For every business, a good public image is important. Perhaps it is the reason why many firms engage in a lot of branding efforts to appeal to customers as well as potential customers. Branding is usually done to make customers buy the products or services of the firm and be loyal to the business as well. However, presenting a good public image also means that the firm needs to make sure that there are no internal issues that affect its operations adversely (Driver, 2013). The most crucial factor that contributes either to the success or failure of a firm is labor. Labor comprises of both the skilled and unskilled employees. Skilled labor usually comprises of those individuals who are in the managerial positions, assistant positions and those that have abilities to do certain tasks. On the contrary, skilled laborers are those individuals that have not gone through any formal training. That means that they mostly do manual jobs that do not need skills to be done. The success or failure of any company depends on how well a company or business entity treats both the skilled and unskilled labor.
All workers, whether skilled or unskilled have to be given fair remunerations for a business entity to experience smooth operations. That means that fair wages motivates workers to perform optimally. However, some companies take advantage of their workers, especially those working in unskilled capacities by giving them low wages. As a result, different countries in the world have established minimum wages, which companies need to pay the unskilled employees. This article describes the ethical dilemma faced by international companies when trying to operate in different countries due to the different wages and working policies. In particular, the article describes the case of Josh Garret, and defines crucial terms such as ethical relativism and moral universalism in relation to the case study.
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According to the case study, the objective of Josh is to find a convenient place, where the costs of distribution would be low. The case of Josh is a typical case where any company would want to lower its cost of production while looking forward to generating a significant amount of revenue. Josh sees Iceland as the ideal place where the costs of production would be relatively low. Before describing the ethical and non-ethical issues in the case study, it is vital to understand what an ethical issue is. According to Braunack-Mayer (2001), there are three aspects that makes a situation to be regarded as an ethical dilemma. The first condition is that the situation ought to make an individual make a resolution on the best course of action. That means that situations that are difficult or make people uncomfortable but do not require a choice are not considered as ethical dilemmas. The second factor is that there ought to be different options to choose from. Lastly, any choice that the individual who is faced with the situation decides to take must have some ethical principles that are compromised. Therefore, an ethical issue is one that presents a company in bad light and the choices which the management decides to take have consequences.
The ethical issue in the case study concerns Josh’s intention to use the loopholes in Iceland to the advantage of the company. The government of Iceland allows individuals aged 15 and those who have finished compulsory school to get employed. The issue is that once they attain the age of 18, Josh releases them because the government policy stipulates that once they attain the age of 18, they are supposed to negotiate with their employers so that they are employed on a fulltime basis. Nevertheless, individuals who are employed on fulltime earn more wages, a situation that could strain the company. The ethical issue is that Josh fires the youth once they almost attain the age of renegotiating their employment terms against their wish. After firing them, he again hires younger people. The intention of Josh is to use the Iceland employment policy to his advantage. The main reason why the issue is an ethical concern is that the youth are fired without any tangible reason. It is their age that causes them to lose their jobs. Secondly, although Josh had the objective of helping employ young people, his actions seem not to be genuine. Thirdly, young people lose their jobs without being given satisfactory reasons.
On the contrary, the non-ethical issue in the case study concerns the variations in the salaries paid to the non-skilled workers in the different countries. Different countries have different policies and regulations, and Josh has not violated any payment policies in the various countries. The various governments must have considered several factors before setting the minimum wages for the unskilled workers. If Josh would have decided to operate in Germany, for instance, the salary for the unskilled workers would not have changed. Josh’s move to Iceland was for convenience purposes; a strategy meant to lower operation costs. Secondly, the employment of young people below the age of 18 years is not an ethical issue since the government of Iceland permits people with such an age to seek employment. In fact, on one side, Josh helped reduce the level of unemployment among young people in the country. Additionally, people in Iceland did not raise any objection concerning the employment of individuals with such a young age.
Concerning the ethical dilemma in the case study, Josh is torn between two choices. The first issue concerns allowing young people to renegotiate their employment terms when they reach the age of 18 or continue to fire and hire new young employees. If Josh allows young people to continue working past the age of 18 on new employment terms, his company will experience a wage burden, bearing in mind that people in Iceland earn higher wages than people in most countries of the world. That means that the amount of revenue generated by the company may be compromised. On the contrary, if Josh persists in firing and hiring of new employees, the image of the company may be tainted badly, leading to losses. Also, Josh’s company may deal with many cases of employees who are unsatisfied with the manner in which they were fired. Josh may be compelled by the courts to compensate such workers.
It is vital to define two terms; ethical relativism and moral universalism, to understand the case study best. According to Quintelier, De Smet & Fessler (2013), ethical relativism is borne from the perception that there are no standards that are universally valid. That means that the definition of what is wrong or right depends on when or where an individual is born. However, the conclusion on what is acceptable or unacceptable is not decided by an individual as that would be subjectivism, rather; it is the community that makes the decision. A prominent example of ethical relativism concerns Japan, where the culture allows people to issue expensive gifts to other individuals so that their demands are processed promptly. However, such practices are described as bribery in many countries. Mora universalism seems to be the opposite of ethical relativism. In moral universalism, it is believed that despite the different cultural practices, there ought to be standards that apply to everyone. Most of the time, the elements that constitute moral universalism are basic values that popularly referred to as the laws of nature. Examples of such values include honesty, respect of human life, and the right to possess goods. Moral universalism thus comprises of both religious and universal moral values.
According to the definition of ethical relativism and moral universalism, the case study presents a case of ethical relativism. The first aspect of ethical relativism is that the government of Iceland allows individuals who are aged below the age of 18 years to be employed. Most countries in the world consider employment of people as young as 15, as cases of child labor. People who are caught with employees as young as 15 are subjected to legal action. The second aspect concerns the variation of the minimum wages in the different countries. It seems as if the minimum wage is set according to factors such as living conditions in the particular countries. It is this aspect of ethical relativism that makes Josh to ask whether it is fair that people in Iceland are paid higher wages than others working in the same capacities in other countries.
Conclusively, the ethical dilemma that is present in the case study is faced by many other companies in the world. It is true that companies would want to open offices or production plants in places that have favorable conditions. The issue that usually emerges concerns payment of workers in the different environments. Workers in different countries try to compare what their colleagues earn in different countries, and if they find out that they earn less, it becomes the basis of their agitation. However, most of the companies would have complied with the employment policies of the various countries. Such a scenario is a case of ethical relativism.
References
Braunack-Mayer, A. J. (2001). What makes a problem an ethical problem? An empirical perspective on the nature of ethical problems in general practice. Journal of Medical Ethics , 27 (2), 98-103.
Driver, J. (2013). Ethics: The Fundamentals . Oxford: Wiley.
Quintelier, K. J., De Smet, D., & Fessler, D. M. (2013). The moral universalism-relativism debate. KLESIS–Revue philosophique , 27 , 211-262.
