Human Resources Practices in Walmart
Analysis and Recommendations
Introduction – Wal-Mart, founded by Sam Walton in 1962, is one of the world largest companies by market capitalization and number of people employed and touching millions of customers everyday. There are more than 7,800 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club locations in 16 markets worldwide and there are more than 2 million associates serving more than 100 million customers per year (About Us, n.d.) It is the largest grocery retailer in the United States with an estimated market share of around 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business. To be able to efficiently operate such a complex operation at such a large and do it consistently would only be possible by the huge effort by Wal-Mart’s ‘associates’ as its employees are called. This papers looks at the human resources practices of Wal-Mart with a special focus on group and team behavior, leadership, conflict and negotiation, human resource practices and organizational culture and diversity within the company to understand them and also provide some recommendations to make them better in the future.
Analysis of various HR related areas of Wal-Mart – One of the reasons why Wal-Mart has been so successful and scale up its model across so many locations is the values and beliefs established by its founder and the customer centric culture that is replicated across locations. The company right from the time of its inception has a clear mission which is to save its customers money and enable them to live better. Below is an analysis of current Wal-Mart practices across various areas and how Wal-Mart has align then to perfectly with its mission statement Group and team behavior – There has been a focus on achieving things together as a team right from the days of Sam Walton. Sam Walton firmly believed that all the people working in Wal-Mart are ordinary people and as a team they are able to do extraordinary things, growing together and accomplishing much more than each of them
Introduction – Wal-Mart, founded by Sam Walton in 1962, is one of the world largest companies by market capitalization and number of people employed and touching millions of customers everyday. There are more than 7,800 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club locations in 16 markets worldwide and there are more than 2 million associates serving more than 100 million customers per year (About Us, n.d.) It is the largest grocery retailer in the United States with an estimated market share of around 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business. To be able to efficiently operate such a complex operation at such a large and do it consistently would only be possible by the huge effort by Wal-Mart’s ‘associates’ as its employees are called. This papers looks at the human resources practices of Wal-Mart with a special focus on group and team behavior, leadership, conflict and negotiation, human resource practices and organizational culture and diversity within the company to understand them and also provide some recommendations to make them better in the future.
Analysis of various HR related areas of Wal-Mart – One of the reasons why Wal-Mart has been so successful and scale up its model across so many locations is the values and beliefs established by its founder and the customer centric culture that is replicated across locations. The company right from the time of its inception has a clear mission which is to save its customers money and enable them to live better. Below is an analysis of current Wal-Mart practices across various areas and how Wal-Mart has align then to perfectly with its mission statement Group and team behavior – There has been a focus on achieving things together as a team right from the days of Sam Walton. Sam Walton firmly believed that all the people working in Wal-Mart are ordinary people and as a team they are able to do extraordinary things, growing together and accomplishing much more than each of them
References: About Us. (n.d.) Retrieved February 8, 2009, from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Web site: http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/ Communities Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2009, from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Web site: http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/295.aspx Diversity (n.d.) Drogin, Richard (2003, Feb). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF GENDER PATTERNS IN WAL-MART WORKFORCE. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from Walmartclass.com Web site: http://www.walmartclass.com/staticdata/reports/r2.pdf Health & Wellness Miller, G (2004) “Every day low wages: The hidden price we all pay for Wal-Mart” A report by the Democratic of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, US House of Representatives. Open Door. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2009, from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Web site: http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/286.aspx Retail Merchandiser (2005, April 13) Servant Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2009, from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Web site: http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/289.aspx Teamwork 3 Basic Beliefs & Values (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2009, from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Web site: http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/321.aspx 10-Foot Rule (n.d.)