Robert Hinton’s Case Study
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Executive summary
The cleaning industry is very competitive and influential in society. The industry has employed more than one million people worldwide and is contributing to the economy globally. The industry is faced with social issues like globalization, ethics, and social responsibility issues like any other industry, and thus the players strive to ensure a sustainable environment of operations. The paper reviews a case study of Robert Hinton’s janitorial services business found in Windsor. The company is solely managed and operated by Robert, who has employed different employees – legal locals and undocumented immigrants. Employment issues pose a very significant challenge on the business’ ethical part of the company due to the disobedience of national immigration laws and disparities in payment. Robert contributes to the sustainability of the environment through partnerships with non-governmental organizations and institutions. The business does not qualify for the top 50 firms due to the faults in the ethical part of business, primarily through employment laws.
Industry Analysis
The cleaning industry is a very crucial industry in the society, whose roles cannot be assumed. The industry determines the freshness and the health of the environment the people live in. Numerous companies are contracted either full time or partly to deliver the cleaning services to specific facilities worldwide. According to Rezaee (pg.275), about 1.7 million people globally are employed by the sector, indicating its social and economic importance. The industry contributes to about 2% of the global economy, adding to its economic importance globally. Wang (pg.535) reports that the industry contributed $2.5 billion in the U.S GDP in 2018.
The janitorial and cleaning industry is faced with numerous challenges and issues, like the other industries. The industry is greatly affected by globalization. Globalization may lead to the introduction of new cleaning technologies, but according to Purwanto (pg. 150), globalization leads to variance in prices and mostly low prices due to vast competition. The globalization issue cuts across all sides of the industry, including employment disparities, racial and regional discriminations, disparities in payments, and the operational environment’s diverse nature. On the positive side, globalization has contributed to the integration of people worldwide, leading to the exchange of culture, behaviors, and technologies.
The social responsibility issue has affected the cleaning companies and the entire industry since, just like the other businesses, the cleaning industry is expected to chip in and participate in the social building activities. The main issue under social responsibilities is to determine the correct amount of contribution that can influence the community’s positivity towards the company. Most cleaning companies contribute much towards society, but their efforts go unnoticed due to the uncertainty on the desired value of the contribution or choice of the “wrong” social duty.
Business ethics affect the cleaning business, especially on maintaining a balance between legal, environmental, and costing issues that affect the industry’s functionality. The legal issues put restrictions on the general business and the usage of some cleaning and debris collection equipment. Kačerauskas (pg.34) notes that cleaning companies have been incurring many expenses due to the legal requirements and standards quoted to be ideal for the industry. Meeting the legal and environmental expectations is an uphill challenge to the cleaning companies. Consumers in most developed countries are very much aware of environmental activities that are affecting the world since they consider how the manufacturing, extraction, and disposal of the cleaning products affect their environment and the way of living (Wang, 537). In Europe, the legislation ensures that the cleaning products meet the most basic environmental standards, even though this doesn’t cover the companies’ sustainability. This is a great challenge for the cleaning companies to balance the cost of production, customers’ expectations, and the income that can be through the service, considering other factors like competition and pricing. Ethical issues also revolve around dealing with the employees, customers, and the external environment like the government.
Overview of the company: Robert Hinton’s Janitorial cleaning services
Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Service is a cleaning company in Windsor that offers cleaning services within the city and its environs. The company acquires contracts to clean different buildings hosting offices and private areas. Robert Hinton owns the company has been solely managing most of the activities of the cleaning company. He is in full control of all activities and staff, meaning that there is not intermediate manager between him and the technical cleaners. As a manager, he has centralized all his operations to be the only key decision-maker of his own company. He is the one responsible for hiring and paying the employees. The centralized structure of governance has raised several issues in the operations of the company. First, the company cannot formulate good policies on employment scales, too avoid ethical and social conflicts. Due to the lack of enough documented employees, he includes some other non-documented people as workers. The sole nature of management allowed him to lower the pay for the illegal immigrants by 20% less pay with a claim that they are not taxed like their counterparts.
The cleaning company has been positively impacted by society, as at the same time, played business. The company, as a way of keeping the environment clean, sold subsidized garbage bags. As part of community responsibility, he used 10 cents from every garbage bag used to support the “Friends of Windsor Landfills,” an environmental organization. The company is always committed to playing an ethical and society friendly business, indicating its commitment to environmental conservation. Through the selling of waste bags, the company has lowered the cost of environmental conservation through waste-management companies. The company’s mission and visions are tied to the key business and social responsibilities, meant to ensure an environmentally friendly company. The company also focuses on ensuring a close tie between the business and the local communities through the social responsibility activities and environmental conservation efforts.
