“If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do that?,” asked by Andrew Pole’s colleagues. In today’s day and age of technology, data mining can be easily used to compile huge capacities of data that is validated to calculate patterns of the data from the information such as name, address, date of birth, credit card numbers, and social security numbers that people have submitted to the Internet through purchases, advertising, and profiles everyday. Although data mining seems harmless, it allows companies to gather information to improve the business by making ethical decisions; therefore, this can raise concerns with privacy and security of the person and/or their personal information that …show more content…
The misuse of information is not ethical when making a business-decision using customer purchasing patterns or demographics. From a Deontological Approach, The Josephson Institute of Ethics describes ethical behavior well: “Ethics is about how we meet the challenge of doing the right thing when that will cost more than we want to pay. There are two aspects to ethics: The first involves the ability to discern right from wrong, good from evil, and propriety from impropriety. The second involves the commitment to do what is right, good, and proper. Ethics entails action; it is not just a topic to mull or debate.” (3) “Back to Just because it’s publicly available” and “everyone does it” does not make it ethically the right thing to do. If not careful in the end there will be a consequence of unethical behavior and can be a wide variety of results depending on the act. The example used in the Target Research Case of a Target Guest buying baby aspirin that reveals that the person might also be interested in buying toys whom has not done so before could cause trouble and can be unethical if not analyzed correctly. The problem is that Target Guest might not actually have children and the reason for buying baby aspirin is because it is easier on the stomach of an elder individual who has no children or grandchildren. If using multiple purchases of children products (like baby food, baby diapers) and not just aspirin, this would be more ethical to send the customer a coupon for toys. Why is this plausible reason in getting that customer to buy toys if they have not bought toys before? “We knew that if we could identify them in their second trimester, there’s a good chance we could capture them for years,” Pole said. “As soon as we get them buying diapers from us, they’re going to start buying everything else
Target Corporation is an American retailing company, founded in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States. The company is ranked 36th on the Fortune 500 as of 2013. The first Target store was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota. Today Target operates 1,934 stores in the United States with over 347,000 team members worldwide.
These extremely large data sets may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations relating to human behavior and interaction. These analysesaffect us on day to day basis positively and negatively and the legality of how this information is collected and the laws that apply may be unclear. Both with or without users' knowledge, consumer personal data is collected from every daily, digital activity; from purchases, web searches, amazon searches, browsing history, and phone use. This data is generated, and then downloaded and stored. [15] Companies can then use this data to create "data sets" or large files of users' data to produce customer profiling. This data can also be used by police, the governmental bodies, scientists, businesses, military, and other industries where occasional breaches of data are expected .[16] Breaches and leaks of personal information including phone calls, credit card information, home address, and personal phone numbers are examples of information that is logged and stored by these corporations while making "data sets". Much of this information is being processed and sold to marketers for the purpose of marketing their products. This information is stored digitally and in some cases, regardless of the security of the information being stored, there are risks of unauthorized parties
The Cheesecake Factory has been one of the more successful chain restaurants in recent years because they have provided great food and outstanding customer service in a fun atmosphere. The cheesecake factory employs a high standard of general conduct and moral aptitude. As a chief executive officer in today’s society, it is my responsibility to ensure The Cheesecake Factory abides by the laws and ethical duties that are mandated by today’s society. There is a copious amount of benefits to being a chief executive officer, however there is an equal amount of risk as chief executive officers are held liable for almost any action or infraction that their company has induced.
Imagine, that you come back from a hard day’s work. You put on your favorite grey sweats with a cozy sweater. Soon after, you get a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. Then you lean back on the sofa, turn on the television and change the channel to the local news. Breaking news with bright red letters are plastered across the screen. The news anchor goes on explaining that an employee at the local hospital accidentally donated data of patients. This means that patient’s social security numbers, addresses, medical records, and other personal information, were given away without patients’ permission or consent. At that moment you realize that all your personal information is out there for everyone to see and use; and there is nothing you can do about it. The collection of personal information is called data mining, and is collected through large online databases. The real question is that data mining violating our privacy and rights? Why are companies still collecting our personal information without our consent and how can we protect ourselves from breaches? Data mining should be limited in the United States and needs to undergo more appropriate privacy and security policies to protect citizens privacy.
