The business environment of Wal-Mart corporation - Research Paper Example

The business environment of Wal-Mart corporation Introduction The business environment is changing rapidly courtesy of technology and innovation development. Competition amongst organizations is increasing as the business environment changes. The changes present opportunities and challenges to organizations. It is important that organizations change in all their departments so as not to lose their competitive advantage. Change is no longer “nice to have” but has now become a mandatory requirement for organizations that are willing to succeed. One of the departments that need to be highly flexible and should keep up with the ongoing changes is the Human Resource Department. It is important to note that the department is very important in any organization and that it is one of the departments responsible for the organization’s performance (Saunders & Hunter, 2009). Wal-Mart corporation is an organization that started in the 1960s and is currently one of the biggest retail shops in the world. The organization has been highly successful due to a number of factors. One factor is arguably its human resource department. Due to the fact that the corporation is global, it is expected that it has a diverse human resource team and as a result, it should be very keen on changes that are happening in the local scene as well as the international scene. It should maintain changes in its human resource department. This essay reviews the HR management of the company and develops a transformational strategy that can be adopted to better its services and hence give the organization a competitive strategy. The transformation is to be in four phases namely; business context, outcomes, HR design and accountability. HR transformation It is the process of redefining how HR work is conducted within an organization in order to facilitate the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives as well as achieve its mission as outlined in the mission statement. The process should be integrated, innovative and should be in line with the business approach. The organization makes promises to employees, its customers, investors as well as shareholders. It is its obligation to fulfil those promises so as to satisfy each of the parties. Satisfying its stakeholders is important for any organization in the process of building its brand image. In the current business environment, things are changing too rapidly. An organization needs to keep up with the changes and as a result, there is the need to transform the HR functions so as to gain that competitive advantage (Albeanu, Hunter & Radford, 2010). Business context One of the most important step in transforming the HR function of Wal-mart is to identify the reason as to why the transformation is occurring (Ulrich, 1997). This refers to identifying the problem that prevails in the HR department. In order to identify the need for transformation, anyone who is to be involved in the transformation process should clearly understand the business context. Only when the persons involved have an understanding I the current business context that they will be able to come up with a way of transforming the HR function. They will be in a better position to identify the problems that affect the smooth running of the organization. In addition, they will know the areas that need to be changed and how they can be changed. According to Ulrich & Brockbank (2005), “When people understand the why of change, they are more likely to accept the what .” One of the most influential departments at Wal-mart is the HR department. It plays a major role in identifying the right personnel that can help the organization achieve its strategic goals and objectives. The organization has its goals but achieving them is never a walk in the park due to the many changes that are occurring in the business environment. For the HR transformation to occur at Wal-mart, the HR need to launch transformational programs. The human resource department is the agent of change. Every organization should have a strategic plan and it is no different for Wal-mart. The company has a strategic plan that guides it towards the achievement of its goals. The human resource department plays an important role in the strategic planning of an organization in addition to its traditional functions such as hiring, performance appraisal and rewarding employees. Is is important for the HR leaders to be familiar with the organizational strategic plans so as to engineer an effective HR transformation that will enable the department execute its role as a planning partner. This is one of the reasons as to why the HR team needs to understand the business context. In addition, understanding the business context will enable the HR leaders come up with the best training, staffing, reward system and other HR roles that need o be transformed to better the organizational performance (Ulrich, 1997). Outcomes Once the HR team has understood the reasons for transformation, the next stage will be to evaluate the expected outcomes. Most people are likely to oppose a change since they are not aware of the outcomes or the impacts that change will have on them or to the organization itself (Ulrich, 1997). It is called uncertainty avoidance. It is normal among many employees especially those that have been in the organization for a long period of time. In most cases, they fear that a change might lead to them loosing their jobs or maybe not being promoted. When employees resist a change, it is difficult for change agents in this case the HR leaders to implement the change. Wal-mart operates in a world of business that is constantly changing. Usage of technology is part of its operations since it offers online services. As a result, the company has to keep on changing its strategies. Technology is associated with a number of uncertainties (Albeanu, Hunter & Radford, 2010). Employees may not be aware of the outcomes that certain technological changes will bring to the organization. In most cases, the change agent is usually aware of the outcomes of a change or maybe have more knowledge regarding the same. There are those stakeholders who are likely to oppose the changes more than others. The HR leader should call them up and discuss the outcomes with them. They should be sure to maintain the good reputation of the organization in the community. In addition, the good relationship with the customers should be maintained. Therefore, the outcomes of the transformation should be relevant to each of the stakeholders. In addition, one of the HR transformation outcomes should be the ability to change the identity of the organization, its image as well as the culture. This indicates the ability of the HR transformation to build capabilities (Saunders & Hunter, 2009). The capabilities are the once that are used to identify the organization. They are also important in the implementation of business strategy as well as in the delivery of HR practices. At Wal-mart, the HR transformation should display the ability to deliver proper training services to employees, rewarding systems as well as safety in the workplace should be improved. The outcomes should show how the functions should be improved and the impact they will have on the organization. Therefore, the first activity should be to identify the capabilities. Then the capabilities should be turned into measures that can be tracked and monitored. To do these, the HR leaders need to brainstorm so as to come up with indicators that will show that the capabilities can actually be accomplished. They need to convince members of the organization that the capabilities can actually be accomplished so as to enhance their adoption of the intended change. The deliverables for the change will be converted into a scorecard. Each member of the organization will be aware of the outcome of the