Ford, Toyota, and GM Tackle Workplace Discrimination and Social Sustainability Case Study

Ford, Toyota, and GM Tackle Workplace Discrimination and Social Sustainability

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Introduction: Ford, Toyota, and GM Tackle Workplace Discrimination and Social Sustainability

Discrimination refers to unequal or unfair treatment of a person or a group of people based on certain grounds (American Psychological Association, 2019). The characters or grounds can be gender, age, culture, nationality, disability, ethnicity, beliefs, and so on. It is one of the social issues that are present in various aspects of the community. It is prominent in a business environment where employment discrimination is a major issue. It has been noticed that often male suppliers are preferred over women or White suppliers are preferred over black in the supply chain (Prilepok et al., 2022). On the other hand, investors or suppliers prefer to connect with the same cultural organizational leaders and so on, and such activities are enhancing workplace discrimination. Such inequalities impact the supply chain and deteriorate the entire performance. It is against human rights and is illegal. Therefore, this study shall discuss workplace discrimination as social sustainability supply chain issue and discuss how three giant organizations address the issues. The first company is Ford, which is an American Multinational automobile manufacturer. They are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and are a public limited company founded in 1903. The second company is Toyota, which is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer founded in 1937. The third company is another American multinational organization that manufactures automobiles and was established in 1908. How they address the mentioned social issue shall be discussed.

Main Body

This section shall discuss literature regarding workplace discrimination from the perspective of the social sustainability and how Ford, Toyota, and General Motors are addressing it.

Critical literature review on the issue of discrimination

Sustainability refers to meeting current needs without compromising the needs of a future generation. Sustainability encompasses three aspects, including environmental, social, and economic features. The UN (United Nations) conference on sustainability reflects that the creation of employment, economic growth, and protection of the natural environment shall lead to sustainability. Grum and Kobal Grum (2020) researched social sustainability and mentioned that it refers to the overall growth of society. To describe social sustainability within the workplace, the article has revealed that there are different social elements within a workplace such as equitable income, non-discrimination, equal access to goods and services, and others that help in making an organization sustainable as well as results in social sustainability. Thus, social sustainability refers to different issues in society that are addressed to bring sustainability to human beings.

Social sustainability in supply chain can be referred to as process or product measures that interpret the welfare and safety of the people in the supply chain (Najjar et al., 2020). The article by Atanda (2019) mentioned that individuals should understand the social issues in supply to handle and overcome them; otherwise, it might affect the sustainability of the firm. There can be different issues, such as wage discrimination based on gender and race, child labour, and others. However, the firms need to access all these issues in three stages of the supply chain: in-house operations, supplier-customers operations, and dealing with external stakeholders. However, the issues can be overcome by including effective policies related to social sustainability. For example, suppliers shall be included who are socially responsible, such as eliminating child labour, eliminating discrimination, and so on. Such approaches shall help to maintain social sustainability in the supply chain.

Commonobjective, (2018), mentioned that every employee wants fair chances and equal access to training, rewards, and so on irrespective of race, origin, marital status, and gender. However, it has been found that women continue to experience discrimination related to comparatively lower payments within the workplace. The article has explored garment factories across the world and reflected that women working in warehouses or manufacturing factories face workplace harassment, non-protection of rights for pregnant women, lack of required facilities, lack of flexible working options and so on. Moreover, both male and female workers who are engaged in union activities face discrimination from the perspective of facilities. The article gathered data from a Human Rights Watch study that observed 35 workers in Cambodia and confirmed that workers involved in unions receive intimidation from organization management. The article has also discussed those workers in the fashion industry who face discrimination. For instance, women are paid less as compared to men in the footwear, and garment industries in 8 Asian countries, including India and Pakistan. There is cultural prejudice and a caste system. For example, Dalits are given lesser wages despite progress in society. Moreover, for disabled people in Bangladesh, there is a specific policy to eliminate discrimination, but only one out of four factories follows the policy, and disabled employees are discriminated against heavily.

