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Company Background

Target Corporation is a company that is a significant player in the shopping experiences for many people. Founded in the year 1902 by George Draper, the company has undergone significant changes to making it one of the best organizations in the industry ("Target through the years," 2016). Its art of giving and innovative strategies have done it to be one of the best companies.

The company has various policies including public policies that provide an engagement in both the legislative and public policy activity. The policies create a reliable environment for the organization to create a diversified business. It also enables the organization to support its multinational retail business.

The company’s policies also allow it to align its activities in a way that enables making of appropriate business decisions at various times. However, some of the policies do not align with some issues hindering the achievement of corporate objectives. For instance, some make it difficult to maintain transparency among all the stakeholders involved. Some of the company’s policies such as the citizens-at-target engage the public creating a civic engagement ("Target through the years", 2016).

Ethical Concerns

Target Corporation has implemented and adopted various business practices that have enabled the company to achieve immense success ("Target through the years", 2016). The policies and practices have also played an imperative role in benefiting the community and also maintaining ethical standards required for operations. The practices have also played a significant role in enabling the organization to become one of the world’s ethical companies.

Ethics in business encompass the right and wrong things that guide any decision making in business (Sparks & Pan, 2010). Ethics allow businesses to meet their challenges. It involves creating a discernment of the rights and wrongs in business and creating a commitment to do what is right.

Target Corporation created a communal engagement to the sale of goods and services ("Corporate Responsibility: Here for Good | Target Corporate", 2016). It also adopted an approach to increase its customer experience in various aspects including its retail prices. The ethical principles lay in Dayton’s strong ethical stewardship towards the corporation. Its strong commitment to serving its customers created a strong corporate culture and commitment to the corporate principles.

Ethical Dilemma

Every business includes Target Corporation faces ethical dilemmas when making the best choices in various circumstances (Ulrich & Sarasin, 2012). There is no one apparent way in the making of the right choices and decisions. The choices demand a careful evaluation of the surrounding circumstances and making the best choices.

Ethical dilemmas in organizations may occur when the managers and other stakeholders face situations whereby there are conflicts between the business choices (Ulrich et al., 2012). The managers may encounter situations that conflict profit-making and ethics. They may also face situations that demand public gain and also private gains. As such, the situations demand the persons involved to make ethical choices in handling the situations.

The organization has faced pertinent issues during its operations. For instance, the company faced a case against a retailer involving discrimination in the year 2001 ("Target through the years", 2016). The retailer faced accusations of denying management applicants due to their race affiliation. The applicants also accused the retailer of failing to retain their applications.

Stakeholders

Target Corporation has various stakeholders who play a significant role in the development of the company ("Stakeholder Engagement | Target Corporate", 2016). It also has various initiatives that involve the stakeholders. The customers, employees, and the surrounding community form a large part of the organization’s stakeholders. Other stakeholders are its partners such as environmental partners, education partners, and the inclusion and diversity partners. Its vendors and investors also form a vital part of the organization’s stakeholders.

Target Corporation has steered its commitment to its employees and other stakeholders by engaging them in the development of various programs ("Stakeholder Engagement | Target Corporate", 2016). For instance, it has adopted a secure and reliable approach to enable its stakeholders hold and follow its ethical culture.

The stakeholders have different roles, and each observes and follows the organization’s values as outlined in its mission and vision statement. The company seeks to deliver outstanding value and innovative services to its stakeholders ("Target Purpose, Beliefs & Stories Behind Them | Target Corporate", 2016). The business upholds and abides by all the set laws and regulations. It also seeks to operate fairly and reasonably with all its stakeholders. Each group of the stakeholders strives to provide the best for the company, and the company also seeks to provide the best for the interest of all stakeholders in decision-making.

Some of the key policies that Target Corporation has made in its stakeholders’ commitment include the adoption of principles that guide fair treatment of all stakeholders ("Stakeholder Engagement | Target Corporate", 2016). Some of the principles include fair treatment of employees and other stakeholders. It also specifies honesty and integrity when communicating any issue to all stakeholders both internally and externally. The policies also ensure the maintenance of high ethical and accountability standards when dealing with all the stakeholders.

