Strategic Management in Action: Wal-Mart Stores - Case Study Example

? Analytical Report Analytical Report Introduction The main problem for writing this report is to ascertain the relationship between learning and employees’ cultures in an organization have huge influence on the success and operationalization of Wal-Mart Stores. Background information indicates that there is a close relationship between employee relations and work performance in the company. Various attributes, such as level of education, employment type, departmental composition by gender, cultural attributes by department, not to mention other variables, affect the overall task performance in the company (David, 2007). The research was carried out by using interviews and surveys in collecting the data, the researcher was able to accomplish the projected goals of the study. The main sections of the body were created to provide response to the numerous research questions. The weighted ranking, which showed the critical success factors for the company, was tabulated and used in analysis (DuBrin, 2005). Interview Method Under this data methodology, the participants were drawn from four departments within Wal-Mart stores (Selim, 2007). The different categories under which the participants were divided were based on the management level, with few senior managers participating. Figure 1: Percentage of participants based on job type Procedures In carrying out the research, the researcher already had set questions for the interview, thus the process was semi-structured (Scribner, 2008). However, the questions did not have a particular structure. Measures The interviewees were asked three questions related to the organizational culture and stress. Since the questions were open-ended, the participants were expected to give their opinion on each problem (Coates, James & Baldwin, 2005). The three basis questions for the interview in this case were, What words come to mind when asked to describe the ‘feel’ of this department as it is now? Second, can you tell me about events that are usually stressful at work for you? Finally, what are the most common things that trigger the experience of stress at work? Surveys This was another method that the researcher used in collecting the data. In this case, all the employees from the four departments were allowed to participate (Derouin, Fritzsche & Salas, 2005). The researcher used non-convenience sampling because it does not employ probability that could bar someone from participating (Tabachnick, Fidell & Osterlind, 2001). Due to its non-probability mature, 225 people participated with an average age of 37.06, standard deviation of 10.18 whose ages range from 17 to 61 years. The research also established that the average worker in the industry has stayed for 6.61 years, with a 5.90 standard deviation (Dholakia & Kshetri, 2004). Participants According to Department Figure 2: Percentage of participants based on department There was also a group who strongly believed that the company procedures and legislations caused strain since most of them were so elaborate and needed more time for implementation. Factor Analysis Age and Tenure per Department Table 2: Age and tenure by mean and standard deviation per department Department 1 Department 2 Department 3 Department 4 Total Age Mean 42.00 37.66 35.07 35.05 37.06 St Dev 10.84 9.18 9.51 10.65 10.18 Tenure Mean 9.73 6.25 6.08 5.57 6.61 St Dev 7.24 4.70 6.26 5.41 5.90 The research also indicated that the majority of participants were people with adequate experience in the internal affairs of the company, thus consisted of 196 respondents who were permanent and full time employees. Figure thee gives more details. Employment Type According to Department Figure 3: Number of participants by their employment type for the overall dataset. In other findings, the researcher realized that the males and females were almost evenly distributed in the first, second and third departments. However, the second departed showed disparity with 67 females to only 17 males. This was attributed to the nature of work that was carried out in the department. Consider the figure below. Gender Balance according to Department Figure 4: Number of participants by department and gender. Considering the level of education, the participant were drawn from different backgrounds. Consider the table bellow. Table 3: Education background of participants by their department Department Education Background Year 10 Senior Trade Cert Associate Diploma Diploma Degree Grad Cert Masters Other Total Dept 1 9 10 6 3 2 4 3 4 1 0 42 Dept 2 17 16 1 5 4 9 14 12 3 3 84 Dept 3 5 14 4 6 3 9 15 3 3 2 64 Dept 4 8 17 4 6 0 4 16 7 3 0 65 Total 39 57 15 20 9 26 48 26 10 5 255 Procedure Without any discrimination, the employees from the four departments were asked to complete the internet survey forms, with questions relevant to organizational culture, intentions to leave, stressors, and job satisfaction (Coulter, 2005). Correlation Table 4: Correlation Analysis for Aardvark Industries P/L Variables Mean (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 Human Relations 3.82 (0.78) (.81) 2 Open Systems 3.88 (0.79) .46** (.66) 3 Rational Goal 3.42 (0.70) -.31** .11 (.82) 4 Internal Process 3.44 (0.68) -.07 .04 .14* (.80) 5 Role