The an overview at unethical behavior in the workplace a study of Nike Dissertation

The an overview at unethical behavior in the workplace a study of Nike - Dissertation Example SUMMARY 36 5.2.CONCLUSION 39 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.0. INTRODUCTION The significant role of employees in attaining the goals and objectives of the organisation has been recognised both by practitioners and scholars (Floyd & Wooldridge, 1997; Li, Guohai & Eppler, 2008; Fox, Donohue & Wu, 2007). The change in the appreciation of the role of employees in organisation has been precipitated by several factors, but one of the most important elements which have influenced the change is globalisation. Globalisation is a contemporary phenomenon (Soros, 2002). It has influenced almost all facets of contemporary life (Morgan, 2003). As such, it has been defined in several ways (Suarez-Orozco & Qin-Hilliard, 2004). However, the common understanding of globalisation is that it concerns economic changes adopted by nation-states as they enter the global market (Soros, 2002). Globalisation is generally understood as the removal of economic barriers to trade among nations, thereby, allowing the fre er movements of goods, services, products, capital, knowledge, foreign investments and people (Soros, 2002; Balakrishnan, 2003; Fischer, 2003). It has been noted, that as globalisation drives economic changes, changes in the economic policies and fundamental principles underlying nation-states economic trading relations with other countries are also undertaken(Peet, 2003). In this regard, through globalisation, the global market economy has been opened, thus, making the world accessible and smaller at the same time. Since, â€Å"Through globalisation national borders are constantly losing their significance as limitations for human interaction in general and economic collaboration in particular. This means that for all economic actors their natural spheres of activity are expanding from national into multinational or even global.†(Supporting the Internalisation of SMEs, 2007:6). In this regard, the presence of transnational corporations (TNCs) and multinational companies (MNC s) has become one concrete witness testifying not only to the reality of the global market economy, but also to the actuality of a smaller world. Multinational corporations (MNCs) is generally understood as a company that has its headquarter in one country (which is the home country), and which operates in at least one foreign (host) country (Wilkins, 1991, p 53). MNCs, just like any other corporations, seek to increase profit via conducting business in another country as it aims to expand its market, acquire resources, to diversify sources of sales and supplies and to minimise competitive risk (Wilkins, 1991). In this sense, it can be claimed, corporations and MNCs are similar in pursuit of profits, market, and sales, while at the same time, they are different in view of the fact that MNCs are not limited by national boundaries in doing business. In the context of globalisation and MNCs, the significant role of workers and their plight become an important gradient in understanding the global market economy. As success stories of both corporations and workers plight in the global market is told, stories of workers’ abuses are also conveyed, even if it is stifled (Boji & Khan, 2009). This research has conducted a study pertaining to the unethical behaviour committed in the workplace with focus on the controversies surrounding Nike. Nike’s controversies pertaining to unethical behaviour in the workplace depicts the workers’