the Unsafety of Workplaces

Importance of Employee Safety

Every business organization must prioritize employee safety for ethical reasons. Many businesses give this top priority because they understand that if their workers are safe, they will be more productive and motivated. When handling equipment in industries, safety precautions must be followed to prevent injuries from otherwise preventable incidents. Employees have a moral obligation to preserve their safety and wellbeing while at work. The American legal system considers this to be a requirement as well. Several significant safety regulations are applicable to various professions, such as refraining from harmful behavior and donning safety equipment. This is to ensure a balance between safety, productivity and inconvenience aspects are well achieved and maintained. The bodies responsible are to be cautious not to present too many regulations so as to prevent employee’s difficulty in compliance (Trudel & Cotte, 2008).

Ensuring Workplace Safety

The employees are to be involved in being given an opportunity to come up with safety regulations so as to enable them to have an easy time implementing them. Security in the workplace can be maintained in different ways such as fair treatment of all employees, disapproving sexual harassment and any form of hostility victimizing the employee. The established regulations and rules should be strictly adhered to by the employers and any failure to comply should lead to serious repercussions. The American government has put in place tough and uneven regulations of the workplace and cost of labor has really heightened making it difficult for companies to cope with the situation (Crane & Matten, 2016). Many companies have therefore relocated to the overseas to establish their factories. They need locations where they are free to formulate their own rules and regulations.

Ethical Issues in the Supply Chain

Important ethical issues related to supply chain in the workplace

The interaction of people forms the baseline for the supply chain stages. The interaction, therefore, develops ethical issues which are applicable at different specific stages of the supply chain process. These ethical issues are mainly social and contribute a big percentage to the productivity of any company. The supply chain includes stages entailing systematic links enhancing the transfer of goods to the consumer right from the producer. During the movement of goods, various entities are used and this involves incurring some extra costs. The movement requires management so as to be able to analyze every step and the money spent in the process. Factors such as amount, time, location and cost are to be ensured to be acquired correctly for the management to be easier (Trudel & Cotte, 2008). Several issues are involved in the supply chain due to the interactions between different people with different perceptions of situations. The producer may encounter issues such as rates of labor, environmental related practices, working conditions and natural resource utilization. Nevertheless, this issue may be mismanaged and this will result in the low productivity and the demoralization of employees.

Importance of Ethical Issues in the Supply Chain

Moreover, suppliers, who are key in the process of production express the virtue of trust when they agree goods amount, quality and price are maintained. However, suppliers can destroy the relationship if the loyalty is broken and this is why every supplier sign agreements for security purposes. According to (Trudel & Cotte, 2008), retailers are expected to portray the aspect of loyalty and trust and by signing agreements being necessary so as to ensure the fulfillment of their commitments. For example, the claimed weight of a product should be the same as that indicated on the packs. Finally, in the supply chain consumers who are the receivers are the ones to determine the completeness of the cycle. They are expected to choose and buy goods of good quality but at a price which they can afford. Otherwise, if the suppliers tag very high prices along with their goods and services, the consumer is forced to compromise with quality and prefer buying counterfeit products which are acquired at a lower price. The counterfeit companies have greatly contributed to the decreased quality services because the genuine companies are at many times forced to reduce their high standards of production so as to fit in the market and to be able to make sales. Every person involved in the supply chain is expected to exhibit traits such as being accountable, transparent, show integrity, professionalism, continuous improvement and compliance.

Improving Ethical Issues

How to Improve Important Ethical Issues

The ethical issues are major determinants of any company’s progress and frequent evaluation necessary to ensure improvement. The managers are expected to take responsibility in full and ensure the workplace is a good environment for development. Mostly low-level managers have greater influence authority over the subordinates and can mainly do that if they become a good example of the traits they may be advocating for. Managers are to initiate strong characteristics and ensure that these characteristics are adhered to. The manner in which the ethical standards are to be initiated should be proactive and effective to ensure all employees and employers will have an easy time implementing them. This should ensure that the environment does not support theft, corruption, lack of integrity and other negative aspects but instead promote good behavior that will encourage productivity (Wu et al., 2015). If the employees get pleased with the working environment, they will be happy and this will guarantee the honesty and good morals from them.

