Management Assignment: Performance Tasks Based On The Case Of Walmart

Question

Task: Write a reflective journal on computer architecture assignment analysing the theoretical concepts captured from the weekly material.

Answer

Task 1
• The risk managementprogram ofWalmart outlined herein management assignment focuses on the areas that have the highest risk to environmental, social and safety compliance. The current policies of the company evaluate the factors such as the effectiveness of the government, control of corruption and stability of the government which can control the risks in the supply chain (corporate.walmart.com, 2020).

• The risks from the environmental scans are the backlash that it faces is from the immense waste dumping and the high level of emissions, that causes a threat to the environment. The unavailability of eco-friendly devices and programs led the company to face risks from environmentalists. The company initiated “project gigaton” that prevents the emission for the next ten years (corporate.walmart.com, 2020).

• The potentialthreats that the company can face are industry risks and supplier risk. As the company works with several stakeholders and partners the risks can be better understood in the industry and therefore programs specific to the risks can be designed. With the help of third-party assessments andinternal assessments, the company can understand the maturity of the compliance system of its suppliers.

• The company further faces risk due to the immense competition in the national and international markets. These competitors limit the scope of the company to successfullythrive and make a place in the international markets (Nguyen, 2017). The company faces risks related to the operations and utilises resources from suppliers, labour and market development.
• The “fair trade commission” is regulation imposed by the government for motivating the risks imposed on the consumers. The "department of labour" also imposes restrictions on the working hours and restrictslong periods of work. Therefore,these laws mitigate any risks of safety or mishandling ofinformation (Kobayashiet al. 2015).

Evidence:
• The task of mitigating risk is done by the companyby implementing an ERP system. This is a five-step process that providesanswers regarding the risks that the company is facing, the steps that the company can take for removing the risks, the negative or positiveimpact of the risks and also provides a demonstration of the shareholder value (Li, Chang, &Yen, 2017).

• The information regarding the risks and threats was gathered by successfully implementing the ERP system. A risk identificationworkshop was arranged for prioritizing the biggest risks that Walmart faces and can face in the future (Mamoghli, Goepp,& Botta-Genoulaz, 2015).

• The risk identificationprocess was completed within a month and made plans for mitigating and processing the risks that could occur in the company for the next ten years (Tenhiälä, Rungtusanatham,& Miller, 2018).

Task 2
• The stakeholders of the company influence strategic decisions and helps in identifying the risks or threats. These stakeholders impact the business indirectly or directly. The identification of the stakeholders can be important to make the decisions for having a position in stakeholder management. The stakeholders of the company include the investors, customers, suppliers and employers (Martínez, Galván, & Alam, 2017). These stakeholders must be consulted with to identify the risks and the scope in the company.

• Political- the policies of the company can affect the suppliers and manufacturers. The company needs to operate in countries that are politically stable for avoiding any risks of an unstable economy. The risk of loses can be prevented (García-Nietoet al. 2015).

Economic- the risk of economy hit is prevalent in the company. The places where the company operates can face a change in the economy. This can provide a risk of raising or lowering costs. Social- adjusting to the social factors of another country is a risk. The company failed to understand the social factors of Germany and therefore faced a huge loss (Nandonde, 2019).

Legal - the laws of “employment regulations”, "labour laws", "data protection laws” and “safety and health laws" must be followed by the company. Not abiding by these rules can lead the company to face huge risks of losses (Martínez, Galván, & Alam, 2017).

Technological-digital transformation is important for avoiding risks of failure. Automation and robots can be used by the company (Nandonde, 2019).

Policy- the bills passed by the government is a threat to the revenueof corporations. The bill of raising the minimum wages of employees is a policypassed by the government, which if not followed can pose a threat of shutting the stores.

• “Documentation Reviews”, “brainstorming”, “checklist analysis”, “swot analysis” can be used for generating the risks faced by the company. With the help of these tools the risks that Walmart faces can be analyzed.
Evidence:
• The tasks of generating the risks were done with the help of swot analysis and brainstorming sessions and by asking the stakeholders to give an opinion about the risks (Muda, 2018).
• With the help of these tools, it was found out that the risks of loss of revenue and low profits were faced by the company. This was gathered by performing a SWOT analysis where the threats were discussed (Muda, 2018).
• It was done for a period of 2 months

Task 3
• The hazards such as not following the rule of increasing wages and not abiding by the government policies are identified The decision of who can be harmed is formed- the customers and the internal stakeholders can be harmed (Pope, & Pope, 2015).
The risks are assessed and action is taken- the matrices are prepared and presented to the company for understanding the risks and the policies are told to follow (Mangla, S. K., Kumar, & Barua, 2015). The findings are recorded- the steps that the company took after identifying the risks and understanding the impacts are recorded. The risk assessment is then reviewed later for prioritizing the risks that are a top priority and must be solved first.

