Unethical Shopping At Walmart

This article is written using an enlightened self-interest approach. The author describes Wal-Mart behaving in a way that increases its own benefits, with the outcome of their actions being the most important consideration. An example of this is the author’s notion that Wal-Mart’s low prices are due to “the exploitation of its workers” (McLachlan, 2009, pg. 289), “systematic use of ‘maquiladoras’ in conditions of extreme exploitation” (McLachlan, 2009, pg. 289), and Wal-Mart’s threat to move production to China to obtain lower prices. In this article, the author implies that Wal-Mart’s actions demonstrate that they are not concerned with finding the most ethical behaviour; they are merely interested in the action(s) that most closely achieve their goal to remain the “biggest chain of direct sales to the consumer in North America”. (McLachlan, 2009, pg. 289)

In “Labouring the Wal-Mart Way”, Deenu Parmar discusses Wal-Mart’s poor business practices and mistreating of their employees. Parmar is biased in that she focuses primarily on the negative aspects of Wal-Mart and discusses mostly from the employees’ point of view. The essay attempts to sway people to stop shopping at Wal-Mart because the author portrays it as unethical by focusing on the poor wages, anti-unionization, and paying off charges instead of properly addressing the laws being broken. Parmar does point out that people will continue to shop at Wal-Mart, seemingly guilt-tripping those who do shop there. The whole article relies heavily on an emotional appeal, which forces the reader to sympathize for the employees of the company without

6) Are Wal-Mart’s persuasive tactics concerning its value to communities ethical in approach and intention?

Some, towns that have been dominated by the monopoly that is Wal-Mart, see up to 80% of the local crime take place in the parking lots of Wal-Mart. Many of these Wal-Mart’s don’t have security surveillance cameras outside of the store, unless they are cameras to get rid of union sympathizers. The fact that the actively secure the inside of the store protecting their merchandise and does not implement the same security outside of the store shows that Wal-Mart only cares about itself. In the documentary, notably around 30 cities were listed as having serious crimes of rape, murder, shooting, assault, carjacking, and ect. Most of which were un-documented due to lack of evidence. A mega-corporation that claims to utilize all necessary precautions and security fails to implement it outside of their benefit. Also in some these small town Wal-mart has been known to drive out small businesses competitors without any remorse. People who make their entire living or have sustained their family with a business for generation has seen all there hard work and dedication trampled by the giant feet of Wal-mart. It is unfair that Wal-Mart has monopolized its industry and is un-regulated by the government meaning

Discuss: Laws are set rules that may help guide our conduct but they do not always agree. Some ethical issues are not legally required, but ethically warranted. We have recently seen a prime example of someone standing by their ethics, but breaking the law in the recent case of the Kentucky woman refusing to provide a certificate of marriage to a gay couple. There is a connection between ethical behavior within an organization and its chances of long-term survivability. Any unethical issues will come to light at some point and they will destroy the company. Although some unethical behaviors may not be unlawful, they can destroy a brand. Kathy Lee Gifford did not do anything illegal by allowing children in other country to sew her clothing

Costco is the second largest retailer in the world. My family and I have been shopping at Costco for over 10 years now and there’s something different about the wholesale warehouse experience. It’s the vast expanse of products sitting on wooden pallets stacked on two story shelves; the employees constantly reorganizing, inventorying, preparing and welcoming you; and the very fact you’re an exclusive member because you pay $55 annually to be able to shop there. Costco strives to create that ethically transformed organization and embodies that in their mission statement – “To continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices (Fanfare, 2016).” This is Costco’s selling point but they incorporate core values that “serve as enduring, guiding principles that reflect what organizational members find intrinsically valuable (Johnson, 2016).” Costco has created this ethical culture and it reflects in the ideals of its members while inspiring and promoting ethical behavior (Johnson, 2016). This is probably why the average customer, such as myself, keeps coming back.

