A Business Ethics Case Study #$3$

Balancing Culture and Ethics

Ben is a dedicated manager at a prominent mul$2$na$2$onal company, where he

manages teams spread across different countries that ul$2$mately report back to

him in California. Ben finds a great deal of fulfillment in his work, par$2$cularly

when he has the opportunity to travel and visit his team leads around the world.

Ben made it a point to immerse himself in the local culture during his business

travels, dedica$2$ng an extra day or two to learn about the culture before heading

into his company$$s office or factory in whatever loca$2$on he was at$.$

On one trip, Ben travelled to Chennai, India, to visit JP$,$ a lead manager in the local

opera$2$on$.$ Ben asked JP to spend the day with him exploring the area and its

tradi$2$ons, and JP graciously agreed and took Ben on an eye$-$opening excursion to

a nearby village that, like many in rural India, was poor. Ben no$2$ced JP$$s close

connec$2$ons with the villagers. JP$,$ an esteemed member of the Brahmin caste and

an elder at the Hindu temple, was highly respected and considered a leader in the

community. Ben was grateful for the warm welcome extended to him by the

villagers and appreciated the effort JP put into arranging this visit.

But Ben also found himself in an uncomfortable spot.

JP wanted to take Ben to this par$2$cular village not only because he knew the

people well, but also because a local Chennai clothing company had recently

established a business here and he thought Ben would be interested in this new

development. The company had adopted a business model that involved ren$2$ng

looms to families in the village, which enabled them to produce cloth materials

and fulfill orders from the company. While the families earned money for the

piecework, they also had to pay the rent for the looms.

As Ben observed the process, he couldn$$t help but no$2$ce children as young as ten

working at the looms. When visi$2$ng one family, Ben and JP met with the parents

who told them how this local business was really helping their family. And, as they

said that, their two children sat nearby working at the looms.

Ben was cut to the core. He had read about the dangers of child labour and in

par$2$cular about the way that working on looms can be especially harmful $($and

how children due to their beLer eyesight and ability to see subtle dis$2$nc$2$ons in

colour are in demand to work on looms$).$ These condi$2$ons pose significant risks to

children, especially in terms of the poten$2$al hazard of diminishing their eyesight

and its impact on their overall well$-$being. It pained him to see these children

working while he envisioned his own eight and $11-$year$-$old kids back home $($the

children in Chennai were about the same age$)$ engaging in such laborious, risky

tasks. He would never let his own kids do it$.$ Then again, he thought: I$$m not

dealing with the circumstances these parents are dealing with.

Ben was aware of how JP spoke very posi$2$vely about the village and the

addi$2$onal income the children$$s labour provided for the families. It was also clear

that the children$$s parents didn$$t object and that the whole village appeared to be

on board with this income$-$producing project.

As Ben$$s visit to the village came to an end, some of the villagers, including JP$,$

eagerly asked him to share with them his thoughts on the new business

development in the village. Did he approve of it$?$