Human Resources IP5

Human Resources Strategy MGT652-1503C-01

By

Andrew T. Robison

AIU Online

08/01/15

Company’s History

Wal-Mart is a standout amongst the best organizations according to numerous media outlets, studies, reviews and prevalent inclination by purchasers on the global market. It is evident that Sam Walton established it in the 1940s. Sam began a rebate store at the place where he grew up and soon discovered that the provincial market needed his items and business sector thought. In this way, he took an outing around the nation with his wife and returned to begin the organization that every individual now knows as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart incorporates different levels of leadership that has power to implement policies and strategies, which endeavors to control the company’s products and brands. In this regard, Wal-Mart’s organizational structure is broken into three main three parts. It is evident that Wal-Mart’s organizational structure depicts on product, market and geographical structure. Notably, Wal-Mart is a global business organization hence its market structure clearly presents different responsibilities of the top management together with the subordinate staff (The Economist, 2006).

Company’s mission statement

Wal-Mart’s mission statement is to save customers money in order to make them live better livelihoods. It is apparent that Wal-Mart is one of the retail giants with stores scattered across the globe. The store offers its customers with a wide variety of groceries, merchandise, pharmaceuticals among other household goods. United States economy has greatly benefitted from Wal-Mart business operations. Notably, Wal-Mart has the pervasive reputation of having the least cost of any self-regarding store. This is an added advantage since the business is presently searching for items that have the most elevated quality and bear the least cost in the meantime. It remains clear that Wal-Mart is one of the main organizations, which has adequately verged on that actuality. In addition, Wal-Mart does not just carry new business to foreign showcases but also carries the business society in addition to them (Barbaro, 2006). They picked up a more amazing impart of the United States advertise in light of the easier expenses of exchange contrasted with other equal organizations.

Wal-Mart’s core values

Wal-Mart’s beliefs remain to be the foundation of its business culture. The company’s core values and beliefs are founded on striving for excellence, service to customers’, respect for individual and acting with integrity. In each week that passes, statistics indicate that more than one hundred customers shop at Wal-Mart. It is evident that ten out of eight Americans usually shop at Wal-Mart stores and this is due to their reduced prices. This move has encouraged a large number of potential Americans to do mass shopping at the store, however lower costs are not the main explanation behind the mass shopping by general society. The stores expanded their accessibility by furnishing convenient stores in every region of the United States. Furthermore, the Wal-Mart likewise made accessibility in its period by making 24 hour working calendar. This makes comfort for clients to come and purchase products at their convenient time. In addition, the store has a wide range of products and brands hence consumers have different choices to make as they shop.

Products and brands in each store are of high quality and consumers have build trust and confidence with the business organization. The store likewise has an alternate face that bars it from alternate faceless savage enterprises that portray America. The store has an establishment that commits itself to the welfare of the neighborhood (The Economist, 2006). Every year the organization offers millions to philanthropy, schools and some of the less fortunate communities in need of financial support. The following diagram illustrates a wide range of products in one of the Wal-Mart stores.

Wal-Mart leadership

Under the leadership of Doug McMillon, Wal-Mart is bringing together its logistics network, stores and digital stores abilities in new ways with the aim of empowering customers to shop at their convenient time. Doug McMillon leads one of the strongest management teams which is working as a team in order to deliver the company’s mission statement. Doug has also continued to support the technological structure of the company. Notably, the technological structure comprises of officials and analysts who help the company in the process of generating reliable statistics for the entire company. It is evident that this group of personnel is not involved in the operational workflow of the company. The work of the personnel is to configure and design the company in order to allow it operate smoothly. In this regard, these personnel remain the most qualified people who give instructions and train the other members within the organization. In addition, they play a pivotal role in public relations matters (Robbins, 2007).

