Ethical Dilemmas in Organizations

This assignment delves into the complexities of organizational ethics. It encourages critical analysis of various ethical dilemmas encountered in business settings, drawing upon real-world examples like the 7-Eleven worker exploitation case and theoretical frameworks from philosophers like Savulescu and Foucault. Students are expected to evaluate different ethical perspectives, such as deontological and utilitarian approaches, and consider their implications for organizational behavior and decision-making.

Running head: MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
Management Theory and Practice
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
Management practice is referred to the working innovation and method adopted by the
organizational managers to improve organizational effectiveness. Organizational ethics help the
managers towards differentiating between the right and wrong organizational activities. It directs
the organizational managers towards making ethical organizational decision. In this extent, the
franchise stores of 7-Eleven in Australia are in news longer time for their ethical issues in
employment practices. Apart from that, the organization is mostly alleged with the claim of
being unethical to the migrant employees. The organization is facing ethical issue in terms of
wage scam and long working hours. This study will identify the ethical dilemma of 7-Eleven in
details. Apart from that, the study will apply two theoretical concepts from managerial ethics for
evaluating the ethical dilemma of the organization critically. Moreover, the ethical theory chosen
for this study are Utilitarianism theory and Duty of Ethics theory. On the other hand, these two
ethical theories will also be applied to evaluate their influence on the managerial practice of 7-
Eleven. The conclusion part of this study will critically evaluate the ways in which the
organizational leaders of 7-Eleven will make ethical decision.
Discussion
Fair Work Ombudsman has investigated the 7-Eleven retail stores of Australia for
indentifying and uncovering its ethical dilemma. As per this investigation, the organization has
been acclaimed with underpayment of the migrant employees. (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2018)
pointed out that 7-Eleven have been claimed with the underpayment of the foreign employees,
where the employees are usually paid $10 per hour for their work. However, the employees are
normally entitled to receive wage of $22 per hour. On the other hand, (ABC News, 2017)

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pointed out that 7-Eleven has been claimed with the allegation of falsifying the pay roll of the
employees. Many employees have alleged against the company that the payment recorded in the
payroll is quite higher than the wage they actually receive as their salary. Moreover, the
managers are unethically falsifying the wage structure of the employees, where half of the
working hours have been recorded in the payroll. As per (Ferguson & Danckert, 2016), 7-Eleven
has been claimed with mistreatment of the managers with the foreign employees. The
managers of the organization often force the employees to work beyond their normal working
hours.
The unethical practices of the organization have most affected these types of employees.
(Karp, 2016) opined that majority of 7-Eleven’s employees are typically the international male
students, who have their Visas for foreign migration. The organization is alleged with deliberate
exploitation of the migrant employees. Long working hours is actually hampering the
physical condition of the employees, which is directly hampering their educational life.
Furthermore, (Tham, 2016) stated that the migrant or foreign employees of 7-Eleven are
generally from non-English speaking background like India, China and Pakistan. Hence, they are
generally unaware of the Australian employment relation. Hence, the managers take the scope to
make the employees stupid and compel them towards working beyond their normal working
hours. As per the working rules of the students coming from foreign countries, the international
students are normally permitted to work for 40 hours a fortnight during their study period.
However, (Karp, 2016) pointed out that 7-Eleven is forcing the migrant students to beyond
their permitted working hours, which is up to 50 hours per week. Such long working period is
actually hampering the physical condition of the international students.

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Despite of being abused, the employees are not able to communicate or complaint about
such unethical employment practice to any statutory body. (Ferguson & Danckert, 2016) stated
that 7-Eleven is deliberately threatening the migrant students with the fear of Visa
cancelation for working beyond their permitted working hours. Hence, such migrant students
cum employees are afraid of complaining about the unethical employment practice. Moreover,
the organization is threatening the students with the fear that they would make contact with the
Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). Such contact can cancel the Visa of
Migrant students for breaching of Visa Condition. In this way, the organization is creating
mental stress on the migrant students by hindering their study life. Apart from that, (ABC News,
2017) opined that 7-Eleven has also been claimed with cash back scam, where the employees
are primarily paid with sufficient reward, but afterward, they are compelled to pay some quantity
of their salary back to their employers. In this way, the organization is also unethical leading to
financial crisis for the international students.
As per Utilitarianism ethical theory, the best action maximizes the utility of the human
beings. Moreover, (Playford, Roberts, & Playford, 2015) opined that ethical action always
enhances the well being of the human being. On the other hand, ethical action always maximizes
the total benefits of the human beings and minimizes the negative consequences. However, (Fair
Work Ombudsman, 2018) stated that in case of 7-Eleven, underpayment and long working hours
are actually hampering the employees financially as well physically. In case of wage scam, the
employees are being forced to pay back some amount of their salaries. Hence, the employees are
facing financial crisis in their life. On the other hand, long working hours of the employees is
hampering the employees physically (Rupp, Wright, Aryee, & Luo, 2015). Moreover, long
working period is also hampering quality of the educational life of the students. Hence, as per

