Analyzing Unethical Behavior in Organizations: The Zara Case Study

This essay explores the critical role of business ethics and sustainability in organizational behavior, highlighting the prevalence of unethical practices in today's competitive business environment. It defines unethical behavior and discusses its causes, such as perceived unfair treatment, misguided loyalty, and condoned misconduct, emphasizing the negative impact on society and individual well-being. The essay presents a case study of Zara, a company criticized for unethical treatment of employees, including poor working conditions, long hours, and unauthorized outsourcing. The analysis identifies competition and profit maximization as primary drivers of Zara's unethical practices, alongside the absence of a strong ethical code. The essay concludes that ethical behavior is essential for sustainable business growth and societal well-being, contrasting it with the detrimental effects of unethical actions exemplified by Zara's practices.

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Organizational Behavior
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Business ethics, as well as sustainability, play a vital role at the global level. In the recent,
most of the people are engaged in unethical behavior which is common among them. The main
reason behind their unethical means is due to the cutthroat competition, most of the individual
organization crosses their boundaries of business ethics. Unethical behavior refers to the action
that does not fall under the criteria of morally right or proper for an individual, profession or an
industry (Scheiner, Baccarella, Bessant & Voigt, 2018). There are the certain reasons behind the
adoption of unethical behavior among individual such as firstly when an individual feel that is
not being treated fairly and also are not rewarded substantially for their efforts force them to
behave unethically. Second, some of the individuals sometimes lie due to the reason they think
that in doing so, will represent being loyal to the other individual or company. Third, the
individual acts unethically because their senior person condones the behavior (Feltovich, 2019).
It has been analyzed that the unethical behavior of the individual affected the overall
society at a greater level. It increases negativity among the individual that lead to affect the
overall performance at a greater level. Their actions hurt society at a grander level. The unethical
behavior can benefit the individual at the first instance but later it curses the individual that made
them feel guilty in front of the society as well as in their own eyes. The simple question that has
been raised is “Is That Worth”. Every individual should have a self-moral compass and when an
individual stray from the values then the stress will kill them.
Most of the organization has faced the issue of unethical behavior in their work among
which the best example is Zara. Such a company is majorly criticized for their unethical
behavior. The company has been indicted for presenting the unethical behavior towards their
employees. In the country Argentina, Zara has been suspected of keeping their employees in a

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terrible situation. The company has taken the official documents of their staffs and resist in
releasing those documents to their employees (James & Montgomery, 2017). Moreover, the
employees were also not allowed to go outside without their permission. It represents that the
company has failed to fulfill its promises towards the employees. Furthermore, the staffs of the
company were forced to work for 13 hours a day such situation or condition of the employees
increase the level of dissatisfaction among the employees that affected the overall performance
of the company at a greater level. The employees feel resist to continue in such an environment
that increases the cost to the company. The company provides an unhygienic working
environment for their employees in which the workers had to work. The company has been
adopted unauthorized outsourcing (Karaosmanoglu, Isiksal & Altinigne, 2018).
The main cause of adopting unethical behaviors by the company is competition. There is
huge competition in the market that forces the companies to sell their product at a reasonable
price. For introducing heir product at reasonable prices, the company needs to control over their
cost. Therefore they have adopted unethical means to control over their cost. They did not pay
the required amount their employees that cut the cost to the company (Govind, Singh, Garg &
D’Silva, 2017). Another reason for adopting unethical mean for their growth is earning
maximum profit. The company wanted to earn maximum profit in the international market for
which they find cheap labor for their work. Moreover, the company has an absence of ethical
code what is right or wrong, that forces the individual of the company to adopt unethical means
to achieve success or growth in the market. These are the main causes of Zara to adopt unethical
means in their business and workplace (Napier & Sanguineti, 2018).
It can be concluded from the above analysis that the path of ethical behavior plays a vital
role in the growth of the business sustainably. Most of the companies and individuals have

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adopted unethical behavior in their business or life that affects the overall interest of society at a
greater level. They find profit in such behavior that forces them to adopt such a path for their
activities. One of the companies Zara also adopted unethical mean for their business. They force
their employees to work harder and the longer period which is against human right. They also
provide an unhygienic environment to the employees that made them unsatisfied for their
business. The main reason behind such activities is the competition and profit that made the
company to adopt such unethical behavior in their organization.

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References
Scheiner, C. W., Baccarella, C. V., Bessant, J., & Voigt, K. I. (2018). Participation motives,
moral disengagement, and unethical behaviour in idea competitions. International Journal of
Innovation Management, 22(06), 1850043.
Feltovich, N. (2019). The interaction between competition and unethical
behaviour. Experimental Economics, 22(1), 101-130.
James, A., & Montgomery, B. (2017). Making the Change: The Consumer Adoption of
Sustainable Fashion. Detox Fashion: Supply Chain, 47.
Karaosmanoglu, E., Isiksal, D. G., & Altinigne, N. (2018). Corporate brand transgression and
punishing the transgressor: moderation of religious orientation. Journal of Product & Brand
Management, 27(2), 221-234.
Govind, R., Singh, J. J., Garg, N., & D’Silva, S. (2017). Not walking the walk: How dual
attitudes influence behavioral outcomes in ethical consumption. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-20.
Napier, E., & Sanguineti, F. (2018). Fashion Merchandisers’ Slash and Burn Dilemma: A
Consequence of Over Production and Excessive Waste?. Rutgers Business Review, 3(2).