doubtful conduct on its website. Apple can implement an internal and ethics compliance reporting mechanism such as the “hotline” or the “helpline”. This mechanism can be noted as a key motivator in boosting the initiative of ethics amongst huge business organizations (Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002; Thelen 2004). Apple has provided a Business Conduct Helpline to employees so that they can report any misconduct to the Apple’s Audit and Finance Committee. The potential for misconduct can be seen as quite likely as most of the Apple’s product components are produced in countries having low labor costs due to incompatible labor principles and less direct oversight. The main focus of this internal reporting mechanism is to not only abide by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the amendments to the Federal Organization Sentencing Guidelines requirements, but to also recognize the problems within the organization that may need investigation. Ethics training programs can also be implemented for the employees working in Apple Company. The execution of the ethics training for employees in the organizations was explored when the Bentley Center reported 52% of the organizations in their study, performed this type of program since 1992. Organizations will focus mainly on guiding the employees to be more aware on the kinds of ethics issues they normally face at work and to also be more aware towards the ethical or compliance principles at their disposal. With the
conduct of this training program, Apple Company can highlight on the decision to solve the ethical dilemmas faced at work and the significance of decreasing the risk when at work. Ethics programs should also be developed that include in the construction of the code of ethics that is in favour of the organizations’ requirements and conditions, a workable communication of this code towards its employees which includes in feasible coaching and training programs by a top ranked supervisor. (Grundstein-Amado 2001; Wolf 2008; Yizraeli 2000). These steps strengthen the measures for an efficient ethics program (Kasher 2009; Zamir 2009) and also require that organizations set up instruments to ensure that a high ethical criterion becomes the core of the organisational culture which includes in an enforcement tool and an internal control instrument to inspect, reveal, and report criminal behaviour (USSC 2004). Ethical leadership is also proven to be a success in leading the ethics programs (Korey, 2008). Ethical leadership deals with organization’s senior management on modelling such characteristic which is authorized formally by the elected ethics officer who is responsible in implementing and enforcing the code of ethics. Ethical leadership teaches the employees the elements of ethical decision making which includes in spotting out ethical dilemmas and thus, choosing the suitable instrument to handle these problems and to develop independent and significant ethical thinking (Dean 1992; Loescher 2006; Martin and Cullen 2006; Rampersad 2006; Stevens et al. 2005; Valentine and Johnson 2005; Yizraeli and Shilo 2000). By including employees in ethical decision making, employees are able to identify the ethical problems and should be ready in examining the solutions to the problems. (Trevino et al. 2006). Thus, employees will be able to formulate critical thinking ability and skills to working out solutions to problems that often ensue at work, in consideration of the ethics code compliance. (Yizraeli and Shilo, 2000). Hence, Apple Company can adopt the ethics training program to further enhance its ethical conduct around its operations. Like for example, as Apple strives to optimize its success, it also needs to ensure an ethical background is sustained in its working environment. Apple tries to ensure that its employees work in an appropriate manner in all situations. Its success is based on developing a pioneering, high-quality products and services and on representing integrity which covers truthfulness, reverence, privacy and obedience in business relations. To outline these four areas, Apple developed a code of business conduct which pertains to all its operations.
Therefore, Apple Company may be one of the most successful companies. Still, no doubt successful, that does not mean that ethical issues do not arise in companies like this.
Over the years, Apple has faced with undoubtedly accusations of dealing with ethical misconduct in its company. Yet, several solutions have been suggested to curb this ethical dilemma like the ethical programs in handling and solving any misconduct by the employees. Not only employees, but senior management can also be trained with an ethical decision making mind-concept in giving the rights that their employees deserve by giving the sufficient amount of pay that their employees deserve and by limiting the amount of working hours that each employee is able to work for. Many more solutions are yet to be formed in helping Apple curb this problem.
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS Every company certainly have some issues and problems that they need to deal with. Same goes to Apple Inc. There are certain issues and problems that Apple Inc. faces in their daily operation. We had highlighted out those issues and problems and it will be elaborated further here. Apple Inc. faces ethical issues in their organization. Under this ethical issue, it can be divided into several different problems such as in of product quality, privacy, sustainability, intellectual property theft, patents, racial discrimination, and also labor abuse.
Product Quality The latest product, Apple iPhone 4, which have been release by Apple Inc., into the market has received complaints from consumers on problems that are caused by interference of the antenna when the phone is held in a particular way. But those complains were merely treated as just complains. Apple Inc. did not take any interest in responding to that particular problem, and just close an eye on that issue. Rather than trying to fixed and overcome that problem, Apple Inc. just gives out free bumpers and casing for a specific period of time in order to close and bury the problem from surfacing again.
Privacy There are certain features in Apple Inc. products that collects information about the and the phone whereabouts. Even though when this feature is disable, nonetheless it still does collects information. This problem poses as a threat to s. ’s whereabouts and safety are at risk at all time.
Sustainability In 2009, 9.6 million metric tons of metric gases were released from operations done by Apple. The environmental influence of Apple’s products has become a serious issue since Apple is continuously developing on newer products and not wanted anymore. It somehow is polluting the environment and endangering lives of the workers and society around its manufacturing area.
