Unethical Employment Practices in Retail Food Industry of Australia

This report focuses on the unethical employment practices in the context of retail food industry of Australia. It is the widely admitted fact that due to the presences of retail giants like Coles and Woolworths, the retail food manufacturers of Australia are putting consistent stress on improving their organisational productivity. This is one of the major reasons, for which the companies are following unethical practices. The problem has been defined properly. Finally recommendations have also been provided to mitigate this issue.

Running head: PLANNING AND CONTROLLING
Planning and Controlling
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Executive Summary:
This report focuses on the unethical employment practices in the context of retail food
industry of Australia. It is the widely admitted fact that due to the presences of retail giants
like Coles and Woolworths, the retail food manufacturers of Australia are putting consistent
stress on improving their organisational productivity. This is one of the major reasons, for
which the companies are following unethical practices. The problem has been defined
properly. Finally recommendations have also been provided to mitigate this issue.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction:...........................................................................................................................4
2. Defining and framing the issue:.............................................................................................4
3. Addressing the issue:..............................................................................................................6
4. Conclusion:............................................................................................................................7
5. Recommendation:..................................................................................................................8
References:...............................................................................................................................10
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1. Introduction:
Maintaining ethics has become has become one of the major factors in the
contemporary scenario. As discussed by Steiss (2019) most of the managers think that
maintaining professional ethics is the most significant factors for satisfying the career goal.
However, due to the rapid development of retail food demand around the world, the need of
increasing staffing level in the retail food industry is increasing in a rapid manner.
Höglund&Mårtensson (2019) put stress on the fact that this is the reason, for which the
unethical employment practices in the retail food industry is drastically amplifying. Thus, it is
the prime responsibility for the CEO of the firms to take special care in the way of mitigating
the issue related to unethical employment practices. Present paper would put forth the
discussion of the ethical employment practices in the context of Pick n Quick. The underlying
issue will be analysed properly. Finally, recommendation will also be provided for the
company to mitigate the issue and thereby maintain ethics at the time of recruiting the staffs.
2. Defining and framing the issue:
Maintaining ethics in the Australian retail industry has become a major matter of concern in
the contemporary times. Ahammad, Glaister& Gomes (2019) observed that one of the fundamental
reasons for such negativity is nothing but the fictitious employment practices, which is affecting the
organisational productivity and making it difficult for the retail food manufacturers to provide high
quality of products to the customers. Pick n Quick – one of the famous retail food manufacturing
organisations in Australia is facing major issues in the way of unethical employment practices.
Internal environment mainly includes the culture of the company; Culture here refers to the
attitudes and the important values which are held within the organization. It is also said that the
employee satisfaction is one of the most important factor associated with increasing the customers.
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External factors of competition is the most important element for the organization. It should also
adopt a total quality management approach to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors.
The company is highly committed towards providing high quality of products and
services to the customers and thereby keep them delighted. Still, it has been observed that the
company is following unethical practices in the way of recruiting the human resources. It has
been observed that hard-core competition in the market is acting as a driving force behind the
firms to improve their organisational productivity. Köseogluet al., (2019) showed that as the
presence of retail giants like Coles and Woolworths is posing major treat for the companies to
maintain their business efficiently, the retailer are putting stress on improving their
organisational productivity. This is the reason, for which the companies are following
unethical employment practices, which according to them is the easiest and cost effective
way of accreting organisational productivity.
Despite the consistent stress by Australian government on maintaining ethics in the
way of recruiting the people, the company is in evolved in the unethical practices in
recruiting and hiring people. Such unethical employment practices can have a huge impact on
protecting the organisational productivity, which us the key of keeping the customers
attracted. Thus, it can be said that such unethical employment practices is absolutely a case of
lack of ethics, which can lead an organisation to face severe legal issue. In addition,Villegas
et al., (2019) also observed that it can tooaffect the public image of an organisation as
unethical employment practices is a great threat towards maintaining organisational
productivity and thereby satisfy the diverse demand of the customers.
In the contemporary times, Australia is putting consistent stress on maintaining ethics
while employing the people. Thus, the organisations, who are not abiding the rules of
government can face major issues in the way maintaining financial stability. At the same
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time, breaking the laws as imposed by the government can also lead the companies to
encounter severe legal cases. Rusconi (2019) opined that such unethical employment
practices can also result in harmful behaviour, which can generate negative vive among the
minds of the customers, which is utterly a great threat towards protecting the public image.
Thus, it is the prime duty of the higher authority of the retail food manufacturers to take
proactive action in the way of mitigating this unethical practices. The CEO ofPick n Quick to
take prompt action in resolving the issue of unethical practices.
