Ethical issue in business and decision making
Discuss about the legal and ethical issues faced by Amazon Company.
With the ramified economics changes and complex business structure, each and every organization needs to follow proper ethical and legal compliance program which may increase the overall outcomes and efficiency of the business at large. The ethical and legal business practice are undertaken by the organization which assists in strengthen the posting impact on the stakeholders of the organization. The company uses different culture and values to define ethics for the organization. Ethical issue when the act taken by the employees breach the moral and ethical concern in the present busienss environment (Amazon, 2018). The CSR activities are the method which assists organization to run the business sustainably in the society with a view to increase the overall satisfaction of the clients. In this report, new article from the Australian financial review have been selected for the analysis of the ethical issues. This article reveals the legal and ethical issues faced by Amazon Company while delivering the employee compensation plans to employees. Amazon Company is international company indulged in online selling of electronic commerce and cloud computing company based in Seattle. This company has faced the ethical and legal issues in determining whether asking legal action on behalf of members working for three delivery firms used by Amazon have been wrongly classed as self-employed work program. This program was related to providing the employment benefit plan to employees and the legal policy frameworks prepared by the Amazon for the employees who deliver its goods to the clients around the globe (Crane, and Matten, 2016).
It is analyzed that each and every organization needs to take initiative in such a way which will ultimately increase the overall outcomes and efficiency of the busienss at large. Company should stagnate to its value and commitment with respect to strengthen the customer’s satisfaction (Den Hond, de Bakker, and Neergaard, 2016).
This essay reflects the unethical act of the Amazon implemented in the society which may directly and indirectly affect the employees at large. In this ethical issue, GMB union announced that it is taking legal action on behalf of the employees so that they could get the benefits. It is analyzed that latest in a string of gig economy legal disputes have shown the challenging what unions say is bogus self-employment among couriers and other drivers. It is noted that the Wesfarmers Company has been claimed that all the drivers who were working as contract basis should be treated as employees of the Amazon Company. It is analyzed that all the employees who are indulged in the working of the Amazon are not free to take their independent decisions and they directly and indirectly affected by the orders given by amazon (Sabag, and Schmitt, 2016).
Ethical theory
There are several ethical theories which could be undertaken by the Amazon Company such as corporate social responsibilities program, triple bottom line and long term sustainable program which needs to be assessed by company before undertaking decisions. It is required from the Amazon Company needs to take decisions in the best interest of the employee which could add value for the better value creation in business. The ethical theory needs to be assessed by the Amazon Company to evaluate the potential of giving employee benefits to employees for the betterment of the organization. the ethical consideration emphasis’s upon fact that the GMB union announced on Monday that it is taking legal action on behalf of members working for three delivery firms used by Amazon, arguing that the companies wrongly classed them as self-employed.
In the given case, it is analyzed that so many drivers of the Amazon were facing issue related to less amount of payment and loss of their own busienss which may directly and indirectly impact their working. One of the drivers had to stay for his job till the mid night as he was asked to meet the target and if he fails to do so then he will be penalized for the same (Saeidi, et al., 2015).
The ethical decision frameworks of the Amazon should be based on the collected information and the undertaken framework which are given as below. This ethical decision makes the process use of the moral philosophies and ethical and consideration which needs to be taken into consideration.
Identification of the ethical issue- In this process, Amazon needs to analysis all the ethical issues that are related to the breachment of the ethical rules and guidelines. It is analyzed that Amazon needs to give all the employees related benefits to the employees who could add value to their economic development (Amartya, 2017).
Gathering of information: After identifying the case, Amazon needs to collect the required data which could assist in developing a good strategic plan to solve the issues and problem faced by the employees and Amazon. This will be used to develop mutually agreed understanding between employees and employers (Amazon. 2018).
Analysis of data: After collection of the data, Amazon needs to analysis the gathered data with the assistance of the regulators and banking authorities. However, it requires high amount of compliance program which needs to be assessed on the basis of existing rules and regulations.
Ethical decision making framework
Consideration of Alternative: This process requires official consideration of the negative and positive impact of the ethical issues which have been faced by Amazon Company. It will require Amazon to evaluate the employees work program and compliance structure which needs to be made for the effective resolving of the queries. There are several alternatives which could be undertaken by the Amazon such as undertaking particular action plan, setting new objectives and goals and undertaking the proper work program for the better satisfaction of employees.
Make a decision: Afterward undertaken decisions will be undertaken which will assist in taking the business decisions such as considering drivers as regular employees, determining the benefits plans which will be given to them and assessing the issues and problem areas which will add value to the better satisfaction of employees at large (Trevino, and Nelson, 2016). The decision to undertake employees as normal employee and rendering the employee benefit program require proper analysis program and implemented actions.
In this case, justice theory will be used to assessed on the basis of the decision making process. As per the justice theory, company will have to treat all these employees as regular employees and they should be given all the employees benefits (Vaughn, 2015).
All the decisions taken by the Amazon should be taken in the best interest of the organization so that it could add value to the society. Company needs to give back more to its society what it has been taking for running its busienss effectively (Biller-Andorno, and Capron, 2016).
Implementation of decision: After analyzing all the details and case study program, it is analyzed that company needs to assess whether the internal and external factors will have the negative and positive indicators on the busienss. The mangers needs to analysis that drivers are putting efforts in the best interest of the organization and it is responsibilities of the company to give the best employee benefits to them for their best interest. It will also establishment nexus between the organization development and their employee development (Martinov-Bennie, and Mladenovic, 2015).
Conclusion
After evaluating all the cases related to legal and ethical issues, it could be inferred that all the employees who are indulged in discharging the assigned work should be treated as employees of the Amazon. Thus, in the limelight of the given case study, these employees should be given all the employee benefits plans which are given to other regular employees. It is explained that Company like Amazon cannot easily take the decision to give zero benefits to their contract based employees and absorb all the benefits from them what they actually take from employees. Now in the end, it could be inferred that reason of occurring of this event and the way in which company had taken the decision have legal and ethical issues. These issues are required to be solved to overcome the problems in long run. It is assessed that different ethical theory and implemented action plan will assists in implementing the work program and delivering the best possible benefits to employees at large
References
Amartya, S., 2017. What do we want from a theory of justice?. In Theories of Justice (pp. 27-50). Routledge.
Amazon ., 2018., Amazon delivery firms face legal action over workers’ rights, GMB union is demanding gig economy drivers get sick pay and national minimum wage [online]. Available from < https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/04/amazon-delivery-firms-face-legal-action-over-workers-rights>., Accessed on 25 May 2018.
Biller-Andorno, N. and Capron, A.M., 2016. Ethical issues in governing biobanks: global perspectives. Routledge.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Den Hond, F., de Bakker, F.G. and Neergaard, P., 2016. Introduction to managing corporate social responsibility in action: Talking, doing and measuring. In Managing Corporate Social Responsibility in Action (pp. 15-26). Routledge.
Martinov-Bennie, N. and Mladenovic, R., 2015. Investigation of the impact of an ethical framework and an integrated ethics education on accounting students’ ethical sensitivity and judgment. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(1), pp.189-203.
Sabag, ?. and Schmitt, M. eds., 2016. Handbook of social justice theory and research (pp. 10-14). New York, NY: Springer.
Saeidi, S.P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S.P. and Saaeidi, S.A., 2015. How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), pp.341-350.
Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Vaughn, L., 2015. Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton & Company
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