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utilitarianism theory, the employment practice of 7-Eleven is actually increasing the pain of the
employees rather than pleasure through their financial crisis and physical stress.
As per Utilitarianism theory, an action is measured for its ethicality or morality as per the
standard of right and wrong of its consequence. (Ives & Bekessy, 2015) opined that ethical
action always promotes the capability to achieve happiness for most of the people. While
measuring the employment practice of 7-Eleven, it can be found that the threatening of Visa
cancelation to the migrant students is actually creating mental pressure to the students. However,
the situation of Visa cancelation is actually created by the employers themselves by forcing the
students beyond their permitted working hours. Hence, it is evident that the consequence of such
employment practices is actually wrong for the students, who are working as employees in this
organization. On the other hand, (Fleurbaey & Mongin, 2016) opined that an action is ranked by
morality depending on the happiness, which it provides to the people. However, the long
working period of 7-Eleve is hampering the work-life-balance of the employees, which is
enhancing the complexity of their life. As per utilitarianism theory, instead of enhancing the
pleasure of the employees, the employment practice of 7-Eleven is actually enhancing their pain
of the employees (Schminke, Arnaud, & Taylor, 2015). Hence, as per Utilitarianism theory, the
employment practice of 7-Eleven is actually unethical.
As per Duty of Ethics, an action is right or wrong not because of its consequences, but
the action is by nature right or wrong. According (Kahane, Everett, Earp, Farias, & Savulescu,
2015), everyone has certain duties, which they have to fulfill and fulfilling such duties is their
moral requirement. It is completely independent of the consequences of the action. While
considering the employment practice of the 7-Eleven, it can be seen that the organization is
forcing the employees to work beyond their normal working hours. Moreover, the employment

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practice is just not right by its nature, which is also violating the employment laws of Australia.
Hence, as per duty of ethics, the employment practice of 7-Eleven is completely unethical by its
nature.
(Knights, 2015) opined that everyone has their fundamental right to their own and
everyone has also their duty to respect the right to life of others. Moreover, everyone has to
refrain from the actions, which violate the rights of life of others by putting them in danger.
However, the managers of 7-Eleven is actually violating right to life of the employees by
lowering their quality of life through long working hours. The long working hours imposed by
the organization on the employees is actually hampering their physical stress and causing
physical stress. Hence, the employment practice of 7-Eleven is actually unethical. On the other
hand, (McLeod, Payne, & Evert, 2016) stated that everyone should have the duty to be honest
and everyone has expectation of honesty from each other. However, in case of 7-Eleven, the
organization is actually being dishonest to the employees by underpaying and forcing them to
work beyond normal working hours. Hence, as per this theory, the employment practice of 7-
Elevel is completely unethical.
Utilitarianism theory and duty of ethics both have influence of the managerial
practices of 7-Eleven. As per Utilitarianism theory, ethical action always maximizes the utility
of the people by enhancing their pleasure in their life. As per this theory, the mangers of an
organization should be highly concerned about the utility or pleasure of the employees for
conducting ethical action. However, (Sekerka, Comer, & Godwin, 2014) opined that the
managers of 7-Eleven is underpaying the employees by violating the minimum wage act of
Australia. Moreover, such underpayment is actually making the employees to fall into financial
crisis. Moreover, such managerial practice is also against the theoretical concept of utilitarianism

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theory by enhancing the pain of employees’ life. Moreover, the managers of 7-Eleven are
imposing long working hours of the employees. The managers are forcing the employees to work
beyond the standard working period as mentioned by the employment law (MacLean, Litzky, &
Holderness, 2015). Moral and ethical action always enhances the happiness of life of the people.
In case of the managerial practice of 7-Eleven, it can be seen that long working hours are
hampering the physical wellness of the migrant students, who are working as students
(Meisenbach, 2017). Such physical stress is hampering the educational life of the students, where
they are not able to concentrate of their studies due to weak physical condition. In this way, the
managerial practice of 7-Eleven is increasing the level of pain of the employees rather than the
level of happiness.
An action is considered to be unethical, when the consequence of the action provide more
pain to the people rather than pleasure. (Dietz & Kleinlogel, 2014) opined that utilitarian people
always make balance between the pleasure and pain of an activity. As per this theory, the
managers of an organization should make a proper balance of pain and pleasure for the
employees through the managerial practice. However, while considering the managerial practice
of 7-Eleven, it can be seen that that the managers of this organization always mistreat with the
employees. They are always rude at their behavior, while dealing with the employees.
Furthermore, the cash back policy initiated by the organizational managers lead to financial crisis
for the employees (Chakrabarty & Bass, 2014). Moreover, initially, the managers are making the
employees happy by providing rewards. However, later on, it is becoming quite frustrating for
the employees pay some amount of their salary to their mangers. Hence, the managers of 7-
Eleven are incapable of making proper balance between the pleasure and pain of the employees.
Moreover, the employees are mostly being painful rather than happy by the managerial practices.

7MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
Hence, as per utilitarian ethics, the managers are conducting unethical behavior with the
employees in their workplace.
As per (Munro, 2014), utilitarianism theory can solve the perplexities and difficulties,
which are mostly arose from the inconsistencies and vagueness of the commonsense doctrines. In
case of managerial practice, the managers of an organization should adhere with the common
managerial practice followed in all organization. However, the managers of 7-Eleven never
adhere to the common practice in regards to working hours and employee wage. They pay quite
less wage to the employees and force the employees to work beyond normal working hours.
Hence, while applying utilitarianism theory, it can be said that the managerial practice of 7-
Eleven is highly unethical. The managers of this organization are actually making fraud to the
employees, especially to the employees, who are migrant students from the foreign country.
As per duty of ethics, an action is considered to be ethical not because of its
consequences, but because of its nature. In duty of ethics, an action is right or wrong depending
on its nature in terms of right or wrong. According to (Pullen & Rhodes, 2015), everyone has
some duty to be honest to others in terms of their activities. Duty based ethical theory tends to
focus on providing equal respect to all human beings. Moreover, each one has the duty of
valuing the human rights and value of every other. Hence, as per this theory, the managers of an
organization should provide adequate and equal human rights to the employees in their
workplace. However, in case of managerial practice of 7-Eleven, it can be found that the
managers of this organization do not provide equal right and value to the employees in their
workplace. Moreover, the employees are not even getting their minimum wage for their
contribution in organizational success. In this way, the managers of this organization are actually
violating the minimum wage rules. On the other hand, (Pullen & Rhodes, 2014) opined that the

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managers of 7-Eleven are undervaluing the employees through forcing them to work beyond
normal working hours and paying them less as per their contribution level. The managers are not
paying exact pay to the employees as per their contribution to the organizational success or
organizational achievement.
According to (Berlinger & Dietz, 2016), duty of ethics theory provides due regards to be
provided to the interests of every single person even when those are considered to be odd to the
interests of larger group. In case of the managerial practice of 7-Eleven, the managers are
incapable of meeting the interest of the migrant students, who are working in their organization.
Moreover, as per student Visa, the migrant students are allowed to work for 40 hours a fortnight,
but the managers of 7-Eleven are forcing them to work for even 50 hours a week for
organizational production. In this way, the managers are not able to meet the interest of the
migrant students, who are working as employees. Moreover, the managers are not providing
equal value to the human rights of the employees. On the other hand, (Pathardikar, Sahu, &
Jaiswal, 2016) opined that duty of ethics bind the people with the moral duties towards fulfilling
their responsibilities. However, the managers of 7-Eleven are not bounded by the moral ethics, as
they are mistreating the employees with unethical managerial practice. Hence, as per duty of
ethics theory, the managerial practice of 7-Eleven is completely unethical.
Conclusion
While concluding the study, it can be said that the managers of 7-Eleven are treating the
employees quite unethically. They are not even providing minimum wages to the employees.
The managers and leaders are also forcing the employees to work beyond the normal working
hours. Such unethical employment practices may disrupt the reputation level of the organization

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in the market. It is also lowering the morale of the employees, which can hamper the productivity
level of the employees. Hence, the organizational leaders should immediately take initiatives
towards making organizational decision ethically. The leaders should always comply with the
fair employment practice of Fair Work Ombudsman. It will help the leaders to comply with the
fair employment legislation, which will ultimately lead to ethical and moral organizational
decision. The ethical decision taken by the organizational leaders will help the organization to
treat with the employee ethically.
The organizational leaders of 7-Eleven should also arrange effective governance
arrangement. Effective governance arrangement would obviously ensure fair working time and
employee wage for the employees. It would also ensure fair benefit and equal right of the
employees in their workplace. Hence, effective working arrangement would help the leaders to
take ethical organizational decision towards ensuring collaborative employee relationship. On
the other hand, the leaders of 7-Eleven should review the organizational operating model in
regular basis. In this process, the leaders of the organization would conduct self-audit for
ensuring that the organization is actually complying with the federal workplace legislation. It
would prove the authenticity and ethicality of the employment practice with the federal
employment practice. Furthermore, the leaders of this organization should establish consultative
forum for maintaining effective employment relation. This consultative forum would
intermediate between the employers and employees for minimizing the gaps between them. Such
representatives would raise the concerns of the employees to the employers for resolving them
immediately in an ethical way. In this way, the leaders of 7-Eleven can foster ethical
organizational decision for the employees.

10MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
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