Explain the human resources management ethical issues in the case.
The on-line retailer Amazon has recently come under scrutiny for creation of a ‘relentless work environment” characterized by excessive working hours, limited opportunity for holidays, poor work-life balance, and extreme demands for performance and output.
Critics argue that Amazon sets impossibly high goals while monitoring and measuring every aspect of an individual’s productivity. Current and former Amazon employees spoke of colleagues weeping at their desks and of being pressured by their line managers to spend less time with their families. Examples include a woman who was expected to get back to work the day after her miscarriage, and other employees who were penalized for taking time to care for ailing parents. Those who resist sacrificing their personal lives for their work are quickly discarded.
Alongside these revelations, the founder of Amazon responded by arguing that it was never his intention for management to take such actions and that he advocated a zero tolerance for lack of empathy in the workplace.
Critics have argued that the type of relentless work environment in Amazon is simply not humane; that it leads to high levels of burnout and pushes people to the margins of the economy.
Others argue that the founder of Amazon is free to run his organization any way he wants, and that people can choose not to work at Amazon in such a ‘pressure cooker’ environment.
The type of work regime in place at Amazon potentially raises a serious precedent. It may be the case that Amazon is just the leading edge of a widespread phenomenon whereby employers and management see no need to treat workers as full human beings with live outside of work.
We may be moving towards a world of work that treats workers purely as means to an end and where even committed, engaged, and competent employees are viewed as easily disposable.
(Source: Adopted from Syed, J. & Kramar, R. (2017). Human Resource Management: A Global and Critical Perspective, 2nd Ed., Palgrave, UK).
Questions:
1. Explain the human resources management ethical issues in the case.
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