Ethical Challenges Regarding Employees

Ethical Challenges Regarding Employees

In 2017 a high-ranking employee at Adidas was arrested and charges brought against them for alleged bribery charges (Peirson, 2018). The executive was suspected of initiating a bribery scheme involving college basketball by bribing families of some young men to attend the schools that Adidas sponsored. Following this suit, Sketchers, another brand that competes with Adidas in the shoe industry, also sued Adidas alleging false advertising and unfair competition (Slabach, 2018). In the suit, Sketchers alleged that Adidas’ action to bribe the student to attend schools that Adidas sponsored and wear Adidas products created an unfair ground for other companies looking for NBA-level endorsements. In a separate incident in 2017, some employees accused the organization of not doing enough to protect Black employees (Togoh, 2017). The employees alleged that the organization had not created an inclusive organizational culture besides Adidas committing that it would employ 30% Black or Latino. The employees organized some protests against Adidas’ tolerance for racism in the work environment.

In the first case, including bribery, Adidas and the employees who were implicated in the case had since severed ties. Adidas has a strict policy on employee behavior as outlined in the code of conduct. The employees implicated in the bribery scandal acted out of their own accord. Their actions were not representative of Adidas’ core values. Moving into the future, Adidas can expect that employees will abide by the code of conduct and conduct their duties with diligence and responsibility.

Adidas will continue to upgrade its code of conduct to be more relevant to current organizational issues. The code of conduct has been instrumental in avoiding many ethical challenges because it helps form an ethical organizational culture. There may be several incidents, such as the bribery reported in 2017, which are few and that the organization comfortably handles to avoid risks to its reputation and brand name.

Adidas has continued to make significant strides towards achieving inclusivity and reducing discrimination. Adidas reported in 2020 that it had taken several measures to support Black and LatinX communities. For instance, Adidas reported that it would invest $120 M towards ending racism and supporting Black communities between 2020 and 2025. Some of the funds would be channeled towards providing 50 university scholarships every year. The organization also created employee resource groups that work towards giving employees in special groups a voice and platform for recommendation towards fostering an inclusive workplace. Some of the groups that have since joined the platform from Adidas staff are People of Color, Women, LGBTQ, Experienced Generation, Faith groups, People Living with disabilities, and Mental Health (Adidas, 2021). Adidas also increased its commitment toward workplace gender balance, reporting that as of 2020, it had managed to get 32% of women in managerial and leadership positions globally. These responses were considered sufficient following employee unrest in 2017. The interventions have been scheduled to run until 2025, when they will be reviewed and new targets set for an additional 5 years.

The social cause selected is designed to help children from disenfranchised backgrounds attain education and get involved in sports. Adidas plans to achieve this by partnering with and funding education and rescue facilities to identify children from underserved families who can excel in sports. One of the ethical challenges mentioned in 2017 was bribing students to attend schools sponsored by Adidas to participate in endorsement marketing activities. Through this social cause, Adidas can contribute meaningfully towards developing youthful talent without employees engaging in activities that could damage the brand name and reputation. The social cause is not designed to meet any business goal but solely for developing the community and social environment that Adidas operates in.

Implementation of the cause will require employee involvement. Through such involvement, employees will attain skills in treating each other with empathy (Segal, 2013). Empathy is essential in an organization since it guides interpersonal relations. The cause will also help the organization increase its activities toward socio-economic inclusion. Since Adidas has already taken measures to improve its inclusivity and diversity within the organization, this social cause is a means for Adidas to contribute toward socio-economic inclusion outside the organization. The cause would reaffirm the organization’s commitment to improving and positively impacting the lives of employees and other members of the society from minority and special communities.

The social cause could negatively affect employees. Since the employees are involved in identifying, planning activities, and researching how the organization can best implement and achieve the goals for the cause, they might be distracted from other activities that ordinarily increase organizational value. Adidas has targets and goals that it should meet through the contribution from employees, and the primary one is making profits. Profits are essential to Adidas because, through such profitability, Adidas can dedicate part of the proceeds towards the proposed social cause. While the organization’s social cause is important, employees should not be distracted to make the social goal the primary goal.

References

Adidas Group. (2021, March 10). Diversity and Inclusion. Adidas.Com. Retrieved April 16, 2022, from https://report.adidas-group.com/2020/en/group-management-report-our-company/our-people/diversity-and-inclusion.html

Schlabach, M. (2018, May 10). Skechers sues Adidas for false advertising, unfair competition over alleged payments to high school, college players. ESPN.Com.  Retrieved April 16, 2022, from https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/23463876/skechers-sues-adidas-false-advertising-unfair-competition-alleged-payments-high-school-college-players

Segal, E. A. (2011). Social Empathy: A Model Built on Empathy, Contextual Understanding, and Social Responsibility That Promotes Social Justice. Journal of Social Service Research, 37(3), 266–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2011.564040

Togoh, I. (2020, June 17). Adidas’s Staff Disquiet Over Racism Boils Over With Calls To Investigate HR Chief. Forbes.  Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/06/17/adidas-employees-urge-investigation-into-hr-chief-amid-concerns-about-response-to-racism-complaints/?sh=6251dc1550d5

Pierson, B. (2018, October 24). Ex-Adidas exec found guilty in college basketball bribery scheme. Reuters.Com.  Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-crime-ncaa/ex-adidas-exec-found-guilty-in-college-basketball-bribery-scheme-idUKL2N1X315X