3. Addressing the issue:
As unethical employment practice is a major threat towards running business
ethically. Thus, it is imperative for the companies to take proactive action in the way of
maintaining ethics at the time of recruiting and selecting the staffs. Being the higher authority
and one of the chief decision makers of the company, it is the prime responsibility of the
CEO of Pick n Quick to take proactive action in the way of mitigating the issue. Planning and
controlling is one of the major techniques, which the CEO of Pick n Quick can following
terms of protecting their employment proves from any kind of unethical behaviour.As opined
by Wonget al., (2019) initially, it is the primary responsibility of the managers to decide the
possible future direction for the company which is the key of maintaining stability in the
internal direction of the firm.
Appropriate decision making is one of the most critical ways of lowering any kind of
unethical practices from the workplace. In addition, Bonsu (2019) said that setting goals and
developing comprehensive panning are also major ways of mitigating the issue of unethical
employment. It is the prime responsibility of the managers to keep every department
informed regarding the planning process. Executing of control process is one of the most
effective ways of satisfying the unethical employment practices. It is important for the higher
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authority of Pick n Quick to establish a standard, which the HR department of the
organisation needs to follow in terms of conducting the entire recruitment and selection
process in a legal and lawful manner. Davis (2019) shaded light on the fact that there are two
different types of control such as internal and external control, which the managers can
practice for the sake of mitigating any kind of unlawful practice from the workplace. As per
the perception of Ahammad,Glaister& Gomes (2019) internal control is defined as the
process of setting a disciplined environment and framing effective attitude among the staffs
to avoid any kind of unethical practices while employing the staffs.
In the given situation, the manager of Pick n Quick should put consistent effort on
developing an appropriate attitude among the staffs, working in HR department.
Höglund&Mårtensson (2019) said that this can help the managers generate motivation among
the HR managers to avoid any kind of unethical practices while recruiting and selecting the
candidates. On the other hand, external control is the way of supervising and monitoring the
activities of those staffs who are involved in the unethical practices. It is imperative for the
managers of Pick n Quick to control the behaviour of the HR recruiters by setting
comprehensive rules and regulation. According to the transformational leadership approach,
it is the prime responsibilities of the leaders to transform their vision among the followers as
it us the key factors of leading them towards proper direction (Rusconi, 2019). In the given
scenario,it is the prime responsibility of the manager of Pick n Quick to transform his vision
of effective and ethical employment among the staffs working in HR department. This can
help the manager of the company to generate positive behaviour among the staffs to avoid
any kind of unethical
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4. Conclusion:
Based on the discussion, it can be concluded by saying that following
unethical means in the way of carrying out the process of employment. Thus, it is important
for the higher authority of the firms to take proactive action in order to mitigate this issue as it
is a biggest threat towards [protecting the organisational public image.It is imperative to note;
in this context that it is one of the most unethical practices to compromise with the process of
recruiting the staffs as it can pose a great threat towards maintaining organisational
productivity.
5. Recommendation:
The inclusion of unethical means in the employment practices is a biggest threat
towards ensuring organisational productivity. It can also be recommended that Pay n Carry
should join a professional or trade association like the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission or Coles Supermarkets Australia or Woolworths Limited in order to establish
clear standard of conduct for the organization to implement strategies and increase the
confidence of customers.
The organization should also make effort to integrate business ethics in the
organization culture. This can be processed by revaluating the value statement, mission and
corporate codes of conduct. It will decrease the unethical employment practices of the
company and build a morally sound formation of the business.
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References:
Ahammad, M. F., Glaister, K. W., & Gomes, E. (2019). Strategic agility and human resource
management. Human Resource Management Review, 7(1), 89-120.
Anderson, J. E. (2019). Decreasing Unethical Behaviors in Financial Institutions. CRC
Press.
Bonsu, S. (2019). Corporate Social Responsibility: Assessing the Alignment of Theory and
Practice Utilizing Case Studies. Journal of Marketing and Management, 10(1), 1-18.
Davis, M. V. (2019). Strategies to Prevent and Detect Occupational Fraud in Small Retail
Businesses. CRC Press.
Höglund, L., &Mårtensson, M. (2019). Entrepreneurship as a Strategic Management Tool for
Renewal—The Case of the Swedish Public Employment Service. Administrative
Sciences, 9(4), 76.
Köseoglu, M. A., Okumus, F., Dogan, I. C., & Law, R. (2019). Intellectual structure of
strategic management research in the hospitality management field: A co-citation
analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 78, 234-250.
Rusconi, G. (2019). Ethical Firm System and Stakeholder Management Theories: A Possible
Convergence. European Management Review, 16(1), 147-166.
Steiss, A. W. (2019). Strategic management for public and nonprofit organizations.
Routledge.
Villegas, S., Lloyd, R. A., Tritt, A., &Vengrouskie, E. F. (2019). Human Resources as Ethical
Gatekeepers: Hiring Ethics and Employee Selection. Journal of Leadership,
Accountability and Ethics, 16(2), 87-98.
Wong, W. P., Tan, H. C., Tan, K. H., & Tseng, M. L. (2019). Human factors in information
leakage: mitigation strategies for information sharing integrity. Industrial
Management & Data Systems, 2(1), 25-32.
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