Free Term Paper On Organizational Behavior

Introduction

Target Corporation is an American-based company found in 1902 under the leadership of John Dayton. The firm has its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but has grown in size in such a way that it offers its retailing services to other places. Target Corporation involves in selling essential and fashionable products at a discounted price. The firm is a public retailing company, which have outlets in Canada and North America. The firm boosts of having a strong, efficient and productive team of employees totaling to 366,000 employees, who operates 1,934 stores in America and 133 stores in Canada. In 2009, the firm was ranked number 28 out of 500 on Forbes as the second retailing firm in America after Wall-mart (Smith, J. (2011). The ever increasing profitability of the firm is attributed to effective employee motivation, productivity, engagement and organizational culture, which is rooted in the management’s motive to improve performance. Based on this insightful overview, the paper seeks to conduct internal analysis of the organization based on employee motivation, training, engagement, and organizational culture.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
Adopting an inclusive organization culture that brands the company as “Amazing” has placed the company on an advantageous position whereby it has captured a large market especially in America, Canada and the emerging Asian market. Apart from that, employing people from a diverse culture helps the company to address consumers with a “personal touch” hence improving consumers’ confidence with the brands of the company (Kunda, 2006). Target Corporation goes for talented and capable employees and it offers them pay-and-benefit plans programs, which are aimed at improving the productivity of employees. In order to sustain employee engagement, the firm is equipped with emotional, physical and financial resources that help in retaining employees.

Weaknesses

A large pool of competent and talented employees requires that the company should incur high costs of remuneration and other benefits. Such increase in costs is transferred to consumers via increased prices (Bhatnagar, 2004). The company’s focus quality has also contributed to the increased prices the company charges its consumers for its brands. The increase in the number of lawsuits filed against the company in recent years has lowered the morale of employee to partner with other firms in a bid to improve the value of the organization and its brands.

Opportunity

Considering that the firm went online and is now selling some of its merchandize on eBay, it seeks to penetrate the vast Asian market especially India and China.
Target Corporation has a culture of benchmarking it efficiency, employee productivity and skills with that of other related companies. In this case, the firm will be able to reduce the cost of production, improve employee productivity hence reducing price of its brands. This support for corporate initiatives has made employees to interact with people from a diverse culture from different parts of the world.

Threat

With regard to the organizational culture of producing amazing products and services, the price of the firm’s goods and services is likely to increase; hence, scaring away consumers who would want to minimize their costs in the current inflationary economy. Considering that other companies are aware of the great and potential team, which Target Corporation has nurtured, there is a great risk of rival firms to poach employees from Target Corporation to build their brands as the latter.

Theoretical perspective

In his theory of Hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow proposed that human beings are motivated by the urge to achieve certain goals. In this case, he categorized the needs into five; notably, physiological, safety, social, esteem needs, self-actualization needs, which Target corporation has been offering or supporting employees in achieving them as a way of improving their productivity. Firstly, the firm provides some of the physiological needs such as food, water housing, clothes, education and medical care for its employees. On the second level, the firm protects its employees from external lawsuits, and offers security. In fostering good relationship among its team members, the firm is equipped with social amenities that help its employee’s families and friends to enhance good social relationships.
Apart from that, Target Corporation offers free and confidential guiding and counseling therapies to employees and their families, a move that has boosted self-esteem and individual performance. To improve employees’ creativity and innovativeness, the firm has created an independent platform where employees have a chance to tap into their potential, improve their level of knowledge through trainings and furthering their studies (Hitt & Ireland, 2011). Considering that the firm retains its employees as a way of reducing costs and improving efficiency, it gives them a chance to realize their personal potential hence sustaining individual growth. It does this by offering position based training and promoting their culture as a way to motivate them. Through a career planning program, employees are able to utilize the resources of their firm and expand their skills set in such a way to brighten their future.

