The WalMart as the Leading Retailer - Case Study Example

A Study of the Leading Retailer - Wal-Mart of XXXX XXXX Submitted By: XXXX Number: XXXX Number of words: 649 words (excluding References) Introduction: This report aims at identifying an issue in a company and understanding how the issue has been handled within the company. The company chosen for this report is Wal - Mart. The company has been faced with a number of issues pertaining its employees and this report aims at understanding the various steps that have been taken by the managers, leadership issues, and how the employees have been motivated and the various factors affecting the working in groups of the employees. The report will tart with a brief introduction to the company being discussed within the report following which a brief of the issue faced will be discussed. The next section will deal with a brief about the company - Wal - Mart. About Wal - Mart: The company was started way back in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. The main aim of the company is to help people save money to help live better. The growth of the company over the years has been immense. The company pays a lot of attentions to the needs of the stakeholders and helps provide the stakeholders with the desired results. The biggest retailer in the world with over 971 discount stores, 2447 super centres, 132 neighborhood markets, and 591 Sam's clubs in the US, Wal - Mart has been able to very smoothly make its way to the top of the retailing industry. The company is spread over the 14 countries and employees almost over 2.1 million people. The company has made enormous revenue of over $378,799 million for the year - end January 2008. Being the largest retailer in the world, Wal - Mart is faced with a lot of competition and making all the happenings, issues, events etc of Wal -Mart always in the limelight (Money Central, 2008). The company works on the basic values which mainly revolve around the respect for individuals, service to customers and striving for excellence. The management of the company is said to be very efficient and the managers are known to be work by the values of the firm. However the company still faces a number of issues pertaining it employees, each of whom are known as associates in the company. The vision of the company is to become the leaders of the retail industry. This however can only be achieved by ensuring that the customers receive what they desire out of the company. The mission of the company highlights their constant need to improve the services provided to exceed customer expectations and to provide customers with reasonably priced goods of great quality. The company's basic values of respect for individuals, service to customers and striving for excellence speaks for itself. Wal - Mart has tried to ensure it reaches out to the majority of the American population and the major customer groups accounting to almost 23 percent belong to families where the annual income is lesser than $25,000. It was also noted that almost half of the customers of the superstore are blue-collar workers and most of the families are either unemployed or elderly (Featherstone, 2005). The Issues: Wal - Mart in some recent reports has been accused of not treating their employees fairly and making the employees work over the shift hours. The company has also been accused for paying the employees much lower than what they should receive. According to a number of reports the employees have actually disclosed the fact that they receive pays which are way below the minimum level of pay that has to be given to the employees. The company claims to give importance to the employee's growth and careers. The company's website claims to provide the employees with a competitive pay, skills development and health benefits for the employee and family. However a recent article in Business Week highlighted the fact that the company has been paying employees about $8.23 per hour, or $13,861 a year. This pay is well below the federal poverty line of $14, 630 for a family of three. Other articles and studies have shown that the company pays employees a salary that is way below the poverty line and employees have confessed that they cannot live out of the pay received from Wal - Mart alone. The average hours worked by employees is around 40 hours a week. However the pay received is very low and for some of the employees it is just enough to live out of a Dodge truck (Greenhouse, 2005). Wal - Mart has also been faced with a number of other issues all concerning their employees. The company has been blamed for not providing the employees with the correct remunerations even though the cost of this would relatively be very low for the company. Also the company has been blamed for forcing the employees to work off the clock. This has also lead to a number of lawsuits on the company by the employees. Also as per the law the company seems to fail in covering a large number of its employees in terms of health care. Wal -Mart has been known for the lack of providing the employees with the correct health care for the employees. It has been seen that the permanent employees are required to wait for a period of 180 days before they can be enrolled into the health care insurance plan. This is very unfair and this again has caused a lot of issues for the company. Manager's Role: The managers play a very important role in the management of the employees. The management of Wal - Mart has been known for the management and the website highlights a lot about the how well the employees are treated and how much importance is given to the performance of the employees. However, in the real scene, the employees are not given so much importance. As seen in the previous section, the issues faced by the employees are many. The managers have however have been unable to keep up and provide the employees with the correct working environment and have not given the employees the rights and considerations that they are rightful of. The employees have shown a lot of dedication. The employees normally benefit from a company that makes higher profits which in turn actually signifies a higher salary being