Target Corporation's Approach to Business Ethics and Decision-Making

This report examines the relevance of ethics in business decisions, focusing on Target Corporation as a case study. It reviews literature highlighting the importance of ethics for authenticity, CSR, and avoiding negative impacts on a firm's image. The report identifies and analyzes Target Corporation's policies related to ethical decision-making, including stakeholder involvement, information protection, community engagement, and ethical recruitment practices. It discusses specific ethical decisions made by Target, such as adhering to US customs laws, promoting equal opportunity, and supporting military families. The report also addresses the relevance of ethics for small businesses, noting its importance for creating a moral environment, building trust, and attracting customers, while acknowledging the challenges SMEs face in implementing ethical standards due to limited resources. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and past papers to aid students in their studies.

Business and Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
THE RELEVANCY OF ETHICS FOR BUSINESS DECISIONS- LITERATURE REVIEW.....1
RELEVANCY OF ETHICS FOR BUSINESS DECISIONS OF TARGET CORPORATION.....3
Identifying and analyzing policies to ethics in business decision-making..................................3
Decisions or cases of Target corporation related to ethics in decision-making..........................4
IS ETHICS RELEVANT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics is the study of business activities, decisions and situations where issues of
right or wrong are addressed (De George, 2011; Crane and Matten, 2016). Moreover, business
ethics is set of code of conduct and standards which follows by the organizations while
conducting business activities (Trevino and Nelson, 2016). In this context, the current report is
based on the relevance of ethics for business decisions and for this purpose, US-based retail
organization Target Corporation has been selected to analyze the cases of business ethics.
Furthermore, policies and laws adopted by Target corporation have also been identified and
evaluated to build the sustainability of the business. At the end, suggestions have been collected
regarding the relevancy of ethics for small business with literature.
THE RELEVANCY OF ETHICS FOR BUSINESS DECISIONS- LITERATURE
REVIEW
According to several studies, ethics plays an important role in the businesses because it
reflects the authenticity and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the organizations
(Lehnert, Park and Singh, 2015; Craft, 2013; Buchan, 2005). In this context, Kouchaki, Smith-
Crowe, Brief and Sousa (2013) asserted that wrong decisions affect the image of the firms in the
competitive market place because the firm ignores the ethical values and take the decisions on
the basis of other factors. Moreover, Crossan, Mazutis and Seijts (2013) stated that ethical
decision-making provides insights for the future empirical work on behalf of the organization’s
decisions. In this regard, Woiceshyn (2011) notified that ethical decisions help to reduce the
ethical dilemma in the context of the firms because the decision-makers focus on moral values
while taking decisions. However, Soltani (2014) analyzed that most of the corporate
organizations take fraudulent decisions to artificially increase the compensations and benefits but
it creates significant ethical issues for the firm. Thus, it shows that ethics plays a critical role to
maintain the image of the firms and to take the ethical decisions to reduce ethical dilemmas.
Few of the studies revealed that ethical or unethical decisions in business have far-
reaching implications on the success of the organizations because it includes many types of
transactions (Belak and Pevec Rozman, 2012; Woiceshyn, 2011). Additionally, businesses
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involve the relationships with different parties such as stakeholders, employees, customers,
suppliers etc. which remains affected by the organization’s decisions. Further, Ruedy and
Schweitzer (2010) notified that decisions become more adequate and supportive for the
organizations which are based on the ethical values and principles because it covers the benefit
of all parties instead of individuals. However, Belak and Pevec Rozman (2012) argued that
unethical behavior in business decisions affects the business transactions in long-term and
negatively affects the future business activities in terms of no contracts with suppliers and
reduction in the number of customers. Hence, it reflects that ethics in business decisions is
equivalent to the essential sources of the organizations because the lack of ethical behavior leads
the firm to failure. Furthermore, unethical activities breach the contracts with suppliers and ruin
the relationships with connected parties.
