Wal-Mart's Ethical Ethics In The Workplace

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One of the most serious allegations of unfair treatment reported by some Wal-Mart employees is that of being asked to work off the clock. This means that employees are pressured to do overtime work for which they do not get paid.

Employees are classified into two categories in which they get paid. They are salaried employees and hourly employees. Hourly employees are also known as non-exempt employees and they don’t have a contract. They are typically paid on an hour-by-hour basis for actual hours worked. According to federal law, hourly employees are eligible for overtime if they work more than 40 hours a week. According to the US Labour Code, salaried employees are also known as exempt employees. They receive employment contract. In

I would argue that Wal-Mart’s employment practices are immoral based on different philosophies which are utilitarianism and justice. Utilitarianism seeks the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The “good” here can be referring to “happiness” (Fraedrich, 2013). Based on utilitarianism, Wal-Mart’s ethical standard is immoral as the consequences failed to benefit the employees. Although by underpaying the employees, the stakeholders would gain more profits, however it has resulted in significant unhappiness among the majority of the employees. Thus, this action is considered as immoral.

Moreover, justice ethics evaluates ethicalness on the basis of fairness, distributive, procedural, and interactional (Fraedrich, 2013). For Wal-Mart, it failed to comply with the ethical standard of providing fair treatment toward its employee and discriminated the employees ' right. Thus, in justice ethics is considered as immoral.

In short, Wal-Mart’s labor practices are clearly immoral. Looking from the CEO and board of directors’ point of view, besides looking at where the company should be heading towards, they also know what is going on within the company as they receive feedback and complaints. In an example, there were complaints to corporate executives about the pay disparities and sexual discriminations but received little or no

If I were the CEO of Wal-Mart, I will ensure high ethical employee behaviour. Every level of management and non-management employees must fully understand the ethical implications of their decisions as it relates to their personal and professional values. Corporations need to implement a Business Code of Ethics and review with all employees. Also, an excellent tool for learning is case studies and role-playing. The key in this learning is to make the Code accessible and position it as a helpful tool for all employees. It is also recommended that all business managers display the Code on their desks in a healthy manner. Real world learning and the negative end results of unethical behaviour or actions should be showcased to support this