Intellectual Property Theft Apple had used the domain name of iTunes.co.uk, which was used to readdress s to other sites and was already ed by Ben Cohen in 2000. The domain name was then used by Cohen to readdress the s to the Napster site which is a main competitor of Apple. Apple then tried to acquire the domain name. However, the negotiations failed and this caused Apple to appeal to the UK registry Nominet. Cohen was then concluded that he had misused his registration rights and obtained an unjust gain over Apple, by the mediator, even though it is claimed for those who the domain name first gains the absolute right to that name. Because of that, Apple won the case to the getting to use the domain name. This led to complaints of unfair treatment that Apple was favoured at the expense of smaller companies.
Patents Apple has filed lawsuits against Samsung as it claims that Samsung copied the designs of Apple’s iPhones and iPad, against HTC Corporation claiming that it duplicates a variety of mobile phone attributes under Apple’s patents. What is questioning about this matter is whether or not the claims made by Apple are justifiable or not, that is whether it is just trying to push its competitors in the sight of a negative impression so that it can take control of the market or whether it truly does believe that these companies have indeed violated its patents.
Racial Discrimination There have been accusations towards Apple Store Employees refused to sell the iPads and other products to the Iranian-Americans and the Farsi speaking consumers or Persians. Also, there have been debates on the worker treatment by iPhone producer Foxconn and the analysis of the minority of women occupying the executive level as its executive team is an all-male executive team.
Labor Abuse Investigations that have been done have led to results of discrimination against ethnic minorities and women, extreme working hours, deprived living state, health and safety problems and pollution. Sometimes, pregnant women are also needed to work for 11-hour days which are greater than the usual eight-hour legal limit. Even employees are forced to fake the time cards to cover up the violations.
Recommendations
To ensure high ethical employee behavior, every level of management and non-management employees must fully understand the ethical implications of their decisions as it relates to their personal and professional values. Corporations need to implement a Business Code of Ethics and review with all employees. Also, an excellent tool for learning is case studies and role-playing. The key in this learning is to make the Code accessible and position it as a helpful tool for all employees. It is also recommended that all business managers display the Code on their desks in a healthy manner. Real world learning and the negative end results of unethical behavior or actions should be showcased to this venture.
Ethical behaviors are vital to a corporation's overall success. The stakeholders are able to take direction from a well-written and detailed Business Code of Conduct. In an ethical dilemma for decision-making, a code is the employee's most essential tool. If a corporation chooses to engage in employee monitoring, this practice needs to be posted or announced to all employees. Employees need to understand the laws and the corporation's policies and Business Code of Conduct. If everyone understands the ground rules and the playing field then our work environment will be fairer. In closing, if an employee is being ethical and following the corporation's policies, s/he should not be concerned with monitoring. To balance this statement, employers need to be respectful, open and honest in advising employees of its monitoring, and businesses should conduct their monitoring within the guidelines of the law.
To avoid conflict and lawsuits, managers must ister discipline properly. This entails ensuring that disciplined employees receive due process. Managers need to be aware of the standards used to determine if an employee was treated fairly and whether or not the employee has a right to appeal disciplinary action. For a disciplinary system to be effective, an appeal mechanism must be in place.
Employees expect to be treated fairly and ethically in return for providing their employer with a fair and reasonable amount of work. This expectation is called the psychological contract. Employers who uphold the psychological contract generally have more productive employees. In contrast, those who violate the psychological contract may cause employees to quit or to form a union. Because employee turnover is costly and unionization results in some
loss of control over the business, managers should be aware of the importance of the psychological contract to employees. One way of sealing the psychological contract is to develop and publicize a code of ethics. HR can contribute to maintaining an ethical environment by integrating the code of ethics into employment policies, orientations for new employees, and formal training programs. Managers and supervisors can influence their companies’ climate of fairness and ethical behavior by the tone they set for employees in their work units.
Create a positive work environment a positive work environment encourages employees to act in the best interests of the company by following established policies and procedures. Managers can maintain a positive work environment by having open lines of communication between management and employees and by developing procedures to provide positive employee recognition. And, it is often necessary to discipline employees who exhibit poor attendance, poor performance, insubordination, workplace bullying, or substance abuse. Managing the discipline process in these situations requires a balance of good judgment and common sense. Discipline may not be the best solution in all cases.
Conclusion
The human resource department of Apple Inc. is responsible for the arrangement, organization, and streamlining the organizational staff to the current departmental and general objectives of the company. The role of the human resource department assumes a management role that plans, organizes, staffs, compensates, manages, trains and develops employees of the Apple Inc. The significance of the human resource department of any organization besides Apple Inc. is to ensure that performance of individual employees coincides with the organization’s objectives and goals. Through this undertaking, the proficiency of individual staff improves through a set of personal and team values. Personal values that are crucial to the performance of an individual include respect to and honor of the organizational policies as well as superiors and colleagues. Values crucial to the organization in of team include the ability to participate fully and willingly in teamwork projects and nurturing talent and skills for the benefit of the organization. On this note, it is important to introduce the human resource systems and practices through a b ackground check of Apple Inc.’s profile in the computer business and software development.
