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Unit 1 IP: Walmart
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Unit 1 IP: Walmart
Unit 1 Individual Project: Walmart
Human Resources Strategy MGT652-1503C-01
By
Andrew T. Robison
AIU Online
08/01/15
Company’s History
Wal-Mart is a standout amongst the best organizations
according to numerous media outlets, studies, reviews and
prevalent inclination by purchasers on the global market. It is
evident that Sam Walton established it in the 1940s. Sam began
a rebate store at the place where he grew up and soon
discovered that the provincial market needed his items and
business sector thought. In this way, he took an outing around
the nation with his wife and returned to begin the organization
that every individual now knows as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart
incorporates different levels of leadership that has power to
implement policies and strategies, which endeavors to control
the company’s products and brands. In this regard, Wal-Mart’s
organizational structure is broken into three main three parts. It
is evident that Wal-Mart’s organizational structure depicts on
product, market and geographical structure. Notably, Wal-Mart

is a global business organization hence its market structure
clearly presents different responsibilities of the top management
together with the subordinate staff (The Economist, 2006).
Company’s mission statement
Wal-Mart’s mission statement is to save customers money in
order to make them live better livelihoods. It is apparent that
Wal-Mart is one of the retail giants with stores scattered across
the globe. The store offers its customers with a wide variety of
groceries, merchandise, pharmaceuticals among other household
goods. United States economy has greatly benefitted from Wal-
Mart business operations. Notably, Wal-Mart has the pervasive
reputation of having the least cost of any self-regarding store.
This is an added advantage since the business is presently
searching for items that have the most elevated quality and bear
the least cost in the meantime. It remains clear that Wal-Mart is
one of the main organizations, which has adequately verged on
that actuality. In addition, Wal-Mart does not just carry new
business to foreign showcases but also carries the business
society in addition to them (Barbaro, 2006). They picked up a
more amazing impart of the United States advertise in light of
the easier expenses of exchange contrasted with other equal
organizations.
Wal-Mart’s core values
Wal-Mart’s beliefs remain to be the foundation of its business
culture. The company’s core values and beliefs are founded on
striving for excellence, service to customers’, respect for
individual and acting with integrity. In each week that passes,
statistics indicate that more than one hundred customers shop at
Wal-Mart. It is evident that ten out of eight Americans usually
shop at Wal-Mart stores and this is due to their reduced prices.
This move has encouraged a large number of potential
Americans to do mass shopping at the store, however lower
costs are not the main explanation behind the mass shopping by
general society. The stores expanded their accessibility by
furnishing convenient stores in every region of the United
States. Furthermore, the Wal-Mart likewise made accessibility

in its period by making 24 hour working calendar. This makes
comfort for clients to come and purchase products at their
convenient time. In addition, the store has a wide range of
products and brands hence consumers have different choices to
make as they shop.
Products and brands in each store are of high quality and
consumers have build trust and confidence with the business
organization. The store likewise has an alternate face that bars
it from alternate faceless savage enterprises that portray
America. The store has an establishment that commits itself to
the welfare of the neighborhood (The Economist, 2006). Every
year the organization offers millions to philanthropy, schools
and some of the less fortunate communities in need of financial
support. The following diagram illustrates a wide range of
products in one of the Wal-Mart stores.
Wal-Mart leadership
Under the leadership of Doug McMillon, Wal-Mart is bringing
together its logistics network, stores and digital stores abilities
in new ways with the aim of empowering customers to shop at
their convenient time. Doug McMillon leads one of the
strongest management teams which is working as a team in
order to deliver the company’s mission statement. Doug has also
continued to support the technological structure of the company.
Notably, the technological structure comprises of officials and
analysts who help the company in the process of generating
reliable statistics for the entire company. It is evident that this
group of personnel is not involved in the operational workflow
of the company. The work of the personnel is to configure and
design the company in order to allow it operate smoothly. In
this regard, these personnel remain the most qualified people
who give instructions and train the other members within the
organization. In addition, they play a pivotal role in public
relations matters (Robbins, 2007).
In Wal-Mart this personnel usually fill the positions of both
support and marketing managers in different. Furthermore, they

can play an essential part in recruiting new employees and
advertising. Under the leadership of Doug, the organizational
structure of Wal-Mart comprises of a divisional structure, which
is divided into three structures. These structures are namely
geographic structure, product structure and the marketing
structure where each one has it own duty and obligation to
fulfill. The main aim of dividing the organization of Wal-Mart
into these structures is to ensure efficiency in ensuring that they
satisfy the needs of their customers. Ideally, this is to mean that
the leadership divided these divisions so that each plays its
function in ensuring that supply of products to customers is
steady and win a certain share of the market.
Wal-Mart’s strategy
It remains clear that Wal-Mart is currently acknowledging its
customer service challenge. Therefore, the top management of
the company has implemented three strategies after realizing
that its customers are not satisfied. Investing in customer
service is one of the company’s strategies that aim at making
Wal-Mart a better place to work. In addition to this, this
strategy aims at attracting better workers and improving
retention. This means that if workers will work in favorable
environment, customer service will improve thus customers will
remain satisfied. This remains one of the strategic investments
in its customers that aims at reigniting the sense of ownership
they in the company’s stores. Improving groceries is another
strategy because consumers across the globe are increasingly
becoming health-conscious.
It remains clear that Wal-Mart is working to provide customers
with more organic options and fresh produce that suits the
customers’ health needs. According to statistics, this strategy
has greatly improved the company’s grocery business in the
United States stores. Furthermore, the company has introduced
the strategy of letting its customers’ to shop on their terms. It is
foreseeable that the company is working tirelessly to combine
its physical stores with the digital business. The whole idea

includes letting consumers’ pick up online orders in its stores
and offer text reminders from the pharmacy. In addition, the
company is also expanding pick-up tests and grocery delivery.
Wal- Mart’s Human Resource Philosophy
Available information indicates that Wal-Mart has implemented
several strategies with the aim of ensuring that employees relate
well with each other. Indeed, the strategies aim at paying
personal attention to employees by ensuring that the
management listens to the workers grievances and views (Hill &
Jones, 2009). With this, the company weighs and determines
approaches of answering and fulfilling these needs but not at
the expense of the organizational goals. To this end, the
company considers the interests of both the organization and
employees as a pillar in decision making.
According to human resource experts, experienced and skilled
workers are a problem in any given working environment.
Unfortunately Wal-Mart has not been spared in such
management problems. This is bringing a lot of problems
because there is struggle for these experienced people who will
ensure less competition due to their production or marketing
skills. As argued by human resource experts, politicians and
leaders have a great impact when it comes to uniting or
mobilizing people to perform certain tasks or duties (Dowling &
Engle, 2008). Further, they have the ability of helping people in
solving conflicts due to the wave of influence that they
command. Just like the leaders or politicians, the Walmart’s
Human Resource Philosophy aims at uniting people by
addressing the problems of every employee at all levels.
Numerous studies have shown that solving employees’ problems
is the first step in enhancing the prosperity of any organization.
When employees’ problems are addressed, the institution has
more time to find ways and means of handling customer
satisfaction. Apportioning employees’ shares, bonds, and saving
accounts are part of the company’s human resource philosophy
aimed at making the staff view the organization as an
accomplice. With such an attitude, the management of Wal-Mart