Equal employment opportunity commissions US, has mentioned that employee discrimination includes harassment, unfair treatment, inappropriate questioning, and so on. Roscigno (2019) discussed that workplace relations and occupational positions often give rise to discrimination. Senior employees often abuse juniors based on their religion and so on. Moreover, some executives favour some subordinates over others and exhibit discriminatory behaviour over others. Ethics has also been mentioned as one of the reasons to drive discrimination. Lack of business ethics reduced the code of conduct. For example, the manufacturing industry of India has shown a gap in ethics and many workers do not know about the ethical policy and believe that it is not followed. The article included an interview to compare the manufacturing and energy industries of India and the US and mentioned that ethics are not followed accurately (especially in India) and discrimination persists based on relation and job position.

Figure 1: Graph showing the presence of a code of ethics

Castario et al., (2019) have discussed that gender and diversity discrimination persists in different sectors. The supply chain includes discrimination where inequalities are present within warehouse workers, delivery workers, suppliers, and so on. The supply chain needs awareness to promote activities and policies to endorse equal treatment for the male-to-female ratio as well as equal treatment for every employee irrespective of caste. Industries lack proper monitoring, especially in developing or underdeveloped nations and that is further increasing the gap. Moreover, disabled people represent the highest percentage that is neglected and are called a marginalized population. WHO has mentioned that around 15 % of the world population has some disability however, supporting the disabled population via socially responsible activities shall benefit the company from the perspective of Corporate Social responsibility by enhancing its brand reputation. It shall make the brand sustainable too. However, poor labor practice is found in a majority of the sectors. However, such inaccuracies can be overcome through monitoring and auditing the supplies and other members of the supply chain. For example, Ikea is one of the organizations that address such social issues and has gained widespread recognition and enhanced brand reputation.

Within the concept of sustainability, addressing environmental criteria has currently become a top priority, and that lagged behind the social criteria. However, slowly social components have started to get more attention. Within the supply chain, failing to give sufficient attention to the suppliers, employees, and contractors might result in legal or financial risk for not protecting workers' rights throughout the supply chain. Social policies are important for organizational commitment to respect and protect the human rights of every employee. However, certain businesses are including best practices to overcome social barriers based on race or gender and are including strategies to provide similar opportunities to every group of people. (Businesschief, 2023), describes that Organizations are including non-discrimination policies and are including training programs to develop a culture of non-discrimination in the workplace. Organizations are also supporting campaigns to enhance gender equality as well as women’s economic empowerment. ISN data mentioned that around 79% of organizations have anti-discriminatory policies for their employees and suppliers. Implementation of human rights policies across the supply chain helps to improve reputation, efficiency, and profitability and to attract the best suppliers or employees. Commitment towards human rights also helps to develop a strong relationship with the stakeholders. Thus, increasing pressure to include and follow human rights has developed throughout the value chain. Legislation is also emphasizing human rights practice.

Case study analysis

This section shall analyze how Ford, Toyota, and General Motors address workplace discrimination.

Ford

Ford has been committed to human rights since their initial stage, when Henry Ford initiated the $5/work day in 1914. Such commitment is continuing and the company is committed to offering equal and standard wages. They follow their corporate human rights policy that is focused on the elimination of discrimination. In 2021, the company has launched its revised supplier code of conduct; for example, they have increased the use of RBA (Responsible Business Alliance)to assess human risks and the social issues that can impact the brand globally (Bremser et al., 2022). Such approaches are helping the brand to follow anti-discrimination policies.

Figure 2: Showing the sustainable moves of Ford since their initial phase

They have the culture to develop a strong relationship with every stakeholder, and they consider employees to be one of the crucial stakeholders, as without their commitment, the organization cannot maintain their performance standard. Therefore, Ford has a policy to offer fair treatment for every employee. Ford has the philosophy to care for each member and thus, they are committed to respecting human rights. They have a policy to treat every employee with dignity and respect, irrespective of their case and gender. They also prohibit the use of child labour in any form and they do not employ less than 15 years of age unless the candidate has access to government-authorized training (Ford, 2022). They also have the policy to eliminate abusive disciplinary practices for the employees, such as working extra hours forcefully. Moreover, they efficiently follow ethical recruitment rather than hiring based on relation to a bribe. They strongly eliminate fraudulent practices while recruiting and do not take fees for recruitment. The employee's voice is also heard irrespective of their gender, caste, creed, disability, and so on even though there are no unions.