paid to the employees within the company and also more bonuses for the employees. However, from the above discussions it is clear that the employees do not receive any extra benefits in spite of the company making profits. Also it has been seen that the managers have not given importance to the employee needs and have not considered the importance of the salaries and the employees are not given salary hikes although the good work on their ends. The managers are in a very strong way responsible for the amounts of pays that the employees should receive and this has not been taken care of well by the managers. This is big part of the manager's role, however because of the lack of the managerial skills shown by the managers. Leadership: Leadership is a very important aspect of the business. It has been seen in the company that the manager's have not been able to rightly manage as well as provide the employees with the right benefits. Leadership does not only highlight the correct allocations of jobs but also includes to a great extent includes ensuring that the employees are treated well and do not have to work over what they are paid for. This is extremely important as by law employees are not supposed to work over a limited amount of time and hence the fact that the employees have been made to work extra hours with lesser breaks, this shows a very low level in terms of the leadership portrayed by the managers. Examples like when the employees are faced with a management which is not employee oriented and the lack of leadership skills is clearly portrayed from the following. The company has placed a range for every job level and once an employee reaches the top of the pay range, the salary freezes and chances of pay increase is completely eliminated. The promotion system is also very poor and it has been noted that there have been employees working for almost 13-14 years in the company and have not been promoted (Gogoi, 2006). Employee Motivation and Team Work: As already mentioned the employees pay a very important role in any business. A company that has employees who are not motivated will reflect on the revenues of the company. Hence this is a very important aspect of the business. Along with the employee motivation, the team work among employees is also a very important aspect. In the case of Wal - Mart the employees are well motivated and the team work among the employees is also very good. However due to the lack of leadership and consideration from the management all efforts of the employees are not being recognized. The employees of Wal - Mart have bee seen to spend as much as 40 hours working. Also it has been seen that the managers make the employees work over their shift hours and also during their breaks. To a very great extent this is a very de - motivating factor for the employees. Also with the low payments that the company provides to the employees, also acts as a very big de - motivating factor for the company. There are a number of different steps that can be undertaken by the company to provide greater motivation to the employees. Every individual has different motives in life. These motives can affect the individuals behavior at all times. Thus it is essential for managers to understand the needs of employees to ensure better performance within the organization. Conclusions: There are a number of steps that can be undertaken by the management to help improve the current situation. There have been a lot of efforts that have been made. The company has faced a number of claims and a lot of legal issues from its employees. This is one of the biggest issues that the company has been faced with. It is essential to understand that the major reason for this treatment of the employees is because of the lack of good management and leadership. Although the management is chosen with great care, it has been seen that the skills and the required leadership is not seen in the actions. Employees are faced with a number of issues and no care or concern has been shown by the management. This is a very big draw back for the company as the motivation of the employees is affected to a great extent here and this will also show affects on the performance of the employees and thereby affect the performance of the company as well. Although Wal -Mart is the world's largest retailer, if these issues of management are not taken care of at the earliest, the company will face the consequences and this will be very clear in the performance of the company itself. This could in a number of ways lead to the employee motivation being affected and this could lead to poor performance by the employees and higher employee turnover as well. Thus it is essential that this is correctly and rapidly sorted out for the company to continue and hold its current position in the market. Also this example has taught a very essential lesson of management, i.e. employees form a very essential part of any organization and if the employees are not provided with the right environment to work and the right remunerations the company can be affected by this in numerous ways, even as far as the company facing losses. Hence employees play a very essential role and all companies should pay a lot of attention to the manager's role in the company, leadership, motivating factors for the employees and lastly the team work of employees within the organization. Bibliography Featherstone, L., 2005, 'Wal-Mart's women -- employees and customers - in unhealthy relationship', 2 January 2005, Retrieved from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/205768_focus02.html, Accessed on 22 January 2009 Gogoi, P., 'The flip side of Wal-mart's Pay Hikes', August 14, 2006, Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/aug2006/pi20060811_696579.htm, Accessed on 22 January 2009 Greenhouse, S, 2005, 'At Wal-Mart, Choosing Sides Over $9.68 an Hour', Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/business/04wages.html, Accessed on 22 January 2009 Money Central, 2008, 'Wal-Mart Stores Inc: Financial Statement', Accessed on 22 January 2009, Retrieved from http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/results/statemnt.aspx'symbol=wmt Read More