The current report presents a case study research of Walmart as the researcher intends to be employed at the organization in near future. The case study attempts to examine a varied range of secondary research sources to establish the extent to which the organization meets the vision through operational strategies. The research intends to analyze and understand the communication strategy, the organizational culture and structure, the ethical practices and workforce diversity of Walmart. The present research also sums up the qualitative information through primary research on data gathered from store managers to contrast and compare with the secondary findings. The report concludes with recommendations for the company.
A ‘Mixed method Case Study’ research design has been chosen to analyze the outcome based on descriptive opinion rather than the evaluation of statistical data. It has been speculated that a mixed method case study method can help to assess the overall organizational approach, ethics and values of Walmart in a better way. Schoonenboom (2017) stated that a case study method helps to choose a small study group or one specific population. Thus, a specific study of Walmart has been chosen to analyze and recommend existing gaps in the overall management and ethical approach using a case study research method.
Qualitative data collection process has been chosen to analyze the corporate ethics and diversities employed in Walmart. Apart from the secondary data collection, three store managers were requested through email to attend the interview session and the existing requirement were also sent to prove the authenticity and need of the study. As a part of the ethical process, the interview process was started after receiving free consent from the managers.
This section is segregated across 3 different aspects of Walmart’s organizational behavior. The first subsection evaluates the viability of the organization in achieving its vision. The second subsection looks into the communication strategies and the organizational structure of Walmart. Final subsection analyses the workplace culture related metaphors as suggested by Gareth Morgan.
Qualitative Secondary data analysis:
Vision of Walmart
The core vision of Walmart is to enable communities to live a better life and to make a positive impact on them, and in due course to become the best retailing destination for customers. To enable this vision, Walmart offers an extensive range of products with an Everyday Low Price strategy. The company now stands as the world’s largest retailing corporation with USD 486 billion in revenue (McGee, 2018). The group further enables the vision of a sustainable community with a multitude of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) acts such as awarding grants to the non-government organization operating within the service area, associate volunteerism program, national and international donation programs, and scholarships to qualified associates and their dependents. The company has created a job opportunity of 500,000 positions in support and service sectors in the U.S (S2.q4cdn.com). Thus, it is evident that the company has established the vision and core values of providing great customer service, enabling individual opportunity and betterment of the community (Caraway, 2015).
Communication strategy and organizational structure:
Walmart has a strictly formal and bureaucratic structure. Employing about 2.2 million people worldwide, the company has a massive size. A suggested by Stuart-Smith, (2007) due to the enormous size of the group, a defined hierarchical structure has to be maintained and any alternative structure could not sustain the work division. The company also has a well-defined functional structure with 3 major operating divisions namely: Store Operations, Logistics, and Real-estate. At the further operational level the Store operations are subdivided into Above-store managers, In-store managers, and In-store hourly workers. Being a global company, Walmart has extended the departmentalization by function to geographic departmentalization (HI & Zhang, 2016).
There is a restricted span of control that implements the cost-leadership strategy of the company, where the higher management teams decide on the merchandise pricing, logistics and in-store management of goods. According to Brandes & Darai, (2014) Walmart has used a clear top-down and is unidirectional communication strategy with the employees with the centralization of authority, the unity of command and direction. The company has faced criticism in the inter-organizational communication strategy, labor relations, and resistance towards unionization of the workforce (Scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu, 2018). However, in recent time the management has taken an open-communication approach with in-store visits to gather employee feedback to improve on operational and store management aspects.
Walmart’s workplace culture and metaphors:
Organizational culture is the collective values and principles of the members that contribute to the social and behavioral ecology of an organization. In accordance with Gareth Morgan’s organizational metaphors, Walmart is a bureaucratic machine that is capable of sustaining the massive workforce globally (Küpers, 2013). The core of Walmart’s culture can be summed by service, respect, excellence, and integrity (Cdn.corporate.walmart.com, 2018).
