Gregg Shafel Case Summary

If I had the opportunity to advise Gregg Steinhafel and Target on actions to take to better handle a crisis like the cyber attack they experienced in 2013 I would focus on policy and training development. It seemed alarming to me that a CEO and his top executives disagreed on the best strategy and moved forward without reaching a consensus (Kinicki, 2016). Discrepancies between team members, especially at such a high level, would indicate to me an inconsistent or poorly established culture. Identifying the company's actual values and goals is imperative to then detail the ethical standards, proper course of action, appropriate communications, and resulting training (LeClair, 2000). Establishing these policies would lead to standard expectations in behavior and choices, and uniform culture (LeClair, 2000).
In addition to ethics training and culture development I would focus on training and development within the companies information technology.
Technology innovation and global competition are two essential aspects of modern business, as a result companies invest a great deal in these areas (LeClair, 2000). It is imperative for senior management, like Steinhafel and his senior managers, to identify the information important to their business and which information is most valuable so that they can develop an IT infrastructure to protect those assets and then educate, inform, and train employees in a way that fosters a culture in which security is a priority (Dutta, 2002). With planning, innovation, and training a company can face the ever changing threats of the cyber world with increased confidence and thereby gain the confidence and business of their customers (Dutta,
2002).
Finally, I would suggest Target examine their chain of command policies and employee coaching habits. While it is admirable for a CEO to care so much about the details as to visit one of 1,800 stores as Steinhafel did, he should have refrained from addressing a store employee so many levels below his level of management in a negative way (Kinicki, 2016). A common philosophy for effective coaching that builds a positive atmosphere is to discipline in private, and praise in public. Positive feedback from the CEO to a store employee could go a long way to encourage pride and dedication, rather than the potential embarrassment or defensiveness. Effective coaching will leave an employee to feeling positively about their manager and employer but motivated to make the appropriate changes. A better strategy would be for Steinhafel to find something positive to compliment the store employee, then address the systemic issue within the company that lead to complacency within store employees.