has been able to build workers effectiveness (Hill & Jones,
2009).
Any world class enterprise such as Wal-Mart must have unique
human resource philosophy that sets it apart from the rest of its
competitors. Cross pollinations is another human resource
philosophy used at Wal-Mart. This philosophy aims at
alternating managers in different departments. Available
information indicates that under this philosophy, managers with
presenting recommendable results receives various awards and
or remains at their positions within the organization (Dowling &
Engle, 2008). This enhances the health status of the
organization in terms of employee connection and participation.
Recent company reports relating to the human resource at the
company indicates that Wal-Mart supports multicultural
integration in its workforce. The company boasts of inclusivity
of staff from diverse cultural background. Having such an
approach has helped the company make an appeal to a wider
clientele since customers from different cultures feel
represented in the company.
In order to address human resource matters relating to
affirmative action, Wal-Mart boasts as being one of the global
companies’ that has fully addressed this issue. A look at the
company’s staff indicates that female employees constitute
about 51% of the total workforce. The figure is a clear
demonstration that the company does not in any way
discriminate while recruiting (Palacios, 2007). A report released
by one of the leading human resource company’s in the US
indicates that Wal-Mart was voted the best company across
America with the best performing female executives between
2008 and 2010.
As part of its human resource philosophy, the company has
incorporated the founder’s leadership culture, which has
remained the organization’s culture. The company’s culture is
pegged on characteristics that include politeness, mindedness
and environment protection. The company first employee, Sam
Walton initiated the idea of profit sharing in the United States

and he referred employees as associates rather than workers
(Dowling & Engle, 2008). However, customer satisfaction
remains one of the Wal-Mart’s organizational cultures hence
customers demands have always remained upheld. The company
appreciates that existing and potential consumers in business
organizations play a significant role of completing the chain of
distribution, without which no business can realize its
objectives.
Anyone working at Wal-Mart admits that the company has a
definite and unique working culture that enables the company
meet is primary objectives. The company culture emphasizes on
patriotism, religion, low costs, progressiveness and
identification of those who do not belong to any political class.
It is clear that the beliefs and values of the company are in
tandem with the one of the founding CEO (Palacios, 2007). It is
evidently clear that the founding CEO of Wal-Mart, Sam
Walton, emphasized on the aspect of employee smartness hence
the top management of the company has also embraced this
aspect and culture. Further, Wal-Mart operates and continues to
support the culture of employees promoting the company’s
products and brands. This culture has greatly helped the
business organization to maximize its profits.
Wal-Mart approach to recruiting experienced hires
The company appreciates that having the right workforce
ensures that it becomes easy to achieve projected objectives.
One the approach that Wal-Mart has been using is by recruiting
experienced hires. As an established enterprise, the company
makes sure that it has the best qualified staff that can easily
understand and integrate into the system (Walsh, 2013). To this
end, the company has not shied from hiring experienced
personnel into its workforce. In most instances, the company
has depended on trusted referrals as a way of recruiting
experienced hires.
Other than referrals from credible personnel or institutions, on a
number of occasions, Wal-Mart has hired the services of
established human resource companies in recruiting more staff.

The biggest advantage of using an established recruiting agency
is that the company is assured of getting the best staff (Lipman
& Hall, 2008). Statistics indicate that there are obvious changes
in demography. Trends indicate that the populations in
established economies are shrinking while those in growing
economies are growing at alarming rates. This is a cause for
alarm for serious enterprises of global scale such as Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart’s company’s compensation philosophy
Any company whether small scale or of international level must
have a well defined compensation philosophy that reassures its
staff. The compensation philosophies for companies differ from
one company to another. However, they all operate on a basic
principle. Research indicates that Wal-Mart compensation plan
is hedged on the internal equity compensation approach in
which case the company compensates its employees fairly (Hill
& Jones, 2009). In all instances, the compensation is based on
the value of an individual’s job within the organization. Other
than using internal equity compensation approach, Wal-Mart
also considers certain elements of the market based
compensation approach. This is to ensure that the company is
not viewed as being rigid in its compensation philosophy.
As a company, Wal-Mart appreciate the human capital changes
of the 21st century that arguably are increasing in pace and
importance. The company has been able to put in place
measures to address some of the challenges. However, some of
the challenges, such as demographic changes still present
threats to multinationals such as Wal-Mart (Palacios, 2007). In
order to effectively handle the human capital challenges, Wal-
Mart has invested hugely on talent development strategies
intended to foster agility and learning as well as positioning the
enterprise for success. Therefore, education and high skill
levels have become increasingly important tools that will help
the organization handle all matters relating to human capital
changes in the 21st century.

References
Barbaro. M. (2006). Wal-Mart Offers Aid to Rivals.
www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 14th April
Dowling, P., Festing, M., & Engle, A. D. (2008). International
human resource management: Managing people in a
multinational context. London: Thomson Learning.
Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2009). Essentials of strategic
management. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Lipman, F. D., & Hall, S. E. (2008). Executive compensation
best practices. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Palacios, M. (2007). Investing in human capital: A capital
markets approach to student funding. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Robbins, S.P. (2007). Organisational Behaviour (12th ed).
Dorling Kindersley. South Africa.
The Economist. (2006). Another reason to love Wal-mart. The
Economist. NEW YORK. Retrieved 31st July, 2015 from
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2006/11/an_envi
romental_walmart
Walsh, D. J. (2013). Employment law for human resource
practice. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
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Unit 4 IP: Walmart Report
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Unit 4 IP: Walmart Report