The organization is offering fair benefits. Moreover, if they trace any non-compliance with anti-discriminatory policy in any areas within their supply chain such as for retail workers, warehouse workers, suppliers, drives, and so on, they offer remedy as soon as possible. They also expect the suppliers and partners to adopt a similar policy. They are committed to not tolerating any kind of discrimination and they support women's rights and diversity besides offering a safe and healthy working environment for all. Ford includes a GFA or Global Framework Agreement to protect human rights for their global labor community (Martin, 2019). Ford Motors is engaged in women empowerment policies and the UN global compact to follow human rights and to eliminate discrimination from not just business but also from the supply chain so that they can form a better world.

Toyota

Toyota follows UNGP (United Nations Guiding Principles) for human rights. They have the principle to produce happiness for all. In every location they operate, they try to be the best organization that is trusted and loved by all. The organization is supported by many individuals, such as local communities, people, business partners, suppliers, dealers, and others, and the company protects human rights to remain beneficial to society. The company has a policy "committed to respecting human rights” and expects its members to follow the same. They refer to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; thus, they have a corporate responsibility for respecting human rights. The policy supports to comply with international human rights laws of the nations where they are operating. In case there is a difference between international and national laws, then the company adopts the higher standard among the two. In case conflict arose among the standards, then they tried to follow the international standard mainly (Toyota, 2021). They have a policy for "scope of responsibility," and the policy is applied to all employees of Toyota and their subsidiaries. They expect their partners and suppliers to understand the policy. The next policy is "human rights due diligence." This policy has been implemented to trace and prevent any mitigation from protecting human rights (Toyota, 2021). The next policy is “education and training”. To implement the policy, the organization offers training to embed human rights and anti-discriminatory practices in internal operations. The next policy is "monitoring," which helps in complete implementation by tracking progress.

The policy of Toyota has regulations to support migrant labour. The company does not tolerate forced labour which is considered modern slavery and they consider that migrant labourers are vulnerable to forced labor and exploitation. Thus, there can be a risk for them in the supply chain. Thus, as a part of due diligence, Toyota works with a third-party organization to standardize the working conditions of migrant workers and eliminate discrimination against them. The policy also includes no discrimination against diversity. The company does not tolerate any kind of discrimination based on gender, nationality, ethnicity, age (above the legal working age), disability, marital status, and so on (Wang, 2021). Toyota works to develop an inclusive workplace where skills and expertise are appreciated rather than religion. The organization believes that diversity is crucial for innovation as different employee from different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences have different views and that can give rise to creativity. Last but not least, the organization has a policy against harassment. They eliminate power harassment, sexual harassment, and others that can lower the dignity of any member based on caste, creed, gender, and so on in their supply chain, including warehouse workers, retail workers, manufacturing workers, suppliers, and so on. They are developing a "You Perspective” approach where employees can share their thoughts and issues, and it shall be addressed so that each employee, irrespective of their caste, creed, or gender and so on, can be respected, feel valued and equal, and can work peacefully (Mpehle et al., 2021).

General Motors (GM)

GM protects human rights and expects its related members, such as supply chain members, to follow it. They also follow UN guidelines related to the protection of human rights. They are also committed to OECD guidelines and ILO guidelines. Similarly, they offer accurate wages and benefits based on skill, expertise, national standard, and performance irrespective of caste, creed, gender, or nationality. They also offer the needed wage for overtime, medical leaves, and so on. Workers receive equal pay for equal work. The wages for interns, student workers, and apprentices are substantially similar to those of other entry-level employees performing a similar task to avoid discrimination. They have the policy to ensure that none of the employees in the supply chain shall face inhumane or harsh treatment, sexual harassment, gender-based violence, bullying, public shaming and so on based on culture, gender, nationality, and so on (Lee and Jung, 2019). There are policies for non-discrimination and non-harassment, and no members are discriminated against and harassed based on race, colour, gender, identity, disability, pregnancy, political affiliation, marital status, and so on in hiring, promotion, rewards, and so on.