The importance of developing innovational behavior in Apple was to nurture talent, develop a corporate culture, and promote integration of skill and mind with the duties an individual performed. As one of the leading gadget dealers in the market, Apple has transformed the employee platform from the employer-employee attitude to ion-for-duty type of attitude. Mistreatment of employees, as discovered by CNN, showed that China’s notoriety in vying for cheap labor from its citizens was extending to organizations d with Apple Inc. Stable human resource practices and strategies Apple applies in its main branches should be incorporated to all human resource departments of organizations d with the Apple Inc.
The need for discipline can often be avoided by a strategic and proactive approach to HRM. A company can avoid discipline by recruiting and selecting the right employees for current positions as well as future opportunities by training and developing workers, by deg jobs and career paths that best utilize people’s talents, by deg effective performance appraisal systems, and by compensating employees for their contributions.
As clear as it is on how ethics is generally explained as above, how is ethics incorporated in companies? Firstly, business ethics or rather corporate ethics is defined as the principals and the standards that what is acceptable and what is not in business companies. It examines the ethics conduct and issues in a business environment. Mihut describes ethics as being categorized into 4 categories which are objectivity ethics, virtue ethics and character ethics, rights, duties and ethics results. Ethics objectivity is seen like an ideal model, a maximized evaluation and value rankings but deems incompetent to humans as every individual has their own personality traits assigned to their very outstanding interests and their different ways of viewing things. Virtue and character ethics on the other hand is seen to have its origins rooted in systems in which the cultivation of values like love, cooperation, modesty, empathy and courage, is highly valued. The concept in which the establishment of compound rights and duties governs the live of humans, in which the behaviour of humans should be managed. The last one which is Ethics results means requiring the attainment of positive results for a larger crowd but negative results are obtained when dealt with a smaller crowd. A decision is seen to serve a good purpose if it benefits the people as a whole but a bad purpose if it is seen to negatively affect the interests of many. Milton Friedman described that only one social responsibility of business exists in an economy and that is to use its resources and participate in activities that increases a company’s profits, as long as it abides by the rules, free from any unethical conduct. Wrongdoings in a company can lead to various negative impacts towards a particular company like, causing a diminishing amount of sales, increasing turnover and resulting in lower profits. Of which are abusing or causing intimidation towards other employees, providing false information to employees, customers, sellers, or even to the public, misrepresenting in taking someone else’s work and making it as their won, violating the safety regulations,
misstating the time worked, theft, whistle blowing and many more.
Harassments also take place in organizations – discriminatory harassment, sexual harassment, quid pro quo, racial harassment, personal harassment and psychological harassment. Ethics bring significant relevance to the company. With ethics the driver to a company in operating its business, will certainly attract customers to the products and services of a company, thus increasing sales and profits of the company due to its value being delivered to the customers. With ethics practised, employees would remain in the company thus, decreasing turnover and increasing productivity. More employees will also be attracted to want to work in that particular company. This will benefit the company in reducing its
recruitment costs and enabling talented employees working for the company. Not only employees, but investors will also be attracted to company who practise a value of ethics in company. This will protect the company from takeover as the share price of the company is kept high. Thus, to ensure that a particular company sustain its value of ethics, one should first of all identify the ethical issue or problem being faced by the particular company. Then, list down the facts that are most affected by the decision. Determine the person who will be and how will they be affected by the decision made. List down the explanation in which that person would want the issue resolved. Then, list down the alternative courses of action and identify the best and worst case scenario for each, anybody whom will be negatively affected, any values conflicted and reasons in why that particular course of action should not be selected. Lastly, determine the course of action that s the ethical decision made. Ethical decisions in this case refer to forming trust and honesty in a company, deg an environment where it is safe for the people to voice out and deg solutions that respect the rights of everyone and that brings good to the company with the least harm. Hence, to sustain ethical behaviour in companies, moral awareness had to be emphasized; right norms, leadership, rewards systems and culture need to be cultivated to influence employee ethics; unethical behaviour should be punished and encourage the employees to talk openly on ethical conduct. A statement of organizational values that provide a specific structure of expected behaviour should also be established. Strategic plans and objectives should also be actively reviewed to ensure that they are not in conflict with the company’s ethical standards. Standard operating procedures and performance measurements of a company should also be reviewed to ensure that they are not set in a way that can promote unethical behaviour. Last but not least, business owners and managers should lead by example by treating their employees, customers and competitors in way that they should be treated that is sincere, and impartial, and take responsibility in dismissing any unethical conduct. Employee Rights An employee right on the other hand refers to right granted upon an employee based on contractual agreements made with their employers. A right denotes as the moral claim. A claim refers to an exacting type of right, which is correlated to the duty of the person whom carries the right (Hohfeld, 1919). It stems from the foundation of theoretical justification, and