To implement a high level of customer service, the company provide extensive training for the employees and implement strategies for cost reduction so that the customers can purchase goods with the lowest possible cost. This strategy extends even to the manner the executives carry themselves, the extended work hours and cost saving on the thermal regulations of the stores. Since the company has faced legalities regarding gender-based discrimination and low wager of the hourly staffs in the past, Walmart is now improving upon these aspects with better remunerations and gender diversity to promote diversity, equality, and respect in the workforce (Mayer &Noiseux, 2015). The company employs paid time off, short-term disability benefits and quarterly bonuses to raise the workers’ morale. The in-store employees are addressed as associates showering a sense of respect and integrity. The figure in appendix – 1 shows the diversity in domestic workforces of the company. It seems that almost 43% of the managers are women which establishes strong environment of inclusivity and diversity.
To build on the culture of excellence Walmart supports programs like the Pathway training for new entrants, educational opportunities for the associates and academic training programs for the managers. 75% of the field managers in the U.S are promoted from the hourly workers (Walmart.com, 2018). Thus, the company reflects the culture metaphor as defined by Gareth Morgan, by building upon the various core aspects and by creating shared meaning in the workforce (Barter & Russell, 2013).
Qualitative data analysis:
This is basically face-to-face interview for descriptive opinion of the three store managers.
Q1).Which type of organizational structure and communication is followed in your company?
The first manager stated that Walmart follows mainly hierarchical structure to divide the tasks very precisely. A functional structure is also followed but limited to some departments and the communication process is rigid. In contrast, the second manager stated that Hierarchical structure and Top-down communication is mostly followed so that communication can be passed through the vertical command line. The third manager also mentioned that a combination of the functional and hierarchical structure is being followed recently so that the communication process can be improved and overall effectiveness can be attained.
Q2). Do you think the corporate culture is potential enough to meet overall objectives?
The first manager opined that the corporate culture is very poor and the management should have some urgent movement on that. The second manager stated that the work culture is okay as the company is meeting its vision and objectives through competitive advantage. The third manager contradicted the opinion of the second manager and pointed out that The Company needs to improve the culture to maintain the overall effectiveness, as the employee empowerment is comparatively lesser in the existing work culture.
Q3). Have you ever thought that certain changes are needed in the management policy of Walmart? If yes, please explain
According to the first manager, the overall employee participation is very less which creates demotivation and results in a turnover of good employees, which needs a rapid change in the overall communication policy. The second manager contradicted the opinion of the first manager and stated: “The Company is doing very well and employees are also committed to meeting their targets”. Finally, the third manager opined “An absolute change is needed to follow a flexible corporate culture, potential negotiation process and two-way communication to resolve employee issues and conflicts”.
Qualitative Secondary data analysis:
As per the published annual report (qualitative secondary analysis), it is clear that Walmart’s value is to promote cultural integrity by incorporating global ethics (S2.q4cdn.com). Al Ghamdi, & Dalain, (2018) stated that across the global operation, Walmart has become successful for developing and upholding ethical policies for the internal and external stakeholders. The previous reports also included that continuous ethics education and communication is the core value of Walmart. Initiatives such as a change in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, worldwide review of anti-corruption programs, etc. provide a clear picture of the ethical practices followed by Walmart (Loomis, 2018).
However, diversity issues are found extreme and the company faced a long battle on gender discrimination, despite having ethical policies incorporated in the corporate culture (Meeks & Chen, 2011). The case of Dukes involvement is the class action of a lawsuit filed against Walmart indicated massive issues on the diversity ethics. 1.5 million Female employees were claiming gender discrimination, which was the significant issue charged against Walmart (Scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu, 2018). After this case, in the FY 2004, Walmart also established Global Ethics Office and statements of ethics has also been revised. Additionally, in the FY 2016, Walmart has released corporate culture, which was a diversity inclusion report and it showed that the retailers are hiring female workers to mitigate the ethical diversity issue of the company (News.walmart.com, 2018).
Qualitative data analysis
This is basically face-to-face interview for descriptive opinion of the three store managers.
Q1). What are the values and ethics of your organization?
According to the first manager, open-door communication strategy helps the company to assess ethical issues and immediate actions are taken in adherence with the compliance and integrity. This process has helped the company improving the values of stakeholders. The second manager also agreed with the opinion of the first manager. The third manager stated that ethical standards are high as to maintain the values Walmart has established Statement of Ethics so that associates can be guided continuously based on the separate code of ethics for different organizational hierarchy. Also, in terms of equal employment opportunity (EEO), it may be construed that the firm has been proactively engaged in EEO initiatives which may be exhibited by figure in the appendix – 2 in terms of employment opportunity for female.
