Ethics can be defined as doing the right thing when no one is seeing or rather distinguishing between what is right or best and what is wrong or undesirable. It has more to do with one’s character and how you behave when carrying out something. It is not merely the consideration of what is good and best for oneself, but the consideration of what is good and well for others also.
Both ethics and law strive towards determining what is right in human interaction and society. The law does so through employing the power of the state to ensure that all abide by the stipulations of the law, ethics on the other hand does so through values such as the internal obligation like doing what is right opposed to the external pressure of the law. Ethical values include respect, transparency and fairness and adherence to ethical values ensures that stakeholders of the organisation get along well with one another. Integrity is very closely aligned to ethics (Reynolds, 2007). If diversity is managed in an appropriate way this could lead to high morality in the organisation, this would stay in line with ethics and people doing what is requested of them in the right way by combining different experiences, skills, knowledge etc (Rossouw & Van Vuuren, 2010).
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Woolworths sells a variety of products such as clothing, food, homeware, cosmetics, devices, wine and accessories. We understand that Woolworths did not follow their own code of conduct given the fact that they used someone else’s product without acknowledging the person who invented it. Because of the current situation that took place in the organisation this therefore leads to employees thinking it’s okay to do unethical deeds.
Without a code of ethics, employees are more likely to make the wrong decisions or do the wrong things because they do not know what is right. A code of ethics is a proactive way of addressing unethical behaviour within an organization. It establishes an organizations values and sets boundaries for adhering to those values.
Sometimes people will see unethical things happening in the workplace but they won’t report it because they fear that they might lose their jobs or sometimes they don’t know how to report the situation especially in a situation where the one doing the unethical deed is the manager of the organization or a supervisor of a certain department
This means doing something because everyone else does it. In most cases the thing that everyone is doing is wrong, but it will seem like the right thing because everyone does it. Eg when everyone in an organization takes pads and pencils home for their siblings, a person who is not really familiar with the rules and regulations or who is new to the organization will see that as the right thing
This usually starts at the top, because the people at the lower level look up to those at the top level. Meaning it is the duty of the manager to set a good example for his/her employees. If the manager does something wrong, the employees will do the same thing thinking that it is right. Eg let’s say your boss goes home whenever he feels like, you as an employee will do the same thing because he/she did it and because your look up to them
Woolworths is committed to upholding human rights, not only with respect to their own employees, but also for workers in their supply chain and anywhere else. Therefore, their policy aims to communicate a cleat set of requirements for their workers/employees as well as their external workers such as suppliers in addition to work with them. This includes:
They provide a safe and hygienic work environment by offering safety training. The accommodation that they provide is clean, safe and meet the basic needs of the workers and lastly, they ensure that the equipment that the workers make use of are always safe to use.
They respect all their workers’ rights to breaks during work. They believe that no worker should work over 48 hours a week, if they want to, they may do it voluntary
They are very strict on this part of the policy and employer/employees are not allowed to engage in acts of bribery. Therefore, it is clear that the policy of Woolworths do promote safety as it protects their coporate reputation and trust in their brands by doing the right thing. It also improve working conditions for a workers in the working environments.
No, this is not the first time Woolworths acted unethically. According to an article in Times live, 7 years ago, a complaint was laid at the Advertising Standards Authority against Woolworths claiming that Woolworths has copied Kwazulu-Natal-based Frankie’s range of retro cool drinks (Njilo & Knowler, 2019).
Based on the article that we read online, Woolworths copied the design of Ubuntu baby carrier that was designed by Shannon McLaughlin. They ordered her stage 2 design and then they send the to China to make the same carrier with cheaper fabric and then they sold it at a lower price. The original price of the baby carrier was between R1300 and R1500. Woolies sold them for R450 (Knowler, 2019). Those made Ubuntu baba lose a lot of customers, because everyone went for the cheaper product as they thought that it was a bargain. Meanwhile they were selling cheap fabric and bad quality to their customers. There was no specific charge against Woolies, because Shannon couldn’t afford it, but there was a lot of social backlash against Woolies and Shannon just requested from the retailor to take accountability and admit to their actions.
Although these facts seem so unlike the operations of Woolworths we conclude that Woolworths indeed did act unethical. They were wrong by copying someone else’s exact product and selling it as their own at a lower cost without permission and acknowledging the owner of these designs and products. This was a very irresponsible act of them to even consider doing something they knew goes against theirs standards, morals and regulations.
The times live newspaper clearly states that Woolworths apologised in a statement on Wednesday 9 January, admitted clearly that they 'copied', acknowledging only there were 'striking similarities' between their Stage 1 and Stage 2 baby carriers and those of the same name made by Ubuntu Baba’s eight employees at a factory in Retreat. The retailer of Woolworths also admitted towards McLaughlin that this was not in line with their values and goes against the very clear policy and creative guidelines they have in place for their design process but they did not fully admit to copying the product and they are still denying purchasing the stage2 carrier even though McLaughlin has proof of the order and delivery. In other words one of the main reasons why they apologized was because of the pressure of social media that was placed upon them and because it had an impact on their customers. They did not really do it because they felt sorry about what they did but to save their reputation. It’s a business strategy part. Newspaper reference.
We recommend that Woolworths should better their strategic leadership behaviour and their way of dealing with ethical issues. It is very clear that they own an explicit ethics policy and ethical codes but it means nothing for a standardised organisation like themselves if they do not adhere to those codes and policies. They need to put in place or organise constant training on how to deal with an ethical dimension, how to handle situations that involves ethical choices. It would be very wise to expand their information system to focus on areas where ethics may come in handy. Making available support systems for ethical behaviour and allowing the strategic leader to identify ethical breaches so that effective action can be taken (providing more like a zero-tolerance platform). Their ideas and strategic choices should also be thoroughly thought through and thoroughly planned. When it comes to business they should know that they should be informed and doing research should be their best friend. We would also like to advise Woolworths to take full responsibility and accountability when they messed up rather than admitting while beating around the bush and do business better.
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