Internet Postings about Whole Foods and Wild Oats

BA420 Whole Foods on Web

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BA420

Date

Professor

Whole Foods on Web

Whole Foods Market is a retailer of natural and organic foods that has become a global leader since its beginnings in 1980. In order to become this global leader Whole Foods has established hundreds of locations across the nation and has made numerous purchases of their whole food competitors. In their attempts to purchase Wild Oats, however, the company was blocked by the FTC from purchasing the company while an investigation was conducted into potential antitrust concerns. In 2007 the concerns of the FTC were rejected when a federal court denied there request. During the investigation; however, the FTC uncovered some potentially unethical behavior by CEO Mackey.

In their investigation it was discovered that Mackey under the user name Rahodeb had been commenting negatively about Wild Oats for several years on yahoo finance. These comments he made under this user name either disparaged Wild Oats or complimented is company, Whole Foods. Attitudes are defined by the ABC model of an attitude by three components which are affective, behavioral and cognitive (Long-Crowell, 2003). The attitude is how someone feels about something both negative and positive. In the case of Mackey under the user name Rahodeb it was clear he had a negative attitude towards Wild Oats but a positive attitude about his business Whole Foods.

The affective component of the ABC model is the emotional reaction. In this case Mackey had a negative emotional reaction to Wild Oats and wrote the disparaging comments based on a personal grudge against the owner. The behavioral component is the behavior displayed when exposed to the object of attitude. When Mackey was exposed to Wild Oats owner he acted impulsively and with extreme anger. This behavior had a powerful influence on the types of comments Mackey left on the Yahoo Finance as well as his emotional reaction to the owner of the company. His behavior was driven by a need for revenge but it also driven out of his want to buy the company out from under the owner.

The cognitive component of the ABC model refers to the types of thoughts a person has about the object of attitude. Since Mackey has a disagreement with the owner of Wild Oats and threatened to ruin him, his thoughts about Wild Oats are negative making any goal to obtain the company and act of revenge. His thoughts of revenge have manifested into a poor attitude about the competitor leading to inappropriate and unethical behavior on his part. Negative thoughts lead to negative behaviors and emotions causing a negative attitude. Because of Mackey personal grudge against the owner of Wild Oats his goal to purchase the company was in part due to his personal negative feelings.

The way Mackey behaved in making an attempt to destroy the reputation of Wild Oats in order to be able to purchase the company was clearly unethical. If Mackey was working in a professional capacity only when purchasing the company his behavior would have been questioned due to antitrust issues and his prior negative relationship with the owner of the company (Harbin, 2009). The fact he went the extra mile to try and damage the name of the company, anonymously, shows his goal were personally driven and very inappropriate. Not only was Mackey a coward his unethical behavior was rewarded when he was able to purchase the company.

When a CEO of a business is caught acting unethically it damages the reputation of the company and establishes an unethical culture within the organization. According to Lawrence Kohlberg there are six stages of moral development that occur throughout a person’s lifetime. Kohlberg’s theory developed out of the two stage theory of Piaget (Carpendale, 2000). Mackey, as a CEO of a large corporation, would be at stage five or six. Mackey is displaying individual moral reasoning and viewpoints that does not necessarily match the universal standard of ethics.

Mackey is the leader of a power, global company that should have a strong moral compass but the behavior he displayed when writing the posts on Yahoo finance show was clearly unethical. In stage six a leader would have developed individual principles of morality but they would also align these ethical or moral principles with the universal standard of ethics. Mackey knew it was unethical to write disparaging remarks against Wild Oats when he knew he would be attempting to purchase the company. His remarks were designed to lower the value of the company so they he could prey on the weaknesses he helped to create.

According to Mr. Mackey, some of the statements attributed to Rahodeb did not match his personal beliefs which seem unlikely. The comments made by Mackey would reflect his personal beliefs which would be also tied directly to his professional beliefs. Mackey has a personal grudge against the previous owner of Wild Oats and used his influence in business in order to engage in his unethical attacks on Yahoo Finance. A true ethical leader is capable of setting aside their personal feelings and act in the best interest of the organization. This was not the case with Mackey.

Mackey’s actions when writing the comments, as user Rahodeb, were clearly unethical or he would have written the comments revealing his true identity. There can be conflict between attitude and behavior especially with Mackey who is tasked with acting professionally and ethically in his role of CEO but despite this powerful position was not able to let go of this personal feelings and act in the best interest of the company.

References

Carpendale, J. (2000). Kohlberg and Piaget on Stages and Moral Reasoning. Developmental

Review, 20(2): 181-205

Harbin, J. (2009). Whole Foods Market, Inc. Journal of Case Research in Business and

Economics, 14(1): 1-19

Long-Crowell, E. (2003).The ABC Model of Attitudes: Affect, Behavior & Cognition. Retrieved

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-abc-model-of-attitudes-affect-behavior