transformation and that the outcomes will be positive for the organization (Saunders & Hunter, 2009). Each of the members who is likely to be affected by the transformation should be identified at this stage so that the outcome for each of them is defined specifically. The HR transformation outcome for those who are involved in the planning of Wal-mart business strategies, those who are involved in hiring and training new employees, those who are involved in rewarding employees as well as performance appraisal should be identified. The stakeholders of the organization can even be interviewed so that they can give their view on the outcomes they would like to realize from the transformation. HR redesign The actual transformation is carried out at this stage. The HR function is changed or redesigned so that it can be in line with the new business strategy (Ulrich, 2009). The HR function should be in agreement with the business strategy. The purpose of the HR team is to facilitate the achievement of the organizational mission, goals and objective and as a result, the HR functions should be focused on this course. For instance, if the business organization has a structure that is centralized, the same should be reflected in the HR function in that HR should also be centralized. On the other hand, if the business structure is not centralized, the HR function should also not be centralized. In this stage, there is a need for expert knowledge and experience. In redesigning the HR function of Wal-mart, there re five elements that are likely to result from the design principles. They include, corporate HR, service centers, embedded HR, operational executors and Corporate initiatives (Ulrich, 1997). It is important that when the HR leaders are redesigning the HR function, they should draw a clear difference between the transformational HR work and the transactional HR work. For instance, outsourcing is a transactional work while changing the way of planning, staffing, training and performance appraisal are transformational. Wal-mart needs to change the methods it uses to train its employees. It also needs to change its planning strategies so that they are in line with the changing business environment. In addition, the performance appraisal methods and reward systems should be enhanced so that they help to increase the morale of employees and hence the performance of the organization so that it can maintain its competitiveness (Boroughs, Palmer & Hunter, 2008). Despite the fact that Wal-mart has been performing well in its business, it is important to do things in a different way since other competitors organizations are working tirelessly to build a strong reputation. Therefore, Wal-mart cannot afford to be static. It has to be dynamic and keep on transforming its HR functions. A complete transformation of all the HR function is required. The transformation should always be in line with the business strategy for it to be successful. Therefore, the mission statement should always be in sight when making these transformations. This stage needs high level of professionalism due to its scope and significance. This will present a challenge to Wal-mart since it might need to hire professionals from outside the organization, a move that may prove to be costly. In addition, the external professional may not be well conversant with the HR function and this may hinder him from developing an effective transformation. The internal professional may not have the required level of professionalism to effect the transformation. To deal with this challenge, Wal-mart should hire a qualified professional who will work together with the internal HR experts so as to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, a cost benefit analysis might be needed so as to evaluate the benefits of HR transformation against its cost. Accountability This is the fourth and final stage in HR transformation. The process of HR transformation should be inclusive rather than exclusive. All stakeholders should be included in the process. The four major stakeholders who should not miss out and should be allowed to make their contribution are; the line managers, HR department, investors and customers as well as external consultants (Ulrich, 1997). Wal-mart has various departments each of them headed by a manager. Each if the managers should be involved in the process. The organizational customers should also be part of the transformation. Human Resource is responsible for facilitating the process and ensuring effective implementation. On the other hand, it is the line managers of the various departments within the organization who play a key role in ensuring that the organization is in a better position to maximize its performance and enhance customer satisfaction (Information Resources Management Association & Khosrowpour, 2006). They will be held accountable for the organization's performance. They should facilitate proper planning, training of employees, ensure safe and healthy working environment, proper staffing and ensure good relations with labor unions. Therefore, they should ensure that the organization hires the right talent. They should also ensure that there are proper structures within the organization to ensure maximum satisfaction of all stakeholders (Ulrich, Losey & Miesinger, 2005). For effective HR transformation at Wal-mart, the line managers of the various departments should work in collaboration with HR leaders. The HR should on the other hand contact the customers, shareholders, external consultants as well as any other relevant stakeholders so as to make the right decisions. They will partner with the consultants for professional advice on transformation and then collect information from customers so as to make decisions which will address their needs. Collecting of information is a challenging task. Some individuals may not be willing to give information or they may give incorrect information that will mislead the HR decisions. In addition, the external consultants will demand a fee which might be expensive to the organization. Conclusion Change is inevitable. Today, the business environment is constantly changing. As more organizations emerge, the competition for market share is increasing. In addition, technology has facilitated innovation and hence organization are utilizing the best of it to maximize customer satisfaction. Wal-mart is a retail company that is operating in a highly competitive industry. HR transformation is important to ensure that the organization maintains its competitiveness. It should follow the outlined phases (business context, Outcome, HR Redesign and accountability) to ensure maximum and effective transformation. References Albeanu, M., Hunter, I., & Radford, J. (2010). Six Sigma in HR transformation: Achieving excellence in service delivery. Farnham: Gower. Boroughs, A., Palmer, L., & Hunter, I. (2008). HR transformation technology: Delivering systems to support the new HR model. Aldershot, England: Gower. Information Resources Management Association., & Khosrowpour, M. (2006). Emerging trends and challenges in information technology management. Hershey, Penn: Idea Group. Kandula, S. R. (2007). Human resource management in practice: With 300 models, techniques and tools. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India. Saunders, J., & Hunter, I. (2009). Service led design: Planning the new HR function. Farnham, England: Gower. Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Ulrich, D. (2009). HR transformation: Building human resources from the outside in. Chicago: McGraw-Hill. Ulrich, D., & Brockbank, W. (2005). The HR value proposition. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press. Ulrich, D., Losey, M. R., & Miesinger, S. (2005). The future of human resource management: 64 thought leaders explore the critical HR issues of today and tomorrow. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Read More