offers ways in assessing which supposed rights are legitimate and which should be overruled in cases where the legitimate rights conflict. It can also mean the right granted upon an employee based on government legislation. Several other define employee rights like possibly the right granted independently of any contractual legislation. Rowan (2000) describes employee rights as, “one of the most important, yet complex, issues in the field of business ethics.” Employees have rights towards their involvement in a company they work for, (Radin and Werhane, 2003). Rowan (2000) affirmed that the foundation of employee rights centralizes on employees as persons. Duska (1999) pointed out that employee rights is the society’s concern for conserving and protecting human dignity. An employee right to solitude, like the right to significant work, has been derived from the right to be respected, Koehn (2002). Employee rights can be seen to having highlighted the moral claims that individuals are granted upon as their role of being employees within the confinements of the employment relationship. Being granted with employee rights mean being granted with health care benefits, rights to a specific number of paid holidays in year, and so on. Getting deeper, among the most vital rights being granted unto an employee is the right to receive fair pay. This will be seen from three different aspects. The pay employees receive should be just in an interpersonally relative sense, meaning it does not matter whether the particular employee is seen to be achieving in their performance, or of a more senior level compared to the rest working in the organization, every company has the obligation to be equal to all employees. The pay granted should also be fair in an intrapersonally relative sense, meaning that as the employee contributes their service to the organization for a particular length of time, they should be given a pay that is more to accommodate that duration as a way of compensation. Lastly, employees are seen as persons that have goals to be met and interests to be satisfied with. All of these will allow them to live the kind of standard of living that they wish to pursue. Thus, when company is giving out pay to their employees, all these too need to be considered. To hire an employee on a low amount of pay is just hiring that employee for their resources only. Another type of employee right that is utterly common is to have the right to safety in workplaces. Employers in every company should therefore provide and ensure a safe working environment for their employees and to make any improvements where necessary. They should also inform their employees of any risks if exists, that cannot be avoided so employees are well aware of any deficiencies their company is facing. Thirdly, is the due process in the workplace (Werhane, 1985) which means the just conduct practised
through the normal judicial system. Every employee should be given with a fair amount of participation in their company’s decision-making processes. For example, when employees are faced with demotions or firing by their employers, they should be informed on the reasons for such actions and be granted with a petition or hearing. The right to privacy in the workplace and out of the workplace is also emphasized. Werhane (1985) noted that this refers to the right to be left alone and also the right to abstain from giving employers other personal information that is not of any relevance to the job. As clear as it is on how employee rights is generally explained as above and its following examples of employee rights, how is employee rights practised in companies? Initially, employee rights has been defined as the right granted upon an employee on the basis of contractual agreement made with the employer. In the agreement, both employer and employee seek benefits in the attainment of certain goods. Employers seek profit maximization, product quality assurance, long-term growth of company and company’s stability to be maintained and so forth. Employees on the other hand, seek for higher wages, greater benefits, a safe and comfortable working environment and so forth. Hence, due to the desirability of each employer and employee, this often conflicts like for example, with providing higher wages to employees means a reduction in profits as these are expenses to a company. To provide greater benefits to employees can affect the stability of the company in the long term. Thus, to resolve these conflicts, employers and employees engage in employment agreement whereby some goods are bargained or traded in such a way that other goods will also be secured. Hence, an example of securing the rights of employees in organizations; employees would be entitled to a group of employee representatives who are assigned to manage and observe the actions and decisions of senior managers. This is called as the right to be treated as every other financial investor. This provides the employees with the image that is similar to what the board of directors would offer for shareholders. Secondly, employees have the right to share in the firm’s financial success. This shows that profit-sharing should be mandated. Moreover, employees should have the right to well-timed, exact and adequate exposé of relevant information on financial and functional results, strategic plans and returns arrangements for directors and senior managers. Employees should also have the right to protection from any abusive self-conduct of senior managers. Employees also should receive fair dismissal payment when terminated without just cause so as to enable them the right to have an effective pension protection- all this refers to the right to the means for protection of employee’s financial investment in the company.
Apple Company Impressive leadership skills practised by the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, an innovative and enthusiastic corporate culture and the well-known advanced products of Apple are the building blocks of Apple’s success. The Apple I which is the first handmade computer kit shows a huge difference as compared to all the other Apple products as of today. This was developed by the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak. This first model has its cons in that it lacks the graphic interface (GUI), and thus, consumers needed to add their won keyboard and display. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, convinced Steve Wozniak that the Apple I can be sold as a business product. Both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak continued creating pioneering products and soon, their new company which is the Apple Computer Inc. reached maximum amount in sales. Still, the company faced with a few flaws like the one of Apple Lisa which was not success in sales. Other products like Mac I and Newton were not also successful and the company also had to endure with quite a few CEO changes. Stock prices were also declining. Steve Jobs saved the company by introducing a new era for Apple that is by changing the company’s corporate culture. A flattened organizational structure was also formed. Apple sustains its success by defending its technology and making sure that information remains proprietary. Apple’s growth into new product lines such as the invention of the iPod, which is a handy music player, added to its success. Adding more, are its iTunes, which is a type of jukebox software in which customers can transfer songs from CDs onto their Macs and then managing and classifying their library of tailored songs. iTunes Store was later developed which gives the customers the opportunity to millions of their favourite songs. Apple’s Ethical Issues Product quality The coming of iPhone 4 into the market has received complaints from consumers on problems that are caused by interference of the antenna when the phone is held in a particular way. Apple was criticized by public relations experts in that, Apple did not respond immediately to the problem but rather just minimized it. Apple then gave out bumpers and cases for free for a specific time period to work out the reception problems, after Consumer Reports would not approve on the product. Nevertheless, despite these problems, consumers still purchased this particular product. Still, Apple must take great care continuously to enhance its product quality. Product quality is viewed as an attribute that cannot be separated
