Film Review- Norma Rae, Erin Brockovich, Silkwood
In today's society, business ethics and morals play a crucial role in corporations. Over the last decade, consumers have become more aware of the exploitation, greed, and environmental destruction by corporations. In the movies Norma Rae, Erin Brockovich, and Silkwood, the viewers are able to comprehend the impacts business decision-making could have on communities and their employee's families. In many of these corporate cases, there is a David, an average person, taking on an industry and winning.
A common theme of all three movies is the single mothers of the working class who confront powerful corporations and politicians in a man's world, which has abused and exploited them. The women in all three movies could not be scared or silenced by a company or its battalion of lawyers. They were going to fight for what they believed was right no matter what the cost. This is a consequence of a situational ethical decision to place the safety of their co-workers and themselves before their personal gratification.
Another theme was unfair treatment of workers in Norma Rae and Silkwood. The employees of the corporations faced punishing work, excessive noise, authoritarian management and low pay coupled with job insecurity. In the movie Silkwood, unfair treatment occurred to Karen Silkwood when the doctors performed the procedure to eliminate contamination. It was a painful process to be scrubbed with brushes as well as humiliating. This method is unethical as the protection of workers should be a priority of the corporation. In Norma Rae, Rae's father collapses and dies in the mill. He died from a heart attack caused by sheer pressure of work and the stress of the heat. The ...
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...This requires individuals to make a decision to combat the problem or ignore it.
These movies heighten awareness of the general population in regards to the exploitation, greed, and environmental destruction by corporations. The value of corporate responsibility continues to increase as consumers continue to force companies to revolutionize. When employees take an ethical and moral stance while fighting for themselves and fellow employees, they stand a chance of winning against a powerful industry and the wealthy. The influence of an individual can prevail.
Works Cited
Boatright, J. R. (2009). In D. Musselwhite, D. Repetto, & P. Walsh (Eds.), Ethics and the conduct of business (Sixth ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (Original work published 1997)
Erin Brockovich. Dir. Stephen Soderbergh. Perf. Julia Roberts and Albert Finney. DVD. Universal Studios, 2000.
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the only important value is the bottom line, most executives merely give lip service to living and operating their corporations ethically.
Norma Rae is a film that was produced in 1979, that was based on the real life story of Crystal Lee Sutton and her efforts to start a union for the textile workers at the J.P. Stevens Company located in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Sally Field plays the role of Norma Rae (Sutton) who works with union organizer Ruben Warshovsky, played by Ron Leibman, to help fight the poor working conditions at the O.P. Henley Company in 1978 (Norma Rae, n.d.). Norma Rae works at the factory along with her mother and father, and is employed as a loom operator in the weaving room. She becomes worried about the poor working conditions within the factory after seeing her mother suffer from temporary hearing loss. Working conditions within
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2011). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York: John Wiley.
Norma Rae a loom operator in the weaving room is an outspoken individual and is very out spoken about her poor working conditions such as excessive noise, long hours with short breaks, physical stress from standing for long periods and abnormally high temperatures in the work areas. Added to all this is management¡¦s apathy for the working conditions, as seen when her mother looses her hearing temporarily with little or no sentiment from the company doctor, who knows this is a common problem for the workers. With this setting, the film progresses through most of the stages for employee organization. While management tries to get the workers support to keep the union out, and labor struggles to get a foothold to develop worker unity and get the union elected as the official bargaining agent both sides violate federal laws or come precariously close. First the Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) of the union will be examined.
Norma Rae takes place at the O.P. Henley Textile Mill in Henleyville, North Carolina. Norma Rae, a young, widowed mother of two, and much of the town’s population are employed at the mill. The working conditions at the mill are far from ideal. The environment is loud, dusty, and hot. The workers must remain on their feet with few breaks. Norma Ra...
