Communication in Business: Wal-Mart - Essay Example

? Communication in Business: Wal-Mart COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS: WAL-MART The ultimate survival of a particular company in any industry depends on the relationship between the company and its consumers, employees, the community and environment. Simply put as “save money-live better” Wal-Mart Corporation expects its consumers around the world to save money and live better lives. Wal-Mart Corporation’s mantra of “save money, live better” has made the corporation attractive and favorite in the eyes of some consumers from different countries. The multi-billion dollar corporation has various large stores spread across the United States and Canada. Wal-Mart Corporation on average has managed to attain a net profit of more than $3 billion USD. Wal-Mart has thousands of employees under its payroll. Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the United States defines the standards of the retail industry in terms of the suppliers and employers. It is important for a large corporation like Wal-Mark to ensure that it satisfies its customers cater for its employees, and when it comes to the environment and the community, it should observe corporate social responsibility. As much as Wal-Mart Corporation has strived to ensure that it puts its mantra of “save money, live better” into action, there have been occasions in which it has let down its consumers, employees, the environment and community. This is through poor management and neglect of mission and social responsibility on the side of the managers. In essence, Wal-Mart Corporation has put more effort in increasing profit for its shareholders than fulfilling corporate social responsibility. This paper examines how Wal-Mart Corporation has performed in terms of social, corporate responsibility. Wal-Mart and its employees A number of individuals, community groups and employees’ labor unions have expressed mixed feelings regarding the welfare of employees in Wal-Mart. In most cases, the welfare involves salary and wages, working conditions, safety, training and holidays. Employee salaries and wages have been a major issue on the debate in that employees’ labor unions, have asserted that Wal-Mart pays its employees a less than average living wage while it makes billions of profit (Lichtenstein, 2006: 2). Additionally, the payments made by Wal-Mart, as salaries and wages to its employees are way low expectations of the retail industry. Wal-Mart also offers less over-time working hours since their normal working hours are 34 hours a week while, on the other hand, its competitor only offer an average of 32 hour a week. This means that if an employee works over time he or she will not get the advantage of working for the two extra hours. Wal-Mart as a retail store makes a lot of profit, which fails to reflect on the salaries of its employees. Working conditions in Wal-Mart are not conducive enough since the company partly violates the “National Labor Relations Act” and the specification of basic human rights through “International Labor Organization”. There are many complaints regarding the harsh working conditions in Wal-Mart through intimidation, threats and firing of employees. Moreover, some complaints have been filed in court against Wal-Mart. In accordance with the “National Organization for Women” (NOW), Wal-Mart Corporation has demonstrated discriminatory practices against its employees, and thus it is a “Merchant of Shame”. Women have been on the forefront fighting against the widespread gender discrimination in Wal-Mart Corporation (Walmart Watch, 2011: 6). Wal-Mart has gone to the extent of failing to pay its employees their hard-earned salaries. This case occurred in 2002 when more than 30 lawsuits claiming millions of dollars belonging to employees filed against Wal-Mart. The lawsuits entailed Wal-Mart forcing some employees to work during their breaks, illegally deleting employees’ time sheet and forceful working during off the clock working hours. Wal-Mart collaborated with managers and supervisors in the act of reducing employees’ labor costs (Blodget, 2010: 1). When it comes to health insurance, it is sad to note that some Wal-Mart’s employees cannot access health insurance since Wal-Mart has made it impossible and expensive to acquire one. The idea of classifying some employees as “part-time employees” has slowed the eligibility process of employees. Moreover, those individuals who have managed to get health insurance as Wal-Mart employees their families cannot enjoy the package since it does not cover spouses and children. Another saddening fact is that Wal-Mart advises its employees to seek public assistance programs pertaining to health insurance such as Medicaid. In essence, when an individual working for a billion dollar company is sick he or she has to apply for a public, medical program for medical assistance. The above issue transforms into state and local governments in that, when Wal-Mart moves into a new community, then pension, retirement benefits and health care costs become too expensive to be covered with property and sales taxes (Morgenson, 2012: 1). The idea behind the rise of harsh working environment is propagated by the hiring of illegal immigrants, who desperate enough to seek any form of employment to ensure their survival (Bustillo, 2012: 1). Authorities have repeatedly raided many Wal-Mart stores and arresting some of its employees who have been found to be illegal immigrants. This has made War-Mart Corporation and its executives face charges of labor racketeering (Barstow, 2012: 1). Community The motto set by War-Mart that states “Buy America”, is