Today’s companies and organizations are held to higher standards when thinking of ethics and social responsibility. As a society, we view companies that are more socially responsible and ethical as better businesses. Many people in today’s world would prefer to shop or use services from companies that practice good ethics. When thinking of a company that has good organizational Ethics I think of the company Patagonia.
Patagonia was founded in 1973 in California. Over the years Patagonia has practiced good ethics and also has built a robust social-responsibility program. This program oversees and manages how its business and practices impact its employees and community of supply chains. The goal of the social-responsibility program is to minimize harm but also create a positive environment for the people and lives its company reaches through its business.
In an industry such as clothing apparel, there tend to be a lot of ethical dilemmas and a lot of companies tend to be lax when facing social responsibility. Apparel workers tend to be underpaid and work in harsh conditions, and can sometimes even be child workers. Patagonia however, has partnered with other companies across the globe to manufacture their goods, and through their social-responsibility program, works closely with them to ensure these issues are not present or reflected on their brand.
Based on my understanding of the organization’s goals, I would recommend that to create a more ethical, socially responsible, and/or sustainable business, Patagonia, should continue to work closely with its partners to ensure good ethics. I would also recommend that they work with other brands and businesses to continue pushing for fairer working conditions and a cleaner environment. Other organizations should adopt a business code of ethics and should commit to protecting the environment as well as their workers and rights like Patagonia. I think adopting a program like Patagonia’s Social-responsibility program is a good way to pursue this.
In conclusion, Patagonia is an excellent example of a company that practices good organizational ethics and is socially responsible. All companies should strive to have good ethics and social responsibility. If all companies would commit to these practices like Patagonia, our world would be a better place.
Patagonia is a great brand that definitely is leading the way in how they navigate their company ethics and social responsibility. I also agree that if companies would commit to practicing social responsibility as Patagonia does then the world would be a better place.
I did my assignment on Nike, and since they are well-tied to slave labor in their history and even currently have overworked manufacturing workers, I got curious after reading your post and googled, “patagonia slave labor,” and saw that they very effectively addressed unethical standards in their supply chain when they discovered modern slavery in one of their factories in Taiwan in 2015. Patagonia was able to change the conditions for the workers there and the factory’s standards and rectify the issue. Just as you said, other companies–like Nike–would be wise to work with Patagonia to achieve fairer working conditions.