Wal-Mart's Employee Development - Report Example

Business Report Table of Contents Introduction 3 Background Problem, Purpose 3 Informational Report 4 Financial Stability 4 Employment Benefits 5 Employment Opportunities 6 Analysis of Criticism 7 Criteria for Evaluation 8 Conclusion 9 Work Cited 10 Appendices 11 Introduction Wal-Mart is one of the leading global US based retail corporations. Wal-Mart runs large discount department store’s chain and warehouse stores. The organization is the third largest public corporation in the world. Wal-Mart is the biggest global private employers according to the 2012 Fortune Global 500 list. The employee strength of this corporation is more than two millions. The organization has 8,500 retail stores in 15 various countries. However, the organization is known for its diverse business practices. Wal-Mart provides effective organizational culture. Friendly work environment motivates the employees to perform effectively1. Associates of Wal-Mart are the heart of business. They always believe in diversified work culture to give significant value to each and every employee. This report will evaluate several facts related to the employee development and workplace culture of Wal-Mart. Background Problem, Purpose Wal-Mart is considered as the leading global employer. According to the organizational value, it can be stated that the organization believes in effective and diversified workplace culture. The organization tries to maintain significant work environment through workforce collaboration process2. The organization worked with full dignity in order to build an environment which emphasizes respect, integrity, innovation and open communication. According to several associates, working at Wal-Mart will provide effective career opportunity to several individuals. However, the organization faced several problems in recent past. Several groups and individuals, such as community groups, religious organizations, labor unions, Wal-Mart customers and environmental groups criticized the business practices and organizational policies. The study will analyze and evaluate several criticisms. Moreover, the report will try to draw an effective conclusion based on the workplace environment and employee development analysis of Wal-Mart. Informational Report This part of the study will analyze several organizational factors of Wal-Mart, such as financial stability, employment benefits and employment opportunities. Financial Stability Ratio Analysis Ratios 2,013 2,012 2,011 Earning Yield 7.21% 7.43% 7.49% Revenue to Profit 3.62% 3.51% 3.89% Quick ratio 0.22 0.23 0.27 Current ratio 0.83 0.88 0.89 Earning yield is the percentage of earning per share with respect to current market price of a company. It determines the return on per unit or per dollar investment done by the company from the shareholders investment. Earning yield ratios of last three years are much higher than the 10 years treasury yield of USA. It indicates lower valued stock of Walmart and it is good for the investors to buy the stock (Figure 1). Revenue to profit ratio determines net profit as a percentage of revenue. It is also termed as net profit margin of a company and higher the ratio higher the profitability and cost efficiency and vice versa. The company has average 3.5% to 4 % net profit margin in last three years and it indicates very low profitability of the company. Operating cost and cost of sales are very much higher (Figure 2). Quick ratio is the most important liquidity ratio which determines the ability of a company to pay its short terms obligations or payables without depending on the inventory. This ratio has high importance to the suppliers of a company (Walmart 33). Standard quick ratio of a company should be 1 where current ratios of last three years of Wal-Mart are much less and this scenario indicates very critical liquidity position of the company (Figure 2). Current ratio is another important liquidity ratio that determines balance of current asset and current liability of a company. Similar to quick ratio, it also evaluates short term payables payment capability of a company. This ratio should always be around 2 so that it indicates strong liquidity position of a company. This ratio of Wal-Mart has been less than 1 in last three years and this scenario also indicates very poor liquidity position of the company (Figure 2). Employment Benefits Wal-Mart provides effective employment benefits to the employees in every year. The organization provides significant benefits, effective competitive wages and chance to enhance the professional careers. Each and every year the organization offers job at all the organizational level including several entry-level jobs. The organization believes that, entry level jobs are considered as bigger and important jobs. However, the organization offers several job benefits and competitive pay3. These include education assistance, health care plans, training and development opportunities and retirement benefits. The organization tries to motivate their associates and employees in order to perform effectively. Wal-Mart Believes that, the employees are the biggest assets of an organization. Therefore, it is important for the organization to take care of the individual and professional needs of employees. This motivational strategy helps to boost the business productivity. Wal-Mart offers quarterly cash bonus benefits to the eligible store associates. In addition, they provide health care plans to the employees that starts with 17 US dollar per pay period. Moreover, the organization offers effective diverse workforce for the employees. This effective diverse workforce embraces the associates of all individual ideas, perspectives and backgrounds. This strategy helped the organization to build strongest workforce. Employment Opportunities Wal-Mart is considered as the leading employer across the globe. The organization offers significant employment opportunities to its employees and all desired applicants. Effective workplace environment and unique organizational culture motivates the job seekers to capitalize