Ethics of Outsourcing

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Ethics of Outsourcing

What is ethics and how is it related to today's world of business? Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary defines ethics as "the discipline dealing with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation." In today's globalized society, it seems as though monetary profits are valued higher than making ethical decisions. Outsourcing has become an unavoidable result of globalization. From General Motors to IBM, we can experience the effect of outsourcing in many different sectors of our lives. Outsourcing has brought many economic advantages, and it has greatly enhanced productivity and growth of industries across countries. However, despite such benefits, outsourcing also generated a variety of social, political, economic and cultural issues for the outsourcing receivers and the outsourcing providers. The consequences of outsourcing experienced in America are considered to be unethical as it damages local labor market, and offers hardly any practical solution to address the unemployment issues.

Outsourcing raises an ethical issue, as so many blue collar workers, as well as well-educated white collar workers in the US have lost their jobs due to outsourcing. Especially, many who work in the field of technologically advanced services and software were exchanged for the workers in poorer countries for cheaper labor costs. Many of the multinational companies moved their manufacturing sectors to Mexico, China, or India. According to the article, "The Battle Over Outsourcing" (2004) by Bob Davis, et al. illustrates that many of the software programming work has been relocated to India over the years. Offshore outsourcing started with low-income jobs such as call center operators, and spread to high-paid computer ...

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...sourcing because such a phenomenon will certainly occur in the advent of globalization. The more important discussion is with regards to what policies the government can implement to safeguard the livelihood of its citizens.

References:

Bulkeley, W. (2004, March). New IBM Jobs Can Mean Fewer Jobs Elsewhere. The Wall Street Journal, B1.

Davis, B, et al. (2004, April). The Battle Over Outsourcing. The Wall Street Journal, E1-4.

Maynard, M. and Bunkley, N. (2007, September). G.M. Workers Begin Walkout Over Contract Impasse. The New York Times, B1-3.

Merriam-Webster Online. 2006-2007 Merriam- Webster, Incorporated. From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethics

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). Retrieved November 26, 2007 from http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-warn.htm

http://www.doleta.gov/layoff/employers.cfm

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