Moral Intensity at Walmart

This activity is important because as a manager, you are likely to face ethical issues in decisions. Some will have higher moral intensity, or the degree to which an issue has ethical urgency. More urgent decisions involve preventing harm to others and behaving in accordance with ethical norms.

The goal of this activity is to demonstrate your understanding of moral intensity by reading the case and answering the questions that follow.

Read the case and answer the questions that follow.

What two words pop into your head when you hear "Walmart"? For many people, "low prices" would be the answer. Those prices are critical to many shoppers and families, especially those who live on tight monthly budgets. As Walmart describes it$,$ the company's mission is to "lower the world's cost of living," with one estimate suggesting that the company saves consumers $$20$ billion a year. In $2017,$ Walmart reported $11,695$ stores and $2\mathrm{.}3$ million employees, making it the world$$s largest private employer.

When some people hear "Walmart,$$ they think of low employee pay and benefits. The company has been involved in many high$-$profile lawsuits related to employee treatment, from discrimination to hourly pay to lack of benefits.

For years, Walmart was criticized for sticking to the minimum wage, not considered a $$living wage$$ for U$.$S$.$ employees. In response to this criticism, Walmart raised its lowest wages to $$9$ an hour in $2015$ and then to $$10$ an hour in $2016.$ As of late $2016,$ all current employees were paid $$10\mathrm{.}58$ an hour for part$-$time workers, and $$13\mathrm{.}38$ an hour for full$-$time workers. This decision raised the minimum for over $500,000$ employees, but essentially affected over $1\mathrm{.}2$ million employees in related raises. However, morale for some was hurt because longer$-$term employees did not get as big a pay raise relative to newer employees.

Walmart most recently was accused of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and other worker$-$protection laws. A workers$$ rights group sued the giant retailer for allegedly not accepting doctors$$ notes and penalizing workers who needed family leave or absences that should be covered by law. Some workers reported coming to work when very sick or being fired after medical$-$related absences$.$

As the largest private employer in the United States, Walmart$$s employee decisions affect millions. Walmart reports that it invested over $$2\mathrm{.}75$ billion total in employee pay raises and new policies such as flexible scheduling, internal career paths, and higher wages. The company also reports that turnover decreased significantly in pilot trials of the new human resource policies and pay. Undeniably, the company investment was high, but consider that the company$$s first$-$year investment of $$1$ billion is only $0\mathrm{.}2$ percent of that year$$s earnings of $$485$ billion.

An employee attends work while she should be hospitalized due to the fear of losing her job. Although the situation only affects one employee, it may result in a serious health emergency, fulfilling what facet of moral intensity?