Woiceshyn (2011) asserted that implementation of business ethics is required to measure
the enterprise expectations for employee decision-making. In this context, Thiel et al. (2012)
revealed that ethical decision influences the employee’s performance which makes an impact on
the company’s performance. On the other hand, Ünal, Warren and Chen (2012) notified that
absence of ethics increases the chances of expenses for the firm because individuals tend to
promote self-interest at the expense of others in the organization in case of resources unevenly
distributed. In this regard, Craft (2013) stated that ethics help the decision-makers to take the
practical and right decisions in favor of the enterprise and reduce all stuff which diminishes the
productivity of the workers. Apart from this, Stenmark et al. (2010) mentioned that ethical
decisions are based on the welfare of others and include the intentional help as well as respect
the right of others for the effectiveness of business decisions. Besides this, Lehnert, Park and
Singh (2015) stated that ethics in decision-making provides a way to respect the cultural values,
norms and performing duties in favor of social aspects. On the contrary, Markham and Buchanan
(2012) asserted that follow the ethical norms in the business decisions is not an easy task because
it requires to keep set rules and norms in the context of ethical standards. Therefore, it reflects
that ethics needs in each filed of the organizations which help to take better decisions with
ethical rules. Moral decisions encourage employees to work more wisely and perform their
duties in favor of society.
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RELEVANCY OF ETHICS FOR BUSINESS DECISIONS OF TARGET
CORPORATION
Identifying and analyzing policies to ethics in business decision-making
Target Corporation is the eight largest retailers in the US which deals in beauty products,
electronics, food, shoes etc. (Target Brands, 2019). The target corporation uses ethical policies
while taking decisions which affects the brand image of the company. Ethics always true to
Target corporation because the company is committed towards the rules and conduct business
ethically. In this context, Target corporation uses a practical approach to take the right decisions
such as the company to involve all the team members in decision-making and follow the ethical
standards for integration of members in business decisions (Target Brands Inc., 2019). Here, the
company focuses on the stakeholders, target brand and community while making business
decisions. In this regard, the involvement of team members in business decisions help to take
judgmental and valuable decisions which create a competitive identity in the market place
(O'Sullivan, 2010). Further, Target corporation offers the complete guidelines to the customers
before purchase and follow the legal compliances in context of dealing with issues like product
advice, return guidelines etc. (Business wire., 2019). Therefore, it indicates that Target
corporation use the practical approach as involving the team members to make ethical decisions
and further built competitive image among rivalries.
Target Corporation follow the Information Protection and Policy to keep the customer’s
personal information safe and do not share to anyone without proper investigation which
supports to maintain company’s reputation and relationships with customers that lies under the
code of conduct of Target Corporation (Target Brands Inc., 2019). Apart from this, Target
Corporation is emphasizing on the series of community events including volunteering society,
environmental protection, sponsoring education etc. to act ethically. Further, Target corporation
follow the ethical standards in the context of recruitment and employee performance to maintain
the ethical environment (Hess, 1994). In this manner, it helps to maintain effective employee-
employer relationships because it affects the ethical decision-making at the workplace which
requires both employee and manager's input (Racelis, 2010). Further, the company strictly
follows the ethical standards in recruitment that no candidate hires until the human resource
department approved (Target Brands Inc., 2019). Thus, it shows that Target Corporation is
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engaged with ethical policies and norms to build trust among employees and build effective
relationships with stakeholders, partners and employees.
Decisions or cases of Target corporation related to ethics in decision-making
According to Knapp and VandeCreek (2012), ethics in decision-making plays a vital role
because it reflects the CSR activities and values of the firm in front of the employees as well as
society. Here, Target corporation considers ethics in decision-making which can be identified by
many ethical decisions. In this regard, Target corporation associated with US customs and laws
and accordingly perform the business activities throughout the world (Gallagher, 2015). Each
member of supply chain needs to provide accurate information regarding quality, product
descriptions, country of origin statements in custom entry documents and labels, value
information etc. for all kind of items export or import (Target Corporation, 2011). Furthermore,
as per the US laws, the company follows a set of standards to keep ethical business activities like
occasionally restrict the trade with countries to reduce the terrorist activities. Besides this, Target
corporation follow the equal opportunity rule at the time of hiring, compensation, training,
disciple etc. for starters and old employees and oppose unlawful practices within the company
(Target Corporation, 2011). It shows that Target Corporation use ethical standards to create
value among employees and built trust in team members to make moral decisions.