Unit 4 Individual Project: Walmart Report
Human Resource Strategy MGT652-1503C-01
By
Andrew T. Robison
AIU Online
09/12/15
Walmart Report
Industry Competitive Position
The grocery industry is greatly diversified and, as such,
houses several market players. Walmart, the leading retailer in
the world prides itself in leading the industry in grocery sales.
As a matter of fact, groceries represent fifty six percent of the
company’s sales revenue which weighs in at around $188 billion
(Soni,n.d.). In Walmart’s international activities, it faces stiff

competition posed by numerous local supermarkets,
hypermarkets and multinational retail chains. Some of the
Company’s most significant rivals include Tesco of the UK,
France’ Carrefour, Germany’s Metro AG and Costco. The U.S
Department of Agriculture reveals that Wal-Mart was the
highest seller of groceries in the year 2013. The Company was
closely followed by Kroger and Safeway in the second and third
positions respectively. In that same year, Publix Supermarkets
came in at distant fourth position.
The grocery industry has some of the characteristics of a
typical near-perfect market whereby there is fierce competition.
There are a few barriers of entrance in the industry and the
price margins are quite low. The margins are low as a result of
various firms’ endless quest to top the market in sales records.
The firms, therefore, set very low item prices in order to attract
and retain customers which in turn directly translate to high
sales. Companies competing in the industry must operate in
large scale activities so as to edge out the stiff competition
present. On that front, it is prudent to say that Wal-Mart is a
large-scale retailer. The benefits of economies of scale driven
purchases along with other advantages that include supply chain
management and low fixed costs have enabled Wal-Mart to
surge upfront in retail-market leadership. Wal-Mart offers lower
prices than the smaller companies in the industry and, therefore,
has used the same in formulating business strategies.
In order to capture the market share, the Company had to
split into different segments that offer the same products but at
different geographical locations. The competitive industry
position that Wal-Mart has is largely due to the same. The
segments: Wal-Mart U.S., Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart
International have a burgeoning reputation which is quite
unmatchable by the competitors’ market standards. The U.S
segment serves all the fifty states of the nation in different
retail store formats while Wal-Mart International operates in 26
countries outside the political jurisdiction of the U.S.A
(Walmart SWOT analysis 2015, n.d). The 2015 fiscal year saw

Wal-Mart generate a massive $485 billion worth of total
revenue, $482 billion being accounted for by sales. Wal-Mart
Inc. has designed the Everyday Low Price (EDLP) strategy from
the economies of scale advantage it enjoys in the industry. The
strategy has enabled the firm to attack the market aggressively
and hence gaining a considerable market share portion
advantage over other companies. The strategic pricing approach
implemented by Wal-Mart has served to enhance its reputation
as an industry leader.
Comparator Group Competitive Position
The Comparator Group comprises of direct rivals, along
with companies that would qualify as business competitors
under uniform conditions of human resource practices, product
range, geographic territories and target market. Therefore, this
Comparator Group competitive position analysis pits Wal-Mart
against its direct industry competitors. It is imperative to state
that Wal-Mart’s scale of operations is unmatched the world
over, hence the Company’s strong position of influence over
both competitors and suppliers. Consequently, Wal-Mart is the
world’s largest private employer with over two million and two
hundred thousand employee names on their payroll. Wal-Mart is
not only a market leader in the United States of America but
also in all the other markets where it conducts business
operations (Walmart SWOT analysis 2015, n.d). The table
below is an illustration of Wal-Mart’s superior position in the
Comparator Group competitive position analysis as presented by
the Strategic Management Insight website.
Wal-Mart
Carrefour
Costco
Tesco
Revenue (USD)
$485.651 billion
About $100 billion
$110.212 billion

About $110 billion
Locations
11453
10105
671
7305
Countries Served
27
34
9
12
Employees
2.2 million
364969
195000
505544
Retail Space (Sq. feet)
1.1 billion
-
95 million
41 million
Recent statistics point to the fact that Wal-Mart recorded a total
revenue of over $476 billion in the year 2015, more than the
combined total of Costco, Carrefour, Tesco and Amazon. Not
only did the giant retailer employ twice as many persons as the
other companies but also owned five times more in terms of
retail space. According to Forbes Magazine, Wal-Mart is at
position 19th overall in terms of value which is about 23.3
billion. The only direct competitor that featured in the most
valuable brands list published by Forbes is Amazon. Carrying
the tag of largest world retailer means a lot to Wal-Mart. The
Company has a competitive edge over the other companies in
the comparator group because of the following reasons:
· Economies of scale. Wal-Mart distributes the fixed costs over
all the products sold and, therefore, the Company manages to

sell at lower prices compared to the other firms in the industry.
· Efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources. Since the
Company has stores in numerous locations, it is possible to
effectively put to use such resources as skills, knowledge,
distribution facilities and information systems.
· Gains from the implementation of best practices. Wal-Mart
can possibly identify ways of executing tasks, hiring new
employees or managing the retail stores and, as such, can amass
significant gains through vast implementation of the same
across all the stores. If the Company had fewer stores, the direct
advantage over direct rivals would’ve been negligible.
· Riskless tests. The large number of retail stores at the
company’s disposal provides a reasonable margin for error in
conducting various experiments. The risk of losing revenue or
profits is greatly mitigated by the vast number of stores
available.
· Power over competitors and suppliers. The fact that Wal-Mart
is a worldwide brand implies that the Company has the power to
dictate the prices of goods bought from suppliers. In the same
spirit, Wal-Mart can also kill competition by selling products at
excessively low prices, even if it means incurring losses for a
considerable period of time.
Human Resource Risks
The Company is exposed to a wide variety of human resource
risks. Some of the risks include legal risks, integrity risks and
internal recruitment risks.
Integrity Risks
Several companies have in the past succumbed to the
losses and adverse effects created by the attachment of integrity
risks. It is common to hear about big firms and even
governments, grappling with bribery and corruption scandals.
Wal-Mart is no exception to the integrity risk problem. Among
the most closely-observed alleged malfeasance cases, Wal-
Mart’s bribery scandal of April 2012 ranks highly alongside the
most notable ones. The story was cast into the light for
everyone to see through the activities of New York Times that

