The Importance of Training and Developing Employees at Wal-Mart - Research Paper Example

? THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPING EMPLOYEES AT WAL-MART Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts Name 08 February 2012 The Importance of Training and Developing Employees at Wal-Mart Introduction: Without doubt, Scope of Human Resource Management is very vast. HRM is defined as the set of programs, activities and functions that help in enhancing the effectiveness of both the organization and employees. Recruitment, Training and development, Payroll, Performance management, Retention etc are divisions included in HRM. Out of all these divisions, one important division is Training and Development. “Training and Development is a subsystem of an organization. It ensures that randomness is reduced; learning or behavioral change takes place in structured format” (Training and Development 2007, par. 4). Most of the organizations did not concentrating in Training before. They believed that managers are born not made; also they thought that training program is very costly affair and not worth. But there has been a change in this kind of traditional approach. Different from traditional thinking, now Organizations are considering training and development as a retention tool than just a cost. The main objective of this department is to create a skillful, willing workforce for any organization. “The training and development strategy needs to recognize that there should be continual process of core competence development for all staffs” (Cartwright 2003, 53). The objectives can be divided into four sections such as individual, organizational, societal and functional. An individual objective mainly helps to attain the personal goals of the employees which indirectly enhance the individual contribution towards the organization. Organizational objectives help the organization with its primary objectives to bring effectiveness of individuals. Societal objectives mean the corporate social responsibility of any organization, i.e. to make sure that the particular organization is socially and ethically responsible for the needs of the society. Functional objectives ensure the department’s contribution to the organization’s goals. 1st Issue: Orientation Program for New Associates as a Part to Reduce Employee Turnover: “Companies need to look for ways of incorporating job enrichment, lateral assignments, rotation programs and other activities that can improve employee retention” (Career Development at Walmart 2010). For reducing employee turnover and retaining employees, Wal-Mart has implemented some attracting training tools to assist its employees. One of the major practices done by Wal-Mart is its orientation program. To help in understanding the newcomers all about their job positions, Wal-Mart additionally teaches the people about the organizational structure within the company, while recruiting. Employees are welcomed with great honor at the same way how the customers’ receives. “The simulation exercise helps associates to understand customer expectations and what they can do to meet and exceed those expectations” (Stores Training and Development n.d.). Maintain the uniqueness in the retail industry is a big issue faced by Wal-Mart like any other market leader. For that in the next phase of the orientation program, associates explain the company’s history and culture, store work expectation and environment, the impact on customers, communities and associates. Last part of the orientation program is the Audio store Discovery Tour. “In this exercise, new associates listen to the voices of customers and associates through a headset and audio-playing device” (Stores Training and Development n.d.). “All these initiatives are aimed at making employees stay within the organization more favorable. This empowers the employees and gives them the incentive to remain within the company” (Career Development at Walmart 2010). Issue 2: Training and Development for New Associates: “Training and development is not one-time occurrence at Wal-Mart. It is an ongoing part of an associate’s life. We aim to provide associates with the tools and resources to help them climb as high as they want to go” (Stores Training and Development n.d.).               Many companies are considering Training as an occasional issue. Wal-Mart takes into consider training as an essential part of their regular work. Company struggles that the substantial part of their employees’ time should be dedicated for Training. Wal-Mart always emphasizes that their top managers are well experienced, so that they would care new associates and employees for the whole development of the person and the organization. Wal-Mart’s Leaders Out In Front program teaches the field associates how to well manage their portfolios. The professionals like top level managers are liable for this training. This also helps managers to earn competitive edge. “This particular training program is not just effective for Wal-Mart in general, it is also important for those particular employees that do it” (Career Development at Walmart 2010). “Training and development of Associates provides a competitive advantage, enabling continual improvement of performance across the whole organization” (Training and Development 2007). “Our training and development department is responsible for taking business to the next level, equipping each of our 2.1 million associates with the knowledge they need to jump in and execute a strategy – sometimes at a moment’s notice” (Military Occupation: Education and Training n.d.). Issue 3: Training and Development for Increasing Leadership Talent:        “Global Talent Management” (Global Talent Management 2011). (GTM) offers