Report on Social Sustainability and Child Labor in Developed Countries

This report sheds light on the issue of child labor in developed countries and its impact on social sustainability. It discusses the effectiveness of governmental initiatives and provides recommendations for achieving sustainable development. The report evaluates the case of Sports Weiss and the use of child labor in their factories. It also compares the sustainability plans of First, Second, and Third World Countries.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT
Report on social sustainability in the developed countries: Third-world families at work:
Child labour or child care?
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary
Sustainability is a crucial component in terms of taking good care of the resources. Moreover,
it preserves the resources for the future generation. This aspect reflects the maintenance of
ecological balance, which is needed for effective functioning of the activities within the
society. When government takes the initiatives of developing policies, security is enhanced in
case of the public. Focus on the third world and developing countries like Germany forms the
basic functionality of this assignment. Considering the example of companies like Sports
Weiss helps in projecting the current conditions of child labour, a malice contradicting the
aspect of social sustainability.

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Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Insight into sustainability through comparison of First, Second and Third World Countries
................................................................................................................................................3
Governmental initiatives............................................................................................................4
Evaluation of the topic...............................................................................................................4
Recommendations......................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Low economic risks pose as a threat for developing countries. The initiatives of the
government needs to be applauded in terms of developing strong and flexible policies for
preserving the stability within the society (Bratton & Gold, 2017). This assignment, through
the example of Pakistan, attempts to shed light on the families, where girl child are used for
helping in the family business. This contradicts the question whether it is child labor or child
care.
Discussion
Insight into sustainability through comparison of First, Second and Third World
Countries
Third World Countries are usually perceived as underdeveloped and impoverished.
Sustainable development plans acts as a new hope in the otherwise ordinary lives of these
people. These plans aimed to alter the current state of event the First and Second World
Countries. Mention can be made of the Post 2015 agenda, when the government planned
Millenium Development Goals. According to the arguments of Goworek, McGoldrick and
McGoldrick, (2015), policies have proved effective for covering up the tax loopholes,
financial instabilities and malice among others. Here, one of the evident question, which
comes up, is whether these policies are flexible enough for bringing sustainable development.
However, the issue of child labour is itself an answer towards the question.
Mention can be made of the plant in Lahore, which the sourcing manager perceives as
an addition to the problems. The manager is of the view that there are no faults in the plant.
One of the striking facts in this direction is the happiness of the mothers on their daughters
working in the factories. Negligence towards renewing the Lahore contracts would make the
condition of the girls “stranded in island”, as they would lose their major source of income

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(Buchanan & McCalman, 2018). The girls are under 14 years, which adds weightage to the
aspect of child labour.
Governmental initiatives
The governmental initiatives helps the volunteers in taking good care of the children.
Typical evidence of this lies in passing a law, which controlled child labour in the industrial
regions. However, according to Johnston and Marshall, (2016), the terms and conditions of
the act, children under 9 years were prohibited from working in the factories. Moreover the
regulations of labour union limits the working hours of youths to 16 hours. One of the notable
moves of the act is declaring Sunday as a holiday for the youths. With the advent of this act,
the companies were instructed to legally comply with the terms and conditions (Phillips &
Moutinho, 2017).
According to the case study, Stein is a character, who prefers child labor. He points
out that all of the contractors use child for completion of their works. He is perfectly
contented for this fact, which adds negative parameter to the aspect of child care. This is in
terms of the ineffective nature of childcare policies, which raises doubts on the role of
government. Sourcing manager can be considered as productive, as he realizes the tragic fate
of the child, who are compelled to work under harsh factory conditions (Elsbach, Kayes &
Kayes, 2015). He understood the inadequacies of these people, which snatch away the daily
bread.
Evaluation of the topic
Goals like reducing the population by half and increasing the youth population of
those receiving the secondary education reflects social sustainability in case of Germany.
However, Elsbach, Kayes and Kayes, (2015) propose that the migrants and refugees indicates
political unrests, which pose as a threat for Pakistan in terms of child labor.

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The kids, who come with their mothers are not paid according to the efforts, which
they put in. The older ones are paid subminimum wages, which are one-third of the adult
wages. Documentation of the kids maintains originality in their ages. This approach reflects
kind approach towards the child care. In case of Pakistan, birth registrations cannot be
counted. One of the interesting facts is that the children themselves lie about their age
(Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).
Recommendations
I feel involving the members of statutory board in the meetings would be effective in
terms of upgrading the knowledge about the latest legal requirements for conducting the trade
practices. Along with this, partnering with the developing countries would provide them
financial assistance. This can be done through outsourcing, where rationality needs to be
maintained for securing the private and confidential data. For this, using security software
would be a wise step. One of the important steps is training the staffs about using the
resources, this approach directly relates to the aspect of achieving sustainable development.
In the case study, the audience is alarmed that not only in Pakistan, kids working and
making money is evident in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Mexico among others. Therefore, if
the contractors hire them for work, there is nothing unusual in this. The government needs to
be introduce policies for the children, who intend to stay in Pakistan and enhance their career.
This can be done through scholarships.
Analysis through CRAP test
Currency
The topic of child labour is a current issue, which occupies a major position within the
websites of famous brands. Logging into the website provides an insight into the donations,
which the brands appeal from the public domain.

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Reliability
The journal entries, company websites and government websites generates reliability
for the information. Acknowledgement for the considered sources averts the issue of
plagiarism and collusion.
Authority
In this case, the author is the Senior Operations Manager of the clothing
manufacturing company, Sport Weiss. Ability to manage the operations of the product line
justifies my credentials. As it is the company website, the website designers are the person
behind sponsoring the events. Offshore management makes the website reputable.
Purpose/point of view
Social sustainability is a fact, opinion of the public makes it an issue. Along with this,
statistical data and governmental claims adds value to the facts proposed. Statistics alarm the
public about the intensity to which child labour is affecting the social sustainability.

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References
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Buchanan, D. A., & McCalman, J. (2018). High performance work systems: The digital
experience. Routledge.
Elsbach, K. D., Kayes, A., & Kayes, D. C. (2015). Contemporary Organizational Behavior:
From Ideas to Action. Pearson.
Goworek, H., McGoldrick, P. J., & McGoldrick, P. J. (2015). Retail marketing management:
Principles and practice. Harlow, UK: Pearson.
Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley &
Sons.
Johnston, M. W., & Marshall, G. W. (2016). Contemporary selling: Building relationships,
creating value. Routledge.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Manning, P. (2017). The social capital concept in management and organizational literature:
A synthesis and critical discussion of contemporary applications and research
directions. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 25(5), 875-893.
Phillips, P., & Moutinho, L. (2017). Contemporary issues in strategic management.
Routledge.