• Risk matrix

Evidence-
• The organizationperformed the tasks by conductingbrainstorming sessionswhere the risks were identified and a risk matrix was formedhighlighting the risks from high to low priority (Sadgrove, 2016)
• The information was gathered by asking the stakeholders and the employees about the recent risks and problems that the company was facing by conducting interviews (Sadgrove, 2016).
• The risk register was formed over a period of 5 months to analyze the risks correctly and form a register according to high and low priority. ,/

Task 4. A
• The goal of the risk control is to highlight the threats that the company is facing and to successfullyeliminate those risks. The risk control is done to make sure that the new laws imposed by the government are followed and the change in the economy is considered so that the company does not go through any loss (Osei-Kyei,& Chan, 2015). The target time frames for successfully implementing the risk control are 6-7 months.

• The high priority risks must be treated first. Themost appropriate option to treat the risk is to make proper planning and selecting a time frame when the control can be applied. This can then be used for implementing the control. The most appropriate option is to make the company realize the importance of mitigating the risks (Van Gelderen, Kautonen, & Fink, 2015). This is done by considering any shift in theeconomy of the operatingcountries, identifying the changes in the needs of customers and including products that can satisfy their needs.

• Action plan

• Meetings are held in the company to inform the staffs about the progressand action plans undertaken (Lamet al. 2015). The proper trainingsession is also conducted to make them familiarize with the situation so that they can take steps as per their understanding. The stakeholders involved such as investors and customers are also informed about the action plan.

Evidence-
• The tasks of performing action plan were conducted by the staffs and CEO of the company. Several training sessions and interviews were conducted to make the shareholders understand the importance of the change and the reason for mitigating the risks (Olson,& Wu, 2015).

• The information was gathered from the interviewsconducted on the shareholdersabout the plans. Their feedback was taken into consideration and appropriate changes were also made (Da Veiga, & Martins, 2015).

• The action plan completed over a period of 4 months.

• Action plan-

Task 4.b
• Monitoring the plan compares the implementation efforts with the real targets and goals. Mentoring helps in determining whether sufficient progress is taking place for achieving the results that were expected and also in determining whether the time planned is maintained. The plan implementation alongwith monitoring shows the importance of workingwithindicators and setting SMART goals from the start of the plan implementation (Borovkovaet al. 2019).

• The monitoring data is evaluated fordetermining the successfulness of the strategies and plans. The current monitoring is important to be reviewed so that the plan goes as per time and no negativeeffects are created on the company (Li,& Liu, 2018).The work with measurable data starts with the baseline review of the problems and risks that the company is facing and is then analyzed according to the priority of the risks. The implementation of the action plan must be monitored in a proper way so that the feedback can be reported. The data of Walmart is monitored to find out whether the actions taken are going on the right path. The actions are taken for mitigating the risks such as taking the correct path for applying government laws and implementing the high or low prices for adjusting to the economychange (Shamsuzzohaet al. 2017).

• Documentation is maintainedthroughout the implementation and monitoringprocess. The results of the training sessions and brainstorming sessions are documented for analyzing the progress. The system records are used for documenting the performance of the employees and understanding the success of the implemented actions (Grabara, Bajdor, & Mihaescu, 2015).

Evidence:
• The tasks of documentation were performed by the employees and management of the company. proper evidence was collected by using system records and the points of progress are noted down. The parts that have not made progress are reviewed by the management and again acted in the documentation and action plan (Grabara, Bajdor, & Mihaescu, 2015).
• The information was gathered by the previously made action plan after the review and feedback were collected.
• Thedocumentation was done after the implementation of the action plan.

This took 3 months, as after the action plan was prepared a reviewcommitteewas set up for analyzing the plans and setting up a review so that the plan could be completedsooner (Shamsuzzohaet al. 2017).
• The risk managementpractices and the action plan wereevaluated thoroughly for 3 months and system record was used to evidence the documentations.

Reference list
Books
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Sadgrove, K. (2016). The complete guide to business risk management. UK: Routledge, retrieved from: http://llrc.mcast.edu.mt/digitalversion/Table_of_Contents_129744.pdf, retrieved on: 1.6.2020

Journals
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Borovkova, V., Borovkova, V., Boikova, U., & Testina, Y. (2019, March). Improving efficiency of company risk management system monitoring. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 497, No. 1, p. 012055). IOP Publishing, retrieved from: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/497/1/012055/pdf, retrieved on: 1.6.2020

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Website
corporate.walmart.com, (2020), Managing Risk in Our Supply Chain, retrieved from: https://corporate.walmart.com/sourcing/managingrisk, retrieved on: 1.6.2020