Q2). Do you think existing ethical practices are potential to maintain overall sustainability?
The first manager stated that apart from diversity, all other ethical parameters are quite potential to manage overall brand sustainability. The management has adopted different ethical rules to maintain diversified ethical issues across the global operation; however, the diversity policies are not potent enough to manage overall effectiveness. Contrary to this, the second manager stated that existing ethical practices are based on global benchmark and it provides greater sustainable growth to Walmart by means of meeting the commitments to the internal and external stakeholders. The third manager opined that initiatives such as the amendment on the ethical practices, forming of anti-corruption policy, renewal of corporate culture policies, etc. are considered as the potential ethical approaches and it is potential to manage the overall sustainability of the company.
Q3). What are the loopholes exists in the current ethical approach? Please explain and recommend.
The first manager stated “Apart from diversity management, all other ethical parts are quite good. Although, since 2004 Walmart has revised the ethical approach to gender diversity, it still lacks incorporation in the overall corporate culture. Thus, we need a potential synchronization of revised ethical standards on the daily operational activities and effective monitoring”. The second manager stated that recruitment and staffing need to be more diversified which is the main loophole in the existing ethical practices. Finally, the third manager stated that despite having potential ethical approaches the implementation is the major issue, which can be resolved by employing frequent auditing to control and monitor the effectiveness and loopholes of the amended ethical norms.
Conclusion
After reviewing the qualitative and secondary data, it can be concluded that organizational structure needs to be more flexible to follow an open communication process. After facing ethical issues, although the company amended the ethical and communication rules, it lacks from the right implementation of those principles and practices. Thus, a potential audit is required to assess the effectiveness and implementation ratio of the newly framed ‘ethical, diversity and communication approaches’. As a consequence, the brand can experience a flawless sustainable growth.
References:
Al Ghamdi, A., &Dalain, D. (2018). Ethical Trading in Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case of Walmart, Apple and Canon. Asian Journal Of Business Management, 10(1), 1-10. doi: 10.19026/ajbm.10.5856
Barter, N., & Russell, S. (2013). Organisational metaphors and sustainable development: enabling or inhibiting?. Sustainability Accounting, Management And Policy Journal, 4(2), 145-162. doi: 10.1108/sampj-jan-2012-0002
Brandes, L., &Darai, D. (2014). The Value of Top-Down Communication for Organizational Performance. SSRN Electronic Journal, 4(6), 23-31. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2441117
Caraway, B. (2015). OUR Walmart: a case study of connective action. Information, Communication & Society, 19(7), 907-920. doi: 10.1080/1369118x.2015.1064464
Cdn.corporate.walmart.com. (2018). Retrieved from https://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/8c/08/6bc1b69f4a94a423957d4c2162db/wm-cdireport2016-v27-reader-pages.pdf
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Küpers, W. (2013). Embodied transformative metaphors and narratives in organisational life?worlds of change. Journal Of Organizational Change Management, 26(3), 494-528. doi: 10.1108/09534811311328551
Loomis, E. (2018). Walmart in the Global South: Workplace Culture, Labor Politics, and Supply Chains. By Carolina Bank Muñoz, Bridget Kenny, and Antonio Stecher (eds.). Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018. p. 280, $29.95. The Latin Americanist, 62(3), 471-472. doi: 10.1111/tla.12204
Mayer, S., &Noiseux, Y. (2015). Organizing at Walmart: Lessons from Quebec’s Women. Global Labour Journal, 6(1), 32-45. doi: 10.15173/glj.v6i1.2455
McGee, R. (2018). How Large is Walmart? A Comparison of Walmart Sales to Nationss GDP. SSRN Electronic Journal, 7(12), 118-135. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3102735
Meeks, M., & Chen, R. (2011). Can Walmart Integrate Values with Value?: From Sustainability to Sustainable Business. Journal Of Sustainable Development, 4(5), 72-80. doi: 10.5539/jsd.v4n5p62
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