from Apple products. Thus, any fault causing a diminished product quality can affect the strength of the brand in the market among all other brands. Privacy In 2011, both Apple and Google revealed that some particular features in the phone collect information on the phone’s whereabouts. This is seen as a breach on the privacy of s. Consumers can choose to render these features inoperative, as announced by the companies. However, some of Apple’s phones collected information on the whereabouts of the phone despite consumers disabling the feature. Google and Apple guarded their datacollection devices but still government officials disagreed with that. Because of this, the government is thinking on ing legislation on the privacy of mobile telecommunication. If they were to do this, these actions can highly affect Apple and other electronic companies. Sustainability In 2009, 9.6 million metric tons of metric gases were released from operations done by Apple. The environmental influence of Apple’s products has become a serious issue since Apple is continuously developing on newer products. Since Apple is coming out with newer and more upgraded versions of its technology, this has caused the old ones of its product to become obsolete and not wanted anymore. Hence, to solve this problem, Apple has developed products that are lasting and using materials that can be recycled. On the part of the consumers, Apple has encouraged them to recycle based on a recycling program at its stores whereby old iPods, mobile phones and Macs can be traded in for a ten percent discount on the newer versions or even gift cards for those that still have values like Macs. However, despite this program being implemented, consumers prefer that throwing away these old products that have no value will be more convenient than recycling them. One of Apple’s suppliers has also been accused of using a chemical called as n-hexane, which poisoned 49 of its workers. Apple has since come up with a new strategy to decrease the amount of toxic chemicals in its products like for example; cathode-ray tubes that contain lead are removed from its products, according to Steve Jobs. Even the iPods are fixed with LEDs (lightemitting diodes) instead of the fluorescent lamps. Toxic chemicals like polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame retardants are even removed from its products. However, Apple remains at a low ranking according to environmental groups like ClimateCounts, even though
it has improved over the past few years. Apple did not see itself making it on the Newsweek’s annual list of the “100 Greenest Companies in America”, not until when it took some 60 spots behind Dell, HP, IBM and Intel in 2010. Apple was deemed to be a slacker in its recycling programs and disclosure of environmental objectives by socially responsible investors like Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and As You Sow. Apple has declined to a huge alliance of businesses called as the Ceres, or the Eco-Patent Commons which was developed by the IBM, Nokia, Sony and other tech firms in sharing environmental ideas, in 2008. Intellectual Property Theft Apple had used the domain name of iTunes.co.uk, which was used to readdress s to other sites and was already ed by Ben Cohen in 2000. The domain name was then used by Cohen to readdress the s to the Napster site which is a main competitor of Apple. Apple then tried to acquire the domain name. However, the negotiations failed and this caused Apple to appeal to the UK registry Nominet. Cohen was then concluded that he had misused his registration rights and obtained an unjust gain over Apple, by the mediator, even though it is claimed for those who the domain name first gains the absolute right to that name. Because of that, Apple won the case to the getting to use the domain name. This led to complaints of unfair treatment that Apple was favoured at the expense of smaller companies. Another case is about when Cisco Systems filed lawsuit against Apple in 2007, claiming that Apple violated on its iPhone trademark. Cisco owned that trademark since 2000. Apple’s deceiving conduct remain controversial to buy with negotiations when Apple opened up Ocean Telecom Services and filed for the iPhone trademark in the U.S. after walking out from a discussion it had with Cisco to discuss whether or not Apple is permitted in using the trademark. The lawsuit ended when both sides agreed to use the iPhone’s name. Patents Apple has filed lawsuits against Samsung as it claims that Samsung copied the designs of Apple’s iPhones and iPad, against HTC Corporation claiming that it duplicates a variety of mobile phone attributes under Apple’s patents. What is questioning about this matter is whether or not the claims made by Apple are justifiable or not, that is whether is it just trying to push its competitors in the sight of a negative impression so that it can take control of the market or whether it truly does believe that these companies have indeed violated its patents. This lies in the decision of the courts on whether or not Apple’s
