Joe Whinney - Theo Chocolate

CASE WRITE UP:

Summary: Joe Whinney is the founder and CEO of Theo Chocolate. Recently, bad press coverage on Theo Chocolate made a chain reaction of different stories. At present, he needs to make a decision on whether to allow employees to unionize. This will make labor costs very high and cause losses to Whinney’s company. He must focus more on appeasing investors as profits are yet to come.

Central Issue: How Joe Whinney might deal with the decision to form unions or not?

Recommended Course of Action: Joe Whinney should allow forming unions.

Basic of Recommendation:

Joe Whinney should allow forming unions because this will help employees to have the higher rate of job security and equality and to prevent the consequences of bad press. The image of the company may get influenced by the negative social media. According to IMO, the fair trade audit found that many employees were in favor of forming unions. By this method, there will be less biasness among the employees and also the IMO stated that the company should not treat their employees differently if they are involved in unions ‘activities. So, the company should develop practical ethical standards to avoid bias. The press also released a report stating that the injury had occurred in the company. So, unions should be formed to deal with such situations in the future to have safe environments to work. To allow forming unions will also help to have more job security as when interviewed by the TriplePundit to Theo’s employees who wanted to improve the company’s standards. Furthermore, the CEO of the Theo Chocolate itself stated that if he prevents unionization, then the company might come under limelight of ignoring their workers, and this will be the headlines for the press which is not good for company’s reputation Moreover, if their voice is not heard, then they will feel disconnected from the company and their motivation to work for the organization will also be decreased.

References:

Hoffman, A. (February 27, 2015) Theo Chocolate: How far should fair trade go? Retrieved from http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/61339174