Ethical Issues and Corporate Social Responsibility

Target Corporation faces a lot of issues when trying to undertake its corporate social responsibilities ("THE TOGETHER EFFECT 2014 Target Corporate Social Responsibility Report", 2016). It tries to balance its stakeholder’s interests at all times during which it encounters sensitive issues that demand ethical decision making.

The company’s corporate social responsibility undertakings present critical issues that conflict when addressing the social, economic and environmental concerns. The stakeholders face a dilemma of serving in the best corporate interests of the particular parties or for the benefit of the company.

Ethical Decision-Making

Target Corporation has defined an approach to cover all issues that may arise during the business operations. The approach enables the stakeholders and the top management to make relevant decisions when resolving ethical dilemmas and other business issues that arise during its operations.

The company relies heavily on its ethical values in its corporate culture to make ethical decisions (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2016). For instance, all its leaders strive to make decisions that do not conflict with its core values. Its integrative culture considers all its employees.

One of the key organizational strengths would be the strengthening of its decentralized corporate culture to handle most of the issues before they become difficult to solve ("Culture: Working at Target | Target Corporate", 2016). Such as practice would create a reliable decision-making model for the organization. Target Corporation has in the past utilized the decentralized decision-making and leadership model to make decisions.

The Model in Making Ethical Decisions

The model allows the company to make an ethical decision in various situations that arise during the business operations. The model is useful to the Target Corporation when making decisions regarding its corporate social responsibility and the profit-making interests of the organization.

The decisions must reflect a concern for all the stakeholders’ well-being (Thiel, Bagdasarov, Harkrider, Johnson & Mumford, 2012). It is ethical for the organization to participate in its corporate social responsibility while safeguarding its stakeholders’ interests.

The model also places the ethical values and principles of the organization whenever making decisions. The values and principles must take the first preference over non-ethical issues when making business decisions. The decision-making model must also give precedence to ethical values over the unethical ones.

Some of the areas that Target Corporation has emphasized the application of ethical decision-making is the outsourcing. It ensures that the organization outsources its products responsibly ("Corporate Responsibility: Here for Good | Target Corporate," 2016). Some of the product areas that it emphasizes are product safety and quality assurance. The organization also ensures that its products comply with the acceptable standards. It also ensures that it has the capability to sustain its supply chain.

Target Corporation has also made various strategies to ensure that the decisions its stakeholders make resolve any conflict and are to the best interest of the stakeholders. The top management ensures that the stakeholders play their roles in the organization’s corporate social responsibility. It ensures that the organization does not fail in its strategic objectives of making profits.

The model makes it easier for the organization to observe and maintain strong ethical values in its working (Craft, 2013). The organization also works with various players in the industry such as regulators, manufacturers, and even retailers in the development of appropriate standards for the industry.

The company has a reliable sourcing service team that sources all merchandise globally. The team also ensures that the organization tackles all issues in the best manner. It also allows the organization to take into consideration all the risks that arise in the operations of the business. The model is useful in making decisions regarding product quality, corporate social responsibility, and product pricing. It also considers speed of product marketing and also product prices.

The above model ensures that the organization plays its role in undertaking its corporate social responsibility while keeping track of its corporate strategies.

Corporate Policy

Target Corporation should develop and adopt a policy that creates a comprehensive framework that eliminates and solves any conflict that arises in the organization’s working. The policy must cover all the business aspects including risk and responsibilities (Brooks & Dunn, 2011). The policy must also oversee all the organization’s ethics and compliance programs. It should also be a pillar in the business oversight on both organizational performance and social responsibility.

The policy should also direct some crucial areas including the compensation of the executive members of the company. The policy should state the terms of the corporate arrangement when dealing with the interest of the top executives

The policy addresses compensation issues that may arise hindering the executive management in their decision-making process (Brooks et al., 2011). As such, the policy binds the executive to make ethical decisions in any particular situation. The mechanism makes the top managers align the business decisions with the demands of the business.

