Walmart Case Study: Analyzing The Risks And Issues

Question

Task: Through completion of this assessment you will develop your case study skills through undertaking research and analysis on a targeted organisation. If applicable, you may refer to this case study in your essay to support your arguments.

Where to start
(1) You will first need to identify an organisation that is of interest to you AND for which you are able to examine, through research, its work-related management strategies, practices, processes and/or outcomes and be able to analyse and assess these in relation to the topic/s identified at point 2.

(2) You will be expected to analyse your case using theories/concepts/frameworks from the following topic/s that we cover early in this unit:

• Motivation
• Learning
• Diversity and People Management

Answer

Executive Summary: The present walmart case study throws light upon the world famous American grocery retailer called Walmart.Inc. It is commonly known as Walmart across the globe. The walmart case study throws light upon a brief understanding about the company, its position and how it works. In today’s world, Walmart is one of the best companies, the consumers rely on. A study has been made in this walmart case study has been made to understand why it is holding this position. Further, it is added in the walmart global strategy case study about the various marketing strategies chosen by Walmart for its consistent growth and worldwide development. To add to this, the various theories from which Walmart derives its strategies are analyzed in this walmart global strategy case study. Certain issues have been identified in this walmart global strategy case study as loop holes of the company. Certain recommendations are also provided to resolve these issues raised in this case study on walmart.

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Background: The organization chosen for the current case study on walmart is Walmart.Inc.

Walmart.Inc is an American Multinational Corporation of retailers, which carries forward a huge track of grocery stores, hypermarket and departmental stores giving discounts. Walmart is a global organization, located across the globe. Walmart was founded, way back in 1962, by Sam Walton. Presently, it is headquarter at Bentonville at Arkansas. In the contemporary times, Walmart possesses a huge market. This is so, because it has adopted the most appropriate marketing strategies and has followed the best marketing theories. The present Chief Executive Officer of Walmart is Doug McMillan (Mun&Yazdanifard, 2012). Today, Walmart comprises of 11,350 stores approximately, in about 27 countries across the globe. It also possesses diverse names in the diverse countries.

Major Issues Concerned and the Management Strategies and Practices
The key management strategies and practices issued by Walmart is motivation of the employees and diversity management. The motivation of the employees implies that more and more encouragement should be given to the employees so that they can bring out the best in them. They should feel important in the company and feel that they are highly wanted. Every employee should be given encouragement so that they can work in the most efficient way, for the benefit of the company. If the employees feel motivated, then the best outcome would be got for the company. Hence, motivation acts as an excellent mode of management strategy. It ensures that the employees feel motivated and all their talents come up (Sarathy& Gopal, 2011).

Diversity Management implies all the acts relating to the organization which possesses the target of the promotion of higher rates of employment of the employees. These employees would be recruited from different cultures and backdrops so that the best of all the cultures could be received. This strategy can prove to be very effective for attracting employees across the globe. This is so, because the best of all the ideas could be received and the best of opinions could be gathered from the employees. In this way provided in this walmart case study, there would be a flourishing growth of the company across the world. There is provision of proper training and creation of awareness among these newly employed recruits, from the diverse backgrounds. These employees receive the required knowledge important for their working. Walmart uses specialized training facilities for the employees so that they can learn quickly. To add to this, Walmart employs both Cross national diversity management as well as international diversity management (Hill et al., 2014). The adoption of this mode, provides tangible advantages and the recognition of new talents scattered all over the world.

Despite the adoption of the best of the marketing strategies by Walmart, there are certain issues which arise in the function of the company. A wide difference is made between the employers and the employees of Walmart. As a result of which, the motivation goes in vain. They feel unimportant in the company. When there is recruitment of employees from different states under diversity management, all the employees of all the states are not given equal recognition. Thus, they feel neglected and do not work in the best of their ways. Sometimes, there is absence of training and specialization facilities to the employees. To add to this, there prevails a communication gap between the management team and the employees. Due to this, all the important directives are not conveyed to the employees all the time. There rises issues in Walmart, due to this miscommunication (Kinicki et al., 2011). To add to this, there is also the prevalence of the communication gap between the employer and the employees, the executive team with the employees. Due to the absence of diversity management, there arises communication gap between the employees possessing different culture and language. There is absence of common topics to discuss and thus, the relationship between the peer groups is not friendly. This creates coordination issues and also causes confusion in some orders of Walmart. Furthermore, all the decisions are taken by the management team itself. The inclusion of the employees is not done. This misses out on lot of significant opinions which could come up from the employees of Walmart. There is absence of joint sitting of the employer employee meeting in the company which causes disruption in its functioning. There is lack of proper coordination in the employer employee relationship.