Protecting Employee Rights

Additionally, if the employees are happy, they will be able to market their company by spreading the news about the good things available in there. Furthermore, to improve ethical issues, the rights of the employees should be highly considered and the management should ensure they are granted to them. These rights are able to safeguard employees against being harassed, terminated unfairly, entitlement to receiving compensations, employee negligence, getting leaves from work and many more rights applicable. They are also protected from being exposed to practices which are lawfully and ethically wrong. The Department of Labour in America entails different issues of labor rights such as occupational safety and health, Labor management reporting and disclosure and fair labor standards (Crane & Matten, 2016). If the labor rights are protected, the employees will be guaranteed of safety and this will lead out to productivity.

Importance of Ethical Issues

Importance of Ethical Issues

These ethical issues if ignored can result in employers losing employees who are key to their companies. Moreover, the workplace will not be a place to be desired by the employees and this will result in unproductivity. If high regard is given to ethical issues, the employees will be proud of their job and have a sense of ownership to their responsibilities. The work-place will be happier as the individuals treat each other ethically. The manager who ensures and emphasizes the importance of the employee to stick to the law is a good example (Crane & Matten, 2016). The manager should also ensure that all the unethical cases reported to the office are solves appropriately and this will win his trust over the employees.

Benefits of Practicing Ethical Issues

The practicing of ethical issues helps a company to maintain a public image which is very important for its growth. A company which acts ethically can easily meet its goals. This is because when things are done the right way, a good reputation is made and trust is gained. It is ethical for the management to employ by merit so as to promote diversity and this will result in acquiring knowledge on how to handle the situation in line with diverse understanding perceptions. Practicing ethical acts, not only benefits the company but also the customer who gain confidence in the goods and services offered and commit themselves to maintaining the relationship (Janney & Gove, 2017).

Practical Strategies for Better Outcome

Practical strategies for better outcome

Every company desires to perform better than its current level and so require more innovativeness on how to do better. There are several practical strategies which are applicable all types of organizations. The leader of the company, first of all, should lead as an example in practicing ethical acts and portray hard work for the employees to emulate. This is much easy because the employees will be able to follow the steps. The subordinates need to be empowered so as to have a sense of ownership of their duties (Janney & Gove, 2017). They will also feel trusted on making significant decisions and bringing out solutions to problems that may arise.

Importance of Communication and Discipline

Communication is very key and needs to flow easily from the leaders to the subordinate. There should be rules and regulations established on how to pass information. Any employee being treated unethically should be made free to communicate immediately so that appropriate investigations are made. There should be good standards of discipline established and punishment for failure to observe ethical acts be made clear so as to ensure an ethical culture (Wu et al., 2015). To ensure complete implementation of the ethical culture in an organization, some behaviors which were regarded as normal but are ethically wrong will have to be changed regardless of the loss that may be incurred in the process.

Occupational Safety and Health Laws and Regulations in the US

Occupational Safety and Health Laws and Regulations in the US

The Occupational Safety and Health Act is a law advocating for the worker’s freedom from injuries and killings while on official duty. It also promotes appropriate health standard needed for the productivity of the employees and employers. This can be enforced through a managerial organization for education and training of employees about what it takes to maintain good heal and preventive measures against infections. Any injuries encountered at work should be noted and recorded and treatment did appropriately. The medical records should be obtained after the check-ups and treatment (Wu et al., 2015). OSHA also inspects different workplaces to ensure the laws are applied and safety is maintained.

Consequences of Ignoring Ethical Issues

Most profit-making organizations fail to maintain ethics in their practice because of high ambitions in profit making. In 2015, the Apple Company was accused of prioritizing on profit-making and failing to observe labor rights. The working environment was reported to be poor as the management overstaffed employees and underpaid then in relation to them being overworked (Janney & Gove, 2017). This triggered investigation to be done and all the allegations were confirmed to be even worse than expected. The same case was with the McDonalds company whereby in November 2012, workers boycotted work demanding their unpaid wages and being overworked and discriminated. Despite stringent targets and goals set by companies, the priority should always be the laborers because this group is the one that will determine the success or failure of all the goals set.

References

Trudel, R., & Cotte, J. (2008). Does being ethical pay?. Wall Street Journal, 1.

Janney, J. J., & Gove, S. (2017). Firm Linkages to Scandals via Directors and Professional Service Firms: Insights from the Backdating Scandal. Journal of Business Ethics, 140(1), 65-79.

Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

Wu, L. Z., Kwan, H. K., Yim, F. H. K., Chiu, R. K., & He, X. (2015). CEO ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility: A moderated mediation model. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(4), 819-8