Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labor Practices

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products were made and to take action if need be. Michael Jordan refused to take any action and

brushed away suggestions that he was personally responsible for conditions in Nike factories.

The company management also refused to let Reverend Jesse Jackson tour one its Indonesian

factories, thus decreasing the moral of the organization.

As demonstrated on the surveys conducted by the students of Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School

of Business, most of Nike workers were not the primary wage earners in their households. Only

49% of workers reported being able to support their dependents. Also, a disgruntled Nike

employee leaked of an internal Ernst and Young report that uncovered serious health and safety

issues in a factory outside of Ho Chi Minh City. According to the report, majority of workers

suffered from a respiratory ailment caused by poor ventilation and exposure to toxic chemicals.

Once the report came out some of Nike managers insisted that the problem not longer existed:

“This shows our system of monitoring works. We have uncovered these issues clearly before

anyone else, and we have moved fairly expeditiously to correct them.”. Those comments

demonstrated the denial of the company. Finally, as Nike was becoming know as the company

of labor abuse, Phil Knight made a few comments that were detrimental to the health of the

organizational culture. In one occasion Knight responded “We don’t make shoes” and during

another interview Knight was asked by Michael Moore if having 14 years old in factories

bothered him and the answer was “No.” The above mentioned comments and attitude definitely

disrupted the health of the organization.

Organizational Power

As demonstrated in the case study, the company’s power influence political decisions that

affected labor relations for a significant number of workers.