The Early Principles of Scientific Management and their Relevance to Walmart Today - Case Study Example

The Early Principles of Scientific Management and their Relevance to Walmart Toady Introduction Walmart is a global company that was founded in the United States. It runs a chain of low-cost department stores in several countries around the world. With more than 11,000 stores in twenty-seven countries, the company employs an excess of two million people (Walmart Stores, Inc 4). This paper reports the findings of primary research that investigated the relevance of four principles of early scientific management and the finding of the Hawthorne studies to the management practices of Walmart today. The Walmart store at Bellingham, Washington was used as the case for the study. Discussion The study considered four principles of early scientific management and a finding of the Hawthorne Studies. The four principles comprised two by Weber and two by Follet and McGregor. Two of these principles and the finding of the studies turned out to bear relevance to the contemporary management practices of Walmart. The first relevant principle was Weber’s fourth principle of bureaucracy. Weber posited that for an organization to function efficiently, there has to be a clear chain of command such that every employee in the organization knows who reports to them and whom they report to (Provided document). A clear chain of command, Weber argued, would ensure clarity and avoid confusion in the issuing and taking of orders. The clear chain of command also ensures accountability in the organization. A branch manager heads Walmart Bellingham. Directly under and reporting to the branch manager are the chief cashier and the fire Marshall. The fire Marshall is charged with ensuring fire safety at the store. All cashiers report to the chief cashier. For every ten staff handling merchandise, there was a supervisor. All cleaning staff reported to one supervisor. Each supervisor reported to the branch manager. Overall, this is a clear, satisfactory chain of command. However, the researcher observed that the chief cashier was overwhelmed by the number of cashiers seeking their attention to unblock blocked tills. As a result, at times customers had to wait for several minutes for a till to be unblocked and for them to be served. Maybe the chief cashier would do better with an assistant, especially during peak times. The second “principle” obtained in the study of Walmart was McGregor’s Theory X versus Theory Y. In an effort to illustrate how the attitudes and behavior of subordinates affect the behavior of managers, Douglas McGregor developed their approach of Theory X versus Theory Y. According to Theory X, workers are naturally lazy, dislike work and will always seek to do as little as possible (Provided document). Thus, it is the job of the manager to supervise the workers very closely for them to accomplish their job tasks. By contrast, Theory Y assumes that workers are inherently hard working and enjoy their work. Consequently, the manager needs not keep a close eye on them for them to perform their work. Instead, they should leave them alone provided they do the work within the stipulated timeframe. While not stating it expressly, the supervisors at Walmart Bellingham, especially those of employees handling merchandise, behaved in manner to suggest that they did not believe that, left on their own, the workers could do their work. The supervisors were on the backs on their juniors most of the time. Some of them could be seen "demonstrating" how and how not to display items on the shelves. None of the workers was new to their work. Some supervisors were clearly lording it over their subordinates to the extent they became a distraction to shoppers. The branch manager also frequented the till area. The behavior of the branch manager and their supervisors tended to indicate that they believed that their juniors had to be pushed for them to do their work. Several studies at Western Electric Companys Hawthorn plant sought to investigate how the environment affects the productivity of workers (Provided document). In specific terms, the case of the Hawthorne plant, the researchers investigated the effect of intensity of light on worker fatigue and their performance. To the surprise of the researchers, varying brightness had no influence on the performance of the workers. It was only after the light had been deemed that the workers stopped working; naturally, the building had become too dim for any to see anything. However, the researchers made a strange observation: their presence among and interaction with the workers was affecting their performance. Given the attention they were receiving from the researchers, some workers were so excited that their performance improved. Walmart Bellingham staff reported mixed perceptions of their managers. Some employees believed that their managers were fair and allowed them the space to do their work. Surprisingly, most of those who held this view were the merchandise handlers whose supervisors’ behavior was observed as reported above. On the other hand, the majority of cashiers perceived their supervisors as controlling. While the supervisors were not asked why they behaved as they did, it is likely due to the sensitive nature of their work. Some cashiers also complained that repeatedly they were forced to pay, from their salaries, for cash they could not account. That action by the managers greatly demoralized the affected cashiers. Two principles of management were found irrelevant to Walmart Bellingham. The first was Weber’s second principle that states that people in managerial positions should hold their positions by virtue of merit, not their standing in society or social networks (Provided document). The manager of Walmart Bellingham believes that they deserve their position. They reported having worked for the company for over twenty years in different capacities and at different branches. According to them, they have been in the organization long enough to understand it "intimately". The supervisors, while not boasting of as many years as those of their manager, also believe that they have earned their positions through meritocracy. All of them reported having worked for the company for at least five years. On their part, employees had a different view of how people get managerial positions at the company. According to the majority of them, race played a significant role in getting a person promoted to a managerial position. They confided that, at Walmart, a white secured a promotion with more ease than a person of color. In addition, female employees believed that Walmart denied them promotions. These perceptions have implications for the productivity of workers. Those workers, who believe that they have been at the company long enough to deserve a managerial position, felt demoralized. Distinction must be made between the length of service and qualification. The researcher could not establish whether or not employees who harbored the feeling of having discriminated against qualified to hold managerial positions according to the policies of the company. The second principle that did not ground in the case of Walmart Bellingham was Follet’s that stipulates that given the freedom to perform their work, employees can contribute to the efficiency of the organization in ways management could not perceive (Provided document). Follet argued that rather than seeking to control employees, managers should instead focus on creating a conducive working environment that would encourage creativity and initiative. Follet based their argument on the belief that by virtue of performing their job tasks on a daily basis, workers, not managers, understand their work and are better placed to improve efficiency and productivity. The Walmart Bellingham store is well furnished and air-conditioned. On the surface, the store creates a great working environment. However, there is more to a conducive working environment than just physical conditions . Walmart Bellingham employees reported working for long hours. On certain occasions, they were denied pay for extra hours of work, rest and lunch break. Going by the word of the workers, it is unlikely that creativity and initiative will come out of an overworked employee. Instead, it is likely that such a worker will have to be shoved around for them to perform their work. The store could implement a program where every employee works for a specified number of hours then goes to rest while another sits in for them. Such a program could go a long way toward rejuvenating the workers and encouraging creativity. Conclusion The study of Walmart Bellingham indicates that many of the early principles of scientific management still valid today. The clear chain of command at the store makes operations there quite efficient. The perceptions that workers at the store have of their seniors influences the way they behave at work. The observed behavior of the branch manager and their team of supervisors indicated that they subscribed to Theory X where workers are perceived as inherently lazy and have to be pushed to do their work. Even those principles that are reported as being “irrelevant” to Walmart Bellingham are still relevant in the practice of management; it is only that the management of the store does not observe them. Works Cited Provided document. "unknown." unknown. walmart stores, inc. wal-mart stores, inc annual report on form 10-k for the fiscal year ended january 31, 2013. Fiscal report. Bentonville: Walmart Stores, Inc, 2013. Read More