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Walmart Incorporated is a multinational company that runs a series of discount departmental stores, hypermarkets and even grocery stores. The company is American but has opened numerous outlets in various countries around the world. The multinational corporation has a vision statement and mission statement which clearly defined the vision and mission of the company. The corporation has the vision to be the leading retailer to consumers and to its employees. The multinational firm has already achieved this vision because it is by far the leading retailer in the world both by revenues and employee numbers.
The firm aims at saving consumers their money while at the same time paying is employees well. This way, it can retain both its employees as well as its customers. The mission of the firm is to enable better living of the people by saving them their money.
The company utilizes several strategies to sustain its growth, and such strategies include market penetration, market development, and product development.
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The main strategy employed at Walmart is market penetration. This involves the increased sales of goods to its current customers either by offering special packages or by offering discounts. Market development is achieved by selling its products to new markets, and this can be achieved by opening new branches and outlets in other areas so that they can tap these markets. Lastly, product development can be achieved by producing and offering its customers with new products which are bound to attract new markets. However, this strategy is least used.
On the other hand, the company has heavily invested in market penetration and market development strategies.
Employees are an important part of any organization be it small in size or a multinational corporation such as Walmart. The corporation has understood the need to value not only its customers but also its employees. Even though the company continues to hire more employees, it does not stop there but goes the extra mile when it comes to mentoring, developing and supporting its employees. The international corporation has some employee engagement strategies implemented in that then it can achieve full employee engagement in the firm. An example of such a strategy is gamification. Gamification refers to the incorporation of games or game-like facilities and structures into the process of carrying out various tasks and duties(O’Connor 2014).
Walmart recently adopted this strategy in a bid to increase employee engagement. Gamification has several implications for the corporation such as increased customer services, reduced cost of turnover and speeding up the production process. The gamification strategy is also a way of reducing any tensions which could have been caused by on-going lawsuits involving customers, employees, and the company. Customer services are improved because the employees are awarded points based on how they treat their customers and thus the customers are handled professionally because the employees want to be recognized as the best. The production process is sped up because gamification utilizes technology which helps in the creation of a friendlier working environment for its employees.
Another strategy used by the corporation is constant open communication between the employees as well as between subordinate employees and executive management. Communication aims at the creation of a community of all employees without leaving anyone out. A lot of face-to-face communication is encouraged at the company as a means of ensuring that all employees know each other and can actually rely on each other in their times of need. The company has also implemented collaboration strategies between the employees so that every employee can be part of a team which helps in achieving the major goals of the corporation. These collaboration teams come together and share ideas from which the best ones are selected. Every employee has therefore left feeling valued and appreciated by the corporation. The employees are sometimes rewarded for coming up with very brilliant ideas which boost the company ahead of its competition.
Talent Management is basically the art and science of strategically using human resource planning to add more value to the business and actually help companies and other business to actualize their already set goals. The corporation has a very large employee number, and it has effectively managed to control the ever-growing number despite them being very many. Walmart's talent management process begins at the hiring stage and follows a very specific procedure. The procedure involves an application to the company by those who seek employment, then the application of assessments tests then comes the initial interview which is followed by the second interview. Lastly, the process closes with an orientation of the selected employees into the corporation.
On the other hand, successful planning involves the identification and the development of individuals who have the required potential to fill up the key strategic positions within the organization. This ensures that the essential talent is well maintained by the company. This also ensures that the corporation has very strong and dedicated leadership in executive positions. A lot of effort is being put into looking for the right personnel for the corporation. Some of the values which are searched for include a drive for excellence, service to the customers and respect for all individuals.
A corporation the size of Walmart should have a clear and definite corporate social responsibility strategy in motion. The multinational corporation upholds its vision statement as well as its mission statement of living better by saving money for its customers. The company has been a global leader in corporate philanthropy, sustainability, and employment opportunity. The corporation's corporate social responsibility has been based on principles such as creating economic opportunity for all those who work in the supply chain, the employees and even the retailers who are involved, enhancing the sustainability of the operations within the organization and lastly, establishing strong communities and relationships with the surrounding communities(Martinuzzi, Kudlak, Faber & Wimam 2011).
The corporation aims at using clean energy which is fully renewable as this will go a long way in reducing the pollution levels in the world during such a time when global warming has become a world menace. The company also seeks to educate and empower its workers by giving them higher and well-deserved wages as well as the opportunity for them to progress their professional careers. The company also offers training services and opportunities to its employees so that they can be better at their jobs and in this way, the production of goods and services is increased both in quality and quantity. The safety of all employees is maintained at all times as per the health regulations of the corporation. The company also upholds the gender and equality minority's policies which have been instituted both at government and company level. The corporation must protect the environment around it by ensuring that the wastes produces are not dumped on the land if they are untreated. Other incentives include giving back to the community through charitable activities such as donations or supporting events such as marathons and activities to help those who are in need within the society.
