(GROUP) ASSIGNMENT #5 – INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND
CULTURE
DAY MSIM 580, WINTER 2006
MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION ORGANIZATIONS
Due date:
February 15th, 2006
Dayton-Hudson Corporation (Today – Target Corporation)
Dayton-Hudson Corporation (DHC) wants to run “the best stores in town”. The owner of Dayton’s,
Hudson’s, Mervyn’s, Marshall Fields, and Target, DHC understands that to have the best stores,
it needs to attract, retain, and motivate the best employees. Since women consumers account for
most of the retail-shopping dollars spent, DHC also wants to attract and motivate women
managers; it has therefore developed various policies to make the company attractive to
prospective women employees.
DHC has been successful in it efforts to promote women managers. The company’s most recent
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) report noted that in senior management, 26% of DHC
managers at the level of vice president or higher are women. Of middle management at the
company, 37% are women. Women recently comprised more than 66% of DHC’s employee
population.
Each of DHC’s major divisions has its own program of compensation-related HR policies and
benefits, but they all have several common features.
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Pretax salary set-asides to help pay for dependent care
Child-care resource and referral information
Employee participation in alternative work arrangements, such as telecommuting, jobsharing, working at home, flex-time, and part-time employment.
Time off to care for a sick child or seriously ill family member
Generous leaves for pregnancy
401 (K) plan and employee stock option/stock ownership plan that includes a dollar-for-dollar
match for the first 5% of salary.
Additional programs in individual divisions, such as expense reimbursement for adoption and
prenatal and well-baby care programs.
Working Mother magazine has six times named DHC one of the top workplaces for women with
children. It has noted a number of key features in the DHC programs, including the publication of
its overall benefits program.
The stakes are very high in the retail industry. Consider the Target division of DHC. Since
opening the first Target store in May 1962 in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, the company has
grown to nearly 900 stores in 44 states. Target provides employment for approximately 189,000
people. The parent company, DHC, is America’s fourth largest general merchandise retailer, with
more than a quarter of a million team members. However, profit margins have been eroding for
years as customers seek ever-better sales, and it’s obvious that only the most efficient retailers
are going to survive.
Questions
1. [30%] DHC has hired you as a consultant to evaluate the motivational potential of its various
compensation programs. Write a brief report titled “The Motivational Potential of DHC’s
Family-Friendly Compensation Program. “ Please make sure to explain (in terms of
motivation theories in chapter 11 of Dessler) the extent to which each program (such as
preset salary set-asides) is or is not motivational.
2. [15%] Why (if at all) do you think DHC’s compensation programs would help to motivate
women in particular to work in its stores and /or offices?
3. [15%] In your opinion, does DHC have all the programs it needs to motivate manager? Why
or why not? Based on what you know about the retail store business, propose three specific
motivational programs you would recommend that Target use for the salespeople in its
stores.
4. [40%] In 2000 DHC changed its name to Target Corporation. Analyze according to Schein
Model the various sub-cultures that exist in Target Corporation. First present the various subcultures and then analyze each sub-culture according to the three levels of Schein.
Resources, Guidance and Hints
The case was taken from Dessler’s book.
There is no length limitation for the assignment.
I would recommend to go over the following for question 1-3:
Dessler Gary, 2004, Management: Principles and Practices for Tomorrow’s Leader, 3rd edition,
New Jersey: Prentice Hall – chapter 11 [you can find it in the eReserve site]
For question 4, I suggest you use the following article as a starting point http://www.answers.com/topic/target-corporation-1 and then explore the website of Target
Corporation http://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-000482 for more
information and also their investor relations website
http://investors.target.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=65828&p=irol-irhome .I would recommend to go over
the following for question 4:
Also I recommend to read the following if you need some help with the Schein Model – Schein
Edgar H., 1996, “Defining Organizational Culture”, in: Shafritz Jay M. and Ott Steven J., Classics
of Organization Theory, 4th edition, 430-441. [Source: Schein Edgar H., 1985, Organizational
Culture and Leadership, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 1-22. Reprinted by permission]
Good Luck!!!