Is globalization really a good thing? While I will admit there are many positive aspects of globalization such as a higher salary than one would normally receive in these developing countries and being able to offer their children a better education, but at what cost? Many of the factories used by multinational manufacturers in developing nations are subpar in safety regulations compared to those in developed nations which place the workers at risk.
The conditions these workers face are terrible, many are forced to work many hours and are not properly paid for their overtime and are overcrowded in dorms. At the Foxconn factories they often had twenty people in a three bedroom dorm. In the article "Life on the Global Assembly Line." the authors point out:
“Workers are packed into poorly lit rooms, where summer temperatures rise above 100 degrees. Textile dust, which can cause permanent lung damage, fills the air. Management may require forced overtime of as much as 48 hours at a stretch, and if that seems to go beyond the limits of human endurance, pep pills and amphetamine injections are thoughtfully provided” (Ehrenreich and Fuentes 162).
Workers have almost no time to eat during their lunch breaks and using the bathroom is a privilege and compounding these health issues some even have to rotate from day shift to night shift on a weekly basis leaving them with poor sleeping patterns. To make matters even worse as the women gain seniority they are laid off because it would be cheaper to train younger women than to pay the increase in wages.
Women are often doing the most hazardous parts of production in these developing countries so there would be no interference by safety inspectors or unions. A worker also poi...
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...uctive worker is a happy worker and I also don't think the benefits of globalization justify the mistreatment of employees and risking their well being for profits.
Works Cited
Duhigg, Charles, and David Barboza. "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad." NYTimes. The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. .
Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Annette Fuentes. "Life on the Global Assembly Line." The New World Reader: Thinking and Writing about the Global Community. Fourth ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2014. 158-67. Print.
FlorCruz, Michelle. "Chinese College Students Forced into Foxconn Internships." Newsweek. Newsweek LLC, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .
The factory workers are stuck in a complicated position where they are taken advantage of and exploited. While “exploitation occurs on any level” these factory workers do not have the opportunity to exploit others because they are the ones being exploited (Timmerman 7). Tension is created between the corporations, factory owners and workers, because the factory owners force the workers into harsh labor and intense working conditions that they were told
What do we think of when we hear the word sweatshop? Many people associate that word with female immigrant workers, who receive very minimal pay. The work area is very dangerous to your health and is an extremely unsanitary work place. The work area is usually overcrowded. That is the general stereotype, in my eyes of a sweatshop. All if not more of these conditions were present in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. This company was located in New York City at 23-29 Washington Place, in which 146 employees mainly women and girls lost their lives to a disastrous fire. “A superficial examination revealed that conditions in factories and manufacturing establishments that developed a daily menace to the lives of the thousands of working men, women, and children” (McClymer 29). Lack of precautions to prevent fire, inadequate fire-escape facilities, unsanitary conditions were undermining the health of the workers.
The term “sweatshop” refers to those factories relying on the exploitation and abuse of workers. Often (although not always) located in developing countries, these factories have been frequented by independent university researchers, who have published numerous accounts of worker imprisonment and physical abuse, as well as economic evidence revealing that many of these factories pay wages so small that their workers cannot live outside poverty. Several factories use horrific labor practices, and many factory workers have also been severely burned or mutilated in the workplace, while women among the labor population have often been forced to take birth control or abort their pregnancies (Given, 1997; Fernandez, 1997). The health burdens placed upon sweatshop workers have been extensively documented, and include exposure to noxious fumes, organophosphate compounds, and silica dust, resulting in record high cancer, asthma, bronchitis, pneumoconiosis, and leukemia rates in many regions because workers aren’t provided with masks and gloves (Kim et al., 2000).
Regarding “The Age of Globalization” by Alan Brinkley I thought that the reading selection provides good details on timeline of significant events that significantly affected the global economy. The reading selection from the American History textbook starts off with a summary of event of September 11, 2001, and the role they played in the changes within global economy. On the next page we are presented with a timeline of events that will be described later in the reading selection. The purpose of this section is to illustrate how each of those events contributed to the world we live in today, particularly their influence on the global economy.
The unjust of the working conditions caused many problems that can cause a danger to people lives. Observing the working conditions,
Workers overseas get lower wages compared to the workers working in the more developed countries. Exploited, there’s nothing that the workers can do about it since they aren’t allowed to create unions to protect themselves. Countries are now even more in debt as some people believe that the IMF and the World Bank take advantage of them controlling not only their economy but even their politics. Inflation happens to a country, and in Jamaica, chaos was created due to that issue, the people became pugnacious and became rebellious. Economic globalization can bring many good opportunities, but it could also bring some sort of adverse outcomes to a country.