Key Stakeholders in the cleaning company
A stakeholder is any party with an interest in a company or enterprise and can influence the business or company’s decisions and operations. According to Akaeze (243), some primary stakeholders are key to the business and are directly linked with the business. The primary stakeholders include investors, customers, employees, and suppliers. All these links with the business on daily routine and thus are referred to as the primary stakeholders. Some secondary stakeholders are attached to corporate social responsibility. These stakeholders are not primarily linked with the business organization’s daily activities but can influence the decisions and operations of the organization or enterprise. The secondary stakeholders include the government, research institutions, trade associations, and the general community. In Robert Hinton’s janitorial cleaning company, several stakeholders possess a great influence on the business. The primary stakeholders include the investor, the employees, customers, and suppliers. The secondary stakeholders include the government, the environmental organizations, environmental regulatory agency, the research institute, and the general community.
The primary stakeholders represent key stakeholders, whereby if one fails, the rest equally fails. If there are no customers, then the employees will not be there, the same as the supplier and the investor. The employees cannot be available if the investor is not there and the same for the customers, investors, and employees if the suppliers are not there. The interdependent cycle between the investors, employees, customers, and suppliers shows the importance of each of the stakeholders in businesses’ success or failure (Rezaee, 275). In the case study, Robert Hinton is the investor and is the central stakeholder who connects the other stakeholders. He owns the janitorial and cleaning business that connects the customers, employees, suppliers, and secondary stakeholders. According to Kačerauskas (pg.45), the investor is responsible for conceiving the entrepreneurial ideas after studying customer demands and behaviors. The business constitutes employees who are employed by Robert Hinton, both legal citizens, and illegal immigrants.
The employees are part of the company’s service provision process, as well as selling of the garbage bags. Minus the employees, the company cannot offer services since the company is only a platform with the other resource but lacks human resources. The customers are key to the running of any business because businesses exist to serve customer demands. The customers of the cleaning business are very important for the progress of the business. These are the owners of the buildings and offices that the business reaches out for contracts. The other line of customers is purchasing the garbage papers that the company sells to help collect waste and conservation of the environment. The key customers of this line are the waste management companies and the general public. The company operates with detergents and equipment which are sourced from the suppliers. The business organization acquires the suppliers’ working resources for doing the cleaning and the bags that the company sells at a subsidized price.
The secondary stakeholders linked to the business at a particular time influences the functionality of the business. In the cleaning industry under which Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services operates is controlled by some external factors that ensure business ethics and business regulations are followed for the consumers and the general public’s safety. The federal government is one of the stakeholders in the business. The federal government ensures that the products being produced and used within boundaries are of the desired standards and quality for consumers’ safety. The federal government governs the businesses, and thus Robert Hinton’s business of selling garbage bags is affected through the federal government’s action. The government cancels the production of the bags that Robert Hinton sells at a subsidized price to the community for effective environmental cleaning. This affects the functionality of Robert’s business. The community being served by Robert’s corporate social responsibility activities is another stakeholder. Akaeze (256) indicates that the community may directly or indirectly benefit from the business. Some benefit from the supply of bags through an easily cleaned environment in selling more affordable garbage bags. Probably, before the introduction of the affordable bags, the community suffered due to high garbage depositions. This indicates the connectivity of the general community with the Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services business.
Each stakeholder influences the business linked to, and thus both the primary and secondary stakeholders connected to Robert Hinton’s cleaning business affect the business’s functionality in one way or another. The customers have been very supportive in boosting the business. He can get contracts for his cleaning business; a business gain sees through his will to add more workers. The stakeholder evaluation concept indicates that a reward of the business-customer relationship is evidenced through the customers’ levels of trust and increased investment on the side of the investor. The desire to increase the number of employees indicates that the business is successful, and the customers trust the services provided by Robert’s cleaning company.
Additionally, the waste management companies benefit Robert Hinton’s business because it is through the sales of the garbage bags that he gets some money to put in the environmental organization as a charity. According to Erixon (124), most companies with corporate social responsibilities give back to society through a portion of their earnings. Thus Robert Hinton reverses a portion of the organization’s earnings to support the environmental body. The customers are making Robert Hinton’s business grow and succeed, while he helps them clean and makes the environment clean through the supply of affordable garbage bags.