on the effective employment opportunities developed by Wal-Mart. First of all, the organization tries to select skilled, competence and suitable applicants for particular job posts. Effective job orientation process helps the newly selected employees to understand the organizational value and job roles. Unique organizational culture always motivates the employees of Wal-Mart to perform effectively. Effective training and development program helps younger or fresh employees to understand the actual job role or deliverables4. This training and development process helps the organizations to polish the skills and competence level of the employees. The organization always tries to maintain effective workplace balance. Wal-Mart significantly implemented diverse workplace strategy. This strategy helps to m motivate the people or employees of different background to work collaboratively. The organization tries to avoid several workplace conflicts, such as gender, color, race and religion conflicts through effective integration process. Unique organizational culture and diverse workforce is the biggest strength of the organization. Organization management always maintains workplace health and safety aspect of the employees. Moreover, Wal-Mart gives significant value to all the disable employees by providing effective compensation and appropriate employment opportunities. Analysis of Criticism The organization has been subject to serious criticism by several individuals and groups, such as community groups, customers, labor unions, religious organizations, grassroots organizations and several environmental groups. Especially, the labor unions protested against policies and business practices of the organization. Several charges of gender and racial discrimination affected the brand image of the organization in global market place. In the year 2005, several employees of Wal-Mart filed a case against the organization regarding several workplace conflicts, such as gender and racial discriminations5. The organization continuously made commitment that they will overcome all the workplace conflicts and issues. Unfortunately, it does not work for long-term. Several inadequate decision making processes and unethical business practices forced the labor union to file the complaints. Moreover, the organization was criticized regarding their inadequate and unethical business practices. The organization was failing to practice their business operations according to the organizational value. However, in the year 2005, the labor unions have created new groups and websites in order to influence the public opinion against the organization. These groups are Walmart Watch and Wake up Wal-Mart. In order to counter these issues and criticism, Wal-Mart launched working families. The organization effectively reviewed the issues associated with the organizational process. They understood that, inadequate PR and CRM are the major reasons behind the criticism. Therefore, the organization tried to rebuild their brand image in global market place through the implementation of several strategies. The organization developed workplace diversity strategy in order to overcome these several gender and racial conflicts. However, slowly and gradually, the organization is overcoming these workplace issues through the development of effective HR policies. Criteria for Evaluation There are several criterions for evaluating the effectiveness of employment choice. Workplace environment, flexibility in job hours, job stress, performance evaluation process and compensation process are major criterions that determine the effectiveness of employment choice. Wal-Mart introduced effective workplace diversity process in their organizational culture in order to overcome several workplace conflicts. People of several religion backgrounds, colors and genders enjoy the diverse working environment6. Moreover, the organization provides effective working hour flexibility to the employees. The organization management takes care of individual and professional needs of the employees in order to motivate them. In addition, the organization follows legal policies to reduce the work stress of the employees. Effective performance appraisal and compensation process motivates the employees to perform effectively in order to polish their competencies. Apart from these things, the organization provides several health and job benefits to the employees. Conclusion Wal-Mart is the leading US based retail corporations perform their business practices in several global markets. Wal-Mart runs large discount department store’s chain and warehouse stores. Unique organizational culture and effective diverse workplace process helped the organization to work collaboratively. The organization faced several workplace conflicts in the year 2005. Several criticisms affected the brand image of Wal-Mart in the global market place. However, the organization is overcoming these issues and challenges through effective CRM and PR strategy. They have effectively reviewed the issues in order to rectify the associated problems. However, the job seekers eagerly try to capitalize on the employment opportunities developed by the organization. Wal-Mart is considered as the biggest global private employers. Work Cited Fishman, Charles. The Wal-Mart Effect. London: Penguin, 2007. Print. Lichtenstein, Nelson. The Retail Revolution. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Niesing, Roberto. Culture in Relation to Walmart. Berlin: GRIN Verlag, 2011. Print. Pierce, Julie. The Walmart Way. New York: Springer, 2006. Print. Solomon, Cynthia. Culture Audits. New York: ASTD, 2004. Print. Stanford, Naomi. Corporate Culture. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print. Walmart. Walmart Annual report 2013. 2013. Web. August 2. 2013. < http://az204679.vo.msecnd.net/media/documents/2013-annual-report_130108806067963477.pdf>. Appendices Figure 1: Earning Yield (Source: Walmart 32) Figure 2: Revenue to Profit (Source: Walmart 32) Figure 3: Quick ratio (Source: Walmart 32) Figure 4: Current ratio (Source: Walmart 32) Read More