However, there is certain criticism of GM and they had to pay $365,000 in civil penalties to the United States Justice Department (Singh 2023). GM was committed to a discrimination-free workplace but the company reflected discriminatory acts that reduced employee experience. The justice department investigated and mentioned that GM included discriminatory and unlawful hiring processes.

The contrast between different organizations

To contrast the findings of the Case studies, it shall be discussed that all three members follow the UN guidelines related to protecting human rights. They have a policy to include equality and fair treatment based on skills rather than gender, religion, and so on.

However, to contract between the three organizations, it should be mentioned that Ford and Toyota follow the anti-discriminatory guidelines and GM failed to follow the policy and was subjected to legal complications. Workplace discrimination is a noteworthy issue that adversely affects employee morale and productivity (Singh et al. 2022). The automotive sector has encountered a notable frequency of discriminatory occurrences, prompting certain enterprises such as Ford, Toyota, and General Motors to implement remedial actions to tackle this concern.

Ford has implemented several measures to address discrimination in the workplace. The organization has implemented diversity and inclusion initiatives aimed at cultivating a workplace that is fair and hospitable to all staff members. Ford initiated a program in 2020 with a budget of one hundred million dollars aimed at promoting racial equity in the United States (Gutiérrez and Lechuga-Peña, 2022). Furthermore, the corporation has developed training initiatives for its workforce, aimed at enhancing employees' comprehension of diversity and inclusion matters, while also fostering a deeper understanding of these matters.

Furthermore, Toyota has implemented several measures to eradicate bias within the work environment. The organization has implemented diversity and inclusion initiatives, one of which is the creation of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). The Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have the objective of increasing consciousness regarding matters related to diversity within the work environment (Wagner and Boyle, 2022). At Toyota, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) provide a platform for employees to engage in discussions regarding diversity and inclusion matters, allowing them to share their observations and concerns.

General Motors has implemented a comprehensive strategy for diversity and inclusion to foster equity and inclusivity within the workplace. The organization has established Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to serve as a platform for employees to engage in discourse regarding diversity and inclusion, as well as to address the obstacles they encounter in this regard (Ferguson, 2022). Furthermore, General Motors has implemented educational initiatives aimed at enhancing consciousness and fostering comprehension of diversity, inclusivity, and implicit prejudices.

Ford, Toyota, and General Motors have implemented measures to ensure that their suppliers adhere to social sustainability standards about supply chain activities. The Ford Supplier Diversity Development Program aims to promote the expansion of a diverse supplier pool, potentially encompassing enterprises owned by individuals from historically marginalized communities. Furthermore, Toyota has implemented measures to ensure that its suppliers adhere to the corporation's ethical and social sustainability standards (Toyota, 2021). General Motors has implemented a comprehensive sustainability strategy that encompasses a pledge to oversee its supply chain and ensure ethical sourcing of materials.

Therefore, Ford, Toyota, and General Motors have implemented measures to address discrimination in their organizational settings and to advance social sustainability in their supply chains. While there may be variations in the strategies employed by different businesses, it is widely recognized that cultivating a workplace culture that prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as holding vendors accountable for socially responsible business practices, is of paramount importance.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be observed that social sustainability is just one area where prejudice against women and other minorities needs to be addressed. Lack of effective monitoring, especially in developing or poor nations, puts industries at risk of discrimination in the supply chain and the legal or financial consequences of failing to defend workers' rights. But some companies, like Ford, Toyota, and GM, have procedures in place to prevent discrimination and safeguard human rights throughout their operations and supply networks. To combat these problems, the company has established employee resource groups, diversity and inclusion training programs, and more. They have also instituted regulations to prevent any form of mistreatment, guarantee equality, and forbid bias against any group or individual. By taking these steps, the company has strengthened its relationships with its stakeholders while also boosting its credibility, productivity, and bottom line. Therefore, businesses should respect and protect the human rights of all employees by implementing human rights policies across the supply chain to boost sustainability, productivity, and reputation.

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