Walmart Inc. is considered the world's largest employer and this can sometimes be a challenge when it comes to managing such the labor force. The employees are treated as an important aspect of the business and are even referred to as ‘associates,' and this makes them feel appreciated and as a result, they give their all to the business organization. Approximately 57% of the corporation's labor force is comprised of females while the other 43% are males(Berfield 2012). The fact that the outlets are located in various countries across the world means that there are numerous people with different cultural backgrounds that are employed and work together.
The corporation upholds affirmative action regulations as well as those regulations which control the employment of an individual who may have disabilities. However, the company has been at the center of various claims of denying its employees fundamental human rights. The multinational corporation was faulted for having intentionally denied it's approximately close to two million employees worldwide the opportunity of being a member of a union. The corporation was accused of having organized its employees into rejecting offers to join their unions. This way, the company is on a clear violation of the labor union laws which grant every employee the right to belong to any union that they see fit. However, the corporation has sought to deny all those allegations against it claiming that it had intentionally denied its employees their right to form or belong to unions(Berfield 2012).
The corporation came under a lot of external pressure when it had threatened to fire all employees who went on strike. A complaint was issued against the company because it apparently fired some of its workers even though they had engaged in peaceful and protected demonstrations against the multinational employer. This went against the employees' right to demonstrate and protest peacefully without any legal action being taken against them as a result of their protests. Also, the company contractors were accused of mistreating some of the suppliers of the corporation. It is said that some of the personnel belonging to the corporation are engaged in malicious activities as a way of staying ahead of the competition.
The human resource sector of companies has been gradually changing over the years, and as a result, there are new trends which have been adopted by corporations an companies across the world, and Walmart Inc.is no exception(Collings 2014). Human resource management can be termed as the management of human resources as a way of maximizing the performance of the employees as they go about their duties of achieving organizational goals.
Some of those trends are increasing the flexibility of the workforce. This would imply that the workforce which is coming in can handle more tasks that the previous employees who had been trained to only focus on one task. Thus, the organization can cut down on the costs of hiring very many employees. The business organization has also introduced the concept of carrying out performance reviews for all employees. This way, the employees, as well as their employers, can know exactly where the employees are in the production of goods and services. They can determine whether the employees are productive or whether they are underperforming. More bonuses are being given as opposed to salary increments. This tool is used to motivate the employees to work even harder and efficiently in the duties and responsibilities accorded to them in their bid to get the bonuses and other rewards. In the past, employees were being rewarded by giving them salary increments. However, as soon as they received their increments, some of them would grow lazy and such salary increments proved ineffective in motivating employees to work even harder.
There are various challenges that face organizations such as Walmart, and they include demographic changes, technological changes, workplace changes, organizational changes and educational changes challenges(Kochan& Litwin 2011). Technological changes affect production and ultimately the profitability of the organizations. This is a challenge because the organization has to keep on changing to current technology which is sometimes expensive to acquire and maintain. Workplace changes are constituted by the differences in the ages of the employees. There is the huge age difference between the incoming employees and those who were employed several years ago. The organization is going for young and energetic employees who will stay with the business for a long duration of time. The demographic map is also rapidly changing because of the differences in population sizes and age differences within the population. Sometimes a market can have a small number of the target group. Organisational changes such as replacement of executive leadership can prove to be a human capital challenge facing the corporation in the 21st century.
There are various practices that have always been considered as best practices when it comes to human resource management. Walmart has been at the forefront of diversifying its workforce. The corporation has achieved this by effectively forming teams that incorporate individuals who belong to diverse cultural backgrounds. This is because hiring decisions go further than just being based on skills and intelligence but also on experience and personality. This ensures that the corporation has a strong a very innovative work team. The other best practice is data analysis and hiring of analytics teams. Data analysis has become an effective tool when it comes to the running of the business effectively. This is because the information produced can project how well or poorly the corporation is doing at a certain time. This helps in the formulation of goals and strategies.
Walmart Inc. is a huge multinational company that has achieved various successes. The company is famed as the world biggest employer at an employee count of approximately two million employees across the world. The company has a strong corporate social responsibility strategy and is regarded as one of the strongest CSR policies in the world. This organization tries to keep up with current technology through its day-to-day operations.
O’Connor, C. (2014). Report: Walmart workers cost taxpayers $6.2 billion in public assistance. Forbes, April, 15.
Martinuzzi, A., Kudlak, R., Faber, C., & Wiman, A. (2011). CSR activities and impacts of the retail sector. Research Institute for Managing Sustainability (RIMAS). Working Papers, (4).
Berfield, S. (2012). Walmart vs. union-backed OUR Walmart. Business Week, 2-13.
Collings, D. G. (2014). Toward mature talent management: Beyond shareholder value. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(3), 301-319.
Kochan, T., & Litwin, A. S. (2011). The future of human capital: An employment relations perspective.
Walmart: Organizational Structure & Organizational Culture. (2020, Sep 27). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/walmart-organizational-structure-organizational-culture-essay
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