Q AND A ESSAY
BY: YIRELIS COLON
1. What do you think of Terry Gou’s personal response to the suicides? What do you think of
the initiatives that Foxconn took in response to the suicides?
2. What are Apple’s responsibilities in this case? Do you think that Apple’s investigation
was suf icient?
3. Is Foxconn like a sweatshop? What does this case tell us about the social responsibility of
a corporation for the behavior of businesses in their supply chain?
4. If employees killed themselves so that their families would get compensation, does this
relieve Foxconn of its responsibility to improve working conditions
, Case 10.5 Suicides at Foxconn
Written By Emily Black & Miriam Eapen
What seems to be the most current effectuate style of leadership today, is to become a
transformational one. One where leaders are idolized and deemed inspirational because their
moral compasses are to create positive change and stimulate this practice unto others. In contrast,
however, survives a leadership style in which the best interest is the leader (his/her self) and the
group or organization it belongs to. Authoritarian leadership dominates complete control of its
people and often dismays them. In this essay, we will assuage a collect of questions from a case
study called “ Suicides at Foxconn” written by both Emily Black and Miriam Eapen. Through
this authoritarian leadership style, we will learn how an autocratic leader named Terry Gou
utilized control and how it impacted Ethical Principles, Justice, Fairness, and Cognitive
Development for everyone in the organization at Foxconn Technology.
(Question #1) Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn Technology employed more than a
million workers for what is known today as one of the largest companies in the consumer
electronics industry. It was said that 17 workers committed suicide in just a 5-year span.
Reporters from different universities, reporters and visitors describe Foxconn’s appearance to be
congruent to “concentration camps of workers in the 21st century (p. 380). When a journalist
interviewed Gou in 2012 regarding the empathy of deaths occurred in his workplace, he uttered
“The first, second and third one I did not see this as a serious problem, we had around 800,000
employees”. He further added “At the moment, I am feeling guilty, but at that moment I didn’t
think I should be taking full responsibility” (page 381).One of the principles of Ethics in
Business is Accountability. Demonstrating lack of Integrity for inhumane working conditions for
his employees, (enough for them to commit suicide) is just as mind-boggling as the lack of
accountability taken thereafter. Considering what he believes was a “positive” change for his
BY: YIRELIS COLON
1. What do you think of Terry Gou’s personal response to the suicides? What do you think of
the initiatives that Foxconn took in response to the suicides?
2. What are Apple’s responsibilities in this case? Do you think that Apple’s investigation
was suf icient?
3. Is Foxconn like a sweatshop? What does this case tell us about the social responsibility of
a corporation for the behavior of businesses in their supply chain?
4. If employees killed themselves so that their families would get compensation, does this
relieve Foxconn of its responsibility to improve working conditions
, Case 10.5 Suicides at Foxconn
Written By Emily Black & Miriam Eapen
What seems to be the most current effectuate style of leadership today, is to become a
transformational one. One where leaders are idolized and deemed inspirational because their
moral compasses are to create positive change and stimulate this practice unto others. In contrast,
however, survives a leadership style in which the best interest is the leader (his/her self) and the
group or organization it belongs to. Authoritarian leadership dominates complete control of its
people and often dismays them. In this essay, we will assuage a collect of questions from a case
study called “ Suicides at Foxconn” written by both Emily Black and Miriam Eapen. Through
this authoritarian leadership style, we will learn how an autocratic leader named Terry Gou
utilized control and how it impacted Ethical Principles, Justice, Fairness, and Cognitive
Development for everyone in the organization at Foxconn Technology.
(Question #1) Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn Technology employed more than a
million workers for what is known today as one of the largest companies in the consumer
electronics industry. It was said that 17 workers committed suicide in just a 5-year span.
Reporters from different universities, reporters and visitors describe Foxconn’s appearance to be
congruent to “concentration camps of workers in the 21st century (p. 380). When a journalist
interviewed Gou in 2012 regarding the empathy of deaths occurred in his workplace, he uttered
“The first, second and third one I did not see this as a serious problem, we had around 800,000
employees”. He further added “At the moment, I am feeling guilty, but at that moment I didn’t
think I should be taking full responsibility” (page 381).One of the principles of Ethics in
Business is Accountability. Demonstrating lack of Integrity for inhumane working conditions for
his employees, (enough for them to commit suicide) is just as mind-boggling as the lack of
accountability taken thereafter. Considering what he believes was a “positive” change for his