Strategies that the firm could use to enhance its performance and effectiveness

Considering that the firm seeks to improve its performance and expand its operations, it should avoid the cultural stereotype that makes it employee people from specific races because of the notion that they are naturally endowed. The idea of practicing racial bias during the hiring process exposed the firm to a series of law suits, some of which were filed by human rights activist. It is even advised that when Target Corporation employs staff whose races are varied, there is a high possibility that their productivity will increase because cultural difference will enhance learning.
Considering that the firm has a great and competent team of employees, it should improve online shopping experience, leverage social media markets and increase product information on internet platforms to reach consumers from wider markets. Importantly, majority of people especially the youth have “gone online” and as such the firm should increase its marketing and service delivery on online platforms.
Formulate good corporate social responsibility to boost public confidence in such a way that it conserves the environment; it works with people of all races, and that it complies with government regulations concerning its operations (Kunda, 2006). Apart from that, improving corporate social responsibility boosts employee’s confidence in the efforts they are putting in production because it is sustained by a shift in consumer preferences or positive feedbacks from consumers.
The firm should formulate a good vision and mission statement, which are based on the organization culture to help boost the confidence of consumers with the company as well as motivate team members. In doing so, employees will change their way of executing their duties thereby improving customer service relationships, supply chain management, finance management, planning, strategy formulation, and evaluation. With regard to training of employees, the firm should consider using a rotational or organizational level training where employees at different levels of management can be trained based on updated curriculum.
Although employee motivation is essential, the firm can conduct job evaluation and adapt a motivational strategy whereby employees are rewarded based on their performance or productivity (Central Power Corporation 2012). This way, healthy competition will be boosted among employees hence the firm efficiency and performance will improve. On the same note, employee motivation should not be done extravagantly because it could improve cost of production. Currently, the management of Target Corporation has been accused of motivating employees to produce quality goods and services hence pass the costs to consumers by increasing prices.
Target Corporation does not engage their employees because the management works on a strategy to retain them. On the contrary, employees should be engaged with productive work, but be motivated in a way that will enhance sustainable working. Additionally, the company should benchmark with other firms in the same industry to establish the level of engagement the management should task an employee to avoid overworking or awarding unnecessary benefits to employees (Lau & Ketvi, 2014).
The firm has categorized its employees in such a way that there is division of labor and specialization. This method of production is not that effective because the absence of any employee might halt the production process. For this reason, it is advisable that employees in every department or section of production should be able perform tasks all tasks within their area of specialization to avoid inefficiencies during production. Employee rotation within the same field is also vital because it helps employees gain vast knowledge and skills, which can help in improving performance of firm.

Recommendations for improvements in the organization

It should be noted that there is still room for expansion and such, Target Corporation should explore Asian and British markets because it is currently serving American markets. Venturing into other markets will pave way for the management to practice price discrimination, which in turn improve profitability. The British and Asian markets have substantial population with a relatively higher disposable income. Exploring into the Canadian market attributed to the move by the firm to increase the performance of the firm a few years after.
Currently, Target Corporation is facing stiff competition from Wall-mart thereby hindering it from improving its market share. To improve its market share, the firm should diversify its product and service delivery such that stationery and drugs should be among the new products and services the firm should offer to its clients (Hitt & Ireland, 2011). Furthermore, the firm should explore suburb markets especially where rival firms such as Wall-mart have not tapped. The rationale behind the initiative is that the cost of living in suburbs is low and it will give the firm an opportunity to benefit from significant price advantages.
As another way of enhancing performance, Target Corporation should work on interventions aimed at enhancing product and service differentiation. Notably, the firm should make and distribute products that are unique from those of its rival to reduce fierce competition. In so doing, the firm should be able to sell its products without fear of cut-throat pricing competition from its rivals. Apart from that, the firm should use modern technology to improve the competitive advantage (Kunda, 2006). Categorically, it is known that Wall-mart uses it effective supply chain management to continue learning the retail market in America, Target Corporation should use computer aided graphics to improve online services where it should influence internet marketing as well as manage supply chain.

References

Bhatnagar, P. (2004). Target: Aiming for the bull’s eye. CNN Online. Retrieved March 6, 2015 from: http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/01/markets/spotlight_tgt/
Central Power Corporation: The Challenge of Building Motivation and Morale. (2012). Journal of Organizational Behavior Education, 5(1), 73-84.
Culture: Working at Target | Target Corporate. (2015, January 1). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from https://corporate.target.com/careers/culture
 
Employee Benefits, Fringe Benefits, Perks | Target Corporate. (2015, January 1). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from https://corporate.target.com/careers/benefits
Hitt, M., & Ireland, R. (2011). Strategic management: Competitiveness & globalization : Concepts (9th ed.). Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Kunda, G. (2006). Engineering culture control and commitment in a high-tech corporation (Rev. ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Lau, C., & Ketvi, R. (2014). The effects of nonfinancial and financial measures on employee motivation to participate in target setting. British Accounting Review, 46(3), 227-258.
Smith, J. (2011, September 6). Companies that make their employees happier. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44374282/ns/business-forbes_com/t/companies-make-their-employees-happier/#.VPmLxY6f3Dc