Analysis and Application of the relevant Theory
To have a better understanding as to why Walmart’s marketing strategies are into effect, there is a need for analyzing the relevant and the best theories, from which these marketing strategies are developed. Some of the most important theories in practice by the global companies are that of Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and Vroom’s Expectancy Theory.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs signifies that the general people inherently, have created some requirements which are crucial to live in a society. These requirements include self realization, safety, love, personal esteem, physiological needs and belonging. Out of these requirements it is essential that some of these requirements need to be understood at the first instance. These requirements include safety, love, physiological needs and belonging needs. These are often termed as lower order needs (Glanz, Bader &Iyer, 2012). The higher order needs are secondary in nature. They include personal esteem and self realization. After a close perusal of the analysis of the marketing strategies of Walmart, it becomes imminent that the physiological requirements of the employees are fulfilled. This is so, because the remuneration framework of the employees, are secured. They are provided with plenty of health benefits. Sometimes, the employer and the employees work as ‘partners’ together. To add to this, Walmart makes sure that both, the higher order requirements as well as the lower order requirements are fulfilled within reasonable time. Walmart intends to make its employees well wanted in the company. This course of action provides for love and belonging in the company. If both the higher order requirements and the lower order requirements are fulfilled, there remains no scope of dissatisfaction, complaint or unhappiness within the employees. They would bring out the best in them and provide for the faster development and the smooth functioning of the company. They possess awards for excellence, for all those selected employees, devoid of any discrimination on the basis of diversity, who work really hard for the benefit of the company (Krypa, 2017). The awardees are held with high respect and position. These methods create a sense of motivation among the employees to work more in order to receive the benefits for themselves as well as for their company. Walmart ensures the provision of other allowances for free groceries and involuntary and voluntary opportunities of training and learning. There should be communication between the employees in a common language. This would help in the easy understanding of each other. The employees receive a wide range of exposure while working Walmart. Adoption of these modes would attract the employees from different parts of the world. The mode of self realization is of utmost importance, because the employees know where they lie in the actual scenario (Roberts &Zahay, 2012). Thus, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs has a direct relation with Walmart’s marketing strategies of motivation.

The theory on Diversity Management as discussed in this walmart case study is based on the Diversity and people management mechanisms issued in Walmart. It is an outlook towards the management of the employees, laying stress on the talents, capabilities of the employees. It is implemented through various employment policies and programs. Under it, there is the HRM which includes the essentials of human factors, determination of the relation among the employees with a sustainable performance. The organizational behavior theories include the analysis of the personalities through interviews, so that the right person can be employed for the right job. There would be enhancement of learning, training and leadership styles. An analytical structure for the studying of HRM would be provided. There is connection between the HRM activities and the corporate strategies. There would be encountering of the employees with the stakeholders and the union. These factors would frame the external factors which the employees have to abide by. There would be greater representation of the minority groups. In Walmart, the stereotypical behaviors are opposed to the new methods under diversity management, as there is recruitment of employees across the globe. There is prevalence of social equality under this theory. Equal opportunities would be provided to all the employees irrespective of any discrimination based on caste, race and state. There would be improvement in creativity, innovation, sales, market shares, solution to disputes regarding decision making and improved relationships. There would be provision of ‘floor of rights’ by the legislation for the benefit of all employees under the marketing strategy of Walmart.

Thus, the above theories of Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs and the Theory on Diversity and People Management focus on the appropriate ways of motivation and diversity management of the employees for the smooth functioning of the company. Walmart issues motivation and diversity management as important sources of marketing strategies in its global working process. Based on these marketing strategies, the above two theories compliment their strategies to a great extent.

Recommendations: Identification of the Solutions
After a close perusal of the facts, management strategies and practices, and the analysis of the relevant theories, it can be stated in this walmart case study that Walmart incorporates the most efficient ways of motivation and diversity management strategies for its employees and for the promotion of the smooth functioning of the business. However, there are certain issues faced by them. In order to curb them, it is recommended in this walmart case study that the management of the particular Walmart branch should take the opinions of the employees in decision making procedure of Walmart. There is need to improve the communication skills between the management and the employees and the executive with the employees. To add to this, it is also recommended that after the recruitment of the employees in their company, necessary training should be provided to them. There should be creation of awareness among the employees about the major issues of the company. They should be trained in that manner, so that they can efficiently deal with those issues. They should also be at par with the technological advancements. Following these recommendations would lead to the smooth functioning of Walmart and their adequate marketing strategies would be effective.

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References
Glanz, K., Bader, M. D., &Iyer, S. (2012). Retail grocery store marketing strategies and obesity: an integrative review. American journal of preventive medicine, 42(5), 503-512.

Hill, Walter A., RaymonShange, Miles Robinson, and Tasha M. Hargrove.(2014)"A transformative partnership between socially and historically disadvantaged farmers, 1890 land grant institutions, and Walmart."Professional Agricultural Workers Journal 1, no. 2

Kinicki, A., Williams, B. K., Scott-Ladd, B. D., & Perry, M. (2011).Management: A practical introduction. McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Kotni, V. D. P., &Karumuri, V. (2018).Application of Herzberg two-factor theory model for motivating retail salesforce.IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17(1), 24-42.

Krypa, N. (2017). Social Economic Development and the Human Resources Management.Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 6(1), 73-76.

Mun, L. Y., &Yazdanifard, R. (2012). Walmart success in Mexico, Canada and China: global expansion, strategies, entry modes, threats and opportunities.

Roberts, M. L., &Zahay, D. (2012).Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies. Cengage Learning.

Sarathy, T., & Gopal, S. (2011). Managing the Diffusion of innovation in Ready-To-Eat Food Products in India.risk, 2(960), 106.