Ethics and Sustainability for Indigenous Nations- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theEthics and Sustainability for Indigenous Nations. Answer: Introduction Although McDonalds is a multinational company with big fame and strong sales volume, various ethical issues associated with how it operates its business has been reported in various media platforms recently (Williams, 2015). Irrespective of being one of the leading fast food companies, some of the ethical issues associated with this company has adverse impacts on its performance. Operating in different countries means ethical issue arising from one of its branches may lead to serious impacts on the rest of the branches irrespective of being in different countries. Ethical issues One of the recent ethical issue which has been trading recently is failing to consider corporate social responsibility in its business operations. Business ethics do not permit companies to only do whatever is necessary to make money but also to engage in activities which contributes positively to the wellbeing of the society (Wright, 2011). Undertaking activities which contributes to making the society live in unhealthy environment like releasing harmful products to the environment is wrong. Corporate social responsibility states that every company should provide safe working condition and use manufacturing processes that do not contribute to environmental pollution (Sharon, 2015). On its operations, this company has been having negative impact on the environment in different ways like lack of proper waste management practices, using products which are harmful to the environment like plastic papers among others. This company purchases its meat from privatised farms established on the land where a lush of rainforest reside. This means not only polluting the air, McDonalds is also destroying some of the resources which would play a role in cleaning it out (Keong, 2017). The trees that are levelled plays a significant role than just cleaning the air and attracting rainfall. They also provide homes to very many animals that are likely killed or being made homeless when the trees are torn down. Therefore, it is wrong to harm these tress because doing away with them may lead various things like draught, soil erosion, killing of wild animals among others. Apart from corporate social responsibility, McDonald has also been associated with unhealthy relationship with its stakeholders. Recently, various media platforms reported that this company was not providing the required working condition and adhering to the human rights (Keong, 2017). Some of the issues which led to improper relationship with its stakeholders include failing to give employee benefits which are worth the job they provide, giving little or no benefits, and forcing employees to undertake duties in unhealthy and unsanitary conditions. Other ethical issues which led to lack of proper relationship with employees comprised of wage theft and mistreatment of pregnant women. Most of the media platforms which exposed these issues said that employees in this company cannot live a normal life under the working conditions they face (Christiana, 2014). It is wrong to mistreat people who contribute to the success of any business and therefore the management should provide the required measures to ensure these issues are addressed. Reports indicated that the issue of treating employees unfairly and making them work in bad working conditions happens in different countries especially the underdeveloped ones and the third world countries. Abusing the rights of staff members is unethical and can make the management to experience serious problems (Bernal, 2012). Making the company to stay wealthy while leaving employees on a low wage or making them work on environment which is not friendly is wrong. Employees plays a significant role in making an organization attain its goals and therefore they should be treated as important assets. Other issue which traded in media platforms concerning ethical issues associated with this company was selling expired food to its customers. Although this company stated that it considers ensuring the food sold to consumers is of high quality and healthy, the reports indicated that some of the customers had noticed that the food they bought from this company was expired, or had hygienic issues (Bahr, 2015). For example, it sold chicken 90 minutes after they were cooked, which was a contravention of the organizations 30 minute rule. McDonalds staff was also associated with preparing and serving food which is not hygienic. Engaging in such activities is unethical because it can make the customers to develop serious health complications (Roxana, 2014). It is the responsibility of the management to ensure its staff does what is right and values hygiene in all activities in order to provide food which is safe for consumption. The company must enhance management and strictly implement food safety standards to ensure the health of its consumers. Effects Upholding ethics in business operations is vital because it is among the factors which contributes to positive reputation to an organization (Blake, 2016). The recent ethical issues associated with McDonald can impact its success irrespective of being one of the leading organizing in the hospitality industry in the world. Not adhering with corporate social responsibility makes the public to develop negative attitude towards the company because every person wants to be associated with companies which consider preserving the environment and doing what is right for the wellbeing of the society (Giorgio, 2013). Consumers also expect that companies are supposed to be more environmentally and social responsible in operating their businesses and if this does not happen according to their expectations, they switch their interest to other companies. This means to maintain customer loyalty, the management should consider operating the company in a manner which contributes positively to the wellbeing of the society. If McDonald does not show CSR commitment, it can experience long-term negative effects on how it relates with the society, which in turn affect its brand image. When a company brand image is negatively impacted, it fails to have strong competitive advantage which in turn may make it to experience reduced sales and low profitability (Teodorina, 2014). Engaging in Environmental pollution activities is violation of law in most countries and can make the company to end up paying huge fines. Failing to provide good payment, safe working conditions and respecting the rights of its employees is unethical and can lead to various adverse impacts to the company (Sarvaiya, 2014). First, it can make it to experience increased employee turnover