The McDonald brothers introduced a new way of eating in the 1950s. The business soon developed into one of the biggest and famous companies. Due to the mass production of burghers due to the expansion of the corporation, McDonald’s introduced consistent production techniques. These methods include replacing freshly ground beef with frozen beef patties. They also modified potatoes genetically instead of local produce to ensure a smooth taste of fries. The company is widely famous for its fries and burgers sales on over 30,000 restaurants in about 119 nations.
Ethical Problem
Despite McDonald's effort in supporting kids with a critical illness, the company offers dies, which leads to obesity, asthma, and heart diseases ( Falit, 2003) . Approximately 60 out of 250 pediatric hospitals have restaurants selling fast-food. The corporation’s environmental practice is questionable ( Schwartz & Brownell, 2007) . A hamburger patty, unlike beef patty ground locally, has the meat processed from over a thousand cattle from about five nations. This increases the chance of a contaminated patty. Using products from such a great distance is an environmental concern. Tracing the source of contamination is complicated by numerous sources.
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Apart from environmental and individual well-being concerns, McDonald’s products also have an effect on some cultures in East Asia. The expansion of the company and its competitors has been criticized for undermining traditional cooking techniques and creating a similar global culture. The Chinese take their children to McDonald’s as a way of connecting them to the outside world. By doing this, the Chinese are losing their culture. In the next two decades, people will forget McDonald’s origin.
McDonald’s also affected other cultures with its actions. Hindu states, some Japanese and majority of vegetarians have controversies with the corporation. They disputed on unspecified beef flavors in fries. Hindus believe that cows are holy. McDonald’s apologized and paid $10,000,000 to the affected groups. A controversy arose in Southlake in the United States. A customer found a rat under a lettuce leaf inside her salad at McDonald’s. The customer did not fall ill but sued the company for close to two million dollars for the dead rat.
Labor-Related Issues
Apart from the health issues, McDonald’s has problems with its employees. The employees are paid a minimum wage who perform factory work type. If the work done by these employees were reclassified as a factory-type job, over four million jobs would be added to the economy in the United States at a period where these jobs are exported. Statistically, this will make the U.S. a powerful industrial nation once more. The company pays low wages despite being worth over $1B (McDonald's ethical issues, n.d).
Failure prevention
Previously, several corporations have undertaken initiatives to enhance integrity. These initiatives run differently across companies. Some companies concentrate on fundamental integrity values reflecting social duties like respecting other’s rights, dealing fairly, honesty, and obeying the law. Other corporations focus on aspirations. These are ethically desirable values that might not be a moral obligation. These values include excellent customer service, getting involved in the community, and committing to diversity. Behavior is the beginning of the implementation process. Companies need to develop ethical conduct with specific good behavior alongside audits, control, and a motivation system. Other companies put more focus in attitude development and less on particular actions. Individual commitment and the right decision-making processes will result in proper operation.
Many companies have implemented and adopted differing ethical strategies. Their management has realized the importance of the approach. The initiative has immensely contributed to every company’s work environment, vital relationships, and its competitiveness. The office of ethics should be responsible for responding to employee concerns in every company.
References
Deepankar. (2013, October 13). McDonalds Case on Ethics. Retrieved November 14, 2019, from https://www.slideshare.net/BUDEEPANKAR/mc-donalds-27139267 .
Falit, B. (2003). Fast food fighters fall flak plaintiffs fail to establish that mcdonalds should be liable for obesity-related illnesses. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 31 (4), 725-729. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2003.tb00140.x
McDonald's ethical issues. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://mcdonaldsethics.weebly.com/mcdonalds-ethical-issues.html.
Rutkow, L., Vernick, J., Hodge, J., & Teret, S. (2008). Preemption and the obesity epidemic: State and local menu labeling laws and the nutrition labeling and education act. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 36 (4), 772-789. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2008.00337.x
Schwartz, M., & Brownell, K. (2007). Actions necessary to prevent childhood obesity: Creating the climate for change. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 35 (1), 78-89. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007.00114.x
