RUNNING HEAD: COCOA NEW WORK PLAN 1

Artifact of Behavior/Ethics/Leadership I

Cocoa New Work Plan

Magali N. Garza

South Texas College

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Based on the time and place of history that our world is at as of now, it is alarming how

child slavery is still around. It is ethically incorrect to support and practice child slave labor.

Children must be in school and they should not be forced to work under these or any other

circumstances. In order for us a large company to be able to put our part to defeat this issue it is

important for us to have groups that are in charge of tackling various issues regarding the main

situation. Forming informal group would not be the best way to combat the issue because it

would cause personal distractions that will interfere with the main goal. Therefore, creating

various formal groups that mainly focus on accomplishing the tasks. The group members for

each group will be able to will interact with each other and they will make sure that everything is

going as planned because all of the actions that take place will affect everyone in the group and

even other external individuals. Having a formal group will help the company be more

productive and efficient while accomplishing the project of solving the concern of child slave

labor in the production of chocolate. Each group will be assigned with various tasks that must be

accomplished efficiently and carefully. It is important for the group members to get along in

order to promote positivity to the table because if the individuals from the group do not feel

comfortable with some or all of the other individuals from the group they won’t be able to feel

the desire to contribute efficiency to the group. The group members must be content where they

are in order to end up with the highest performances to solve the issues that are given. When we

are creating our groups, we must be able to follow certain steps so that we can obtain the highest

performance from each group and to be able to avoid problems and difficulties. We must first

form the groups, which will lead to the role taking of the individuals. The group members must

get together and talk about the roles that everyone will have and trying to get to know each other,

and by that I do not mean about personal life I am talking about being able to know everyone’s
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way of working and getting comfortable with the way they work. The next step would be

storming which will basically be the step where the group members talk about the issue and have

discussions and bring their ideas and opinions to the table. The group members will be able to be

more open with their ideas and expose their thoughts on how the whole situation. From solutions

to problems they will be able to put all of their thoughts out there so that the group as a whole

has a lot to look at when coming to a decision. The next step on the group planning would be

norming which is where the group is already very content with eachother and it is clear that they

have a shared goal, and not only do they agree on the goal, but they also agree on the procedures

they are going to do while accomplishing this goal. They put their ideas in and they are able to

agree on the terms and roles each will bring to the group and commit to eachother on trying to

give the highest performance in order to combat the issue which is the child slave labor that is an

ongoing tragedy that sadly affects the chocolate industry. The next step of creating a group

would be performing which is where the group is ready to perform their ideas and tasks and are

ready to be evaluated and put to the test. The members of the group are now more independent,

and they are now getting the work done. All that planning and brainstorming is put to action

while each group member follows their role, they are all working to their highest performance.

At this step the group members are concerned about the ways to improve the productivity within

the plan to reach the goal. They are interacting and testing out their plan and making sure that

everyone is on track and if there are any changes that must be done, they should gather quick

solutions to continue the high performance. From being able to overcome challenges within this

step the group’s members increase their skills and they begin to enter leadership roles that will

help them excel even more. The next and final step when creating a group is adjourning which is

where the group comes to an end. What I mean with this is when all of the groups gather and are
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able to finish the task they were assigned to. The groups finished with their specific tasks and the

individuals are ready to move on to the next step. In this case this step would occur when we are

ready to move on to a more important stage when trying to find ethically correct solutions to the

issue that we are facing regarding child slave labor in the cocoa industry that revolves around our

company. By being able to create these formal groups within our company we will be able to

work efficiently and create a plan that will help us accomplish our main goal as a whole. We will

be able to know that our groups have excelled and done great in each task when we begin

tackling the problems that come along the way of the main issue.

As soon as the group is created, and it starts to enter to the stage where the group member

begins to face problems it will require a lot of skill to get out of them. due to the fact that most of

the challenges that will be presented will be very important to the process. All problems that are

present must be resolved as soon as possible because if not it will put the entire plan of

accomplishment in bad terms and it will not only look bad on the company but it will also reflect

on our work ethic and it will seem as if we do not care enough for this specific issue which is a

very delicate topic. Child slave labor is an ongoing issue that is involved in the cocoa industry

and the fact that Cadburry Chocolate is part of that industry makes us responsible for it therefore

we are making this plan to try to combat it in any way possible because we need to be a correct

company with the right ethics. There are many challenges that we are going to face when trying

to fight this issue. One of the challenges that we might go through and might seem like it is not a

big deal since it will be coming from us within the groups would be conflict between group

members. Different ideas might cause conflict within the groups however we must be aware of

these things not getting enough importance because having discontent group members will only

lead to bigger problems within the main plan. Therefore, in order to avoid conflicts amongst
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eachother we must be able to discuss the ideas without making any permanent or complete

decision. It is super important to hear everyone out and try not to leave anyone’s decision behind.

By doing that we will be able to create the best solution for everyone from listening to

everyone’s input we should be able to come up with great ideas that are very open minded.

