Gender Pay Gap in Vodafone: Ethical Issues, Role of Business, Stakeholders, and Recommendations

Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1 A........................................................................................................................................1
1. Ethical issue or issues..............................................................................................................1
2. Role of business in society.......................................................................................................2
3. Five Stakeholders.....................................................................................................................2
4. Examples of good and bad ethics.............................................................................................3
5. Recommendations....................................................................................................................3
PART 1 B.........................................................................................................................................4
1. Description of theories.............................................................................................................4
2. Application of theories.............................................................................................................4
3. Criticism of theories.................................................................................................................5
4. Recommendations....................................................................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
1. Ethical leadership management in an un/ethical organisational culture..................................6
2. Analysis of the way in which integrity and compliance in an un/ethical business
environment can be maintained...................................................................................................6
3. Reflection on the own experience and knowledge..................................................................6
4. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Gender pay gap can be defined as a difference between the wages of staff members on
the basis of their gender. In other words, it can be defined as the variation in the remuneration of
male and female staff members who are working on the same job profile. There are various
factors which are promoting it and these are demographics such as race, age, educational level,
regional difference between belief and attitude about gender and work (Akama-kisseh, 2016). It
results in lower moral of women workers as they are getting lower salaries than men for the same
work. This project is based upon this issue and for better understanding on this concept the
organisation selected is Vodafone. It is one of the largest multinational telecommunications
sector company which having headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire and London. It operates
business all around the world including Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa etc. It was founded by
Gerry Whent and Ernest Harrison. Present essay covers various topics such as ethical issues, role
of business in society, five stakeholders, example of good and bad ethics along with
recommendations to the company for the purpose of dealing with the problems. Additionally,
some theories are discussed and applied with criticism and recommendations and a reflection for
own experience is also provided in this project.
PART 1 A
1. Ethical issue or issues
One of the common ethical issue which is affecting all the business entities such as
Vodafone is gender pay gap. It is very important for the company to look at this problem from an
ethical perspective of ethics as it may affect the staff engagement in future and also result in lack
of skilled and experienced female staff. The gender pay gap in Vodafone is very high and the
women employees are getting lower salaries as compared to the men workforce. At the upper
level of the company proportion of pay bad for male staff is 72.2% on the other hand the
percentage for the same in context of women is only 27.8% which is very low. It shows that
there is a huge gender pay gap in the company which is discriminating between the employees in
the basis of their gender (Gender pay gap in Vodafone, 2019). 88.8% of the male staff members
are getting bonus from the enterprise but only 87.8% women are receiving bonus from the side
of the company. The management is required to pay attention towards these element and reduce
the discrimination. Due to this issue the public image of the company is getting affected because
1

of the gender pay gap within the enterprise. It is affecting the mind set of skilled women who are
looking for job in telecommunication sector as they think that they will also get lower
compensation. It is creating a negative image of the organisation in the market and may also
affect its profitability in future (Camillus, 2014).
2. Role of business in society
Vodafone plays a vital role in the society as it is one of the largest companies which are
running business in telecommunication sector. The main aim of the company is to connect the
people with a better future for which the enterprise render different services to the clients so that
they can stay in touch with their friends and families living in various corners of world. There are
various digital facilities which are developed by it and it sparks in the development of them
which is leading the world towards digital transformation. It shows that the enterprise is playing
a major role in the society by awaking the individuals about different kinds of services which
could be used by them to stay connected with people from various locations. The company
believes that maintaining healthy balance is possible with the help of a digital life which will
reduce the time spent by them to perform daily life activities (Role of Vodafone in society, 2019).
3. Five Stakeholders
The individuals or external as well as internal parties who are having power or interest
within the organisation are known as stakeholders. In order to maintain their interest it is very
important for all the companies to make sure that all their requirements are fulfilled properly.
Some of the stakeholders of Vodafone are being impacted due to the gender pay gap of the
enterprise. These are employees, managers, investors, customers and government.
Staff members are affected because they are not getting right amount of compensation
and due to this their work quality is also decreased. Managers are also suffering because of
gender pay gap because they have to face conflicts with female employees as their salaries are
very low in comparison of men workforce (Cohen, 2017). As the level of discrimination in the
workforce is high in Vodafone in the basis of their salaries therefore it is affecting the
productivity of the company and resulting in lower profits. It is impacting investors because low
profitability is affecting their returns on the money invested by them in the company. Customers
are also getting impacted due to gender pay gap in Vodafone because it is creating a bad image
of the enterprise in the market which affect their interest in the organisation. Lastly, government
is also getting impacted due to the problem of the entity because it is very important for all the
2