Employees are very important to Robert’s business because it is through them that the business can serve a business’s demands. Rezaee (275) indicates that the increase in demand calls for an increase in the labor force to produce enough products or services to equalize the demand. Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services Company is benefiting much from the employees who help it meet the customer’s demand. On the other side, the employees as key stakeholders benefit much from the company by getting employed. Employment is one of the key sources of income. According to Wang (543), the availability of jobs is a key indicator of a developed society because it uplifts the employed and their dependents’ living standards. The many people employed by Robert Hinton have the opportunity to raise their standards of living and those of their dependents. Both Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services and the employees directly benefit one another. This also happens for the suppliers who earn from the company by getting a market for their products and cleaning equipment. This is a direct relationship whereby the cleaning company also acquires the cleaning materials to enable it to effectively perform the cleaning services and the supply of the environmental garbage bags.
Every business works under the government’s permission because it is the government’s responsibility to ensure a safe supply of goods and services to the customers. According to Jovanova (pg.187), it is the government’s role to ensure customer protection and safety, participate in legal aspects of contracts, license the creation and operation of businesses, ensure environmental protection through set regulations and standards and protect the rights of the investors among many other responsibilities to the business. The stake of the government has negatively affected Robert Hinton’s business. The government had Okayed the supply of the garbage bags making the cleaning company invest in the business. The government later turns back against him, though indirectly, by withdrawing the license to produce and supply the garbage bags. Any show of lack of standards to the goods or services produced by any type of business directly dents the company’s image, and thus customers and society are losing trust in the goods and services provided by the business company (Rezaee, 275). The withdrawal affected the company in two ways: the company got losses since it was halted when the business had received a large inventory from the supplier. The association of the bags to environmental hazards affected customers and society’s trust in Robert Hinton’s business. The community indicated a positive response towards Robert Hinton’s business by offering support through lobbying against the bags’ withdrawal.
Key Social Responsibility Activities and Programs
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a company’s automated business meant to help the company be socially accountable to its stakeholders, the public, and itself. Social responsibility is also referred to as corporate citizenship, whereby companies are conscious of their probable impact on society through different aspects (Kačerauskas, 54). The social contribution to society can either be economic, environmental, or social. Businesses and organizations can participate in the social responsibility programs through volunteerism, collaboration with other organizations, or directly chipping in on a particular social or environmental issue. The value of corporate social responsibility does benefit not only the receiving community but also the company, which benefits by building trust, connection, and brand recognition in the society. The CSR activities form a strong bond between the corporation and the employees of the business, boost the employees’ morale, with the employees feeling more connected to the environment around them.
Different approaches are explaining why corporates involve themselves in social responsibility activities. The institutional Isomorphism approach argues that business organizations are driven by a great desire to conform to the pressure of the organization’s field of business. According to Purwanto (156), corporates are usually focused on becoming legitimate in the business and society, not driven by their efficiency or economics. The approach suggests three mechanisms: normative isomorphism, coercive isomorphism, and mimetic isomorphism. Coercive isomorphism means a company’s compliance in keeping up CSR programs’ standards in the industrial supply chains. In this isomorphism, the corporates are forced to advance their competitive advantage after the other companies intensify the social responsibility campaigns. According to the normative isomorphism, the organizations spread similar CSR programs depending on the needs of the society. For instance, if the corporates in a cleaning industry decide to purchase garbage collection equipment for the waste management volunteers, the lagging companies will be forced to purchase the equipment for the same purpose of being equal in the business. CSR mimicking theorizes that corporate businesses mimic the other businesses’ CSR programs with limited information and uncertain of the CSR program’s outcome.
The ethical approach argues that some organizations decide to initiate corporate social responsibility programs motivated by moral or ethical discourse. The approach introduces the moral reflection in economics, which differentiates a normal business social responsibility program based on mimicking with a morally guided action. According to Erixon (pg. 165), only 45% of the companies participating in CSR programs are morally guided towards achieving a particular social change in society. The idea is supported by Kant’s arguments about the “virtue ethics,” stating that doing moral actions is a duty. According to the theory, a person will do something to help the society without expectations of any kind of reward to his or her business. In a normative approach, a business company does it for fear of being dormant on social contributions, being overtaken by competitors, or being recognized by the society for brand campaign rewards. The moral and ethical approach dictates that the investor engages in a social responsibility program as a duty but not a brand campaign. For instance, if an organization decides to build a water treatment plant to help the society acquire clean drinking water, and without expectations of any rewards, it can be morally and ethically correct than an organization that builds a plant because a competitor did so.
Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services is focused on moral contribution to society through different social responsibility programs. Hinton came up with garbage bags, which were easier for the environment. The cleaning business established the problem in the area was poor garbage collection units due to affordable garbage bags’ unavailability. He came up with the idea of having a continued production of the garbage bags to ensure environmental cleanness. Even though the business is focused on cleaning office buildings, it is responsible for ensuring that the environment is clean and maintained. The environmental responsibility can be explained through CSR’s ethical approach, keeping in mind that the organization started the social engagement without any hopes for gaining business mileage or any rewards from society. According to Caluori (262), the environment is a key issue in society, and due to its sensitive nature, it must be maintained for a healthy society and any business operations. Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services Company was concerned about society’s safety. It thus came up with an option to replace the existing unaffordable garbage bags with affordable bags to enable the quick and effective collection of the garbage.
The second social responsibility was to contribute towards the “Friends of Windsor’s Landfills, which he contributed from the few cents he got from the usage of the garbage bags. Hinton’s mission is directed to environmental conservation. The specific organization responsible for environmental preservation and conservation can perform better than volunteerism. Thus, Hinton’s idea to channel some of the business’ coins into the environmental body indicates his commitment towards a clean and favorable environment that can provide a healthy working environment for society.
The programs have been effective for society since the general population feels the impact of “Hinton’s bags” in maintaining an affordable waste collection program. After the federal government withdrew the license of production and sale of the bags on merits of user safety and environmental conservation, the population rallied behind Hinton, an indication that his contribution to the society was effective. Through a social media account, society lobbied for support towards the disqualification of the decision to halt the production and supply of the bags. According to Jovanova (187), social responsibility is established to effective if the targeted people embrace the efforts by seeing the value of the duty being rolled out by the business organization. The fact that all waste management organizations adopted the bags and that the society supported their continued supply is an indication that the CSR program by Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services was effective and successful.
Corporate social responsibility can be measured using various tools. The measurement of the impact of the CSR program to the society can be done through benchmarking the program with that of other business organizations or individuals, using the BITC’s Responsible Business tracker to track the effectiveness of the program, using the community mark standard in measuring community involvement, and using the key performance indicators (KPIs) (McDougall,15). Robert Hinton did not use the benchmarking strategy to measure his social responsibility effectiveness because he never involved any other party or organization on the same but used the community mark standard, which is measurable through community involvement. This is a strong measure because it can be directly read from society on how people use the facility and how they support the program’s continuity. The company uses a lobbying communication strategy through an experienced lobbyist known as Clem. The effectiveness of a communication strategy is determined by how fast the information can reach the targeted people and charge them with the idea of supporting the CSR program (McDougall, 16). Using community lobbying strategy, even though not the one who initiated it, Robert Hinton gained support in fighting for the CSR program.
Business Ethics
Business ethics are moral policies and practices on controversial business subjects like corporate governance, bribery, discrimination, fiduciary, and corporate social responsibility, among other responsibilities (Jovanova, 187). Even though the regulatory and government agencies outline most business ethics, social morals also govern business ethics to ensure that organizational practices stick to society’s moral rules and norms. According to Purwanto (156), the business ethics ensure mutual trust in the relationship between the business, the consumer, and other market participants who directly relate with the business. The business ethics ensure fair dealings in the field of buying and selling and that there is equal respect for the law.
Robert Hinton is faced with several social, ethical issues that cause retardation of the business operations. According to Purwanto (156), it is unethical to discriminately employ and treat the employees with different pay, moral support, incentives, and psychological treatment. These are very key indicators of an ideal working environment with ethical considerations towards the employees. In this case, Robert Hinton employed both the citizens of Windsor and illegal and undocumented immigrants from China, Mexico, and Norway. According to the law, it is unlawful to employ a person without the correct documents of nationalism, permitted to work within a country’s boundaries. Despite the fact the Robert is in shortage of employees, filling in the gaps does not make it right. The organization’s management has to ensure that the employees acquire the correct documentation to work within a particular country. Also, the issue of tax evasion can be clamped on Robert as an unethical practice. Paying tax is a responsibility, and ethical practice for every business, and any kind of evasion can be treated as unethical and immoral. Robert knowingly employs illegal immigrants knowing that they will not be paying taxes, and his company will not pay for their taxes. He resolves to reduce their pay to cover for their unaccounted tax, a technique for tax evasion, which is unethical.
Robert Hinton is also accused of discrimination in salary pay among the employees. He paid the illegal employees 20% less than the legal employees because they are not paying taxes. According to the employees’ claims, they are all working the same job and deserve equal pay. Robert may consider that if he pays 20% to the undocumented employees, they will be overpaid since they are not taxed, and the legal workers will complain of the disparity. This is a controversial situation that can be solved by either employing only documented or undocumented employees. Considering the ethical value of employing undocumented employees, then Robert should make sure that all employees have the correct citizenship documents for equal pay.