in the process of disintegration as the store has embarked on long term plans that entail outsourcing from oversees. Conducting imports has been the rule of the day in Wal-Mart since the store’s merchandise amounting to an average of more than 50% are imports from overseas. In particular, the imports come from the People’s Republic of China (Walmart Watch, 2011: 6). The community has also suffered from Wal-Mart through its action of discriminating against disable employees. Wal-Mart clearly ignores federals that stand against discrimination of disable persons from getting employment opportunities. Wal-Mart has defended itself regarding this issue in the court of law after the “Equal Employment Opportunity Commission” and the federal government drew lawsuits alleging discrimination of disabled persons by the store. As a result, Wal-Mart has been required to develop new hiring procedures and train its employees on issues involving anti-discrimination (Taylor & Archer, 2005: 78). Safety Employees’ safety has also been a matter of concern in Wal-Mart Corporation. Lack of safety has been marked with incidences of injury and death. Federal worker regulations partly exist in Wal-Mart’s adherence list. This is true because high cases of flouting the regulations have been witnessed. For instance, Wal-Mart has the policy of “lock-in”, which entails looking entries and exits during the night for security purposes to avoid unauthorized breaks and theft by employees. The manager is the only employee who with a keys to the entry and exit doors. The other employees with no keys are subjected to dangerous life-threatening situations if incidence of fire outage occurs (Walmart Watch, 2011: 3). The positive side However, a point of compromise can be drawn that reveals the positive aspects of Wal-Mart Corporation. In essence, Wal-Mart has demonstrated corporate, social responsibility in the following parties; consumers, employees, the environment and community (Kotler & Lee, 2008: 63). A company that seeks to provide corporate social responsibility aims at creating highest form on goodness to the entire society. The management of Wal-Mart finds itself in a situation that it has to provide quality services to consumers, pay salary to its employees, make profits for its stakeholders and return some profit to the community as a show of good will. If the manager, of Wal-Mart attains the above then he or she has achieved corporate social responsibility (Halbert & Ingulli, 2011: 24). Wal-Mart has employed 1% of the total population of the United States cutting down the unemployment rate drastically. The number of employees working for Wal-Mart worldwide on an average amounts to 2 million. Consumers have been offered the lowest price of commodities making the motto “save money-live better” a reality. The daily influx of customers in to Wal-Mart stores is attributed to the services, which Wal-Mart offers in terms of availing the store with quality goods and services at a price that an average American can afford. Wal-Mart does not only provide goods and services at low costs, but it ascertains the right quality of products, which can, turn in, improve a customers’ life for the better (Roberts & Berg, 2012: 40). Wal-Mart has also put the community into consideration by developing a five-year plan that seeks to cut down on the unhealthy levels of fats, sugar and salts in packaged foods and, in turn cut down the prices of healthy products such as vegetables and fruits. Additionally, the plan involves rating products in terms of their contents, which are levels of sugar, fat and sodium content. The company will use its influence in the retail industry to make companies that process food products make their foods healthier (Barstow, 2012: 1). Wal-Mart has embarked on a plan that will ensure environment protection through the promotion of energy conservation measures. The measures include decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, cut down solid waste and increasing fuel efficiency. Wal-Mart is part of a project that funds energy-efficiency programs through donating to food banks $2 million USD. Furthermore, corporate social responsibility to the community and the environment is demonstrated through Wal-Mart’s program of selling generic drugs prescription at a low cost of $4 USD (Taylor & Archer, 2005: 78). References Barstow, David. "Wal-Mart Hushed Up a Vast Mexican Bribery Case ." The New York Times, 2012: 1. Blodget, Henry. "Walmart Employs 1% Of America. Should It Be Forced To Pay Its Employees More?" BUSINESS INSIDER, 2010: 1. Bustillo, Miguel. "Wal-Mart Faces Risk in Mexican Bribe Probe ." THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2012: 1. Halbert Terry & Ingulli Elaine. Law & Ethics in the Business Environment. Sydney: Cengage Learning, 2011. Kotler, Philip & Lee, Nancy. Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing The Most Good For Your Company And Your Cause. London: Wiley India Pvt. Limited, 2008. Lichtenstein, Nelson. Wal-Mart: The Face Of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism. New York: New Press, 2006. Morgenson, gretchen. "New York Pension Funds to Challenge Wal-Mart." The New York Times, 2012: 1. Roberts, Bryan & Berg, Natalie. Walmart: Key Insights and Practical Lessons from the World's Largest Retailer. New York: Kogan Page Publishers, 2012. Taylor, Donald & Archer Jeanne. Up Against The Wal-marts: How Your Business Can Prosper In The Shadow Of The Retail Giants. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2005. Walmart Watch. "Making Change At Walmart: Our Communities, Our Future." United Food and Commercial Workers International Unions(UFCWIU), 2011: 1-10. Read More