Summary and Reaction Paper About Apple's Responsibility

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Summary and Reaction Paper
Apple’s Responsibility
Apple is one of the largest technological companies in the world and it has a huge responsibility of safeguarding the rights of employees who work in the manufacturing plants that are located in China. Apple has become successful due to the fact that it has mastered the art of modern technology and has incorporated it into the needs and demand of customers. It is from this perspective that Apple bears a huge responsibility in ensuring that the products that it manufactures meet the safety, health, and other quality standards. A report published by The Daily Telegraph showed that Foxconn, a company that is located in China, produces a significant percentage of Apple products. However, poor working conditions at the company placed Foxconn in the spotlight with experts arguing that Apple should take responsibility and improve the working conditions at Foxconn.
According to Apple’s code of conduct, the management team should ensure that the working conditions are not only safe, but also the fact that all employees are treated with dignity and respect. The organization should also ensure that all manufacturing processes and activities meet the needs and demands of the society, which also include environmentally friendly activities. Apple should therefore take responsibility for ensuring that the working conditions that are observed in the U.S. are also emulated in China. Labor activists in China have increasingly criticized the working conditions at Foxconn, with evidence showing that the rights and privileges of employees at the company are often abused. The management team at Apple should therefore take a leading role in ensuring that Apple subsidiaries do not infringe on the rights of their employees.
Taking into consideration that Apple is an international company, the management team should ensure that employees in all its facilities are able to work in a conducive environment. Statistics indicate that thousands of migrants are employed in Foxconn, with a huge percentage of these employees being young people aged between 18 and 25 years. A study done by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that China’s suicide rates are 14 per 100,000, in comparison to America’s 11 per 100,000. Despite the fact that the suicide rate margin between the two countries is not large, the high rate of suicide recorded at Foxconn over a relatively short period of time indicates that the working conditions in the organization needs to be improved. Furthermore, poor working conditions have been worsened by the fact that employees are usually overworked yet they are not duly compensated for their efforts.
Workplace Regulations
American companies and their supply chains, which include their subsidiaries, should comply with standards and regulations that are applicable to working environments in the U.S. It is important to note that the organizational culture of a company plays an instrumental role in attracting and retaining the trust and loyalty of its customers. This implies that customers tend to associate with organizations that take into consideration the rights and privileg...