Target corporation uses the ethical standards in sharing the resources and provide a
transparent view of entire work with the partners all over the world. It helps to improve the living
standard of workers in the whole supply chain and also offer the raw material from the
sustainable as well as ethical sources (Corporate Responsibility Report, 2018). Moreover, Target
decided to remove the harmful chemicals from product ingredients from the entire value chain by
considering the ethical standards. Further, as per the ethical laws, Target corporation sponsors
the Military Child Education Coalition Annual Conference where senior military, corporate
leaders, educators and military family members share the knowledge and initiative to support
military-connected children (Ethical Corporation, 2019). Here, Target corporation brought
together more than 1500 team members as well as volunteers for a day of service. Therefore, it
reflects that Target Corporation is involved in many ethical and social activities to boost the
morale of employees and build a brand image in the society. In this manner, Target corporation
takes ethical decision-making by considering the welfare of community and all team members.
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IS ETHICS RELEVANT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Ethics shows the moral values and principals of the businesses in the front of the
competitors and society which supports to maintain brand image (Trevino and Nelson, 2016).
Ethics is equally essential for large as well as small-medium sized organizations because both
types are associated with community and different types of partners. By considering this,
currently, small businesses are engaged with ethical standards and laws for further expansion and
sustainability of the businesses. In this context, Altinay and Wang (2011) asserted that ethics is
related to several aspects such as core values, ethical climate and culture which helps to
constitute an ethical behavior in small and large enterprises. Furthermore, ethical activities in
small business play an important role because it provides a moral environment for employees to
act ethically and does not prefer illegal business activities (Yallapragada and Bhuiyan, 2011).
Besides this, ethics in small businesses reflects the right or wrong business transactions and
internal or external trading with partners; otherwise, the enterprises perform the business
scandals and act like unlawful organizations (Turyakira, 2018). In this context, illegal business
activities lead the business to losses and harm the reputation in the market and society. Thus, it
indicates that ethical business activities are helpful to grow the companies and built an ethical
cultural environment within or outside the firm. Moreover, ethics shows the lawful trade of the
company and indicates that businesses are free from scandals and illegal activities.
Currently, customers are influenced by CSR activities which are performed by either
small or large organizations because CSR activities create ethical values for the businesses
(Ononogbo and Joel, 2016). In this regard, small businesses emphasize towards the inclusion of
equal opportunities for all workers and transparency in deals with employees as well as clients,
openness regarding the conflicts of interest (Williams and Schaefer, 2013.). However, the lack of
ethical standards in businesses increases the chances of a lack of coordination among workers
and small entities (Dutta and Banerjee, 2011). In this context, small businesses worst affected
and remain unsuccessful in executing ethical standards because of lack of strategic information,
relevant alliances, funds etc. (Altinay and Wang, 2011). In this manner, small businesses no
longer afford ethical practices in comparison to large organizations. Nonetheless, continuous
failures occur in the SME's in the absence of ethical practices that are especially associated with
employees (Crane and Matten, 2016). Hence, it adversely affects the reputation of SME’s. By
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considering the importance of ethics in businesses, small enterprises need to adopt ethical
practices for sustainability and further development in business.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the report, it has been concluded that ethics is important to take business
decisions because unethical decisions affect the brand image of the company. Ethical decisions
help to reduce the unethical dilemmas of the firm by focusing on moral values and laws. Further,
it has been summarized that Target Corporation is keen towards the application of ethical values
and policies in decision-making which helps to built sustainability of the business. At the end, it
has also been concluded that ethics is relevant for small businesses because it supports to further
expansion of the business. However, it is costly to adopt the ethical policies and laws in the small
business which leads the business to losses.
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