Introduction
Walmart Inc. is an American company based in Bentonville with many other branches operating a grocery chain, hypermarkets, and stores. Besides groceries and consumables, the company’s shops provide various health and wellness services, hardlines, fashion, technology, entertainment, and home goods at low prices. In the Arkansas town of Rogers, Sam Walton established the first Walmart in 1962 (Norouz, 2020). Walmart offers itself to the world by providing opportunities and value to its clients and people worldwide. Walmart wants to ensure that competent people are readily available by maintaining a healthy balance between the supply and demand of human resources. The new staff is constantly hired and trained by the business, filling vacancies quickly. The chosen human resource issue chosen is the good environmental culture that the company has created. Walmart’s administration requires its employees to encompass the organizational culture to help attract many consumers.
Critical Evaluation of Walmart Inc.
Firms learn from previous experiences and implement behaviors daily, thus developing the workplace culture. Edgar Schein provided a concept of organizational culture in which the underpinnings create values and shape practices and conduct, which is the visible portion of the culture (Schein, 2020). The concept’s three levels of organizational leadership enhance artifacts, espoused, and basic assumptions. Artifacts are the most obvious manifestations of a company’s culture, yet they only hint at the true nature of an organization’s culture. Organizational espoused values give some insight into the organization’s culture, and changing them can change its culture. They may include customer satisfaction, networking, innovation, creativity, and teamwork. Basic assumptions are beliefs that are not challenged, as they are taken for granted as facts.
Analysis of artifacts may offer some insight into an organization’s culture but it will not provide much information about its actual practices. The layout of the organization’s store has a large warehouse to keep the products available to the consumers at friendly prices (Yuan, Zhang and Wong, 2021). The artifacts at Walmart are the warehouse layout, dress code, and merchandise found in the stores and marketed in promotional flyers and media. The informality of the company’s environment is fostered by the television advertising that may be seen at shopping malls. The spacious working environment provided by the company provides the best avenues for the workers to contribute to the organization’s growth.
Technology is an essential aspect of the company that has helped it compete effectively with other businesses. Walmart has incorporated technology into its marketing operations to aim for higher profit margins (Sathananthan et al., 2017). It tracks its sales system through integrated information and satellite communications. It facilitates the company to reach customers from most parts of the world. Customers can order goods from their convenience points and get them delivered to them. The company has experimented the cashier-less technology in some of its stores.
Walmart Inc.’s dress code requires its employees to adhere to some guidelines during their dressing. The workers should not appear casually dressed to the customers (Sprague, 2018). The employees must wear appropriate shoes and clothes, and the staff cannot wear a hat or sunglasses. Before 2018, the dress code at the company was strict, and the employees had limited clothes they could choose to wear (Sprague, 2018). However, currently, the organization has a more lenient dress code policy that gives the workers more freedom. Employees must wear clothes that should be clean and free from stains. The clothing that the staff wears should be appropriate for the places they work.
To project a good image, the workers should dress nicely. The clothing should not be suggestive, offensive, or inappropriate. The company’s free assembly line employees can wear more casual attire (Sprague, 2018). The employees can wear shorts provided they have reasonable length and should not hinder the daily operations of the worker. The workers can wear shirts of any color or pattern they like. While in the store, the workers may wear sneakers instead of the official dress code. Employees can wear chinos, jeans, skirts, slacks, and capris in the color they like. Leggings or yoga pants are not allowed in the workplace since they are considered activewear. The workers break the dress code if they wear bedazzled trousers, distressed denim, and ripped jeans. Employees can style their hair as they deem fit, provided it does not interfere with their duties or distract them. Irrespective of the employee’s clothes, they must always put on the name badge. The badge is worn on the left side of the chest and must always be visible for quick identification at the firm.
Espoused values are views expressed by a firm concerning the organization’s culture and working procedures. Espoused values are indicators and levers of culture that go deeper than artifacts but are less profound than the underlying values. Shared ideals at Walmart encompass reasonable pricing, worker input, and fair treatment (Diermeier, 2017). Walmart’s management aims to create a favorable customer and employee environment. Whether clients want to purchase online, at a store, or on a mobile device, the company’s mission is to provide a quick and convenient shopping experience. As the retail industry evolves, Walmart continues to develop cost-effectiveness as long as it maintains a strict code of conduct. Sam Walton established a solid corporate culture at Walmart that still firmly stands (Norouz, 2020).