services for administering and developing varied leadership talent at Wal-Mart, consisting of “Succession Planning, Leadership University, on boarding, and Executive Development” (Opportunity to Lead n.d.). Leaders assist ordinary citizens to accomplish extraordinary results. They assist others to build up enthusiasm and passion for their job in addition to higher self-respect and more self-confidence. Study demonstrates that leadership is the key aspect in influencing worker’s motivation, consumer faithfulness and organizational success. “An effective leadership development process allows organizations to create results-oriented, people-focused leaders that improve performance, increase retention and morale, and deliver bottom-line results” (Blanchard 2012). Wal-Mart is an earth’s principal vendor, in the course of a huge foundation of Wal-Mart supplies, supercenters etc. The organization protects in excess of 6,900 supplies and workplaces all over the earth, with approximately 2,900 of its supplies are situated internationally. “Today, the business environment has changed, with intense pressure on organizations to stay ahead of the competition through innovation and reinvention” (Strategic Training and Development: A Gateway to Organizational Success 2008). Effective training and development facility in Wal-Mart helps to increase the leadership talent of the workers through various processes in the current working atmosphere. Company possesses the universal brand name in fast food supply channels. In addition to that, company follows a fairly consistent, apparent and effortless management accounting scheme internationally in its processes. “The average Wal-Mart customer is 42 to 46 years old, with household income $30,000 to $ 35, OOO and an average purchase of $30. Wal-Mart Supercenters, located in 45 states, are larger stores that combine a full-line supermarket with discount department stores” (Plunkett 2008). Issue 4: Training and Development to Cope up with the Technological Change:  Technology has been varying quickly and is bringing fundamental alterations and opportunities to fiscal, social and political areas of life. On the other hand, together with these it will lead various challenges for the users of these technologies. “The technology enabled Wal-Mart to change the business model of retailing” (A Different Game 2010). Technology is an organized appliance of physical forces for manufacture of goods and services. It is the fact, procedure, apparatus, methods and schemes employed in the manufacture of goods and in offering services. So training and development activity of the Wal-Mart helps to overcome all these problems. “Changes in technology have really affected most industries worldwide. Globalization, which dominates the world today, was influenced mainly by communication technology” (Dr. Dauda n.d., 2). The main challenge faced by the majority of the organizations in the worldwide financial system is how to manage quick and fundamental technological alteration. Technological modernism to a large amount determines the competitiveness of the organization. “US retail giant Wal-Mart plans to use its IT expertise to procure products directly from a larger number of suppliers” (Walmart’s Strong IT will be Key in Strategic Shift 2010). The technology of organizations consists of a body of facts, abilities and measures and physical manifestations such as apparatus and machines. The result of the quickly altering technology has necessitated the requirement for the employment of expert and knowledgeable employees and to inspire them to be innovative to cope up with various changes. “Wal-Mart had always invested heavily in infrastructure. They were among the first to use point-of-sale Uniform Product Codes (UPC) scanning, and intra-store radio frequency (RF) transmission of product UPC and pricing information between central store inventory systems and personnel with scanners on the store shelves” (Bender et al. 2001, par. 1). The level of technical growth of any state or company influences its capability to generate quality goods and services and to be gainful, to generate wealth and to develop the performances of the people and happiness. “Wal-Mart’s success in Human Resource Management, both in the US and abroad, is keeping their workforce of 1.3 million from unionizing, while adding to it and pursuing other Human Resource activities to further Wal-Mart’s success” (Wal-Mart and Human Resource Management 1995). Bibliography A Different Game. 2010. The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/15557465 (Accessed February 08, 2012) Bender, Andrew., Howell, Ann., Lavin, Amy., Torgerson, David. 2001. A Case Study in Managing Technical Transitions. Wal-Mart.com. http://www.duke.edu/~dat6/Wal-Mart.htm (Accessed February 06, 2012) Blanchard, Ken. 2012. Improving Productivity and Performance. Ken Blanchard Companies. http://www.kenblanchard.com/Issues_Organizational_Development/Leadership_Training_Outcomes/ (Accessed February 08, 2012) Career Development at Walmart. 2010. Articlebase. http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/career-development-at-walmart-1924416.html (Accessed February 08, 2012) Cartwright, Roger. Implementing a Training and Development Strategy. Capstone Publishing. 53. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=qyGeqgh8NowC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA53&dq=individual+objectives+in+training+and+developments#v=onepage&q=individual%20objectives%20in%20training%20and%20developments&f=false (Accessed February 07, 2012) Dr. Dauda, Yunus Adeleke. n.d. Technological Innovation and Organizational Performance: Employee Relations Strategies. 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