Robert Greenwald uses a strong appeal to ethos, a slippery road argument, and a text track to bring attention to his audience about Wal-Mart. He establishes his argument by first presenting a claim made by Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott and then showing the flip side to that claim with many examples from testimony’s from actual Wal-Mart employee’s. Through these arguments the audience can determine that Wal-Mart is simply a bad company and that consumers should stop spending their money in a company that does not care for human rights and mistreats their employee’s.

“If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone… we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” –Sam Walton (“What We Do”)

Although prices at Wal-Mart are considered as reasonable they are still having their own issues in relation to ethical issues and unethical practices consists of consumers were complaining about how they were not paying what they consider a fair prices for their groceries. Wal-Mart use to cover up what they were doing to their customers the advocate group followed the Food Chain Workers Alliance in order to investigate the root of the problem in the outsourcing ethical systems. Wal-Mart worker are currently complaining they are not being treated fairly because they are overworking their employees and they are not receiving enough pay based on their skills and qualifications they should determine how qualified their employees are for the job of their choice. Wal-Mart just followed existing law.

Walmart is the number one producer of jobs for the people in America and all around the world. Walmart creates many jobs for people in America, some of them who like the job and some of them that don’t. Sam Walton believes that if you want to take care of the customers then you have to make sure that you are taking care of the employees in the store as well. If you make the employees happy and get them to like their job then the employees will be respectful and treat the customers good as well. Many people like Walmart because of their low prices, but there are many people who don’t like Walmart because of the way the employees treat them and the way that the whole organization works.

Whether it's a brand new 59” LCD widescreen television or merely a pack of gum, each purchase you make from a Walmart store inadvertently results in a higher price paid; both within your community as well as the greater world around you. Relying entirely upon you-the ever consuming scavenger – to fuel the bustling utopia of the manufacturing industry, exists Walmart. More importantly, Walmart relies upon the oblivion towards matters outside of our own lives that we as society generally project. However, by looking past our own greed in a world full of price cuts and sales, we can expose Walmart for what it truly is; an entirely corrupt corporation feeding off of countries' vulnerabilities and reaping the benefits.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world 's largest retail enterprise, with total revenue of $421.8 billion and a net income of $16.4 billion in 2011. 1 It is also the world 's largest employer, with 2.1 million employees worldwide in 2010 2, not including workers hired by its providers. In my opinion, Wal-Mart provides a clear illustration through which to look at how many multinational companies (MNCs) take part in an illegal and unethical behavior. They use their bargaining power and market control to pressure countries to overlook environmental degradation and violation of national labor laws. They dictate expected pricing for products, particularly through imports from overseas countries. Labor is fulfilled mostly by underage and underpaid employees. In the United States, since 2005, Wal-Mart has paid about $1 billion in damages to U.S. employees in six different cases related to unpaid work. 3 Furthermore, Wal-Mart opposes any form of collective action, even when employees are not seeking unionization, but simply more respect. 4 The fact that Wal-Mart opposes unions exist. The company has a long history of fighting them, to the point of closing stores after employees organize. Managers have been instructed to talk to their teams about why unions are so unwanted in their business. Overseas, the company was involved in a series of scandals, including multiple cases of bribery. In April 2012, The New York Times published a story that

An employee spends several hours a week on her cell phone talking with her children and their associated caregivers, schools, and friends

If Wal-Mart has such little regard for their own employees, it would make it difficult for a company to have minimal regard to where their merchandise is coming from. On the documentary, The High Price of Low Cost, informs of the countries and Wal-Mart’s effects on these countries, including its presence for manufacturing in China. The workers work in conditions of extreme temperatures from morning until dawn and provided boarding, which is shared with several others and lined with bunk beds. The board and utilities are deducted from their wages even if the workers choose not to stay on the facilities the board is still deducted from their pay. These workers that are looking for employment to make a better future for their families are

Wal-Mart is certainly credited with changing the retail world as we know it with its low prices and big stores with huge selections but it has come at a price. They have struggled with issues that question the ethics as a company and legal issues that question how they manage people. These issues will continue to hurt their organization unless a complete change in management thinking and actions are changed. As a socially responsible organization, their management planning in this area is second to none. Lets hope they take the same effort in improving their image when it comes to ethics and legal issues.