Stakeholders
In this situation, the stakeholders involved include Nestle Corporation. Nestle currently employees the children laborers as part of its corporation. Without the children, Nestle would not have the ability to produce cocoa, a vital product and key ingredient of its plantations. Another key stakeholder includes the plantation owners although they are cited by Nestle corporation for violating the rights of children. Other stakeholders in this case include the International Rights Labor Fund. The International Rights Labor Fund is a human rights organization which has filed a lawsuit in federal court stating that Nestle Corporation trafficked child laborers to the Ivory Coast ad employed more than 15,000 children to harvest the cocoa beans, and another 185,000 in violation of international law and treaties.
Additional Ethical Issues
The food industry and corporate culture itself is one that is immersed in capitalism, or that often succumbs to a drive for profits (Schein, 2010). Organizational culture is a primary driver of importance, and a good reason that a company can become good, great or even indifferent which may be implied by the Human Rights Agency that has cited Nestle Corporation for Human Trafficking. Ethical failure in organizations can result when leaders fail to engage culture within an organization and recognize the powerful tool that culture is, or can be, within the organization (Schein, 2010).
Other ethical issues that management or Ivory Coast officials may be facing may include the needs of plantation owners. These needs may be cultural issues that are not known to Nestle officials, or foreign to them. Thus, management at Nestle may not have the same considerations as the individuals working with them. Nestle management suggests that paying workers more may lead to difficulty for their employees because it is plantation owners that exploit them. The Human Rights advocacy leaders suggest that Nestle corporation exploits them. The International Rights Labor Fund has in mind considering the rights of Malian children that are trafficked to the Ivory Coast. However, there may be many more ethical considerations here. Nestle state’s that it cannot manage what plantation owners do. However, if Nestle is purchasing cocoa beans perhaps Nestle has the option to move its cocoa beans, or it may be able to manipulate prices, or have more influence over child workers than it states. Nestle is a large corporation and undoubtedly has more influence over the coca industry than it states.
Ethical Models
Systemic ethical models that Nestle can use to help evaluate this issue include the cost-benefit model. The cost-benefit analysis is commonly associated with utilitarianism and not often compatible with other moral theories according to Lowry & Peterson (2011). However, the same researchers argue that cost-benefit ethical models can take into consideration moral rights and considerations in a systemic manner. The cost-benefit ethical theory often allows a company like Nestle to consider what the cost-benefit is of making a decision. Thus, Nestle would consider what the cost to benefit ratio would be of making any decision related to its laborers working on the Ivory Coast. This would include raising laborer wages, and what the cost to benefit ratio or analysis would be in doing this. Utilitarian theories of ethical codes would cause Nestle company to consider what good a decision would bring to others, or the 200,000+ laborers that work with the company. Thus, in making a decision, the moral consideration would lay more in how the decision would benefit the company workers, rather than how the decision may impact the company. If a decision to raise wages would benefit employees, then Nestle would make a decision to do this because of the Utilitarian method of approaching ethical theory.
Kantian ethical theory is often referred to as a deontological ethical approach to theory, suggesting that the only thing that is to be considered intrinsically good is “good will” itself; an action thus can only be good if the principle behind it is the duty to moral law (Louden, 2011). Using this ideal, Nestle corporation intrinsically knows whether it is involved in doing good or harm, and by nature should choose to do what is right or wrong (Louden, 2011). Given this, Nestle corporation should act in the best interests of its employees or the people that work for the company, so that the people will morally excel and thus the company itself has the ability to excel.
Nestle Duties and Actions
Nestle can have more influence that being a purchaser of cocoa beans. It is likely that as a major corporation, Nestle is more aware of what happens with their employees than they initially state. While top management often states ignorance of the affairs of its workforce, there are management employees responsible for hiring employees, for documenting expenses and for controlling accounts and the welfare of employees. At some point during the interaction between Nestle and plantation owners, there is some communication to Nestle Corporation about the individuals that work the plantations. This means that if children have worked the fields, Nestle would have known about this. Nestle has a duty to its company and shareholders to report on the conditions that its employees work in. More and more corporations are being called on to build corporate culture (Schein, 2010). Further as leaders to this, they are being asked to build and create sustainable businesses and communities. Nestle has the option to do this. If Nestle agrees to become a socially responsible corporation, one that is liable to its citizens and community, it can work to take action to alleviate the conditions that its employees work under. It can also take action with the Human Rights Organization to relieve child labor and human trafficking. This would be the better action for Nestle to take under the circumstances.
- Louden, R. (2011). Kant’s Human Being: Essays on his theory of human nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Lowry, R. & Peterson, M. Cost-benefit analysis, and non-utilitarian ethics. Politics Philosophy Economics, 11(3): 258-79.
- Schein, E. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. Wiley Publishers.