The company’s garbage bags have been outlawed due to Carbon Twenty nine’s suspected component in the bags, causing the death of fish. The presence of the component can be harmful to the environment, and it can be a responsible action for the company producing the bags. From the case, it is environmentalists against environmentalists concerning an issue of great importance to the environment. Robert Hinton can be exempted from the blame on thrashing ethics because the claims are not scientifically approved through a scientific laboratory. No action should be taken based on unproven speculations. Also, Robert Hinton sponsored research on the bags’ production, and the federal government also approved their safety. This indicates that even though the bags may have the chemical component, Robert Hinton is not aware and cannot be convicted of a previously cleared product to be environmentally friendly. It is ethically correct for Robert Hinton to seek for the abolishment of the notice. In a comparable example, if a person buys a vehicle from a yard and the experts from both the yard and the company clears the car to be in good condition, how can the owner be responsible for any accident caused by an engine failure that resulted from the installation of a fake engine? The responsibility of the accident can be traced to the car manufacture and verification agents.
The company’s relationship with non-governmental organizations is positive. The company approaches the NGOs and civil society organizations as partners in ensuring a safe and effective working business environment. Hinton approaches the organizations to partner with them on issues concerning the environment and makes the environment better. Robert Hinton’s company contributes to the Friends of Windsor’s Landfills, an NGO in the grassroots championing for a clean and safe environment. The government’s approach is different from that of civil society organizations because the company views the government as a regulator, not a business partner. While the company partners with Southeastern University’s faculty of Engineering in coming up with the garbage bags, the provincial government comes in to ascertain the paper’s standards. The government also comes in to stop producing and distributing the papers through the minister of the environment on claims that the bags contain a certain chemical that is dangerous for fish and the environment.
Globalization and Sustainability
Every business worldwide is trying to create long-term value by considering how it operates in the social, ecological, and economic environment. The sustainability of a business depends on its relation to the environment, the community around it, and other global matters. According to McDougall (pg. 15), 62% of business executives are focusing on their businesses’ long-term sustainability, with more than 25% terming it as the future of all businesses. The sustainability strategy enables businesses to be competitive in the market, among other benefits. Caluori (262) notes that companies tend to adopt the sustainability strategy whenever the expectations on the corporate responsibilities increase with a great level of transparency. The sustainability strategy ensures good management and coordination of the social, environmental, and financial demands in ensuring an ethical and responsible long-term process.
There are many sustainability approaches. A company may decide to focus on the environment and social approaches for its sustainability. The sustainability approach must contribute towards the continuity of resources, a good physical environment, and proper social values while considering each’s costs and opportunities. Robert Hinton’s approach to a sustainable business is to reduce the accumulation of garbage through partnerships with the local non-governmental organizations and innovation institutions, and the community. Robert’s company has focused on the cleaning part of the environment through the supply of affordable garbage bags and offering financial support to environmental organizations. Robert also employs undocumented employees to increase productivity and reduce the pay for undocumented employees to reduce production costs. Robert’s approach is different from the others in the same industry. Some of the competitors’ approaches are employing workers in contract to reduce turnovers, using online services to reduce paperwork, and updating the cleaning equipment regularly for water and energy use efficiency.
Globalization is a key factor in the cleaning industry. Globalization is a process where businesses and organizations develop an international influence and start operating on an international scale. While globalization has come with some benefits like access to new cultures, the spread of innovation and technology, lower costs of products, and higher living standards, numerous challenges accompany globalization. Some of the challenges include international recruiting disparities, immigration laws, taxation tariffs, loss of cultural identity, immigration challenges. Robert’s company is facing some of these challenges, like the immigration laws that limit his ability to employ. In Windsor, there are few legal workers with citizenship documents, which is against employment laws. Robert employs both but decides to pay the undocumented lower pay to give the documented an upper hand in the employment and financial considerations.
In conclusion, Robert Hinton’s Janitorial Cleaning Services business is in a tough operating environment despite his efforts to have a sustainability strategy working. The business is committed to alleviating environmental issues through collaboration with non-governmental bodies and institutions, but the federal government’s efforts are thwarted due to suspicious allegations. The business is also found in a fix of immigration laws and ethics. Robert Hinton’s business has failed to qualify for the top 50 businesses due to the ethical issues surrounding the employees’ employment. The communication approaches through lobbying are good, depending on the nature of the company’s society.
Work Cited
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Wang, Heli, et al. “Corporate social responsibility: An overview and new research directions: Thematic issue on corporate social responsibility.” (2016): 534-544.
Kačerauskas, Tomas. “Ethics in business and communication: common ground or incommensurable?.” (2019).
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Erixon, Fredrik. “The Economic Benefits of Globalization for Business and Consumers.” European Centre for International Political Economy (2018).
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