Management: Ethical Dilemma of Discrimination against Female Employees in Apple and Samsung

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
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1. Scenario
The scenario involves a business in IT sector (in Apple Inc. and Samsung) where an incident
occurred regarding sexual discrimination of a female employee in the organization. The
workplace of the business in both Apple and Samsung has a very conservative nature where
practices of discrimination and biasness are very common in the form of job stereotypes,
gender based job roles and unequal job promotions and job opportunities for male and female
employees. The workplace does not promote a culture of inclusiveness and equality and
incidents of harassments of employees have also taken place on several occasions. The
incident involved one of the senior female employees working in the Human Resource
Department of Apple. She was denied leave for maternity as she was expecting in the next
months. The management considering her inability to continue with her work only offered
her to discontinue her employment and provided no assurance of re-employment after her
delivery in Samsung. As compensation she only would be given the medical coverage for her
delivery and the company would take no responsibility of her post natal medical care. The
senior Human Resource Manager and Vice President HR of Apple as well as Samsung, were
on the same page to consider that leave for pregnancy would be a loss for the business since it
was the end of the financial year the company could not take form of burden. Moreover, they
also thought that the employee was already under the knowledge of the work pressure and
dynamics and how pregnancy episode can adversely impact the companies (Apple and
Samsung). The female employee tried to express her grievance regarding these policies with
the Vice President HR considering that she was one of the best performers who consistently
gave high performance and was rewarded for the last five years. Even though she is
completely aware of all the practices and norms within the organization, she expected that her
track record would be helpful in retaining her job at Apple or gain a new job at Samsung.
Even though she continued her employment after her conception till sis months taking great

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risks to prove her credibility and her loyalty to work, sit did not persuade the management.
Instead the communication meant to her was very short, abrupt and one-sided where she was
just given the option to leave the company. The management in Apple and Samsung
moreover failed to take any initiative to facilitate her medical care during her term while she
was working and neither did they reduce the work pressure on her.
The stakeholders at Apple and Samsung who can be influenced in this case scenario include
the employee, her family, the management and leadership as well as the other female
employees in the organization. External stakeholders such as the customers, especially female
ones, might also be affected by the scenario as it can adversely impact their perspective on
the business image (Sipeet al., 2016).
The ethical dilemma that can be identified in the given case scenario in Apple and Samsung
is that of biasness against working females and the rift between the motherhood and their
professional attire. The scenario shows that the values of empathy and consideration for the
health and wellbeing of the employee in this situation has not been focused on by the
management. The inability of the management in Apple and Samsung to see the perspective
of the female employee, instead considering the natural process of a pregnancy as an
inconvenience to the business can be considered as a highly irresponsible and callus. The
leadership further showed a lack of understanding and responsibility towards the health and
wellbeing of their employees thereby showing a lack of ownership and accountability
towards their leadership and managerial duties (Heilman&Caleo, 2015). The situation
moreover was contributed by the fact that the employment contract did not clearly mention
such a requirement or clause regarding pregnancy and employment discontinuation for
employees who are female. This shows that the management did not take into consideration
the biological differences and differential biological needs of the male and female employees
and a lack of good policy making process. The ethical dilemma that stems out of this

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situation roots back to the policies which are male centric and provides a disadvantage to the
female employees. This gender inequality in Apple and Samsung can lead to discrimination
and discriminatory practices against the females and can limit their engagement with the
organization and moreover can affect their health and wellbeing. The employees therefore
stand to be adversely affected by such discriminatory policies as they do not get the necessary
privileges that the organization owes them and moreover the practices can jeopardize their
maintenance of good living and employment. The management and leadership of Apple and
Samsung can also be adversely affected from such an incident through a deterioration of the
image and negative publicity that can occur from such an event. This can also affect the
performance of the organization adversely and thereby impact all the involved stakeholders
of the organization. It can therefore be said that for the organization and its management, the
image is at stake while for the employees their job security is at stake (Adesoye et al., 2017).
2. Script
-Ethical dilemma/values presented in the scenario
The ethical dilemmas or values of conflict which can be related to this case scenario includes
the following:
 The restriction of female employeesin Apple and Samsung pertaining to her
employment during pregnancy can restrict the rights of women to work within an
organization. this creates a discriminatory practice of unequal rights which in turn
creates biased practices within the workforce. It can be mentioned that the practice of
providing equal opportunities to both male and female is an important aspect because
it involved the engagement from the entire society within a workforce in Apple and
Samsung thereby setting up a balance in the socio-economic status of people (Ruggs
et al., 2015).