involved publishing of an investigative article that alleged the
involvement of Wal-Mart in a Mexican bribery scandal
(Heineman, 2014). The Company was alleged to have tried to
cover up the activities of its top officials in Bentonville,
Arkansas. The integrity risks pose serious governance issues
which could bring down the Company. One of the governance
issues that such a risk would present is the perpetuation of a
culture of silence that could directly lead to concealment of
fraud in the organization and incompetence in management.
Inefficiency Caused by Internal Recruitment
Recruiting individuals at an internal level poses a human
resource risk to Wal-Mart. Anne Fisher once claimed in Fortune
Magazine that forty percent of newly found leaders fail to
deliver according to their expectations during the first one-and-
half years (Bradt, 2013). The main reason for such occurrences
is the failure to fit, adjust or deliver as per the Company
expectations. The surprising fact is that this happens to people
getting promoted from within the organization also as opposed
to the general expectation that the same would only happen in
the case of external recruitment. As much as the people
promoted from within Wal-Mart are less likely to experience a
clash with the company culture, they also face the delivery and
adjustment related risks. The fit problem sets in when there is a
mismatch between the firm’s “Behaviors, Relationships,
Attitudes, Values and Environment” (BRAVE) and the promoted
individual’s personal preferences (Bradt, 2013). In the event
that there is a poor fit, the firm has to naturally reject the new
recruit. The delivery problem arises because of organization
alignment issues, role expectations, poor relationships, slow
learning or failure to build a well-performing employee team.
Legal Risks
Wal-Mart also faces the risk of fighting legal challenges against
former or current employees seeking compensation or other
monetary-related claims in court. Employees who don’t receive
reasonable compensation from the Company in the event that

injuries occur to them in the cause of carrying out employment
tasks could file lawsuits in court for the same.
Human Resources Opportunities
The majority of Wal-Mart’s opportunities revolve about
improving business practices and expansion (Smithson, 2015).
The opportunities are intertwined with the world’s economic
situation. The issues that the human resource wing of Wal-Mart
faces represent opportunities for the Company to improve on the
same. Some of the human resource opportunities include
improvement in human resource practices, improvement in
ethical standards and adoption of better company training
policies.
Improvement in Human Resource Practices
The Company has an opportunity of improving its human
resource practices so as to reduce the number of former
employees seeking compensation in legal lawsuits. If Wal-Mart
were to put into place proper regulations to safeguard
employees against unwarranted and careless injuries, significant
financial gains would be observed in the mold of saved
litigation costs.
Improvement in Ethical Standards
The fact that Wal-Mart was embroiled in a corruption scandal
about five years ago implies that there is an ethical gap that the
Company needs to bridge. The Company needs to put in place
measures to regulate the management’s behavior in handling
business operations. Wal-Mart should have a sound policy that
provides for effective whistle-blowing upon suspicion of the
occurrence of bribery or corruption activities.
Adoption of Better Training Policies
The risk of failure caused by recruiting top officials from
the internal talent pool exposes flaws in the Company’s training

methods. The opportunity presented to the Company indirectly
by the internal recruitment risk provides a chance for
improvement on the available recruitment strategies. Wal-Mart
should focus on introducing new strategies to achieve global
competitiveness on the human resources front. The workforce at
Wal-Mart can be termed as locally competitive while the major
aim would be to gain global competitiveness. Therefore, Wal-
Mart should tailor-make their internal training methods to
nurture globally competitive managers who would turn out to be
instant successes when promoted to the position of
administrators.
Overall Assessment of the Company’s Human Resource
Competitive Position
Wal-Mart has a track record of using flexible training
programs in a bid to increase the employee abilities, business
knowledge and worker skills. The Company makes such
commitments regularly along with providing employees with an
opportunity to attend retail-business seminars ("Wal-Mart:
Human Resource Management - Panmore Institute." Panmore
Institute, 2015). The person-firm fit program places Wal-Mart
in a reasonably high position in the human resource competitive
scale in the grocery industry.
The other companies’ approach towards talent management
gives the impression of a fairly consistent competitive platform.
Wal-Mart’s human resource strategy involves several
management assessments and the art of developing knowledge
around the same human resource talent group or individual. It is
prudent to say that Wal-Mart Inc. aims at conducting the
development of Company executives in relation to the market
leadership competencies in the industry. Therefore, there is still
room for improving the Company’s human resource operations
by mitigating risks and capitalizing on the available
opportunities. Wal-Mart is neither a market leader in human
resource operations nor the worst performing company.

Reference List
Artkinson, W. (n.d.). Enterprise Risk Management at Wal-Mart.
Retrieved September 11, 2015, from
http://www.ezodproxy.com/ameron/2011/proxy2011/PDF/amero
n-proxy2011_0026.pdf
Bradt, G. (2013, June 1). Promoting from Within. Retrieved
September 11, 2015, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2013/06/04/promoting-
from-within-onboarding-risks-for-wal-marts-next-ceo/
Heineman, B. (2014, May 15). Who's Responsible for the
Walmart Mexico Scandal? Retrieved September 11, 2015, from
https://hbr.org/2014/05/whos-responsible-for-the-walmart-
mexico-scandal/
Soni, P. (n.d.). Welcome to Market Realist. Retrieved
September 11, 2015, from
http://marketrealist.com/2015/02/competitive-forces-walmart-
dominates-grocery-industry/
Smithson, N. (2015, August 13). Walmart SWOT Analysis &
Recommendations - Panmore Institute. Retrieved September 11,
2015, from http://panmore.com/walmart-swot-analysis-
recommendations-case-study
Walmart SWOT analysis 2015. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11,
2015, from

http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/products/swot-
analyses/walmart-swot-analysis.html
"Walmart: Human Resource Management - Panmore Institute."
Panmore Institute. 7 Jan. 2015. Web. 29 Aug. 2015.
<http://panmore.com/walmart-human-resource-management-hr-
management>.
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Unit 3 IP: A Report on Walmart’s Human Resource Posture
8
Unit 3 IP: A Report on Walmart’s Human Resource Posture
Unit 3 Individual Project: A Report on Walmart’s Human
Resource Posture
Human Resources Strategy: MGT652-1503C-01
By
Andrew T. Robison
AIU Online
08/29/15

