Mattel Case Study: Business Ethics and Fairness Case

Business Ethics and Fairness Case

Justice refers to the act adjusting a conflicting claim between two or more people using laws, and impartiality to establish conformity. Justice can also imply using the legal system to foster law and order. Ideally, the purpose of justice is to establish a definite way of dealing with certain cases whenever they occur. At the same time, justice has a system of equality in the society when it comes to the distribution of resources. The major focus of justice is the process rather than the results of the process (Cohen et al, 2001). However, for justice to be propagated the process should be fair and non-oppressive to any group in the society because it is concerned with doing the moral obligation. In other words, justice can be perceived as a virtue that ensures that people are accorded what is rightfully theirs. On the other hand, fairness is a condition or a state of being objective and free from bias in handling a situation. It eliminates injustice and impartibility when making decisions regarding an issue. As a matter of fact, propagating fairness often involves introducing a third part to establish the decisions and actions. As such, the decisions are perceived to be free from emotional influence since fairness does not consider equitable end results. The main focus in being fair is to accord people their right; a concept that is commonly referred to as doing to other people what one would want them to do to him/her when in the same situation. Therefore fairness is more of people’s character in the society that is actually controlled by the factors within their power.

Honesty is a moral character that results into positive attributives such as being truthful and straight forward. It is a good quality that is free from lies and cheating other people. The main foundation of honesty is being truthful in both words and actions. Since there cannot be partial honesty, its end often results into integrity, trust and believe in other people.

In the recent past, Mattel Inc Company has been accused of having poor working conditions and a serious wage theft to its employees. The company was not paying its employees overtime and the mandatory insurance as expected. At the same time, the company used illegal means to reduce its employees’ benefits; this was informed of unpaid benefits which amounted to about $11 million. Moreover, Mattel Inc Company overworked its employees and at times forced to hard labor. In addition, the company degraded it working conditions and forced the employees to bear the burden of unsafe conditions in order to reduce the overall cost of labor. The other aspect that reflected unwarranted working condition at Mattel Inc Company was the absence of safety gears and lack of training on safety measures. Although these complains were raised by the staff did, it did not yield any fruits or made the situation better. Instead, the company claimed it had paid all its dues to the staff and what existed was a mere misunderstanding. However, other injustices surrounding Mattel Inc Company include signing of contracts; that is the company’s contracts are often filled by the company’s management; such that the employees are only given room to signs the contract forms. In addition, unachievable quotas are offered to the staff with very little payment thereby making it very difficult for employees to access social insurance.

It is unjustified for the company to withhold the employees’ wages. Lack of honesty is further seen when the company claims that it had paid all its employees. Moreover, it is not fair for the employees to deliver so much and contribute to the success of the company, yet their work condition is deplorable and poor (Crane et al, 2007). It is also unfairness for the employees to do the same kind of work, yet they are paid different packages while female workers are abused, yet they are unable to report because of the absence of a reporting system; therefore, female workers are forced to bear the pain and humiliation that comes with workplace abuse. Ironically, poor working conditions have caused chronic illnesses to many of their employees; despite these conditions, the company has made the resignation process difficult and almost impossible for any employee to resign.

Every worker should be paid all his/her dues in accordance to the work they have done for there to be justice within an organization. Justice further expects workers to with the company on how the unpaid dues would be paid if there are any. This would show honesty and transparency with its employees. Moreover, a clear and well defined grievance resolution system which is operational is required by the company to enable it promote its transparency. As such, the company should do away with the current system where the worker’s grievances are suppressed. The company’s production is also characterized by dishonesty. Such state can be resolved by ensuring that all the company’s suppliers are publicize to enhance a transparent supply sequence (Sethi et al, 2012). At the same time, involving third parties in the company’s operations could also improve the manner in which people in the company. Third parties such as NGOs could act as arbitrators between the company and the workers.

It would also be important for both workers and the company to be allowed to directly communicate their issues to the third party. The parties concerned can further find support and potential solutions from non-interested parties. This would promote honesty and fairness in handling grievances. The company should improve its purchase practice such that it is done on time to avoid putting much pressure on the employees to deliver within a short time. The mechanism of on-time purchase would also reduce the overtime working hours and the unpaid wages.

Promotion of justice and fairness can still be achieved through round table discussions. That is, the company can also invest on round table discussions with its workers on a fair representation of each side. Each party should be open about issues affecting them and be allowed to participate in the decision making process; this will promote equality in the company. The workers and the company should choose their representation in the meetings (Cohen et al, 2001). In addition, workers could organize themselves into a workers committee, selected by the workers themselves which would represent them in the management discussions. This would ensure that all issues affecting workers are communicated openly and eliminate incidences of victimization of specific employees. Moreover, it is fair for the staff to work in safe environment with proper protection from the chemicals and well ventilated with proper system of communication. Workers are further expected to deliver effectively in favorable workplace environment while the employer is supposed to ensure that workers are paid their dues promptly. The fact that Mattel is a leading toy company in the industry making an annual profit of more than $700 million justifies that the workers are productive at work. Therefore, it is fair for the company to offer its employees incentives to motivate them. The company can also improve social justice and corporate social responsibility by initiating specialized projects within the community where it operates. Such measures can me realized through reasonable goals where the community and the company make the social responsibility public for the community to easily relate with it. This would promote social justice and impact the community positively.

The most appropriate theory that could apply to the Mattel Company is the deontological theory. Deontological theory applies most because of the fact that the end result often justifies the means. Main features in the theory like being rule–centered, duty focused, and commanding are all reflected from how the company handles its employees (Lafollette et al, 2013). There are no ethical solutions that are sought to a conflicting situation. However, whenever there is a conflict and the theory is applied, ethics is not one of the considerations. Mattel’s company focus is to be the best known toy company. Nonetheless, for it to achieve such desire, it requires high standards and proper working conditions. Hover, the company somehow does not to care about how it is achieving its goal except for the fact that it cares about the end result of being the best toy company, yet its employees are suffering. In this theory, the interest of others is not protected; it is selfish and self centered. This is what is observed in the company and how it handles the employee’s grievances. The consequence determines which action is best suited for a particular process. The theory also considers the benefit of many other people at the expense of the minority. In the same manner, the company wants to deliver the best toys and products to its customers; however, its employees could go through a lot of pain and suffering for this to be achieved. In the quest to achieve its objectives, the company has continued to break the country’s labor laws which are unethical. This is why it does not pay its staff based of the agreed terms of payment.

References

Sethi, S., Veral, E., Shapiro, H., & Emelianova, O. (2011). Mattel, Inc.: Global manufacturing principles (GMP) – A life-cycle analysis of a company-based code of conduct in the toy industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 99(4), 483-517. Konovsky, M. A. (2000). Understanding procedural justice and its impact on business organizations. Journal of Management, 26(3), 489-511.

Cohen-Charash, Y., & Spector, P. E. (2001). The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 86(2), 278-321.

Frankel, T. (2005). Trust and honesty: America’s business culture at a crossroad. New York: Oxford University Press.

LaFollette, H., & Persson, I. (Eds.). (2013). The Blackwell guide to ethical theory. London: Wiley-Blackwell.

Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2007). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. New York: Oxford University Press.