Trevino, L., & Nelson, K. (2011). Managing business ethics - straight talk about how to
Materialistic things consume today’s society, whether it is cars, clothing, or jewelry, in a sense we rely on these objects for our happiness. Companies such as Nike, Gap, and Toms, have all had major success do to their loyal customers, who seek the name brand logo of their company. These companies have continued to grow tremendously, making billions of dollars; the companies strive to find ways to outsourcing its manufacturing, in hopes of making more and more profit. Profit is not the only thing that rises, many questions and investigations have occurred, exposing the poor ethical choices these businesses have made. Nike, one of the most well- known and profitable companies have experienced this heavy scrutiny first hand. Throughout this essay the reader will gain a better understanding of Nike’s poor ethical business decisions and what actions they took in order to repair their image.
The business world has always been a very risky business. There is a lot to worry about no matter what position a person fulfills; everyone has some level of responsibility. The Gap Incorporated is a multinational specialty retail company (Gap Inc. 2014). The company was created by a Doris and Don Fisher (Joslin et. al. 2010). Don Fisher and his wife was a very wealthy couple, Don was a real estate developer (Joslin et. al. 2010). They decided to open up a clothing store when Don realized how popular jeans were becoming in the fashion industry. Another reason that Don Fisher wanted to open a clothing store is because he has an extremely difficult time finding jeans that fit him properly in department stores (Joslin et. al. 2010). So in the year of 1969 the Fishers opened the very first Gap store in San Francisco, California (Gap Inc. 2014). In this paper I will explore The Gap Incorporated and discuss the company’s ethical culture and behavior past and present. Based on preliminary information, I hypothesize that The Gap Incorporated is an ethical company.
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
The movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” presented a series of ethical dilemmas that surround a group of salesmen working for a real estate company. The value of business ethics was clearly undermined and ignored in the movie as the salesmen find alternatives to keep their jobs. The movie is very effective in illustrating how unethical business practices can easily exist in the business world. Most of the time, unethical business practices remain strong in the business world because of the culture that exists within companies. In this film, the sudden demands from management forced employees to become irrational and commit unethical business practices. In fear of losing their jobs, employees were pressured to increase sales despite possible ethical ramifications. From the film, it is right to conclude that a business transaction should only be executed after all legal and ethical ramifications have been considered; and also if it will be determined legal and ethical to society.
Pretty Woman is a modern take on the classic Cinderella story where a poor misguided girl meets her prince and her life is dramatically changed. This film has fairy tale elements, but the biggest element in the movie is the use of sex; Vivian, the main character, is a prostitute. She meets her “prince” and is swept off of her feet, but what this really means is that she is bought for an entire week by a handsome, wealthy business man. One would assume that he was buying her for sex, but this is not your average prostitute transaction. This movie has a lot of third wave feminism ideals. Third wave feminism deals with using the female gender and sexuality to further the cause and portray their views. The ultimate goal of this paper is to show that Vivian Ward (portrayed by Julia Roberts), is the poster girl for third wave feminism.
Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right Fourth ed., Retrieved on July 30, 2010 from www.ecampus.phoenix.edu
This film has opened up a new perspective to me about the mindset of many of the people that have and are running many of the most noticeable household name brands that we have all come to know since childhood. The film does a very good job of explaining how businesses and corporations have not only grown but evolved over the last 40 plus years. We all know that at the end of the day, a company’s goal is to make money. “The Corporation” gave me a very in-depth look at the extent that major corporations will go to in order to keep their company successful and profitable. With many of the companies that were mentioned in the film, the average person such as myself, would never know that the companies that we support and patronize have taken part in modern day slavery to give use the products that we have come to love. The part of this that was most troubling was the fact that these business practices no matter how unethical we find them are in fact legal and do not
It seems obvious that large corporations have a tendency to ignore the negative effects of their actions in favor of profit. This example, although sensationalized, still says to me that with power comes responsibility. It affirmed my belief that a corporation’s goal cannot be just to provide profit to shareholders, but there must also be an element of social responsibility.
Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2011). Moral Issues in Business (Eleventh ed., pp. 230-244).