Business Ethics in Chapter 8, Term Paper

In the long run, Machan & Chesher's argument makes sense -- care for the health and safety of company employees and see the company grow more profitable! Care for one's own health and one will be a better employee! However, management does not always take the long-term vision that, 'if I allow my employee to take a day off for the flu, he or she will be more productive upon his or her return, and not infect other employees.' Employees may be told to come in to the office when they are sick or else they will be fired. Thus, they risk their own health or the health of others, to make a quick return on the corporation's investment in an employee. Also, an adolescent or even a twenty-year-old on his or her first job may have a sense of invincibility, and do imprudent things, like speed to deliver pizzas, take drugs to stay up for 24-hour shifts, and do other things that put not only their own health and safety at risk but the health and safety of innocent consumers. A corporation has a responsibility to take care of employee health while employees are on the job, so employees do not have to make a choice between staying alive and making a living. Also, corporations have a responsibility to consumers that they know that they are not at risk because of corporate policies.

Question

Explain Machan & Chesher's argument in favor of the globalization of free trade policies (Chapter 11 of their book: A Primer on Business Ethics). Give at least one example of how they defend their view from criticism. Do you share their optimism that "the first hints of globalization in developing countries are a stepping-stone to better things for the struggling people there"(p. 167)? Why or why not?

Machan & Chesher argue in favor of globalization by stating that it is necessary for countries to become part of the global marketplace, even if this results in immediate exploitation, to attain long-term prosperity. However, if the efforts of globalization merely are used to enrich the first world by providing it with inexpensive goods, none of the effects described as potentially positive by the authors will come to fruition -- if the goods produced are sold in other countries, if the wealth is taken back and not invested in the home nation, and if no training for advancement to management is provided for the local population, the immediate international exploitation of low-cost will merely divert labor from local enterprises and potentially damage the environment of the developing nation in ways that do not even profit the country monetarily.

Question

Explain the global causes and effects of the rise of what Kevin Bales calls the "new slavery" in today's economy (Disposable People, Chapter 1). What are the chief characteristics that distinguish the "new slavery" from older forms of slavery? Briefly explain how "contract slavery" works in a country like Brazil (Chapter 4). What are the conditions that make it profitable?

According to Kevin Bale, right now in Brazil slaves may be laboring to make the charcoal that tempered the steel to make the springs in your car and the blade on your lawnmower and the shoes on your feet. Unlike older forms of slavery, this slavery is silent, takes place far away, and keeps consumer costs low in a way that is both seductive and invisible. This slavery may be technically paid, wages from 20 cents to a dollar, unlike slaves of the past, but contract slavery such as exists in Brazil, a form of indentured servitude, still involves brutality inflicted upon the sufferer. The owners control their victims' lives and mobility and gain enormous profits from their labor, even if they do not technically own the worker.

Bale states that three forces perpetuate the new slavery are the world population explosion, economic globalization, modernized agriculture and common greed, violence, and corruption that have eradicated traditional social bonds…