Before we even start sharing our ideas and putting them out there it is important to always keep

an open mind, everyone thinks differently, however it does not really matter because the only

thing that really matters in this spectrum is to be able to be efficient and most importantly being

efficient while still staying inside the ethically correct space. What I am trying to say with this is

to keep an open mind with the various ideas that are being brought by all group members only if

they are ethically correct. These certain problems seem like no big deal but they really are

because it all depends on the effort the members are inputting, therefore I repeat again it is very

important for everyone to keep an open mind, so that we can all work in a content environment

that will definitely lead to a very efficient and productive solution that will help us accomplish

our main goal. Another challenge we can face will be the feedback we receive from consumers

when the story of the issue gets out there. The consumers will feel horrible that at these time and

place of history we are still facing these types of events and they might try to boycott our

products and the media will portray not necessarily our company only, but the cocoa industry as

a whole as a horrible industry. However even though it might not be directed to us only it is still

our responsibility to fix it and be able to keep our consumer’s trust and support. How would we

do that? You may ask. This challenge is not an easy one because individuals can be very

stubborn towards large companies like us. It will not be easy for them to be able to understand

out standing in this situation. We have to gain their trust and by doing that we must be able to

prove to them that we are in the ethically correct path and that we do not condole those types of
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bad ethics that are practiced on child slave labor. The consumers will not buy our speeches or

declarations they will trust us when we start making changes within the cocoa industry.

Therefore, our task to start gaining the consumers trust back again we need to work effectively

and quickly. By that I mean we must be able to create a positive change that will give hope that

this horrible issue of child slave labor will decrease and more hope that we are close to putting an

end to it. There are many other problems that we will face through this issue, but we will be able

to solve them when they are presented to us. I believe that these two are very important because

we need the consumer to trust us and by doing that, we must work at our highest performance

with the less amount of problems within the group members.

The group members should be everyone involved in the company. There will be different

groups for each task. All of the employees of the company must be somewhat involved in the

issue and they should all be able to do their part in helping achieve our goals. Everyone and I

mean everyone, is important here. The members of the community are key for this plan of ours

goes on the right path because we need the members of the community to spread our changes

and open discussions about how our company is not only talking about the awareness of the child

slave labor issue but that we are also making changes within our company so that we are able to

change and better the cocoa industry to get rid of such horrible practice that should not be

allowed at any level. The members of the community would be part of a group that will help

clean the image of the company by stating the facts that the company is making and by

supporting the company with other individuals that might not support us. They are our external

support with the consumers. They will not be feeding the consumers with lies because we will be

making sure that they are aware of what truly is going on within the company so that we are

truthful with everyone and we can maintain an ethically correct work ethic. Another important
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factor of our plan is to work and include the NGOs that are for the elimination of child slave

labor because we need the most of help that we can get. Being helped by the NGOs will help us

try to end the issue from the inside of the cocoa industry. The NGO individuals will play an

important part in helping is get rid of this issue by informing us on all that It has to be known

from the ongoing child slave labor. Working with the NGO will not only help us with the

knowledge and force to end the horrible issue but it will also gain us credibility from the

consumers because they will be able to know that we truly care about this issue and that we have

our minds set to ending this horrible thing that is occurring in the cocoa industry. This will also

help us gain supporters from other big companies or just other wealthier individuals that want to

help end this issue and we will gain economic support that will be beneficial in our fight. With

more support from other companies or from just wealthy individuals we will be able to get things

done faster quickly. It is important to be smart and accept this type of help because it will

increase the chance of us making a real and effective change in the industry that will only help us

gain consumers and be ethically correct.

When accepting help from rich individuals or companies we are compromising with them

and it is also very important to keep in mind their requests. The stockholders depend on our

productivity therefore it is super important to keep in mind their ideas and requests no matter

what. However, it must be on the ethically correct side of our company. The Cadburry Chocolate

company is an ethically correct company that will do anything their power to help and support

the consumers, the stockholders and the employees. It is important to not leave the community

members behind they are also a very important factor in our industry, and they must not be

ignored. They really do play an important part in accomplishing our goal of finding solutions to

put an end to child slave labor in the cocoa industry and from there we can inspire other
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industries that face the same problem to take action and do the same thing to end it. I know that

some members of the group might think that the stockholders are more important than the

community members and that other group members might think that the community members

are more important than the stockholders. I am here to tell you that all of the ideas matter and

that it is our job to come up with the best solutions that best fits all of the parties involved most

importantly being the children that are being forced to work. All of the considerations are

important because they are not wrong, they might all have a right to it. However, like I

mentioned before it is our job to make sure that we choose all of the considerations that are not

only right, but they match our work ethics. The considerations given by the stockholders and the

community members will mostly try to benefit themselves which is not a bad thing, but we have

to keep in mind that we also have to benefit our company as well that is why we as a group have

the very important task to keep in mind the best solution for the company too. Our ethic is very

important, and we must keep it close to our ideas always. We are not allowed to change the work

ethic that our company has because if we do, we lose credibility which will give is a lot of

negative feedback. Therefore, we must enforce it at all times no matter what. No matter what the

stockholders have to say and not matter what the community members have to say. I know I said

that it is crucial for us to listen to their concerns and follow their requests. That is still true, but

they have to remain inside our ethics. The stakeholders in this case would be the individuals or

companies that are helping us grow and expand our research and goal of ending child slave labor

in the cocoa industry. Together as a company we will be able to make a real change and help

everyone involved with our company and like I mentioned before we can help other industries do

the same or another similar thing if they are facing the same issue as we are. From there we will

be able to prove ourselves as a ethically correct company. Thank You.

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References

O'Keefe, B. (2019, June 27). Bitter Sweets. Retrieved from https://fortune.com/longform/big-

chocolate-child-labor/

Phillips, R. (2011). Stakeholder theory and organizational ethics. Readhowyouwant.com Ltd

Schrage, E., & Ewing, A. (2005). The Cocoa Industry and Child Labour. The Journal of
Corporate Citizenship, (18), 99-112. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/jcorpciti.18.99

[Author removed at request of original publisher]. (2017, January 4). 9.2 Group Dynamics.
Retrieved from https://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/chapter/9-2-group-
dynamics/.