Conflict 2.90 (1.50) -.15* -.20** -.01 -.10 (.91) 6 Role Ambiguity 2.93 (1.35) -.14* -.10 .01 .05 .40** (.91) 7 Role Overload 5.34 (1.14) -.18** -.20** .12 -.08 .20** -.05 (.80) 8 Change Stress 3.38 (1.61) .03 -.02 -.12* -.20** .28** .26** .05 (.87) 9 Lack Training 3.20 (1.68) -.14* -.21** -.17** -.13* .31** .27** .14* .23** (.85) 10 Lack of Supervisor Support 2.66 (1.78) -.23** -.17** -.10 -.03 .36** .30** .04 .25** .37** (.95) 11 Interpersonal Conflict 2.53 (1.39) -.13* -.12 -.18** -.14* .20** .25** .06 .29** -.36** .46** (.79) 12 Job Satisfaction 4.12 (1.02) .35** .24** -.06 .09 -.23** -.16* -.03 -.12 -.27** -.34** -.25** (.93) 13 Intentions to Leave 2.06 (1.18) -.33** -.23** .11 .14* .16* .14 .13* -.00 .16* .17** .10 -.48** (.87) Discussion As presented in the correlation table, HR culture was negative related to lack of supervisor support (r = - 0.23, p < 0.01) indicated that there was support and intentions to leave (r = - 0.23, p < 0.01), indicated that the people had intention leave and positive relation to job satisfaction (r = .35, p < 0.01) meant that the employees have high job satisfaction. On the other hand, the RG culture indicated less relationship to the company stressors (r = -.13, p < 0.05), lack of training (r = -.17, p < 0.01) and interpersonal conflict (r = -.18, p < 0.01) showing these stressors aren’t a concern. Similarly, the IP culture also had less significant relationships than the flexible cultures, but related negatively to change stress (r = -.20, p < 0.01) and interpersonal conflict (r = -.14, p < 0.05) and positively to intentions to leave (r = .14, p < 0.05). Means Concerning the mean by department, the first department was highest at 4.22, third department at 3.24. However, the third department scored highest mean of 4.31, while the first department scored 3.02 on RG culture, as represented in the figure below. Culture by Department Fig. 5: Mean of Culture by Department The other analysis showed a significance differences among the cultural variables used in this case. shown in the figure below. Stressors by Department Fig. 6: Means of Stressors by Department There were cultural similarities in terms of flexibility. For instance, the reserach found out that job satisfaction was fairly good in all the department, with a high of 4.47 in department one and 3.85 in department three, as detailed in the figure below. Outcome by Department Fig. 7: Means of outcome by department Conclusion In summary, the research concluded that some of the prons regarding the organizational variables, including interpersonal conflict, education, and gender of the employees affects the organizational culture, could lead to deprived relationship among the workers and reduces the quality of work performance of the company. On the other hand, the cons include diverse attributes such as level of education affect promotion of the workers. Secondly, employment type, whether permanent or casual also affects the individual performance at workplace. Third, departmental compositions by gender and cultural attributes have negative affect to productivity and the overall duty performance in the company, thus lowering its productivity. Table 1: Weighted Ranking Wal-Mart Walmart Supercenter Walmart Express Walmart Market Question on the Following Issues Weight Rating Weighted Score Rating Weighted Score Rating Weighted Score Advertising 0.25 3 0.75 3 0.75 4 1.00 Internal expansion 0.20 4 0.80 3 0.60 2 0.40 Financial position 0.14 4 0.56 2 0.28 3 0.42 Price competitiveness 0.14 4 0.56 3 0.42 3 0.42 Product quality 0.11 3 0.33 2 0.22 3 0.33 Customer loyalty 0.11 3 0.33 2 0.22 4 0.44 Market share 0.05 3 0.15 1 0.05 3 0.15 Total Score 1.0 3.48 2.54 3.16 Recommendations In this case, it is recommended that the management should harmonize the interpersonal conflict among the employees, make sure that the policies on the organizational culture are clear and articulate. The management should also make sure that there is conflict resolution system in the company to reduce the tension that may arise from interactions of the various variables in the company. References Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). “A critical examination of the effects of learning management systems on university teaching and learning.” Tertiary Education and Management, 11 (1), 19-36. Coulter, M. (2005). Strategic Management in Action (3rd Ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. David, F. (2007). Strategic Management: Cases. New York: Prentice Hall. Derouin, R. E., Fritzsche, B. A., & Salas, E. (2005). “E-learning in organizations.” Journal of Management, 31 (6), 920-940. Dholakia, R. R., & Kshetri, N. (2004). “Factors impacting the adoption of the Internet among SMEs.” Small Business Economics, 23 (4), 311-322. DuBrin, A.J. (2005). Coaching and Mentoring Skills. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Scribner, S. (2008). Introduction to Strategic Management. Retrieved from Selim, H. M. (2007). “Critical success factors for e-learning acceptance: Confirmatory factor models.” Computers & Education, 49(2), 396-413. Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S., & Osterlind, S. J. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th Ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon Boston. Read More