A Report on Walmart’s Human Resource Posture
Introduction
Walmart is a giant retail store, which started from a single store
in Arkansas and steadily grew to what it is today. The retail
store has over eight thousand stores globally and, as such, is the
world’s largest retailer. There are more than four hundred
Walmart stores in the United States of America, today. A deeper
look into the company’s affairs yield’s the following results in
the human resource posture.
Discussion
Benefits and Compensation
Walmart is among the leading companies in terms of the
benefits and compensation schemes availed to employees. The
giant retailer offers a vast array of benefits ranging from
medical coverage, employee discounts to an advanced Savings
Plan. Walmart offers up to a 6% match up on the employee
savings scheme, which is way above the industrial average
considering other companies don’t even offer any match up
(Walmart Employee 401K Plan, 2015). However, the medical
insurance cover given to Walmart employees is not as
competitive as would be expected. A quick glance at the
remuneration packages also gives a good image of the
company’s human resource department. The company, earlier
during the year, promised to raise the minimum wages payable
to their workers to $9 per hour. The amount surpasses the

federal minimum pay by $1.75 (Walmart raises pay well above
minimum wage, n.d.). The pay rise affected about five hundred
thousand workers positively. On that front, therefore, it can be
concluded that the company offers competitive salaries in the
retail industry. As at April 2015, Walmart claimed to be paying
an average of $12.94 per hour. In that regard, the full-time
workers expected a clean $13 per hour wage.
Business Leadership and Strategy
Walmart lays significant emphasis on its strong channels of
distribution, management of inventory, differentiation in pricing
and intense usage of IT in addition to cost leadership. It is
through adherence to such policies that Walmart has managed to
beat all competitors to its current position of the top retailer in
the world. Endeavoring to be a market leader is one of the
wisest quests any business can set on. Market leadership and
business strategy is one of the significant sectors that have
made Walmart so successful a retail store even in the face of the
massive competition that the organization faces. An integration
of cost leadership and the famous Porter’s five forces has
positively served to create barriers for prospective market
entrants. Walmart’s slogan –“Always Low Prices, Always” has
gone a long way to establishing a favorable selling point that is
unique and, as such, attracts droves of customers who yearn to
get value for their money. In order to achieve the company
strategy of low selling prices, Walmart purchases goods in bulk
shipments so as to get trade discounts.
Walmart maintains a strategy of controlling its internal
overhead costs. The stores are located in large buildings where
the company pays comparatively low amounts of money in rent.
The company’s board imposed an upper limit of $1 for every
square foot during the 60s.Compared to other retailers, the
company keeps a considerably small number of employees.
Walmart has an in place an organizational culture that promotes
cutting back on staff expenditure. For instance, whenever the
managers travel from one place to another, Walmart arranges
for their transportation by road rather than by air. The top

employees are also encouraged to stay in relatively affordable
hotel accommodation facilities while they are on business trips.
Recent informative data published by Harvard Business School
revealed that Walmart keeps a 0.3%-3.0% differential on costs
over its major direct competitors in terms of value-chain
business activities.
The only part where the company lags behind in terms of costs
is the IT department. Walmart’s spends an average of more than
0.2% on Information Technology when compared to some of its
direct rivals (Bradley and Ghemawat, 2002). The retail store has
a functional Universal Code for all employees along with a
strict monitoring process that ensures that product flows are
thoroughly scrutinized for purposes of minimizing loss and
wastage. Through such activities, it is possible for the
supervisors to constantly check the sales, proceeds and
inventories. All these measures facilitate efficiency in analyzing
data from Walmart’s database and hence a reduction in wastage
and production costs. Therefore, Walmart is an outstanding cost
leader (Sedy, 1992).
Diversity
In the words of Walmart’s CEO, David Cheesewright, “Walmart
spans the entire globe.” The company has established operations
in twenty-seven different markets. The retail giant boasts
possession of above seventy formats which makes them an
entirely diverse business. There has been an observable
practical value in sharing best practices and taking operations
that are diverse in nature (Walmart Diversity and Inclusion
Report, 2015). There exists not too much of a difference
between inclusion and cultural diversity according to the CEO.
Persons of various background origins have differing opinions
and views of things. If one manages to mix such people
together, they achieve a very solid and stronger team. Mr. David
believes that the art of blending cultures is very important,
whether the diversity is of gender or different countries’
cultures. That very diversity enables the company to better
serve their customers who are equally of varying cultural

backgrounds.
In its position as the world’s biggest retailer, Walmart tries
to save people money in a bid to better their lives. The objective
of bettering people’s lifestyles is a core presence in every single
decision that the company makes. In order to meet such needs,
Walmart has a unique Supplier Diversity Program. The program
provides firms owned and run by minority groups, veterans,
women and persons with disabilities with a chance of equality
while at the same time expanding their own businesses. In the
FYE15, the company spent an approximate sum of $13.5 billion
with minority-owned businesses. The retail company promised
to use its global scale and size to empower women in their
supply chain and also continue to partner with top organizations
in diversity programs to identify and work with potential
suppliers.
Employee Relations
Walmart may be successful in other areas of its human resource
wing, but surely the company is failing in employee relations.
The relationship between the managers and employees is far
from admirable. There are numerous complaints from current
and former Walmart employees about the managers’ attitude
towards workers. Some of the managers allegedly refuse to
return greetings while others are said to have forced medically
challenged individuals and pregnant women into hard labor. An
extreme case has been recorded where one manager told an
African-American worker that he would love to put a rope
around his neck. The managers behave like sworn enemies of
change. The activities of workers trying to push for revolutions
have borne negative fruits in the past. At some instance, a
manager was recorded threatening to shoot any particular
worker calling for change. The only reasonable explanation for
such consistently negative behavior on the managers’ side lies
with the company’s training tactics. Leaked company training
documents expose the company’s methods which include
misinforming and tattling the trainee managers. The outlook
generated is that the workers are more less cogs in a big

capitalist locomotive.
Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
Statistical studies show that there is a huge gap between
Walmart’s promises and performance in terms of Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR). It is worth pointing out that Wal-
Mart has an above average performance score for such elements
as corporate citizenship, environment and sustainability,
community relationships, philanthropy and supply-chain
management. In terms of environment and sustainability,
Walmart is credited with focusing greatly on various activities
that have directly resulted in the improvement of profitability
and productivity (Sethi, 2013). On the other hand, there is cause
to believe that the high-performance scores on the supply-chain
management analysis are deceptive. The company is known for
providing a lot of information on how the supply-chain elements
should be managed yet not a single one of the same has been
used successfully in practice. Information about very sensitive
issues like integrity assurance, bribery and corruption is even
scarcer.
The corporate culture of Walmart is dominated by
financial considerations to the abandonment of ethical issues.
This takes place, in spite of the company’s much publicized 34-
page ethics statement. Large corporations’ value sets are
protected from the general values of the society. The gap
between high-wealth and low-wealth groups is ever widening.
The corporations’ executives have formed a habit of measuring
their actions to the standards set by their peers. Such officials
draw confidence from the knowledge that their actions will be
entertained, and even be protected by powerful friends in
various societal segments and even in the government.
Organizational and Employee Development
In terms of career development, the human resource
management at Walmart uses the company’s own tailor-made
training programs aimed at increasing abilities, knowledge and
skills. Such management programs are conducted on a regular
basis. Walmart prides itself in improving the employees skills

