Hello Mathew,
I enjoyed reading at your post. I agree that Wal-Mart has been trying to improve some aspects of the company. I hope I did not overlooked the track number you selected for this company, but in my opinion Wal-Mart appears to fall under track 1 due to the nature of its business and because in the past has been involved in many controversies. you and our classmate Jim Pantano (post below), provided some good examples. In addition, to those controversies, Wal-Mart has been accused of discrimination against minorities, who face intimidation, low pay and unsafe working condition. Between 2001 and 2008, 4500 black Afro-American truck drivers filed against Wal-Mart for racial discrimination because they were turned away in disproportionate
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para. 7). Track 1 basically tells there are two players: winners and losers, players would have to design a strategy to win the game or in this case the win the market. Wal-Mart’s motto “always low prices”, attracts customers from other businesses, which is totally normal in organization for profit. Also, you mentioned Wal-Mart employed children to manufacture products; fact that proves ‘Greed’. Richardson, Tim. (2015) states “greed…striving for ever-bigger rewards and bonuses; loss of perspective; trappings of success” (ch. 6, p. 2), which is what companies usually look for, but this is why there is track 1 and 2. Finally, Wal-Mart’s business practices affect employee satisfaction, according to a survey conducted by Wal-Mart, 70% of employees leave within the first year of service, due to the lack of recognition and reward system (PBS, n.d., para. 5). It is important to understand the lack of engagement between employers and employees leads to high stress, turnovers and disinterest in persuading organizational goals, which is a clear evidence of ‘stress-related issues’. Richardson, Tim. (2015) states “ Stress-related issues: exhaustion through overwork; long-hours culture; burnout; illusion of busyness; substance abuse to maintain unnatural energy levels; 'never
Karen Olsson believes that Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer company, under pays their employees for the amount of work they do daily. They do not offer good working conditions for their employees or enough medical benefits to support themselves and their families. Sebastian Mallaby says that Wal-Mart is not wrong for the way that they run their business; he feels as though Wal-Mart does their consumers a favor by keeping the wages low and offering “low prices” (620). It’s just business! They have to do what it takes to remain the world’s top retailer and continue to, “enrich shareholders, and put rivals out of business” (620). Karen Olsson and Sebastian Mallaby both address the topic of big
The largest corporation in America with $378,799 million in revenues and employing 2,055,000 employees, Wal-Mart has become one of the greatest success stories in American history, but also one of the most controversial stories since Standard Oil (Fortune). But with all big business comes critics. Today’s critics suggest Wal-Mart unfairly uses it power of size, which is goliath, to exploit employees and impoverish nations, ruin competition, and place undue pressure on the government. However, one item most critics fail to mention is that Wal-Mart creates consumer welfare. Throughout this paper, I will analyze each criticism of Wal-Mart and sufficiently cite evidence proving the greater good that is realized with
Wal-Mart founded in 1962 by Sam Walton is now the largest American retail corporation. With thousands of chains of stores and warehouses Wal-Mart monopolized the American retail industry. In addition, Wal-Mart is the second largest retail corporation in the world employing of two million employees world-wide. As one of the most valuable corporations in the world Wal-Mart continues to improve their sales annually while offering some of the lowest prices available. Wal-Mart’s famous low price guarantee, come at a high expense of the environment, the small businesses, education, the rights and safety of the consumer, but most importantly their employees. Although Wal-Mart has plays a dominate role in American economy, this “American”
Discrimination continues to run rampant throughout organizations in both the United States and worldwide. The Supreme Court case, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., dealt with 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees that claim that they had been a victim of gender discrimination. The ensuing pages will discuss the specific issues that the plaintiffs encountered, followed by suggestions from a human resource manager’s stand point in rectifying adverse impact within the Wal-Mart organization.
Wal-Mart’s sheer size gives it unrestrained economic power which allows it to drive down costs in the retail and manufacturing sectors and to enact its own standards with regards to its work force.