In Wal-Mart this personnel usually fill the positions of both support and marketing managers in different. Furthermore, they can play an essential part in recruiting new employees and advertising. Under the leadership of Doug, the organizational structure of Wal-Mart comprises of a divisional structure, which is divided into three structures. These structures are namely geographic structure, product structure and the marketing structure where each one has it own duty and obligation to fulfill. The main aim of dividing the organization of Wal-Mart into these structures is to ensure efficiency in ensuring that they satisfy the needs of their customers. Ideally, this is to mean that the leadership divided these divisions so that each plays its function in ensuring that supply of products to customers is steady and win a certain share of the market.

Wal-Mart’s strategy

It remains clear that Wal-Mart is currently acknowledging its customer service challenge. Therefore, the top management of the company has implemented three strategies after realizing that its customers are not satisfied. Investing in customer service is one of the company’s strategies that aim at making Wal-Mart a better place to work. In addition to this, this strategy aims at attracting better workers and improving retention. This means that if workers will work in favorable environment, customer service will improve thus customers will remain satisfied. This remains one of the strategic investments in its customers that aims at reigniting the sense of ownership they in the company’s stores. Improving groceries is another strategy because consumers across the globe are increasingly becoming health-conscious.

It remains clear that Wal-Mart is working to provide customers with more organic options and fresh produce that suits the customers’ health needs. According to statistics, this strategy has greatly improved the company’s grocery business in the United States stores. Furthermore, the company has introduced the strategy of letting its customers’ to shop on their terms. It is foreseeable that the company is working tirelessly to combine its physical stores with the digital business. The whole idea includes letting consumers’ pick up online orders in its stores and offer text reminders from the pharmacy. In addition, the company is also expanding pick-up tests and grocery delivery.

Wal- Mart’s Human Resource Philosophy

Available information indicates that Wal-Mart has implemented several strategies with the aim of ensuring that employees relate well with each other. Indeed, the strategies aim at paying personal attention to employees by ensuring that the management listens to the workers grievances and views (Hill & Jones, 2009). With this, the company weighs and determines approaches of answering and fulfilling these needs but not at the expense of the organizational goals. To this end, the company considers the interests of both the organization and employees as a pillar in decision making.

According to human resource experts, experienced and skilled workers are a problem in any given working environment. Unfortunately Wal-Mart has not been spared in such management problems. This is bringing a lot of problems because there is struggle for these experienced people who will ensure less competition due to their production or marketing skills. As argued by human resource experts, politicians and leaders have a great impact when it comes to uniting or mobilizing people to perform certain tasks or duties (Dowling & Engle, 2008). Further, they have the ability of helping people in solving conflicts due to the wave of influence that they command. Just like the leaders or politicians, the Walmart’s Human Resource Philosophy aims at uniting people by addressing the problems of every employee at all levels.

Numerous studies have shown that solving employees’ problems is the first step in enhancing the prosperity of any organization. When employees’ problems are addressed, the institution has more time to find ways and means of handling customer satisfaction. Apportioning employees’ shares, bonds, and saving accounts are part of the company’s human resource philosophy aimed at making the staff view the organization as an accomplice. With such an attitude, the management of Wal-Mart has been able to build workers effectiveness (Hill & Jones, 2009).

Any world class enterprise such as Wal-Mart must have unique human resource philosophy that sets it apart from the rest of its competitors. Cross pollinations is another human resource philosophy used at Wal-Mart. This philosophy aims at alternating managers in different departments. Available information indicates that under this philosophy, managers with presenting recommendable results receives various awards and or remains at their positions within the organization (Dowling & Engle, 2008). This enhances the health status of the organization in terms of employee connection and participation.

Recent company reports relating to the human resource at the company indicates that Wal-Mart supports multicultural integration in its workforce. The company boasts of inclusivity of staff from diverse cultural background. Having such an approach has helped the company make an appeal to a wider clientele since customers from different cultures feel represented in the company.

In order to address human resource matters relating to affirmative action, Wal-Mart boasts as being one of the global companies’ that has fully addressed this issue. A look at the company’s staff indicates that female employees constitute about 51% of the total workforce. The figure is a clear demonstration that the company does not in any way discriminate while recruiting (Palacios, 2007). A report released by one of the leading human resource company’s in the US indicates that Wal-Mart was voted the best company across America with the best performing female executives between 2008 and 2010.