which can lead to increased expenses on hiring and training. This is because all employees wants to be associated with companies which respect their rights, offer them safe working environment and give them salaries which are worth the services they provide. If this does not happen, they tend to seek jobs from companies which give them fair compensation. Lack of valuing employees can also make the company to be subjected to legal actions (Marianne, 2015). For example, in most of the countries where this company operates, there are strict rules concerning minimum wage and offering good working conditions to employees. If a company does not consider adhering to these rules, it may be subjected to legal actions which can at times risk spending a lot of money in paying fines or even closure of the company. Regular strikes resulting from the manner in which this company treats its employees also poses the risk of giving it bad reputation. This is because positive reputation comes from not only production of quality goods or services but also from how the company relates to its stakeholder (Michael, 2010). When such strikes occur and reported in various media platforms, people across the world sees how the company relates with its employees and end up developing negative attitude towards it. Selling expired food to customers is quite unethical and can make this company experience reduced sales and low profitability because of change of customer loyalty (Lim, 2014). Selling of expired products or changing labels indicating the actual expiring date of foodstuff can also make this company be forced by authorities to close down because of putting human life at risk through making them consume products which have passed expiry dates. Selling expired food can also make McDonald to experience great impact on its reputation because people like being associated with companies which value doing what is right (Olsen, 2016). Selling food stuffs which have passed the expiry date can make employees to switch their loyalty to other companies which provided similar products because consumers like purchasing from companies which not only provide high quality products but also products which are safe for consumption. What can be done? There are various actions which this company can take to address these ethical issues. All multinational organisations including this company should have corporate social responsibility strategy (Blake, 2016). McDonalds management should ensure the business model of this company is socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. Apart from making profits, this company should be responsible for the totality of its influence on all stakeholders. The stakeholders in this case can be employees, customers, business associates, the government, investors, and the community. In order to avoid some of the ethical issues like underpayment and violation of the rights of its employees, the company should work based on the law. In most of the countries where this company operates, there are rules which direct organizations to give employees a minimum wage of a particular percentage, ensure good working environment, good working hours, fair benefits among others (Blake, 2016). The management should adhere to these rules by ensuring all employees gets what is worth the services they provide. The management should not only target on maximizing its profit but also on ensuring its employees feel appreciated through better payments. The company should also ensure it does not sell expired products to its consumers. This can be through ensuring all products are checked before they are sold and proper labels indicating expiry dates are properly shown on all products. Selling expired products can harm customer interests and confidence, which can in turn make them to consider purchasing similar products from other companies (Michael, 2010). The company should respect and protect the rights and interests of its consumers, through ensuring they provide products which are safe for consumption. Providing strict rules concerning how to handle food stuffs which are not hygienic is also another way of addressing ethical issues which arise from preparing and serving contaminated to the consumers (Bahr, 2015). For example, the management can state in its rules that any food associated with hygienic issues should be termed as waste. The company can also address this issue through taking disciplinary actions on employees who do not consider proper hygiene while preparing or serving food to its employees. Training employees on various matters concerning how to enhance hygiene while handling food can also play a significant role in assisting the company to address issues which arise from being associated with lack of considering hygienic measures while preparing and serving food to the customers. One of the strategies which McDonald can use to address its CSR issues is making all employees understand that it is unethical to engage in activities which puts the lives of the community at risk. The management should also come up with programs aimed at promoting the wellbeing of the society like undertaking environmental conservation activities and educating the society on the importance of living in health environment (Keong, 2017). using material that are friendly to the environment can also play a role in avoiding ethical issues which arise from lack of considering CSR in its operations. Conclusion Working based on business ethics is important and has various benefits to organizations (Blake, 2016). McDonalds should ensure it prepares and serves health food, it operates based on corporate social responsibility and values its employees through better payments and provision of better working environment. Failing to operate based on ethics can make this company experience a lot of problems. Some of them include facing legal actions, negative reputation, spending a lot of money on fines, lack of customer loyalty which can result to reduced sales, low profitability, among others. Some of the ways which McDonalds can do to address some of the ethical issues include coming up with strict rules targeted on making the company do what is right, training employees on the importance of upholding ethics on its operations, working based on food safety regulations, participating and coming up with programs aimed at promoting corporate social responsibility others. References Bahr, A. M. (2015). People of Place, Ethics of Earth: Indigenous Nations, Interfaith Dialogue, and Environmental Sustainability. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 50(1), 98-102. Bernal, E. D. (2012). The Development of a Model of Sustainability Management, Based on Biological Ethics. 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