Wal-Mart, the multi-billion company and the second largest employer in the world, is the most controversial corporation in the world. Wal-Mart is a global powerhouse and affects many people around the world. Wal-Mart is constantly getting attacked from unions, human rights groups, small towns and small businesses. Wal-Mart is accused of treating their workers poorly and driving small businesses out of business. But however these accusations are false or over exaggerated. Wal-Mart offers families and low income people quality products. Also, they pay their workers competitive wages and treat them with respect. Wal-Mart opens their stores in rural and under developed areas. Wal-Mart improves the lives of the people who live rural area and
Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. In the workforce, the issue of racism and discrimination has been brought to the center of conversations around the world. Companies claim to be “colorblind” and not hire somebody based on their race or gender, but the employment rates among minorities and women around the world is significantly lower than the majority in the given country. There is also the growing issue of minorities, such as blacks in america, making significantly less money than whites. This issue affects people all around the world who happen
The purpose of this business report is to gain familiarity with Wal-Mart and to learn about the different aspects that make Wal-Mart a successful company. This report gives an in-depth analysis of the company history, services and products provided, the company philosophy, business methods, organizational structure, and financial and competitive analysis.
As stated on the corporate website (2017), “Walmart is the largest retailer in the world, where 2.3 million associates meet the needs of more than 260 million customers every week.” These numbers are huge, and with so many locations around the globe, they have had allegations been made by employees regarding their dissatisfaction about poor work conditions, gender discrimination, low wages, poor benefits, and inadequate health care. Walmart has been criticized for its policies against labor unions and this issue has prompted public outrage, (Johansson, 2005) which is of great concern for the market. The company has also faced criticism for being anti-union, but it has claimed that it is rather pro-associate, whereby employees
There are so many organizational behavior concepts to take into consideration for the success or failure of any organization, business or company. The way these concepts are handled by management and employees will either keep the business open or these same concepts could end up in closure of this same business or organization. Management and employees are the people who will make the "win or lose" situation occur. Communication, motivation, and power and politics are some of the concepts that will cause a business to succeed or fail. Businesses must be competitive to stay alive, or these same businesses will
When you talk about Wal-Mart the first thing that you have to remember is that they are the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart employs more people in the United States than any other company and is second only to the federal government in the number of employees that they have on the payroll. These are important facts to consider in that due to their tremendous size, Wal-Mart has an enormous
While the world has unanimously advanced and is more accepting of change, the workplace continues to be a place of discrimination, prejudice and inequality. Discrimination is broadly defined to ‘distinguish unfavourably’, isolate; and is context based (Pagura, 2012). Abrahams (1991) described the workplace as an ‘inhospitable place’ where gender disparity and wage gaps persist (Stamarski & Son Hing, 2015). Among other states and countries, the Australian government actively implements and passes laws to protect and maintain equal employment rights. While the objective of these laws is ‘to eliminate discrimination,’ the regulatory mechanisms in the legislation are largely ineffective at achieving this ultimate goal (Smith, 2008). However,
In addition, this strategy causes the firm’s focus to be on maintaining low prices of goods and services. This can be directly related to Walmart’s Mission Statement: “Saving people money so they can live better.” Walmart is known for low prices, which is the main selling point of the business. The company is able to achieve this by making cuts elsewhere through low cost reduction in operations and minimizing employees’ wages. Such cuts can lead to low store quality and a high employee turnover. Walmart’s employees earn minimum wage and lack basic benefits, which there for causes the firm to lack employee loyalty. If employees are unmotivated, they will not give the best service possible, taking away from the overall customer experience and diminishing the store quality. Ultimately, in this way, the company sacrifices high store quality and goods to offer the lowest possible prices to its customers.
With every company there come strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and Wal-mart is no exception. Wal-mart sits at the number one spot when it comes to retail businesses but they have had many issues; in particular labor law violations because they did not allow their employees to take required lunch and meal breaks.
Wal-Mart is certainly credited with changing the retail world as we know it with its low prices and big stores with huge selections but it has come at a price. They have struggled with issues that question the ethics as a company and legal issues that question how they manage people. These issues will continue to hurt their organization unless a complete change in management thinking and actions are changed. As a socially responsible organization, their management planning in this area is second to none. Lets hope they take the same effort in improving their image when it comes to ethics and legal issues.