I chose to do my research on the Target Corporation. I feel they have a reputation of service to their customers, employees and community. Target’s mission is great value, the community, diversity and the environment. Target takes 5% of its income and puts back into the community. The Reading and Education Program, The Military and Veteran Support Program and The Social Services Program are just a few of several programs Target Corporation offers to the community. Target has a great reputation to be a positive fixture in the communities they serve. I think it says a lot about a company and the way it does business. I would feel good about working for a corporation like this. The Target Corporation has good ethics and is socially
There are some advertisers, marketing personnel, and business owners who argue the fact that other strategies still work. They claim that not only do other strategies work, there are ethical issues that may arise. Their arguments do not pose a threat to my position. Based on my experience, evidence and research, mobile and social media advertising can effectively serve as a companies only form of advertising. There are plenty of unforeseen circumstances and ethical issues that surface when dealing with business and commerce. Look at what happened to the multi-billion dollar corporation Target Inc. They had a massive data breach that compromised $40 million consumers credit card and personal information (Reuters, 2015). I would say that was
The Volkswagen (VW) corporation experienced a major scandal after it conspired to manipulate data for diesel emissions. Business ethics, legal issues, and a Biblical worldview are common areas of failure and are clearly present in this case. Lippe (2015) stated that these acts were deliberate and examined the responsibility of legal counsel to mitigate such acts. If not for road testing by engineer, John German, excess emissions may not have been detected, and due to outcry, VW admitted to their technologically sophisticated fraud (Patra, 2016). God’s Word reveals, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Luke 12:2 New American Standard
The best way to approach this task would be to see what people in Asheville, NC value, and see if this matches up with your financial needs. Also if Asheville, NC is very intent on removing carbon footprints and the renewable energy effort it would be important to make sure that your business can operate on these values. According to Weiss the city of Asheville has put limits on carbon emissions and is currently in a legal procession that will limit its coal powered energy plant Duke Energy to a set amount of emissions (Weiss, 2013). This is important because anything that does not match these emission standards will either have to change or New Belgium would have to find another spot for the business. This is also important because whenever
Hi Aleks, you make some excellent points. Once a company signs a CIA they are bound to the terms of the agreement and if the provision includes the sign-off on quarterly notifications, then the company would be obligated to disclose any compliance or non-compliance activities. As I mentioned in my initial discussion post, we can’t really control other people and how they conduct themselves despite the number of rules that are set implemented to control misconduct. I also agree with you, not only it would be an enormous effort to ensure all employees are in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, but the expense can be damaging. However, compliance could even be costlier if a company is found liable for violating the law. In
1. The Sales Rep. A sales representative for a struggling computer supply firm has a chance to close a multimillion-dollar deal for an office system to be installed over a two-year period. The machines for the first delivery are in the company’s warehouse, but the remainder would have to be ordered from the manufacturer. Because the manufacturer is having difficulty meeting the heavy demand for the popular model, the sales representative is not sure that the subsequent deliveries can be made on time. Any delay in converting to the new system would be costly to the customer; however, the blame could be placed on the manufacturer. Should the sales representative close the deal without advising the customer
Thanks for your comment. I think the short time break policy for employees is an interesting topic because nowadays it is not available and suitable for everyone in any company. Usually, it depends on what position you take in the company. Obviously, as a manager in such a big technological company, Rachel has the opportunity and benefit. However, it is still difficult to measure how long should be an appropriate period of time for a manager to take a break in the work time. How about those bottom level workers? If they have different standards of break time, is it equal? Obviously, a part time salesman in Macdonald is disable to take a nap when he is working. Anyway, how to deal with the core of ethic is a very important and necessary
Information gathering, through networking, social media, and both on and offline storage have made it easier to collect information about an individual than ever before, with many concerns having arisen over the years about privacy and the ability to protect that privacy. As debates over personally identifiable information continue, one cornerstone remains a constant, ethics. Ethics are defined as “the standard by which human actions can be judged right and wrong (Online, 2012)”, but even that can be debated when discussed within the realm of information technology. Have you ever been to an internet shopping site and “trusted” the secure connection? Essentially, you are entrusting an inanimate system developed by an individual or group
With the increased and widespread use of technologies, interest in data mining has increased rapidly. Companies are now utilized data mining techniques to exam their database looking for trends, relationships, and outcomes to enhance their overall operations and discover new patterns that may allow them to better serve their customers. Data mining provides numerous benefits to businesses, government, society as well as individual persons. However, like many technologies, there are negative things that caused by data mining such as invasion of privacy right. This paper tries to explore the advantages as well as the disadvantages of data mining. In addition, the ethical and global issues regarding the use of data mining
The ethical implications that Target is imposing on its vendors are that they are being forced to provide Target with a specialized line. On one hand, this may seem to almost appear to be a form of bullying; the large superstore putting pressure on its vendors to comply with their demands. If it were perceived to be this way it could negatively affect Target. The vendors could decide that they did not want to meet the terms of Targets request and Target could go from the second largest discount chain to no store at all. Without a product to sell then Target would not have a need for a store.
1. The Sales Rep. A sales representative for a struggling computer supply firm has a chance to close a multimillion-dollar deal for an office system to be installed over a two-year period. The machines for the first delivery are in the company’s warehouse, but the remainder would have to be ordered from the manufacturer. Because the manufacturer is having difficulty meeting the heavy demand for the popular model, the sales representative is not sure that the subsequent deliveries can be made on time. Any delay in converting to the new system would be costly to the customer; however, the blame could be placed on the manufacturer. Should the sales representative close the deal without advising the customer