As part of its human resource philosophy, the company has incorporated the founder’s leadership culture, which has remained the organization’s culture. The company’s culture is pegged on characteristics that include politeness, mindedness and environment protection. The company first employee, Sam Walton initiated the idea of profit sharing in the United States and he referred employees as associates rather than workers (Dowling & Engle, 2008). However, customer satisfaction remains one of the Wal-Mart’s organizational cultures hence customers demands have always remained upheld. The company appreciates that existing and potential consumers in business organizations play a significant role of completing the chain of distribution, without which no business can realize its objectives.

Anyone working at Wal-Mart admits that the company has a definite and unique working culture that enables the company meet is primary objectives. The company culture emphasizes on patriotism, religion, low costs, progressiveness and identification of those who do not belong to any political class. It is clear that the beliefs and values of the company are in tandem with the one of the founding CEO (Palacios, 2007). It is evidently clear that the founding CEO of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton, emphasized on the aspect of employee smartness hence the top management of the company has also embraced this aspect and culture. Further, Wal-Mart operates and continues to support the culture of employees promoting the company’s products and brands. This culture has greatly helped the business organization to maximize its profits.

Wal-Mart approach to recruiting experienced hires

The company appreciates that having the right workforce ensures that it becomes easy to achieve projected objectives. One the approach that Wal-Mart has been using is by recruiting experienced hires. As an established enterprise, the company makes sure that it has the best qualified staff that can easily understand and integrate into the system (Walsh, 2013). To this end, the company has not shied from hiring experienced personnel into its workforce. In most instances, the company has depended on trusted referrals as a way of recruiting experienced hires.

Other than referrals from credible personnel or institutions, on a number of occasions, Wal-Mart has hired the services of established human resource companies in recruiting more staff. The biggest advantage of using an established recruiting agency is that the company is assured of getting the best staff (Lipman & Hall, 2008). Statistics indicate that there are obvious changes in demography. Trends indicate that the populations in established economies are shrinking while those in growing economies are growing at alarming rates. This is a cause for alarm for serious enterprises of global scale such as Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart’s company’s compensation philosophy

Any company whether small scale or of international level must have a well defined compensation philosophy that reassures its staff. The compensation philosophies for companies differ from one company to another. However, they all operate on a basic principle. Research indicates that Wal-Mart compensation plan is hedged on the internal equity compensation approach in which case the company compensates its employees fairly (Hill & Jones, 2009). In all instances, the compensation is based on the value of an individual’s job within the organization. Other than using internal equity compensation approach, Wal-Mart also considers certain elements of the market based compensation approach. This is to ensure that the company is not viewed as being rigid in its compensation philosophy.

As a company, Wal-Mart appreciate the human capital changes of the 21st century that arguably are increasing in pace and importance. The company has been able to put in place measures to address some of the challenges. However, some of the challenges, such as demographic changes still present threats to multinationals such as Wal-Mart (Palacios, 2007). In order to effectively handle the human capital challenges, Wal-Mart has invested hugely on talent development strategies intended to foster agility and learning as well as positioning the enterprise for success. Therefore, education and high skill levels have become increasingly important tools that will help the organization handle all matters relating to human capital changes in the 21st century.

References

Barbaro. M. (2006). Wal-Mart Offers Aid to Rivals. www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 14th April

Dowling, P., Festing, M., & Engle, A. D. (2008). International human resource management: Managing people in a multinational context. London: Thomson Learning.

Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2009). Essentials of strategic management. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

Lipman, F. D., & Hall, S. E. (2008). Executive compensation best practices. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.

Palacios, M. (2007). Investing in human capital: A capital markets approach to student funding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Robbins, S.P. (2007). Organisational Behaviour (12th ed). Dorling Kindersley. South Africa.

The Economist. (2006). Another reason to love Wal-mart. The Economist. NEW YORK. Retrieved 31st July, 2015 from http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2006/11/an_enviromental_walmart

Walsh, D. J. (2013). Employment law for human resource practice. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.