Ethical Issues Walmart Paper

There are several factors that account statement for the changes in the way business is conducted today. Factors such as increased spheric competition, economic conditions, technology, electronic commerce, pretendforce diversity, and morality put one across all run into a significant role in how business is conducted. How a high society conducts itself as a business and a corporate citizen is critical to its success. Wal-Mart is the largest retail merchant in the world however they are non exempt to acting ethically. In December 2008, Wal-Mart colonized 63 laws suits that spans over several eld across 42 states accuses Wal-Mart of cheating workers on pay.The settlement cost Wal-Mart $352 million. base on comments do by Wal-Mart attorneys and spokes heap, it was clear that the gild realized that they acted unethically. This musical composition leave alone provide a brief overview of the ethical issues violated system the impact the issues has had on the parties invo lved and society as a unit of measurement discover the cause or contributing factors to the issue and finally counsel a plan that bring outlines revised ethical standards and communication methods to pr eveningt the issues from reoccurring.Overview of respectable Issue. Wal-Mart as a order acted very unethically in this situation. They hired managers to supervise the other(a) employees and not to take advantage of them. The managers were also the unrivalleds acting irresponsible and unethically. Changing the conviction cards, making the employees work despatch the clock, is not something that should be done at all. When the managers altered the cartridge holder cards, they were thinking about now and not the consequences they were going to conduct to pay. The managers were alone thinking about the now and maybe not what the company cherished them to do but they did a selfish act and it hurt the company.The managers perchance could have done this to nail more work ou t of the employees for slight money. The article says the employees were forced to work off the clock this is just not ethical in any sense. Maybe the managers had a quota they had to meet and if they met it they would get a bonus. The company has put so oft stress on the managers to do the right thing that now it has change state an unethical practice. The speculation that comes in to play is the goal based theory the managers and the company were all orried about the outcome. Now the company has to worry about all the mint coming together and suing the company for lost occupys. The impact that this could have on society is that fact that the company may lose the integrity and invest from the public. The company stock may drop so therefore the people that own stock will lose some money. What has happened in the company not yet will feign the employees but will affect the business because when society gets word of the things that were done, the shopping will stop.Prices mi ght even go up so the consumer will have to purchase less(prenominal) and that will always hurt any business when you stifle how much the customer can buy. The theory that comes to mind would be the goal ethical theory because it seems like the managers or the company was only looking out for the outcomes of the business. This type of concern is so unethical because it affects so many other people. This time the employees were affected and the company acted improperly.Ethical Change, Deficiency, and Conflict. Wal-Mart was accused of forcing some hundreds to thousands of underway and former workers to work off the clock and exhibiting poor wage practices which resulted in multiple lawsuits in both the federal and state courts. Wal-Mart was accused numerous and various illegal acts of wage practices. The allegations included forcing employees to work unpaid off the clock, erasing hours from time cards, and preventing workers from taking lunch and other breaks that were promised by th e company or guaranteed by state laws (Greenhouse & Rosenbloom, 2008).Wal-Mart leadership definitely dropped the ball when attempting to manage in spite of appearance the wage compliance and standardized state laws. Management had the obligation to harbour compliance with all employment and funfairness laws and they failed tremendously. If Wal-Marts management had responded to these allegations prior to the lawsuits, they could have definitely saved the company millions and their reputation as cheaters. It was their calling to know how the daily operations of each store were creation performed and managed. altogether companies have defined standard operating procedures and a code of ethics and in these cases it was evident that neither was enforced. Their failure of standardized consistency in policies and procedures and lack of management skills were the two major(ip) obstacles that caused the company to be plagued with a bad reputation among employees and the public. Managem ent recognized and accepted the province for their mistakes in judgment, and unethical behavior but, as a result of lawsuits. Lessons learned, not so sure, regardless their unethical acts drew major consequences.With the continued embarrassment over these allegations and lawsuits Wal-Mart made the most ethical decision to settle the claims of proposed allegations. Wal-Mart officials have made continuous statements pleading that these illegal and unethical acts took place many historic period ago and they have made strong strides in reducing wage violations and following the state wage compliance laws and agree to more coming(prenominal) improvements. These improvements include such actions as implementing standard of ensuring an employee takes the designated breaks and programming the cash registers to identify when an employee is off the clock.They are making a conscious effort to unmortgaged up the wrongs of the quondam(prenominal). However, any way you look at it, they were cheating the employees in pronounce to gain company profits. Lawsuits and illegal allegations continue to be a nuisance for the Wal-Mart Corporation, with pending cases alleging sex harassment and forcing employees to miss meals. Again, these are acts from the past but it still outlines the existence of the major inconsistencies with Wal-Marts management and their responsibility and ability to maintain a fair and healthy working environment. hereafter Resolution Wal-Mart has not completely settled the dispute over employee hours worked without compensation. Wal-Mart has move to tie things right with the workers, as well as trying to clear-cut up its image with the public by setting the 63 lawsuits. It will take more than $352 million dollars to make sure this problem does not resurface (Greenhouse & Rosenbloom, 2008). Another incident such as this one could be detrimental to the very existence of Wal-Mart. One solution to the problem would be to unionize Wal-Mart. There are pros and cons to being unionized.Under the protection of a union, Wal-Mart workers will be protected from unethical practices such as unpaid working hours, sexual harassment, as well as the right to fair pay. Being part of a union would also mean that workers would have the right to health care. In January of 2006 Wal-Mart reported that their health care only incorporated 43% of their employees (Wake-up Wal-Mart, 2005). Wal-Mart does not want to become unionized because it would make the company slightly inflexible. The company would have to adhere to the rules and regulations of the union.One major problem discovered by other companies that became unionized was that workers were less propel to work for the company and put forth 100% of their efforts. The treat of being fired also went away because under the union rules, in order to terminate an employee for a decline in performance is now modulate under union contract (Free Republic, 2003). Regardless of Wal-Marts opposition to beco me part of a union or not, the company will have to step up efforts to ensure ethical practices are being followed.A set of consequences should be put into action for those managers who violate and infringe upon those rules. terminus It is not clear from the article what policies Wal-Mart had in place at the time of the unethical behavior, however the company claims that the allegations are not representative of the company we are today (Greenhouse-Rosenbloom, 2008). The unethical behavior may have been a factor in the companys highly regarded financial performance. The accusations and these settled cases will serve as precedence for future cases that involve homosexual Resource and the use of Corporate Resource issues.