Walmart as Good Working Place

When it comes time to start a career, or even just get a job to provide for yourself and your family, there are many different things that effect your decision to sign on with any company. Many Americans start working for a company only to find that it is not a good fit for them and sever their relationship with that company. This can lead to a negative work history when applying for another, more desirable, job. Knowing a company’s fundamental driving forces, policies and practices, and vision for the future prior to applying for a job is a good way to ensure that you do not end up in another position that is not a good fit for you.

Walmart takes these different aspects of running a successful company seriously and it is part of the reason that it is a great place to work.

Sam Walton created an atmosphere where the associate was valued as the driving force to providing a quality experience for the customer (Walmart Inc.

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, 1). This is one of the fundamental driving forces for the company to this day. Mr. Sam, as he was affectionally called, saw the need for the employee to feel empowered, and he did this by letting them know that they are the reason that customer choose to return to his stores. “Sam shared his vision for the company with associates in a way that was nearly unheard of in the industry. He made them partners in the success of the company, and firmly believed that this partnership was what made Walmart great” (Walmart Inc.

, 1). Sam’s vision was revolutionary to the face of retail, and his vision and success is something that the company still holds as its driving force today.

Workplace diversity is a very important part of what makes Walmart a successful global enterprise. They are taking the time to encourage their associates to bring “their authentic selves to work each day” (McMillon pg 3, 2). The company understands that it needs diverse and unique employees to be able to better serve their diverse and unique customers across the globe. They invest in their diversity and inclusion division in order to ensure that their stores are safe places for their employees to express themselves. They have several associate resource groups that help guide changes that are beneficial for the employees and the company. A few of these groups include the African American Resource Group, PRIDE, and the Women’s Resource Council (Walmart Inc., 3).

Since Walmart has stores across the globe, how they compete in the global marketplace is essential to the longevity of the company. According to an article by Nathaniel Meyersohn “Walmart operates more than 6,300 stores in 27 countries, including in Africa, Latin and Central America, Asia and Canada. About a quarter of its $500 billion in sales last year came from outside the United States” (Meyersohn, 4). This means that in order to maintain themselves in the global market that must be able to access and provide for the needs of customers on a global scale. They are doing this by investing in more profitable global markets such as in India, pulling resources back from over saturated markets such as in the UK, and trying to better meet the needs of the wealthier customers in the domestic market (Meyersohn, 4). These constant changes to their global investments and involvement shows that globally Walmart is taking steps to expand and ensure its future.

Along with ensuring the future within the global marketplace, Walmart is taking the steps necessary to keep up with current technological innovations. From the handheld devices that they have recently began to use, called TC70’s, to the way that employees have the ability to check and change their work schedules on their personal electronic devices technology is playing a big role in keeping the corporation in sync with the changes happening in the technologic world of today. One the largest advancements in technology recently is the option to use a mobile pay system called Walmart pay (Future Stories, 5). Customers can use the Walmart pay option by scanning the QR code at the register with their smartphone and their debit card, credit card, or gift card will be automatically charged for their purchase. This allows customers to quickly pay for their items. Another technological advance that allows customer to quickly pay for their items is called Scan and Go. Scan and Go allows customer to use their smartphone “to scan their items as they take them from the shelves, allowing for an even faster checkout process” (Future Stories, 5).

With great advancement comes a great responsibility to make sure that advancement is used for the good of the customers and the company. This is the area where it is important to look at how the company approaches ethics and morality. Ethics as far as business is concerned is defined as “what constitutes right and wrong, or good and bad, human conduct in a business context” (Shaw, 6). Walmart issues a statement of ethics every year with outlines the company’s core values and beliefs and the resources that they have to make sure that everyone who is involved with the company upholds those values and beliefs. These statements of ethics are easily accessible to not only employees and shareholders but to the general public via the internet.

Walmart’s core policies and practices exist around their four basic principles which are respect for the individual, service to the customers, striving for excellence, and acting with integrity (Global Statement of Ethics, 7). These policies may seem like basic goals of any retail chain; however, they are very serious principals to Walmart. Respect for the individual is important because the work environment should be a place where a person should feel safe to be themselves without the fear of retribution for their coworkers. Providing good service to the customers is important because without the customers your business will fail. Striving for excellence is important in ever aspect of a business. Walmart encourages striving for excellence by providing ample training for their employees and the having multiple opportunities for employee advancement within the company. 75% or more of their store management teams started out as hourly employees (Walmart Inc., 8) according to their career website.

These policies and practices have positive effects on both the individual and organization. Individuals have an opportunity to receive training that could not only help them to advance within the company, but that could help them in other careers if they chose to move on to another career path. No matter where you work you will have to have a basic understanding of personal excellence and customer service that Walmart holds at the core of their practices. This is also good for the organization because an organization is only as strong as its individuals. If the employees are well trained and empowered by the organization, it strengthens the company. Not only within the company itself, but also in the way the company is viewed by the community and world. Word of mouth is a very strong influencer, so when the individual feels that their company is doing everything it can to help them be the best that they can be then they will have only positive things to say about the company.

The biggest work practices related to attitudes in U.S. organizations that are affected by diversity are the hiring and promotion of individuals within a company. When some is given the opportunity for advancement or employment those who are overlooked for those positions and advancements looks for reasons why they weren’t chosen. Sadly, most of the time these individuals settle on what makes those that were chosen different rather than focusing on what their qualifications were. For example, if three people are going out for a position within a company and two of them are of the same race and the one who was hired was of a different race most of the time the conclusion that will be drawn by those who were not chosen would be that the other was hired because of their race. These conclusions can be drawn by individuals based on gender, religion, age, or even sexual orientation. The civil rights act of 1964 is legislation that makes it illegal to discriminate against an individual because of “that individual’s race, color, religious beliefs, sex, or national origin” (DeNisi, 9). Despite this legislation people’s attitudes towards those that are different from them, or who believe in something that they don’t understand are unpredictable and often skewed toward the negative.

All in all, Walmart is the best place to work because it truly values its employees. The company centers it day to day operations on better their employees, providing an excellent customer experience, and acting with integrity throughout all aspects of the day to day operations. They are constantly investing in the global marketplace which is an indicator of a prosperous future. Most importantly, Walmart takes the time to develop a better understanding, and implementing the use of, current technology and embracing the development of new technologies for the future.