that relate to retail business and also the massive support
offered to employees in order to enable them attend seminars
outside the organization ("Walmart: Human Resource
Management - Panmore Institute." Panmore Institute, 2015).
The retail store matches the organization and individual needs
through the person-organization fit system. Such a system
ensures that the employees are aligned to the demands, needs
and expectations of the company. This fit also serves to make
sure that the worker finds the organization satisfactory enough.
The person-organization fit has been very valuable to Walmart
as it has facilitated the minimization of costs of recruitment,
selection and training employees who don’t fit the corporation.
Consequentially, a high person-organization fit results in low
turnover.
The job positions, expansion plans and internal business
processes at Walmart serve to identify relevant career
opportunities and requirements. Whenever the corporation
expands, new career opportunities emerge. It is imperative to
say that any person pursuing a career at the company must meet
Walmart’s minimum business process and job position
requirements. Some of the Human Resource activities used in
assessing the worker’s job potential at Walmart include: record-
based productivity, feedback from colleagues, managers and
supervisors, appraisals matched with the organization’s
standards and personal employment records. The Human
Resource managers and store supervisors at Walmart initiate
career development initiatives. The supervisors and Human
Resource managers later implement the initiated initiatives with
relevant adjustments in order to suit each store’s unique
conditions.
Talent Management
Walmart’s talent management approach is fairly consistent
with other big companies. The company’s approach towards
talent management involves numerous executive assessments
and development of knowledge around the same talent. The
organization strives to conduct executive development that is

relative to the competencies of leadership that may be required
in the near future, say three to five years. In as much the leaders
make final decisions, the organization helps to facilitate the
very process of enriching the executives with relevant
experience. In order to keep the company’s talent approach
simple but still unbeatable, the executives are always on the
lookout for better means of improving the company. Walmart
undertakes few activities with more emphasis on amplifying the
impact and execution speed. However, the company also
experiences challenges in talent management. Such challenges
include: the company’s global nature which makes it difficult
for the company to remain locally relevant, the size of the
company positions and futuristic capabilities of the corporation.
Technology
A proper mix and use of Information Technology (IT) and
IT-related innovations has given Walmart an upper hand in
business. The corporation’s first ever significant use of IT was
in 1975. During that year, Walmart leased an IBM-powered
computer system for the purposes of tracking both inventory
and distribution centers. That step was a cutting edge that
handed Walmart a competitive advantage over most of the other
retailers. In 1983, Walmart implemented the use of barcodes in
product scanning. The barcode system greatly reduced the
checking out time and the data collection workload. Walmart
made another significant step in 1987 by completing a private
satellite network. The satellite network enabled the management
to view information on inventory and sales directly through
communication between the individual stores and headquarters.
Walmart was one of the pioneers in using Radio-frequency
Identification (RFID) technology. RFID uses communication
through electromagnetic waves so as to exchange data between
an identification/tracking tag and a terminal. Such tags are
readable from considerably long distances, way beyond the
reader’s line of sight.
Best Practices in Human Resource Management
Walmart has a strategic goal of being 100% supplied by

renewable energy, selling products that are sustainable to both
people and the environment and creating absolutely no waste.
The company’s big picture is to achieve up to twenty million
metric ton reductions worth of gas emissions and developing
environmental product savings. Walmart has a volunteer
sustainability program that challenges the associates to think of
ways to make a difference in their communities, health or
personal health. That challenge has seen the successful
engagement of approximately half of Walmart’s associates in
taking actions that focus on wellness, community service and
environmental awareness.
In a recent interview conducted by Triple Pundit, Walmart’s
Candace Taylor, Director of Sustainability said, “In many cases
our associates first focused on the question of personal health.
We’ve seen a tremendous number of associates who quit
smoking or have achieved significant personal weight loss.
What we are now seeing is that from this first tier of success
associates are expanding their focus onto how they can
volunteer more in their local communities and they are
increasing their understanding of actions they can take that
benefit the natural environment. In addition, as more associates
report their successes we are seeing more associates volunteer
to participate in this program.”(Roth,2010).
Conclusion
The above analysis of the world’s largest retailer cast light
upon a considerable number of solid conclusions about the giant
corporation. Walmart registered steady performance levels even
during the period that the U.S was going through a financial
crisis. The company’s customer-oriented focus, working culture
and unwavering aim at achieving the Walmart corporate vision
sets it apart from the other retailers. Cost leadership and pricing
strategies along with effective IT use have served in the
transformation of Walmart into a huge corporation. The
company commits resources to investment activities that better
the customer’s shopping experiences. In spite of the company’s
shortcomings especially in employee relations, it is prudent to

say that Walmart’s advancements in healthcare provision,
energy saving products, new product lines and efficient control
of operations through IT use has assured stakeholders of a
sustainable future growth.
Reference List
Bradley, Stephen, P., Ghemawat,P., Walmart Stores, Inc., Case
Study 9-794-024, Harvard Business School Publishing, 2002.
Financial Results & Reports. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2015,
from http://stock.walmart.com/investors/default.aspx
Roth, Bill. "Interview: Walmart's Green Human Resources Best
Practices." Triple Pundit People Planet Profit. 6 Apr. 2010.
Web. 29 Aug. 2015.
<http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/04/interview-walmart-
green-human-resources-best-practices/>.
Sedy, H., 1992, The Two Sides of Walmart, The New York
Times
Sethi, P. (2013, May 8). The World of Wal-Mart. Retrieved
August 28, 2015, from
http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/ethics_online/0081
Walmart Diversity and Inclusion Report. (2015). Retrieved

http://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/01/8b/4e0af18a45f3a043fc851
96c2cbe/2015-diversity-and-inclusion-report.pdf
Walmart Employee 401K Plan. (2015, August 1). Retrieved
http://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/Walmart-401K-Plan-US-
BNFT13_E715_N1.htm
Walmart raises pay well above minimum wage. (n.d.). Retrieved
http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/19/news/companies/walmart-
wages/
"Walmart: Human Resource Management - Panmore Institute."
Panmore Institute. 7 Jan. 2015. Web. 29 Aug. 2015.
<http://panmore.com/walmart-human-resource-management-hr-
management>.
1
Unit 2 IP: Walmart Benefits and Compensation
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Unit 2 IP: Walmart Benefits and Compensation
Unit 2 Individual Project: Walmart Benefits and Compensation
Human Resources Strategy MGT652-1503C-01
By
Andrew T. Robison
AIU Online

