Write a 2- to 3-page memo to the CEO of the company you’ve been assessing throughout the course - Target Corporation, outlining your plan to create economic, social, and environmental value. In your m
MGT/576 v1
Learning Organizations and Value Creation
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MGT 576
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Learning Organizations and Value Creation
Review the 6 key elements of a learning organization (Ch. 11 of Strategic Management, by Dess).
Complete the table below. Evaluate the extent to which the company you’ve selected to assess in this course epitomizes each of the 6 elements.
Justify your determination with examples.
Learning Organization Element | Extent to which the company epitomizes this element | Provide a sentence justifying your determination | |||
High | Medium | Low | |||
Example | x | [This] is why I believe it is medium. | |||
Inspiring and motivating people with a mission or purpose | Target is committed to sustainability, diversity, and inclusion, as well as service and commitment to the communities they operate within. Target is dedicated to exceptional customer service through specialized training and development programs for their teams. Through the “Circle” program, Target gives exposure to nonprofits through votes from their customers and then publishes the total donation given based on customer feedback quarterly. | ||||
Developing leaders | Target has a strong emphasis on education and development of their team members for career advancement internally, as well as future careers to which employees may move. Target provides courses for certifications, leadership development programs, and even help with attaining degrees for their employees and managers. It is a core belief to the corporation for Target employees to work where they can grow their career and care about those they serve (A Bullseye View, 2023). | ||||
Empowering employees | Target has a strong foundation of corporate culture which includes respect, community service, and growth. Diverse voices, authenticity, and doing right by their team and guests through actions and building relationships across the organization cultivate trust and mutual respect (A Bullseye View, 2023). | ||||
Accumulating and sharing internal knowledge | Teamwork and collaboration are at the center of the culture and organizational structure within Target Brands. Target has created and implemented an internal communication system called “Redtalk” that allows team members to receive notifications and announcements about upcoming employee events and organizational challenges, and features group chats to allow employees to share information internally. Target has also set up an employee Wiki page to share information, procedures, and upcoming partnerships through collaborative methods (Dishman, 2012). | ||||
Gathering and integrating external information | Handling external data has historically been an issue for Target. They had an extensive data breach of sensitive customer information. Data security is important because Target is very effective at using data mining and purchase history to predictively determine customer needs by determining intimate details such as when women are expecting a new baby, allowing them to offer targeted offers and coupons (Hill, 2012). | ||||
Challenging the status quo and enabling creativity | Target is at the forefront of creativity due to their commitment to the customer’s in-store experience. Target uses many factors to determine how they lay out their stores, including buying patterns of consumers, regular customer satisfaction surveys, and customer traffic analysis. Target has implemented contactless payment such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and has partnered with Sezzle to offer “Pay in 4” options for customers that are interest free. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Target swiftly implemented both curbside pickup and in-store pickup options for customers who were uncomfortable with shopping in-store. Embracing these new options played a large part in Target experiencing a 195% increase in digital sales in 2020 alone. (Chopra,2022). | ||||
Recommend at least 1 step the organization's leaders could take to enhance 1 of the elements and explain how that could help the organization create more value. Target could capitalize further on their sustainability efforts, and culture within the organization. Target prides themselves on being a business that has a positive impact on their communities and the environment. Adding solar panels to their parking lots or buildings would be a customer-visible way to help with the energy needed to run their stores and offset their draw the electrical grids, especially in areas that often have rolling blackouts in certain seasons due to increased energy usage. Energy efficiency is important to customers and employees, and would set them ahead of their competitors. | |||||
References: A Bullseye View (2023). Internships & Entry-Level Programs. Target Brands, Inc. https://corporate.target.com/careers/internships-and-entry-level-programs A Bullseye View (2023). Culture. Target Brands, Inc. https://corporate.target.com/careers/culture Chopra, K. (2022, February 3). What Target is doing tight in the pandemic era e-commerce race. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/02/03/what-target-is-doing-right-in-the-pandemic-era-e-commerce-race/?sh=d5515d813e9e Dishman, L. (2012, October 10). How Target's CEO inspires teamwork at a massive scale. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/3001988/how-targets-ceo-inspires-teamwork-massive-scale Hill, K. (2012, February 16). How Target figured out a teen girl was pregnant before her father did. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/%202012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/ |
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