allegations are legit. Lastly, Kodak has also filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that it has breached its patent on digital imaging technology. Apple responded by countersuing Kodak alleging that it had breached Apple’s patents. However, the U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled in Kodak’s favour in Apple’s lawsuit. Still, this issue stands on whether or not Apple has violated Kodak’s patents. Racial Discrimination After the death of Steve Jobs, several ethical issues have ensued surrounding the conduct of Apple Company. There have been accusations towards Apple Store Employees on racial profiling against Iranian-Americans and Farsi speakers. Apple Store Employees refused to sell the iPads and other products to the Iranian-Americans and the Farsi speaking consumers or Persians as of noted by the Council of American-Islamic Relations. Apple Store Employees are said to be isolating the Persians as for interrogation on how they wish to utilize the products of Apple, and this is clearly seen as being engaged in racial profiling as announced by the National Iranian American Council. Apple can be seen to be tarnishing its corporate image and definitely insulting and discriminating the Iranian-American community, if Apple persists on disabling on rendering any service to the Iranian-Americans and Iranian consumers on ethnicity basis. Apple has yet to issue a statement on the alleged discrimination against the Persians by its workers. The public will question more on the motive of the company if Apple delays on responding towards this particular issue and hence, the image of Apple will be affected by this issue. Also, there have been debates on the worker treatment by iPhone producer Foxconn and the analysis of the minority of women occupying the executive level as its executive team is an all-male executive team. Labour Abuse Apple’s suppliers have been accused of using child labour to manufacture the products. A Chinese company was accused of withholding employees’ pay and conducting excessive working hours. Violations of the law and Apple’s pledges about the working situations at factories operated by Pegatron Corp., a Taiwanese company, as claimed by China Labor Watch. These situations are under observance as complaints have been filed regarding the labor and environmental violations by a different supplier, Taiwan’s Foxconn which is a unit of the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Two factories in Shanghai and one in
Suzhou are under investigations which employ 70,000 people. The investigations have led to results of discrimination against ethnic minorities and women, extreme working hours, deprived living state, health and safety problems and pollution. According to China Labor Watch, most of Pegatron manufacturing employees worked around 66 to 69 hours a week which is greater than China’s legal limit of 49 hours. Sometimes, pregnant women are also needed to work for 11-hour days which are greater than the usual eight-hour legal limit. Even employees are forced to fake the time cards to cover up the violations. Pegatron was also accused of declining to recruit workers who are older than 35 years of age or of any of China’s Hui, Tibetan or Uighur ethnic minorities. This has caused a discriminatory hiring practise. There were also unethical conducts done by the workers themselves that is the discarding of water filled with hazardous chemicals from the cutting of tools into the sewers, by production line workers. Of all the unethical issues made against Apple Company, Apple itself has taken some measures to deal with these issues. Apple has employed an outside organization to investigate accusations made against excessive working hours, child labor and the depressing working situations at the Chinese factories that produce most of its i-toys. Still, there was another investigation regarding the low salary American employees are receiving at the company’s retail stores. Apple is called to be a follower of business ethics and not an innovator in it, as it is seen to not be at the same par when it comes to meeting the business ethics as other companies particularly in the electronics sector were. Solutions Apple Company can be seen to be dealt with many accusations and face some unethical conducts in its company. Nevertheless, Apple should see ways to curb these unethical conducts to arrive at a stage where it can be regarded by the public as not only producing innovative and more sophisticated products, but also a company that highly values ethical principles in its company towards its customers, suppliers, employees and investors. The following are a few suggested ways; For starters, apple can apply the corporate ethics and compliance programs towards its employees (Weaver and Trevino 1999). This is to ensure that the employees working for Apple Company avoid any unethical behaviour, is able to seek for advice when faced with an ethical predicament, is more committed towards the company and are able to report any misconduct when observed. Even the suppliers of Apple Company will have to sign the,
“Supplier Code of Conduct.” Those suppliers who refrain on complying with Apple’s standards, sees itself not making any business with Apple. An annual Apple Supplier Responsibility Report is released by Apple to highlight on its obligation towards responsible supplier conduct. The report explains expectations of it suppliers and the conclusions of its audits and any actions that the company will have to take against any factories that have incurred infringement. Another way to curb employees’ misconduct is, directly ing the employees to discuss on the employee’s feelings and perceptions when at work. For example, like what have been done by the Ethics Resource Center in 1994, the Ethics Resource Center directly ed employees at their own homes to survey on the employees’ perceptions of ethics at work. The result showed that almost one-third of the employees claimed that from time to time, they feel pressured into engaging in misconduct to achieve the business goals. Also, Apple’s ethics are also emphasized by projecting particularity in its policies on corporate supremacy, conflict of interest among directors and the guidelines on reporting doubtful conduct on its website. Apple can implement an internal and ethics compliance reporting mechanism such as the “hotline” or the “helpline”. This mechanism can be noted as a key motivator in boosting the initiative of ethics amongst huge business organizations (Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002; Thelen 2004). Apple has provided a Business Conduct Helpline to employees so that they can report any misconduct to the Apple’s Audit and Finance Committee. The potential for misconduct can be seen as quite likely as most of the Apple’s product components are produced in countries having low labor costs due to incompatible labor principles and less direct oversight. The main focus of this internal reporting mechanism is to not only abide by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the amendments to the Federal Organization Sentencing Guidelines requirements, but to also recognize the problems within the organization that may need investigation. Ethics training programs can also be implemented for the employees working in Apple Company. The execution of the ethics training for employees in the organizations was explored when the Bentley Center reported 52% of the organizations in their study, performed this type of program since 1992. Organizations will focus mainly on guiding the employees to be more aware on the kinds of ethics issues they normally face at work and to also be more aware towards the ethical or compliance principles at their disposal. With the