08/16/15
Walmart Benefits and Compensation
As a multinational company that offers to give its customers a
wide variety of merchandise, groceries, pharmaceuticals, and
other household goods, Wal-Mart is arguably one of the largest
profits making retail chain globally. Although the company was
established in early 1940s, the retail chain has been able to
grow and create its market niche in the competitive retail
business. Available information indicates that the company has
a big number of employees across all its retail stores (Singh et
al, 2006). Just like any other company of its size, the
management of Wal-Mart continually revises its strategies and
methods of ensuring that its employees are remunerated well.
Through the strategies put in place, the company has ensured
that it listens and pays close attention to the workers grievances
so as to come up with better benefits and compensation plans
that encourage the staff to work for Wal-Mart. By having one of
the best benefits and compensation packages for employees, the
management of Wal-Mart has been able to find time to handle
customer satisfaction, which is one of their core values
(Goldstein, 2009). According to business analysts, one of the
biggest benefits that Wal-Mart offers to its staff is the
competitive wages as compared to other companies operating in
the same sector. A report prepared by Forbes indicates that Wal-
Mart Company offers incredible opportunities for all
hardworking and ambitious workers, who intend to work their
way up in the retail chain.
Currently, there are top managers who earn up to $170,000
annually, which is a relatively good package in the market.
Additionally, Wal-Mart offers all its staff comprehensive
packages which provide more cash up-front to pay for medical
expenses. In addition, some of the packages offered as benefits
are geared towards helping employees save and plan for
retirement (Goetz, 2006). Further, the company ensures that its
employees are handsomely compensated in the event that they
are exposed to serious harm while working. In the event of

death of an employee, the company compensates the next of kin
of the fallen worker. According to market analysts, the amount
the company uses as compensation or benefits to its staff
constitute at least thirty percent of the company’s total
budgetary allocation. This demonstrates how serious Wal-Mart
considers issues of benefits and compensation towards its staff.
The management of Wal-Mart uses internal equity compensation
approach as a means of compensating its staff. It must be noted
that in most instances, a worker’s compensation is based on an
individual’s position and job within the company.
Business Leadership and strategy
Most businesses are guided by the mantra of meeting the needs
of their targeted clients. To this end, the management of most
companies identifies a business leadership strategy that helps
them meet their objectives and remain viable. According to
business leadership experts, there are at least three generic
strategies that business leaders can use in meeting the
objectives of their companies. They are focus, differentiation,
and cost leadership. However, before adopting any of the
strategies, it is fair and important for the management to
critically look at which strategy best suits the company
(Goldstein, 2009).
The business leadership used at Wal-Mart is the Cost
Leadership. By using the everyday low prices strategy in
attracting customers, Wal-Mart has been able remain successful
in the market. Rather than relying on sales, Wal-Mart has
continually used the idea of everyday low prices in offering
products at a cheaper rate as compared to its competitors. The
company has been able to achieve this courtesy of its large scale
and very efficient supply chain. In addition, in order to ensure
that the company has a grip on its market, Wal-Mart sources its
products from cheap domestic supplies and low-wage foreign
markets. Therefore, this approach helps Wal-Mart to sell its
items at a relatively low price and to profit off thin margins at a
high volume.
Diversity

Through increasing its number of outlets around the world, Wal-
Mart has been forced to critically consider diversification of its
employee profile so as to meet the actual needs of the different
markets. Since new markets have specific needs, there company
has had to use a unique strategy of using qualified natives to
run the different chain stores. The approach has seen the
company establish a grip on every new market it has ventured.
Other than using a diversity of staff in its retail chain stores, the
Wal-Mart has diversified in the products that it offers in the
stores (Singh et al, 2006). Available information indicates that
during its initial phase, the company limited itself to provision
of groceries. However, with time, the company has diversified
its products to other goods and services that meet the basic
needs of most of its clients. However, it must be noted that in
order to avoid losing the focus of the company at the expense of
diversification, Wal-Mart has a robust department of Human
resource. Other than having the mandate of assessing
professional qualifications for the employees, the department is
mandated to ensure that the company achieves economic
growth.
In order to handle the diversity of its workforce around the
world, Wal-Mart utilizes various routines. One such routine is
the continuous polishing employee motivation and satisfaction
(Treacy & Wiersema, 2007). The management of the company
acknowledges that a poorly motivated workforce will most
likely not deliver on their mandate. Available information
indicates that the company embraced the idea of hiring experts
who have the capability of handling the various diversity
challenges that may arise at the company. Other than handling
all issues related to staff and institutional diversity, the experts
are also mandated in ensuring that all the other operations
within the company remain effective.
Employee relations
In order to remain viable and ensure consistency, Wal-Mart

considers its employees as the backbone of their success and
operations. To this end, the company implements several
strategies that aim at ensuring that employees relate well with
each other and the management. The company has put in place
strategies that aim at paying personal attention to employees
and make them feel accepted by the company. By listening to
the grievances of its staff and allowing them to engage in
associations that champion employees’ needs, the company has
created a good environment for efficiency (Treacy & Wiersema,
2007). Although the company has created a good working
environment and encouraged good employees relations, some
experts argue that there is still more that can be done. It is
argued that the management of Wal-Mart has on a number of
occasions acted contrary to the agreed terms of service to its
employees. Such scenarios have led to some employees suing
the company for unfair treatment or dismissal from
employment. However, the management of Wal-Mart has been
voted as one of the best in the world that encourages and
supports employee relations within and outside the company.
Ethics and corporate social responsibility
Ethics and morals have great value in any organization because
these two aspects boost innovation strategies in business
organizations. For business organizations to remain productive
and profitable they must incorporate the right ethical principles
in their information systems. Information systems entail a
variety of disciplines which includes computer networking,
database management among other systems. It is evident that
Wal-Mart has incorporated the right ethical principles in its
information system which aims at supporting innovation,
management, operations, and decision making. In a broad sense,
the term information system combines both ICT that an
organization utilizes and the way individuals associate with the
technology to endorse business processes. There are several
ethical issues associated with information systems and they can
affect the way organizations and people function. Due to