The policy also commits other Target Corporation’s stakeholders to a lawful and ethical conduct of their businesses. The policy makes it an obligation for all the members to act with integrity and honesty when dealing with the company’s affairs (Brooks et al., 2011). As such, it shall have a significant impact on the business matters. It ensures that all the members apply ethical business practices when making business decisions. The policy also makes it easier for the company to strengthen its competitive advantage over other firms in the industry.

Communication Strategy

The organization can adopt various ways to communicate the adopted policy to all the stakeholders. The communication strategy must address critical issues such as the policy objectives, audience, the message, tools and activities ("How to plan communication strategically", 2016). It must also address the timescale for the evaluation of the policy. The communications strategy must ensure appropriate and timely communication to all the stakeholders. The communications strategy must streamline Target Corporation’s business functions and ease the management of all processes. It must also sustain a consistent message and reduce any miscommunications that may occur in the company.

The communications strategy must outline the objectives of the policy to the stakeholders in a clear and concise manner ("How to plan communication strategically", 2016). In this case, it must state the benefits that the policy has on all the stakeholders. For instance, it must address the need to resolve existing conflicts in the organization. The communication of the objectives must also address critical issues such as resolving the ethical dilemmas and taking the best option when making decisions, especially in conflicting situations. The policy also intends to drive the organization strategically to achieve its mission while observing its corporate social responsibilities. It plays a significant role in the articulation of the organizational objectives to relevant parties through a reliable communication channel.

The communication must also address the audience in an appropriate manner ("Sample communications strategy", 2016). Target Corporation has various stakeholders who play different roles in the company and also have vast interests in the company’s stake. The communication plan must take into consideration each of the stakeholder and their roles in the company. Target Corporation can ensure that it has a clear way of communicating to each of its stakeholders. Any change in the policy should be made to the stakeholders in the best manner. The organization should ensure that its communication plan does not exhaust or take a large portion of its resources.

The communication plan must also communicate the policy and its role in the organization. It must cover all the messages and elements involved in the policy. Target Corporation must address all elements of the policy and also any changes that the policy has on the company.

The communication plan must also specify the tools that the policy requires for its implementation ("Sample communications strategy," 2016). It must also specify the activities necessary for the communication of the policy to the audiences in the appropriate manner. For instance, the organization can include the policy in its annual reports to communicate the policy to the audiences. It can also involve other communication channels such as email or newsletters to communicate the message to internal communications.

The plan must also outline the resources and timescales that the policy consumes and its likely effects on the organization. The plan must also have an evaluation of the likely impacts that the policy has and its effectiveness in the organization.

Limitation of the Policy

Despite the impact that the policy is likely to have on the organization, Target Corporation may face vast challenges and limitations when implementing the policy.

There may be resistance from the stakeholders on the best way to adopt the policy (Cerna, 2016). Some other laws may conflict with the policy. For instance, most of the companies have laws that ensure strict compliance with the organization’s ethical standards and rules.

There may be difficulty in asserting strict ethical compliance unless done in a gradual manner. Most of the personnel may find it difficult to adapt to the new ethical culture easily.

Lack of a reliable management support may also act as a hindrance to the new policy ("Evaluation of Information for Decision Making", 2016). The policy requires stable and comprehensive support from the management at all levels. Lack of support may cause a clash of principles creating difficulties in the implementation of the policy.

Strategies for Monitoring and Compliance

The organization can develop and adopt various strategies to monitor and ensure compliance with the policy. The organization can ensure that it develops robust monitoring techniques to identify any changes in the monitoring of the policy processes (Patton, Sawicki & Clark, 2015). It must create a design to ensure that the policy works in the best manner.

The compliance strategies must also ensure that the policy achieves its objectives even after its adoption. They ensure that the adopted policy works as expected and that the relevant persons handle any variations.

The monitoring and compliance strategies ensure that the organization plays its role in the achievement of its objectives while upholding appropriate ethical standards. Some of the activities include compliance inspections and evaluations.

The policy can play an imperative role in ensuring that Target Corporation achieves its objectives while upholding relevant ethical issues in its operations.

References

Brooks, L. J., & Dunn, P. (2011). Business & professional ethics. Cengage Learning.