Target Diversity Training

• According to Huffington post "Three former employees are suing Target for discrimination, citing a document the company distributed to managers with reminders that not all Hispanics eat tacos and burritos or wear sombreros."

• The plaintiffs claim that nearly all the management positions were held by Caucasians, who regularly used racial slurs while addressing Hispanic employees, such as “Only a ‘wetback’ can work this hard,” “You got to be Mexican to work like this,” and “What the hell, I’m already sweating like a Mexican,” the employees say in the complaint.

Citation

• Bhasin, Kim. "Leaked Target Diversity Training Documents Reveal Struggles Of Managing A Diverse Workplace." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 July 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
• Bhasin, Kim. "Target Reminded Bosses Not All Hispanic Employees Eat Tacos, Wear Sombreros: Lawsuit." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09 July 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
• Target. "Diversity & Inclusion: Fostering Togetherness | Target Corporate." Diversity & Inclusion: Fostering Togetherness | Target Corporate. Target, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
• Mystal, Elie. "Lawsuit Claims Target’s Sensitivity Training Is Just As Racist As Target’s Regular Behavior." Above the Law. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

Mission and Values

Lawsuit in Response to Discrimination

History

Mission

Our mission is to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less.® brand promise.

Diversity Scripts for Stores

Values

• Design for All
• Great Guest Service
• More for Your Money
• A Fun and Rewarding Place to Work
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Inclusive of All Team Members
• Supplier Diversity
• Community Engagement
• Giving and Service

Diversity Scripts for Stores

• 1902 - The Dayton Dry Goods Company, today known as the Target Corporation, was founded by George Draper Dayton
• 1918 - George D. Dayton establishes The Dayton Foundation with the purpose to promote the welfare of all mankind
• 1962 - The birth of the modern day Target store in Roseville, Minnesota
• 1967 - Target's Initial Public Offering (IPO)
• 1979 - Target stores celebrate milestone of 1$ billion in annual sales
• 1989 - Target opened stores in Georgia and the Southeastern region
• 2005 - Target exceeds $50 billion in annual sales
• 2012 - Community giving reached $4 million a week to local communities

Target's Video: Target All Together

Diversity Scripts for Stores

Target released this video after facing racism issues and lawsuits.

Decentralized Decision Making

Teamwork

• Makes the best use of information about the current conditions within the business
• Facilitates rapid adaptation to changing conditions (such as an increasingly diverse workforce in Target’s case)
• Empowers workers to respond flexibly to volatile “local” circumstances.
• Many employees are consulted in choosing a course of action, rather than just one “head honcho”

• Thrives in an environment where the tasks performed are highly complementary to each other, but many tasks are performed
• Also successful in a space where there are tasks which are so difficult and intricate that assigning them to any one individual would be detrimental and overwhelming to that worker, resulting in a decrease of overall productivity
• Teams are often much better than individual workers acting independently when a firm consistently sets a goal to improve ongoing coordination between team members and overall performance at the firm.

In Conclusion...

Reactions to the Diversity Documents

The former warehouse workers, whom filled the lawsuit, claimed "that Target's "Multi-Cultural Tips" for managers were themselves offensive."

Human Resource Issue

The Economics of It All

"Target is basically saying that all Mexicans are illegal immigrants. As if there is somebody out there eating a taco, wearing a sombrero, dancing to salsa music..."

Decentralized Decision Making and Teamwork

Target's Response to Negative Feedback

• Target created practice scripts in order to address the human resource issue of a lack of cultural awareness and acceptance amongst the employees.
• Target used these scripts to show hypothetical scenarios
• The script has specific scenarios in which manager and employees discuss race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disabilities, etc..
• A spokeswomen for target, Molly Snyder said, “This resource was created to help ensure our team continues to handle diversity conversation in the most sensitive way possible.”

How's It Relate?

Target faces a lawsuit

It is never Target’s intent to offend our team members or guests and we apologize. The content of the document referenced is not representative of who Target is. We strive at all times to be a place where our team and guests feel welcome, valued and respected. This document, which was used during conversations at one distribution center, was never part of any formal or company-wide training. We take accountability for its contents and are truly sorry.

• According to Huffington post "Three former employees are suing Target for discrimination, citing a document the company distributed to managers with reminders that not all Hispanics eat tacos and burritos or wear sombreros."

Diversity Scripts for Stores

Decentralized Decision Making

• Target encourages employees to work together with both their managers

and their fellow team mates in order to solve an issue, such as a language

barrier or a free riding team member

• Getting many different opinions and perspectives on an issue can not only offer many previously unseen approaches to problem solving, but may also encourage worker productivity by creating a sense of “worker ownership” in a solution to a problem

Teamwork

• By providing these guidelines for managers and workers to address certain diversity related issues, Target is focusing on streamlining the productivity of each team and setting a goal to continuously improve the performance of their employees.
• Improved employee performance and happiness leads to better overall company performance, and maybe even less worker turnover!

Target Diversity Training