Discuss how Christian Principles can be Applied to an Operations Management Dilemma

Supply Chain Management/Christian Worldview
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Supply Chain Management
Over the past few decades, ethics has gained momentum in businesses, especially in the supply chain management. Ethics in business is concerned with the rules of human behavior and considers whether it is right or wrong. It is divided into descriptive morality, applied ethics, and ethical theory. Ethics in the operations management is concerned with identifying ethical issues in the supply chain, how the department resolves the issues and whether they should be managed. Today many businesses are faced with the pressure of having to comply with ethical standards to ensure that they penetrate in the market without facing any problem. Corporate social responsibility is the main reason they are facing ethical challenges.
Ethical issues that should be observed by businesses and the general public differ from one society to another due to ethnic and religious differences. Mostly the basis of ethical reasoning is the religion since it presents a standard of morality. Christians derive the moral conduct from the Bible while other religions are guided by their religious books such as the Koran. Although the society is growing with the tradition of basing ethical standards with religions, philosophers argue that ethics can stand on its own without religion. According to philosophy, ethics is based on the analysis of what is right and wrong on reasoning and experience rather than incorporating religious teachings. This affirms that people with ethical values are not only in the religious sector but even those who does not belong to any religion. Ethics needs to be independent and determining whether something ethical does not require anyone's approval (Williams, 2011). It requires moral reasoning.
The ethical dilemma, in this case, is about child labor in the supply chain. Many companies are being criticized for employing children in their plants. An example is Apple Inc. which has been criticized for employing children in its supply chain. These criticisms give the companies negative publicity which forces them to perform an audit and enhance controls that are aimed at ensuring that child labor does not happen again in the organization (Moore & Watch, 2011). I a child is found working in a company and is fired, it will have multiple effects not only to the child but also the society. In some societies, children are not forced to work, but it is because it is the only option that is available. Despite the legal policies that are in companies of regulating child labor, they always find themselves in the company by forging IDs to get them in. In our case, the supply chain manager is told by the regional manager that they have no option. Shortly after they get fired, their families will suffer without the children's income. Some of them get shelter and food from that income; they will be thrown out of their homes if the kids are fired from the company (Motonnier).
The decision of hiring the children in the company was ethical fo...