More sustainable business practices allow the firm to become the most trusted retailer of its clients since they save them both money and time. Regularly, Walmart aims to gain the confidence of its consumers and ensure that they understand why they should purchase there. The organization achieves this by providing goods that positively impact the areas in which they are sold.
Walmart’s culture allows the welcoming of new employees to the firm. It removes barriers to those seeking employment by employing anyone without racial, religious, or discrimination. For numerous organizations, a criminal past or lack of formal schooling prevents them from being considered for employment. The company boasts of its reduced obstacles to employment and avenues to professional advancement. In 2020, it enrolled employees, many of whom had lost their employment because of the effects of COVID-19 (Li et al., 2021). The firm is pleased that many employees begin their careers in part-time employment while attending school or caring for their families, and there are several prospects for advancement to full-time and beyond.
Transformational and transactional leadership are encompassed in the organization to assist it in attaining its desired goals. It helps make the lives of the workers at the company easy, and thus there is enhanced work satisfaction in the organization. Transformational leadership theory encourages the whole team to succeed (Strukan, Nikolić and Sefić, 2017). The organizational managers often visit the stores to assess the operation. Therefore, the managers are informed of the issues affecting the workers. It helps make the best decisions to positively impact the organization, thereby improving innovation and creativity (Reza, 2019). Thus, the desired balance is thus attained in the organization without oppressing the workers. The actions undertaken in the company are based on the feedback provided by the consumers. John Kotter stressed the importance of integrity among employees in enhancing organizational culture (Marampa, Khananda and Anggraeni, 2021). The company promotes high levels of integrity in which workers assess their abilities, celebrate their successes, and pinpoint areas in which they may do better.
The company motivates its employees so that the company can maximize profits. Part-time and full-time workers get incentives depending on the store’s success (McMann, 2019). Walmart provides the most excellent working conditions for its workers compared to other retail businesses. Discouraging or criticizing anybody else in the organization is forbidden since everyone has their values and views. According to Aristotle’s argument, pleasure or well-being is possible if one has an outstanding character (Ezedike, 2018).
Aiming to behave excellently within the organization creates happiness, eventually leading to business success as everyone works towards the organization’s goals. Unmotivated workers have stressed minds, and thus they cannot contribute effectively to the profitability and organization of the company. Charles Handy’s dimensions include the ideals and conventions about the allocation of power within an organization based on expertise, interest, and education (Janićijević, Nikčević and Vasić, 2018). Walmart encompasses this concept where the workers are given the responsibilities they can manage.
Employees at Walmart aim to be the best and always respectfully serve clients. Walmart managers feel every employee has a voice and a significant role to play in the company’s success (Rogers, 2018). Walmart has developed its corporate culture as a critical component of its strategic planning. The company is revolutionizing how an employer helps its employees prepare for the future of work by generating retail expertise and prospects for upward mobility. All the workers are treated equally, and there are no concerns regarding ethnicity, race, or religion. Therefore, the employees are focused on achieving their full potential to maximize the company’s profits. The administration interacts with their staff and pays close attention to what they say. The company’s open door policy indicates that any employee with a problem may meet with a member of management who is equipped to listen to their concerns. The company takes complaints about general concerns and harassment seriously with a stringent ethical policy.
The company aims to maintain competitiveness in the market and, therefore, to incorporate the latest trends in technology. For Walmart, adaptability is assumed essential to keep up with prevailing changes (Phillips and Rozworski, 2019). Another assumption is that corporate culture may encourage the managers to strive to attain more power in the company. Employees can only begin to understand the company’s unseen characteristics if they have worked there for an extended time in the firm. A firm’s management has a tough time managing its core principles because of the many cultural differences among its employees. Managing the firm’s core principles becomes more challenging due to the business’s wide range of cultural differences. Because of the diversity of cultures in the company, it is challenging to analyze these assumptions of the organization.
Conclusion
Walmart requires its workers to constantly adhere to its values to create an impressive image for the consumers. An important lesson is that cooperation between the managerial team and its workers leads to the organization’s success. Business success is primarily determined by how well-motivated the workers are and how good a company’s work environment is. Working together to achieve corporate objectives, creating a positive working environment, and fostering effective communication and participation among the members are the essential principles of a healthy organizational culture. These practices are easily transferable within the organization if the workers are determined to make the business attain profitability.
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