conduct of this training program, Apple Company can highlight on the decision to solve the ethical dilemmas faced at work and the significance of decreasing the risk when at work. Ethics programs should also be developed that include in the construction of the code of ethics that is in favour of the organizations’ requirements and conditions, a workable communication of this code towards its employees which includes in feasible coaching and training programs by a top ranked supervisor. (Grundstein-Amado 2001; Wolf 2008; Yizraeli 2000). These steps strengthen the measures for an efficient ethics program (Kasher 2009; Zamir 2009) and also require that organizations set up instruments to ensure that a high ethical criterion becomes the core of the organisational culture which includes in an enforcement tool and an internal control instrument to inspect, reveal, and report criminal behaviour (USSC 2004). Ethical leadership is also proven to be a success in leading the ethics programs (Korey, 2008). Ethical leadership deals with organization’s senior management on modelling such characteristic which is authorized formally by the elected ethics officer who is responsible in implementing and enforcing the code of ethics. Ethical leadership teaches the employees the elements of ethical decision making which includes in spotting out ethical dilemmas and thus, choosing the suitable instrument to handle these problems and to develop independent and significant ethical thinking (Dean 1992; Loescher 2006; Martin and Cullen 2006; Rampersad 2006; Stevens et al. 2005; Valentine and Johnson 2005; Yizraeli and Shilo 2000). By including employees in ethical decision making, employees are able to identify the ethical problems and should be ready in examining the solutions to the problems. (Trevino et al. 2006). Thus, employees will be able to formulate critical thinking ability and skills to working out solutions to problems that often ensue at work, in consideration of the ethics code compliance. (Yizraeli and Shilo, 2000). Hence, Apple Company can adopt the ethics training program to further enhance its ethical conduct around its operations. Like for example, as Apple strives to optimize its success, it also needs to ensure an ethical background is sustained in its working environment. Apple tries to ensure that its employees work in an appropriate manner in all situations. Its success is based on developing a pioneering, high-quality products and services and on representing integrity which covers truthfulness, reverence, privacy and obedience in business relations. To outline these four areas, Apple developed a code of business conduct which pertains to all its operations.
Therefore, Apple Company may be one of the most successful companies. Still, no doubt successful, that does not mean that ethical issues do not arise in companies like this.
Over the years, Apple has faced with undoubtedly accusations of dealing with ethical misconduct in its company. Yet, several solutions have been suggested to curb this ethical dilemma like the ethical programs in handling and solving any misconduct by the employees. Not only employees, but senior management can also be trained with an ethical decision making mind-concept in giving the rights that their employees deserve by giving the sufficient amount of pay that their employees deserve and by limiting the amount of working hours that each employee is able to work for. Many more solutions are yet to be formed in helping Apple curb this problem.
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS Every company certainly have some issues and problems that they need to deal with. Same goes to Apple Inc. There are certain issues and problems that Apple Inc. faces in their daily operation. We had highlighted out those issues and problems and it will be elaborated further here. Apple Inc. faces ethical issues in their organization. Under this ethical issue, it can be divided into several different problems such as in of product quality, privacy, sustainability, intellectual property theft, patents, racial discrimination, and also labor abuse.
Product Quality The latest product, Apple iPhone 4, which have been release by Apple Inc., into the market has received complaints from consumers on problems that are caused by interference of the antenna when the phone is held in a particular way. But those complains were merely treated as just complains. Apple Inc. did not take any interest in responding to that particular problem, and just close an eye on that issue. Rather than trying to fixed and overcome that problem, Apple Inc. just gives out free bumpers and casing for a specific period of time in order to close and bury the problem from surfacing again.
Privacy There are certain features in Apple Inc. products that collects information about the and the phone whereabouts. Even though when this feature is disable, nonetheless it still does collects information. This problem poses as a threat to s. ’s whereabouts and safety are at risk at all time.
Sustainability In 2009, 9.6 million metric tons of metric gases were released from operations done by Apple. The environmental influence of Apple’s products has become a serious issue since Apple is continuously developing on newer products and not wanted anymore. It somehow is polluting the environment and endangering lives of the workers and society around its manufacturing area.
Intellectual Property Theft Apple had used the domain name of iTunes.co.uk, which was used to readdress s to other sites and was already ed by Ben Cohen in 2000. The domain name was then used by Cohen to readdress the s to the Napster site which is a main competitor of Apple. Apple then tried to acquire the domain name. However, the negotiations failed and this caused Apple to appeal to the UK registry Nominet. Cohen was then concluded that he had misused his registration rights and obtained an unjust gain over Apple, by the mediator, even though it is claimed for those who the domain name first gains the absolute right to that name. Because of that, Apple won the case to the getting to use the domain name. This led to complaints of unfair treatment that Apple was favoured at the expense of smaller companies.
Patents Apple has filed lawsuits against Samsung as it claims that Samsung copied the designs of Apple’s iPhones and iPad, against HTC Corporation claiming that it duplicates a variety of mobile phone attributes under Apple’s patents. What is questioning about this matter is whether or not the claims made by Apple are justifiable or not, that is whether it is just trying to push its competitors in the sight of a negative impression so that it can take control of the market or whether it truly does believe that these companies have indeed violated its patents.
Racial Discrimination There have been accusations towards Apple Store Employees refused to sell the iPads and other products to the Iranian-Americans and the Farsi speaking consumers or Persians. Also, there have been debates on the worker treatment by iPhone producer Foxconn and the analysis of the minority of women occupying the executive level as its executive team is an all-male executive team.
