Ethical Issues of the Tillamook Products Shrinkflation

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Introduction

When making purchases, consumers typically seek the lowest prices and base their decisions on what they consider to be a decent bargain. However, during inflationary periods, consumer purchasing preferences change as they tend to buy more for precautionary and speculative motives. Some businesses, therefore, choose to lower the number of products in a package rather than raise prices (shrinkflation) to adapt to these adjustments, which compromises their ethicality (Huck et al., 2020). Although shrinkflation is legal, as long as products are clearly labeled, and the business is not engaging in unfair or deceptive practices, this practice is not ethical and the Tillamook’s case in this paper explains why.

Tillamook’s Operation and Cultural Elements that Drive Its Engagement in Ethical Culture

Tillamook, an Oregon-based firm that produces dairy products in grocery stores, incorporates different cultural elements in its operations. For instance, it upholds the production of high-quality products while fulfilling ethical requirements (Our Promise). The company’s employees have pledged to uphold their commitment to serving their customers rather than prioritizing profit maximization. In addition, Tillamook supports initiatives to reuse waste as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability. The business collaborates with other agricultural farms so that waste from one site can be used by the adjacent farms (Trevino & Nelson, 2021). Therefore, Tillamook forecited community and employee-centric cultural elements jointly drive the company to be more engaged in the ethical culture. The section below highlights some of the management issues that disrupted ethicality at Tillamook and the factors that triggered them.

Management Issues at Tillamook and Factors That Contributed to Its Unethicality

The management first issue at Tillamook is evident when the manager fails to maintain a work environment that supports ethical conduct while concurrently ensuring productivity or quality. The second problem results from shrinkflation, which was witnessed when carton sizes for dairy products were reduced from 56 to 48 ounces (Trevino & Nelson, 2021). The issue above was triggered by the company’s desire to prevent a significant dwindling of sales. Additionally, the unprecedented increase in the cost of berries as an ingredient is attributable to the unethically experienced at Tillamook (“Shrinkflation”: Deceptive Price Increase or Consumer Irrationality?). The section that follows discusses the different ways that can be used by managers to become more engaging in their respective organizations.

How Managers Can Move Employees Up the Engagement Continuum

To move employees up the employee engagement continuum, managers must be more open and engaging by boosting their communication with employees. Primarily, line of sight and reward recognition are two main engagement factors that can be used to accomplish this objective. Employees that have a line of sight are aware of the company’s strategic goals and how their input contributes directly to the company’s bottom line. Conversely, reward recognition ensures that staff members are aware of their employer’s expectations and the means to be used to get incentives and appreciation tokens (Jowah & Beretu, 2019). By managers blending these factors in their operations, employees can become more enthusiastic about their work and possibly develop a deeper connection with the organization.

How Managers Can Communicate Ethical Standards to Employees

Leading by example is an excellent technique that managers can leverage to convey standards to staff members and fellow managers. However, this modality calls for them to observe two key principles namely, full accountability for organizational duties and fair treatment of each employee irrespective of their rank. Establishing an inspiring, supportive, and open workplace environment encourages employee trust, which leads to the achievement of the required standard of business ethics (Jiang & Luo, 2018). In a range of coaching and mentoring programs, communications managers and organizational leaders should use sincere leadership and open communication techniques. Concomitantly, employees can communicate their ethical standards to the management by being honest to avoid issues regarding infidelity, especially in departments where finances are involved.

Conclusion

As highlighted in the introductory paragraph, Tillamook’s involvement in shrinkflation can be categorized as a violation of moral principles. Therefore, for a better solution, the managers needed to uphold openness and utilize the two key factors that influence employee engagement. Lastly, becoming open as a manager and setting a good example are great methods for communicating professional moral values to the workforce before holding each of them answerable to these norms.

References

“Shrinkflation”: Deceptive Price Increase or Consumer Irrationality?(2021). Business Ethics Highlights. Web.

Huck, N., Mavoori, H., & Mesly, O. (2020). The rationality of irrationality in times of financial crises. Economic Modelling, 89, 337-350. Web.

Jiang, H., & Luo, Y. (2018). Crafting employee trust: from authenticity, transparency to engagement. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 138-160. Web.

Jowah, L. E., & Beretu, T. (2019). An evaluation of the impact of the management practices and how they impact on employee-engagement: Employees perceptions. African Journal of Business Management, 13(8), 264-273.

Our Promise. (n.d.). Tillamook. Web.

Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2021). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.

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