Child labor has definitely become an controversial ethical issue in the business world. I agree with Yin Yin’s opinion on how firm gains improved corporate image by abiding to ethical behaviors.
Organizational behavior and culture can affect the company’s view on ethical issues. It is important for managers to be conventional in moral development to create changes to unethical business behaviors.
Furthermore, businesses who support child labor did not appropriately access the four ethical criteria of utilitarianism, rights, justice and care. Unethical business only cared for self interest in cheap labor. Neither did they consider the children’s rights for proper education. Of course in another point of view, the children’s families were not wealthy enough to provide proper education and therefore children were forced to work at agricultural and textile factories. Contrarily, it is not just for businesses to capture this weak point of poorer families and take advantage of their labor. This poses another societal problem. If these children continue to not receive education, their next generation may not be supported for education either and continues to fall into poverty. This becomes a viscous cycle and businesses would take chances to utilize child labor in order to maximize their profits with cheap labor. Businesses should care about their social responsibilities and how they affect their consumers’ behaviors eventually creating a more ethical organizational environment.
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