Fiat Pushes Work Ethic at Italian Plant
Business Ethics
Fiat Pushes Work Ethic at Italian Plant
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/business/global/23fiat.html?page (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/business/global/23fiat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)wanted=all&_r=0)
Description
The article published in the New York Times on July 22, 2010 emphasizes on how culture and social background influences work ethics in multinationals. As the title suggests Fiat during the first half of the year faced financial crunch and Italy as a whole was septic of having the same fate as Greece.
Fiat which accounts for the livelihood of about 15000 families in the POMIGLIANO D’ARCO region has its least productive plant amongst all there. This is due to the fact of employees misusing work ethics by being absent from work, faking illness and a doctor’s note for as little as a local team’s soccer match. FIAT suffered tremendous losses few years prior due to reduced production and quality issues. To counter this Fiat hired Sergio Marchionne as CEO who was expected to deliver similar success under his leadership as he did for American automaker Chrysler, rescuing the brand from bankruptcy.
His motivation was to safeguard jobs by pushing workers to be more devoted in turn boosting production and which would mirror Italy’s economic standpoint and GDP. His vision for the need of change and pushing the Italians towards similar economic security like the Scandinavians was not accepted well. Nello Neglio a factory worker stated how Sergio’s American methods were no good in Italy, where people for generations have lived with a slow paced lifestyle insuring flexibility for workers. He also criticized Sergio for pulling the leash on absence and fearing a similar fate as Chinese workers who committed suicide due to excessive workload and stress. His radical solutions forced workers to change their routines and work ethics on the promise of bringing back production of the Panda back from the Polish people, creating
Fiat Pushes Work Ethic at Italian Plant
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/business/global/23fiat.html?page (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/business/global/23fiat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)wanted=all&_r=0)
Description
The article published in the New York Times on July 22, 2010 emphasizes on how culture and social background influences work ethics in multinationals. As the title suggests Fiat during the first half of the year faced financial crunch and Italy as a whole was septic of having the same fate as Greece.
Fiat which accounts for the livelihood of about 15000 families in the POMIGLIANO D’ARCO region has its least productive plant amongst all there. This is due to the fact of employees misusing work ethics by being absent from work, faking illness and a doctor’s note for as little as a local team’s soccer match. FIAT suffered tremendous losses few years prior due to reduced production and quality issues. To counter this Fiat hired Sergio Marchionne as CEO who was expected to deliver similar success under his leadership as he did for American automaker Chrysler, rescuing the brand from bankruptcy.
His motivation was to safeguard jobs by pushing workers to be more devoted in turn boosting production and which would mirror Italy’s economic standpoint and GDP. His vision for the need of change and pushing the Italians towards similar economic security like the Scandinavians was not accepted well. Nello Neglio a factory worker stated how Sergio’s American methods were no good in Italy, where people for generations have lived with a slow paced lifestyle insuring flexibility for workers. He also criticized Sergio for pulling the leash on absence and fearing a similar fate as Chinese workers who committed suicide due to excessive workload and stress. His radical solutions forced workers to change their routines and work ethics on the promise of bringing back production of the Panda back from the Polish people, creating
Bibliography: 1. New York Times - (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/business/global/23fiat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) 2. Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalization by Andrew Crane and Dirk Matten.(Chapter 3 & Chapter 4)