KWANTLEN POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY
BUSI 1250 HRM S10
Case: African Gold, Inc. – Ethics and AIDS in the Workplace
Assignment: Answer the following questions.
1. What aspects of the external environment is African Gold, Inc. confronted with? Give specific details from the case for each aspect that you choose.
1. Emergence of AIDS/HIV – A disease that over time has taken its toll on the African people, thus lowering its work force. These diseases also just happen to have the highest prevalence among employees in the mining industry, at a rate of 24%.
2. Value of gold – With the price of gold dropping, profits levels have decreased.
3. Media – thanks to the negative media coverage, the company receives a bad image. Not only might they lose labourers, but they also might lose partnerships and deals with other companies.
4. Strength of Currency – The South African currency, known as the Rand, has increased, resulting in less profit.
5. Labour Market – The decision to no longer pay for employee funerals could result in less people choosing to work with the African Gold Company.
2. Which parts of the internal environment of the company are most affected by the external environment? Give details from the case to back up your choices.
Organizational Climate - Due to the decreased incentive for employees to work for their company, African Gold may have to spend more money on relations with their employees, in order to create more job satisfaction, performance and productivity.
Organizational Culture – With the company losing more and more profit because of the price of gold falling, the company had to cut back on benefits, with the most notable cut-back being no longer paying funeral costs of employees.
3. Did African Gold make the right decision? Defend your answer.
I believe African Gold did not make the right decision. As a company in a developing nation, they should do whatever they can to help its employees. Even though non-related death to employees are not necessarily their fault, they must take a step back and realize how much they are paying their employees. Employees are only paid $250 a month. Due to the low salary alone, they should, to return the favour for working at a low salary, pay for funeral costs, which average around $1250. That is 5 times larger than the monthly salary of each employee.
4. What responsibilities, if any, does African Gold have to its employees? Why or why not? Consider all aspects of human resource management identified in our