Labor Abuse Investigations that have been done have led to results of discrimination against ethnic minorities and women, extreme working hours, deprived living state, health and safety problems and pollution. Sometimes, pregnant women are also needed to work for 11-hour days which are greater than the usual eight-hour legal limit. Even employees are forced to fake the time cards to cover up the violations.
Recommendations
To ensure high ethical employee behavior, every level of management and non-management employees must fully understand the ethical implications of their decisions as it relates to their personal and professional values. Corporations need to implement a Business Code of Ethics and review with all employees. Also, an excellent tool for learning is case studies and role-playing. The key in this learning is to make the Code accessible and position it as a helpful tool for all employees. It is also recommended that all business managers display the Code on their desks in a healthy manner. Real world learning and the negative end results of unethical behavior or actions should be showcased to this venture.
Ethical behaviors are vital to a corporation's overall success. The stakeholders are able to take direction from a well-written and detailed Business Code of Conduct. In an ethical dilemma for decision-making, a code is the employee's most essential tool. If a corporation chooses to engage in employee monitoring, this practice needs to be posted or announced to all employees. Employees need to understand the laws and the corporation's policies and Business Code of Conduct. If everyone understands the ground rules and the playing field then our work environment will be fairer. In closing, if an employee is being ethical and following the corporation's policies, s/he should not be concerned with monitoring. To balance this statement, employers need to be respectful, open and honest in advising employees of its monitoring, and businesses should conduct their monitoring within the guidelines of the law.
To avoid conflict and lawsuits, managers must ister discipline properly. This entails ensuring that disciplined employees receive due process. Managers need to be aware of the standards used to determine if an employee was treated fairly and whether or not the employee has a right to appeal disciplinary action. For a disciplinary system to be effective, an appeal mechanism must be in place.
Employees expect to be treated fairly and ethically in return for providing their employer with a fair and reasonable amount of work. This expectation is called the psychological contract. Employers who uphold the psychological contract generally have more productive employees. In contrast, those who violate the psychological contract may cause employees to quit or to form a union. Because employee turnover is costly and unionization results in some
loss of control over the business, managers should be aware of the importance of the psychological contract to employees. One way of sealing the psychological contract is to develop and publicize a code of ethics. HR can contribute to maintaining an ethical environment by integrating the code of ethics into employment policies, orientations for new employees, and formal training programs. Managers and supervisors can influence their companies’ climate of fairness and ethical behavior by the tone they set for employees in their work units.
Create a positive work environment a positive work environment encourages employees to act in the best interests of the company by following established policies and procedures. Managers can maintain a positive work environment by having open lines of communication between management and employees and by developing procedures to provide positive employee recognition. And, it is often necessary to discipline employees who exhibit poor attendance, poor performance, insubordination, workplace bullying, or substance abuse. Managing the discipline process in these situations requires a balance of good judgment and common sense. Discipline may not be the best solution in all cases.
Conclusion
The human resource department of Apple Inc. is responsible for the arrangement, organization, and streamlining the organizational staff to the current departmental and general objectives of the company. The role of the human resource department assumes a management role that plans, organizes, staffs, compensates, manages, trains and develops employees of the Apple Inc. The significance of the human resource department of any organization besides Apple Inc. is to ensure that performance of individual employees coincides with the organization’s objectives and goals. Through this undertaking, the proficiency of individual staff improves through a set of personal and team values. Personal values that are crucial to the performance of an individual include respect to and honor of the organizational policies as well as superiors and colleagues. Values crucial to the organization in of team include the ability to participate fully and willingly in teamwork projects and nurturing talent and skills for the benefit of the organization. On this note, it is important to introduce the human resource systems and practices through a b ackground check of Apple Inc.’s profile in the computer business and software development.
The importance of developing innovational behavior in Apple was to nurture talent, develop a corporate culture, and promote integration of skill and mind with the duties an individual performed. As one of the leading gadget dealers in the market, Apple has transformed the employee platform from the employer-employee attitude to ion-for-duty type of attitude. Mistreatment of employees, as discovered by CNN, showed that China’s notoriety in vying for cheap labor from its citizens was extending to organizations d with Apple Inc. Stable human resource practices and strategies Apple applies in its main branches should be incorporated to all human resource departments of organizations d with the Apple Inc.
The need for discipline can often be avoided by a strategic and proactive approach to HRM. A company can avoid discipline by recruiting and selecting the right employees for current positions as well as future opportunities by training and developing workers, by deg jobs and career paths that best utilize people’s talents, by deg effective performance appraisal systems, and by compensating employees for their contributions.
Related Documents c2h70
Literature Review 54j4y
December 2019 108
Literature Review 54j4y
October 2021 0
Literature Review 54j4y
December 2021 0
Literature Review 54j4y
November 2021 0
Literature Review 54j4y
November 2021 0
Literature Review 54j4y
November 2021 0More Documents from "Fatin Afifa" 653o3
Price Adjustment Strategies 6i2h21
December 2019 53
Literature Review 54j4y
January 2022 0
Contoh Kertas Tugasan j6y4q
February 2021 0
Terkini_kertas Penerangan Plc 2h5b42
February 2021 0
E Aduan Present Yati 6m334g
April 2022 0