Making an Ethical Decision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Making an Ethical Decision - Essay Example Mary and her colleagues should not have agreed with the decision because considering individual circumstances, 6 months are not an unfair amount of time to expect to be out on maternity leave. This is because, among other reasons, it is in the best interest of their children for them to take longer leave. According to a study carried out by the economic journal in 2005, children of American women who resumed work within 12 weeks were more likely to have cognitive and behavioral issues (Lerner 2011).This is because despite the fact the fact most mothers will have physically recovered from the childbirth in under this time. There are a myriad of psychological factors that need to be factored in such as time spent with the children. There is at present, sufficient medical evidence to indicate that a mother spending short periods of time with their newborns is a leading contributor of infant disorders and even death (Lerner 2011). While giving brief leave may appear to make economic sens e to employers in terms of increasing the mother’s time at work, ergo, productivity at closer scrutiny, it is likely to be counterproductive. This is because nursing mothers who are also working are more prone to stress depression and frustration (Melnick 2011) and as such may not be the best of workers. Pursuant to management’s turn down, there are several avenues the employees can consider some more radical than others. One cause of action would be to try to renegotiate with management and, attempt to come up with a compromise. This could involve offering to shortening their time off or even providing statistical evidence. That is if any can be found, that women given time off will ultimately be better workers. Alternatively they could take activists routes and through their union take assertive actions like striking or suing management. The situation has several stake holders primarily of course, are the women employees particularly those who plan on having children in posterity. Nonetheless, the whole firm including management and fellow workers as long clients has a stake in this. This is because if the women’s claims are correct, the productivity of the company would go up in the long run if their demands are met. In case they decide to go on strike, the whole firm and clients will be affected directly or indirectly. Furthermore, other companies in the area and/or country will be affected since not many companies give their employees that much time off with the average time being less than 3 months, which is the amount of time the national Family Leave Law allocates (Lerner 2011). In case Mary’s efforts are successful it would spur others to follow suit and as such a large part of the labor industry may feel the impact. In fact, Melnick posits that six months is ideal because according to research after about this period, work did not translate to poor parenting (Para 3). Management could try to settle the problems in several ways. Herein, two significant ones will be considered. For one, they could like it had been suggested of the women try to come to some compromise, this way they could offer an increment of time off to what they consider reasonable and try to convince them to take the deal. Alternately, management could avail daycare facilities within the premises of the firm for nursing mother’s time off with their kids. While management may find this an expensive venture, assuming they rejected the initial petition for financial

Placement Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Placement Report - Essay Example Marks and Spencer has successfully expanded its market and today it has more than 900 retail outlets all over the world. It is also listed in London Stock Exchange. The company however started facing problems relating to its marketing department. Main theme of Marks & Spencer was to provide high quality and innovative products along with exceptional services but the company has started to fail in achieving these objectives because of the wide expansion in their product portfolio. Due to the expansion in the portfolio the company has lost its main objective slightly and because of this reason, competitors are able to grab the opportunity. However, the quality of service has been one of the hallmarks that have helped the company to survive difficult times and make sure that the company is able to do well than its competitors. This report analyses my personal experience that I have gone through during my employment at Marks and Spencer. The report analyses and evaluates not only my expe rience, but the experience of the overall team with which I was working. The report also highlights the success reasons of the team and the success factors because of which the team was able to accomplish the project appropriately and successfully. The report also presents the scenario and case that Marks and Spencer was facing and how our team helped the company to solve the issue and make sure that the company flourishes. This report also reflects my personal skills that I have developed during the employment period. Moreover, the report also highlights how I have been able to use my marketing concepts and knowledge at the organization that helped Marks and Spencer to achieve its objectives. EVALUATING THE WORK OF THE TEAM Marks and Spencer is a big name in the retail industry of United Kingdom as well as in other European countries. However, the company has been facing different types of issues. Some of the major issues that Marks and Spencer has been facing include: Bad position ing Uncompetitive prices Unavailability of the product in some of the outlets of the company Lack of awareness of the product in the mind of consumers Not focusing on traditional marketing techniques and promotional tools Issues in the Customer services of the company I found the abovementioned issues that have negatively impact the company and its sales over the years. However I was working in the customer services department and therefore the main issues that I have identified in this department include: Proactive customer services Poor presentations Ensuring customer satisfaction level Offering more products to customers or increasing sales per customer As a customer sales representative, I along with my team mates was assigned different tasks to solve the abovementioned issues. Our team was given training in order to improve the customer relationship and build better relations with the customers. Moreover, our team also worked ourselves and formulated different strategies in ord er to improve the reputation of the retail outlet in which I was working. At Marks and Spencer, employees are given some kind of freedom on how to satisfy the customers however they are given a broad outline of how to go