technological advancements, information systems are facing
numerous daunting challenges.
Research studies have revealed that ethics is one of the driving
forces in business organizations because business organizations
that run ethically have promoted their image in their target
markets. It is foreseeable that Wal-Mart is one of the business
organizations that run ethically hence the business organization
has remained innovative in its business operations. Wal-Mart’s
ethics have played a role in the business organization’s
innovation strategy. It is undeniable that the ethics practiced by
Wal-Mart have enabled the company to realize its full potential
and become a learning organization. It is apparent that Wal-
Mart is a learning organization which facilitates the learning of
its employees and continuously changes itself.
Each of the Wal-Mart’s stores has an establishment that
commits itself to the welfare of the neighborhood (The
Economist, 2006). Every year the organization offers millions
to philanthropy, schools and some of the less fortunate
communities in need of financial support. This move has
strengthened the relationship between the company and the
surrounding communities where the company operates. It also
remains clear that Wal-Mart has been supporting some of the
communities programs which alleviates poverty and other
challenges which communities encounter.
Organizational and employee development
It is evident that Wal-Mart’s organizational structure depicts on
product, market and geographical structure. Notably, Wal-Mart
is a global business organization hence its market structure
clearly presents different responsibilities of the top management
together with the subordinate staff (The Economist, 2006).
Statistics indicate that Wal-Mart has played significant role of
creating employment opportunities in most of the countries
where it operates. For an organization of this size and sort, the

most proper capacity for the organization is the capability of the
company to plan courses in which it has the ability to minimize
the expenses particularly relating to its operations. For instance,
stock administration and dispersion frameworks, which aim at
decreasing huge expenses of transportation together with labor.
In essence, Wal-Mart unique advantage is the centralization of
assets for the business sector in the remote areas. It is evident
that Wal-Mart has captured new and ready markets for its
products and brands in most of the remote areas, which includes
suburbs and small towns.
For decades, performance appraisals have helped organizations
improve organizational performance, develop individuals, and
feed into business planning. Most of the organizations across
the globe generally conduct formal performance appraisals
annually in order to measure and evaluate the performance of
their staff. It is the mandate of the organization’s line manager
to appraise each staff member. For instance, annual performance
appraisals in Wal-Mart have been streamlining the whole
process of management and monitoring of agreeing
expectations, objectives, standards, and delegation of tasks and
responsibilities.
In addition to this, staff performance appraisals in Wal-Mart
have also played a key role of establishing individual training
needs and present organizational training needs for planning
and analysis. Arguably, performance appraisals also enabled the
management of Wal-Mart to review each employee’s
performance against standards and objectives for the trading
year, acknowledged in the previous year. Performance
appraisals have also remained essential for succession and
career planning for crucial jobs, individuals, and for the entire
organization. Furthermore, performance appraisals in Wal-Mart
are crucial for staff behavior development, motivation, attitude,
communication, and aligning organizational and individual
aims. They also help Wal-Mart in fostering positive and
beneficial relationships between staff and management (Cardy,

2011). Ideally, performance appraisals are vital in organizations
because they manage the performance of organizations and
people.
It remains clear that Wal-Mart is truly included in the welfare
of the employees and even made a film on them and their
existence at the organization. Assuming that they offer the
allotments and benefits of the organization to the worker and
helps them to tune in the benefit making practice of the
organization, this satisfies an alternate requirement for the
employee. This is the need for self-realization that all
individuals inside the working vicinity require. Employee
ranking is a yearly performance evaluation process that takes
place in Wal-Mart, which grades employees following
uncomplicated best-to-worst scale in order to develop a quality
and recommendable workforce. It remains clear that in forced
ranking managers usually rank employees into three major
categories. The top ranked employees are offered with the best
incentives and pay such as training. In addition, the middle
ranked employees are offered with minimum development
incentives and opportunities, while the lowest-ranked
employees are fired or neglected by the management of the
organization.
Talent Management
Performance appraisals have the major objective of providing
employees with targeted guidance and feedback to help them
grow, learn, and develop. It is apparent that Wal-Mart uses
performance appraisals in order to manage the talents of its
employees. Notably, employee appraisals have a broad variety
of impacts on employees that managers must understand and
identify. It remains clear that an employee appraisal can serve
as motivation for a talented employee in an organization hence
increase productivity. When employees see that their goals are
defined they are greatly motivated. Motivated employees have
the ability of helping organizations achieve their ultimate goals
in due time. Wal-Mart has done a recommendable work of
creating a comprehensive plan that aims at developing

employees and inspiring them for a higher level of efficiency.
For employees to execute their tasks as expected Wal-Mart
management has provided the workforce with a recommendable
guidance which nurtures the talent of each employee (DelPo,
2007). One of the major parts of employee appraisal in Wal-
Mart is when the employee and the employer review the job
description and differentiate the employee’s performance with
the expected outcomes or results. This provides the employees
within the organization with a deeper understanding and a
feeling of clarity that helps them perform their allocated duties
excellently.
Technology
Statistics have indicated that Wal-Mart is using the latest
technology to link its stores with the largest data warehouses
across the globe through enhanced analytics. Notably, the
company has built faster, better and more efficient
technological programs which support the organizations
operations. Wal-Mart technological structure comprises of
officials and analysts who help the company in the process of
generating reliable statistics for the entire company. It is
evident that this group of personnel is not involved in the
operational workflow of the company. The work of the
personnel is to configure and design the company in order to
allow it operate smoothly. In this regard, these personnel remain
the most qualified people who give instructions and train the
other members within the organization. In addition, they play a
pivotal role in public relations matters (Robbins, 2007). In Wal-
Mart this personnel usually fill the positions of both support
and marketing managers in different. Finally, they can play an
essential part in recruiting new employees and advertising.
References
Cardy, R. L. (2011). Performance management: Concepts,
skills, and exercises. Place of publication not identified: M E
Sharp.
DelPo, A. (2007). The performance appraisal handbook: Legal

& practical rules for managers. Berkeley, Calif: Nolo.
Goetz, S. (2006). Wal-Mart and Social Capital. Am. J. Agr.
Econ. 88 (5): 1304-1310.
Goldstein, S. D. (2009). Superior customer satisfaction and
loyalty: Engaging customers to drive performance. Milwaukee,
Wis: ASQ Quality Press.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2006/11/an_envi
romental_walmart
Robbins, S.P. (2007). Organisational Behaviour (12th ed).
Dorling Kindersley. South Africa.
Singh, V. P., Hansen, K. T., & Blattberg, R. C. (2006). Market
Entry and Consumer Behavior: An Investigation of a Wal-Mart
Supercenter. Marketing Science, 25(5), 457-476.
The Economist. (2006). Another reason to love Wal-mart. The
Economist. NEW YORK.
Treacy, M., & Wiersema, F. D. (2007). The discipline of market
leaders: Choose your customers, narrow your focus, dominate
your market.

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