Organizational Mission Statement of Wal-Mart - Case Study Example

? Organizational analysis of Wal-mart of the Submitted to of the Wal-Mart was emerged in 1960’s with an entirely different mission statement of helping people throughout the world in saving and living better lives. The man behind the foundation of this successful chain of supermarkets was Sam Walton who lives from 1918 to 1992. His endless struggles and unparallel leadership qualities gave Wal-mart the most distinctive position in the world of retail stores. Currently the organization is operating in 27 different countries and serving approximately 200 million customers per week. Human resource plays a very important role in the development and success of any organization so was the case with Wal-mart. Sam Walton from the start of this business was surrounded by the most creative and hardworking employees. The employees are still working with their complete dedication and interest to achieve the goal of the mission statement. There are many internal and external challenges faced by the Human resource of Wal-mart such as the employee turnover rate, less capable employees in the developing countries, world politics, economics, inflation, exchange rates, etc. However, Wal-mart successfully faced all the hurdles in its way and qualified to be considered the largest retailers chain in the world. But there is always a room for further improvements and achievements and to fill that gap Wal-mart should continuously come up with new and different ideas to remain dominant in the retailer’s world. Organizational Analysis of Wal-mart Today, the customers not only want to buy things that they want but they actually want to enjoy their shopping experience. Now customers want a lot of merchandize available under one roof with the satisfying services and lowest possible prices, friendly and pleasant shopping environment with free parking. Wal-mart promises to give all of this to its customers (Walton, 2012). Wal-mart is a super store which features maximum number of high quality merchandize with comparatively low prices and gives its customers an everlasting shopping experience. It serves more than 200 million customers per week (our story, 2012). It has retail stores, online services and mobile alerts operating in 27 countries under 69 different banners. The first Wal-mart store was open in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Sam Walton’s unparallel devotion to the company and the leadership skills lead the organization to where it is now standing. He was the man behind the success of the unique retail store. He believed in leadership through service and customer satisfaction. The basic idea behind Wal-mart was to serve the customers with low prices and great service. The target market of Wal-mart is that segment of customers who want multiple things such as grocery, electronics, apparel, stationary, decorative, and every other thing under one roof. These customers want a pleasant buying experience and goods services and satisfaction along with low prices. Wal-mart is very successful in fulfilling its customers’ requirements and therefore it has started the online and mobile services as well considering the current market trends and intense competition. The customers who believe in saving and spending good lives are the real customers of Wal-mart. In 1960, the whole idea of retail stores was changes as the Wal-mart step in the world of retailers. By 1967 Wal-mart was able to own 24 stores with $12.7 million sale (history timeline, 2012). Later in 1980’s the first Wal-mart supermarket was opened with general merchandise. In 1987 the company installed the largest satellite communication system in the United States of America. In 1990’s Wal-mart was marked as the most successful and the biggest retail store. By 2002, Wal-mart was among the 500 ranking of the America’s companies. In 2012, the company has celebrated its 50th anniversary with 2.2 million associates, 200 million customers and 10,000 stores in 27 countries. Mission Statement Wal-mart was made with the mission of serving and helping customers and communities to save money and live better lives. The distinctive idea presented by Sam Walton changed the whole of retailing and satisfying customers. His mission was to provide the customers with the best quality product with in comparatively low prices. This idea does not seemed very realistic to his competitors but it constituted the ultimate success of Wal-mart and the peak where it is standing now. At Wal-mart they believe to give people the easy access to happy and contented life with the satisfaction of saving for rainy days. For this purpose Wal-mart has also contributed a lot to the global community service. The company believes in combining the two things together i.e. the technology and the modern age retailing, therefore, Wal-mart is now offering its wide range of merchandize online as well hence keeping its promise of helping customers in any possible way. HR (Human resources) plays the most important part in achieving the mission of the organization. To accomplish big missions there has to be big minds behind the struggle so was the case of Wal-mart. The strongest leader was Sam Walton who surrounded himself with the minds who have the out of box ideas and strong human resource management skills. These people were never afraid of taking risks at any point in life and always used to think of the next level. Their endless struggles put the company on the peak of retail industry. The ultimate goal of any organization is to achieve its mission as soon as possible which cannot be done without a Strong and dedicated human resource management. The HR people are the one who motive the chief executives and the workers towards achievement. They decide that who has to do what and when, they make the short term and long term plans for the organization which finally leads the company to the achievement of its mission statement. In the case of Wal-mart it can be easily analyzed that their planning and execution was very strong. They come up with something new and remain firm at their initial idea of retailing. The HR managers responsibilities are to analyze the past, present and future growth of the organization and to locate resources accordingly to fill the gaps. The utilization of the human mind and its physical abilities to the widest extent is the duty of human resource because human mind has the vast and unseen capabilities which should not be go wasted. HR Challenges The Human resource faces a lot of challenges in its complete course of operation. These challenges can be categorized into two parts i.e. internal challenges and external challenges. Internal challenges: these challenges include the continuous hard work and struggle to achieve the company’s short term and long term goals. In a multinational organization such as Wal-mart the biggest challenge is to maintain the success and the upward trend of the company’s trend. Dealing with so many employees belonging to different cultures and ethnic backgrounds and motivating them towards success is a hard thing to do. Blending the knowledge, skills and capabilities of the employees and working operating in 27 different countries is a continuous challenge faced by the Wal-mart Human resource managers. Maintain the high level of quality and satisfying customers with best services is another challenge for HR at Wal-mart. External Challenges: Wal-mart operates in almost all the major countries of the world and faces a lot of external challenges every now and then such as political situations, economics of different countries, currency exchange rates, employee’s turnover, recession, inflation, intense competition by the other multinational retail chains, lack of skilled workers, government policies of other countries, social and cultural threats and many more. The current position of Wal-mart shows that it has been very successful in dealing with all of the internal and external challenges. It has localized itself with the prevailing trends of different societies and cultures. It has successfully managed millions of customers throughout the world with its best HR policies and their perfect execution. However, there is always a room for improvement and for the organizations such as Wal-mart the biggest challenge is to maintain the current level of success and to ensure long term existence in the world of retailers. Few recommendations are given below to make the achievements of Wal-mart everlasting. Recommendations New ideas: it’s a human nature that he becomes bored of the old things and even services. He is always in search of something new and interesting. For this reason Wal-mart should continuously come up with new and different ideas to remain in the minds of its customers. They can try different marketing strategies for this purpose or they can even try to change their current style of retail services. They should add attractive packages for their customer. Business diversification is also a very good opportunity for Wal-mart. Own Store Brands: Wal-mart should make an extra ordinary effort in making its position is own store brands. Though it will increase the challenges for the company for some time but later on it will give its remarkable results. Increase in size: Wal-mart can also try to have even bigger and better store with more featuring items and accessories. Operating in other countries: Wal-mart should not take the risk of operating in economically unstable countries rather it should try to establish itself in the developed parts of the world. References history timeline. (2012). Retrieved 10 31, 2012, from Wal-mart stores inc: http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/heritage/history-timeline our story. (2012). Retrieved 10 31, 2012, from Wal-mart stores Inc: http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/ Walton, S. (2012). About Wal-mart.com. Retrieved 10 31, 2012, from Wal-mart stores Inc: http://help.walmart.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6 Read More