Most companies are just out there to make money and not care for the welfare of their employees. It may be difficult to see this as business has always been portrayed as a stimulator of the economy and always on the lookout for its employees. However, this is only because the companies that abide by such practices are given as examples and not the ones that do poorly. We oftentimes complain about the little petty things in life when we should be worried about the people who are suffering in our world. The saying always goes; you never know what you have till it’s gone. Unfortunately, this saying corresponds particularly well this
Work reform, as interpreted by the employer, is a modern concept that has at its core increases in efficiency and effectiveness and a content and stable workforce. Work reforms are a means to an end; the end being increases in efficiency, production, and profits in a volatile global market. Depending on which method is used, the goals are to motivate their workers to gain their compliance. By paying more attention to a workers values, attitudes, and psychological needs, etc. a company can set the foundation for a more militant workforce and perhaps circumvent unionization. A company can try to create a “corporate family”, for example, via a corporate culture to try to facilitate this type of reform. The implementation of a corporate culture is an attempt to get workers to “buy in” to the firm’s overall goals (Krahn, Lowe, Hughes, 2011 p. 244-248). Key themes include workers as human beings, organizational cultures, constant adaptation, co-operation, creativity, flexibility, work teams, doing more with less, continuous learning, flatter organizational structures, customer-service, and participative management, etc. The goals and motivations for work reform as it pertains to a workforce differ from those of firms. Workers see changes such as enhanced on the job decision-making, increased autonomy, a decrease in monotonous and arduous tasks, and more input into large company decisions(that will ultimately affect them) as positive. Other changes that workers would embrace are pay increases and the addition of family friendly work policies such as more free time, and on-site daycare. Since a number of large manufacturing and service firms are unionized, a motivation and goal for work reform, in this respect, would be for a co...
Having poor working conditions impacts the society in such a way that workers are depressed and do not work in peace. Apple should look for ways in which their suppliers can offer working conditions that are humane. If the current suppliers do not improve their working conditions, then Apple should consider looking for other suppliers since the working conditions of their workers should be of most priority (Apple Inc. 2016). Moreover, having good working conditions will attract more qualified personnel into the company, thus increasing the quality of their products. However, the main problem in Apple making sure that their suppliers offer better working conditions is that Apple has no legal liability in any operation that happens in China factories since their ownership is by separate manufacturers. It, therefore, gives Apple the dilemma of choosing between what is correct morally and what is correct legally. It also represents situations that are unfortunate since an action of being socially responsible is not what is best for the running of the business as using cheap labour to minimise cost has led to Apple to achieve margins that are spectacular and profits on its products (Dhaliwal 2011, 59-100). Apple should keep in mind that the aim of business is not always based on making profits since long-term goals are
Long working hours continue to be one of the largest health concerns in the world. Currently, the world population has become so busy due to the pressure from harsh economic conditions. People are therefore spending long working hours in the workplace, which is an aspect that has negative impact on their health conditions. Statistics from Working Condition Survey indicates that approximately 30% of workers residing in European Union believe that their health is at risk due to the hours they spent in the workplace (Gurung, 2010:16)
First of all globalization has led to exploitation of labor. We can’t ignore the fact that ethical aspects of international business deserve special attention. Corruption and engaging in illegal practice to make greater profit is a source of continuing controversy. Sometimes companies go international and move their production to foreign countries so they could employ workers for long hours, at low wages and in poor working conditions (sweat shops). They are also using child labor, the employment of children to a full time work that can be otherwise done by adults all that so they could get out of their responsibility towards their workers by avoiding paying them national insurance …When these multinational firms go abroad they forget all about principles and about human beings and their rights, according to Kent, J., Kinetz, E. & Whehrfritz, G. (2008/March24). Newsweek. Bottom of the barrel. “The dark side of globalization: a vast work force trapped in conditions that verge on slavery”, David, P. Falling of The Edge, Travels through the Dark Heart of Globalization..Nov 2008. (p62) also agrees with them when he explained his concerns about Chinese and Indians t...
Globalization is an overwhelming trend. It is no doubt that there are many positives rise out of globalization, but equally some serious negatives brought from this trend, such as gradual disappearance of ethnic identity (Buckley, 1998). This essay is going to address some positive effects of globalization generally, and then it will focus on impacts of this trend on developing countries.
Now, before I bash globalization it is some positive I would like to discuss. Globalization is great for the American economy; we can supply the world with our goods and services, which in turn can possible, relieve the deficit we’re in. “Homegrown industries see trade barriers fall and have access to a much wider international market. The growth this generates allows companies to develop new technologies and produce new products and services.” (Buzzle) Also, globalization leads to better relations between countries when they create trade agreements. Globalization does not drain every under-developed company but brings a new era of economic change and the hope of being a world super power to certain nations. “Economic globalization gives governments of developing nation’s access to foreign lending. These funds are used on infrastructure including roads, health car...
Globalization is a term that is difficult to define, as it covers many broad topics in the global arena. However, it can typically be attributed to the advancement of economic, social, and cultural interactions among the companies, citizens, organizations, and governments of nations; globalization also focuses on the interactions and integration of countries (The Levin Institute 2012). Many in the Western world promote globalization as a positive concept that allows growth and participation in a global community. Conversely, the negative aspects rarely receive the same level of attention. Globalization appears to be advantageous for the privileged few, but the benefits are unevenly distributed. For example, the three richest people in the world possess assets that exceed the Gross National Product of all of the least developed countries and their 600 million citizens combined (Shawki and D’Amato 2000). Although globalization can provide positive results to some, it can also be a high price to pay for others. Furthermore, for all of those who profit or advance from the actions related to globalization, there are countless others who endure severe adverse effects.
Using 1997 financial crisis and other examples, discuss how globalization is important to the modern business journalism. Introduction