Introduction
Walmart Inc. is an American multinational corporation firm that includes a network of hypermarkets, commonly encompassing the term “supercenters”, creating department and grocery stores throughout the United States of America. Distribution centers, supermarkets, hypermarkets, discount stores, cash-and-carry shops, household equipment, specialized electronics, cafes, clothing stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, and electronic shopping are among the different retail formats the organization offers across its divisions. Considering the description of the company from the perspective of human resource management, employee training, and labor relations, as in the other spheres, it sets the rules and adapts to the social environment. Walmart not only modifies local relationships to satisfy its purposes; alternatively, it deliberately faces external factors, both impacting and responding to local conditions and connections (Stubblefield, 2019). According to the research topic, Walmart’s purpose in coordinating workforce activities and HR supply and demand is to assure enough access to competent personnel. Walmart represents a wide-scale human resource management system, as the company employs people all over the world. Due to the problem of abusive employee relationships, Walmart should establish a cooperative and mutually beneficial organizational culture.
Problem
In order to describe the problem in the specific business activity, the researcher requires to examine various structures within the organization. In measuring workforce efficiency and human resource management, Walmart recognizes the need to elaborate unique standards and professional approaches that would distinguish the firm from the competitors. Walmart uses symbolism, ceremonies, and interpretations to establish its distinct American-based culture among its employees to foster differentiated and efficient subjectivities that align with the firm’s goals (Stubblefield, 2019). Therefore, the organization attempts to establish a distinctive management structure that encompasses all fields of activity, including workforce control and development. As a result, Walmart possesses pure responsibility concerning the attitude to personnel and provision of all necessary facilities and working conditions.
In general, referring to the major problem within the organization, scholars examine the whole business environment of Walmart, for example, internal and external operations, and emphasize the issues of creating an abusive working atmosphere. Walmart and its employees are in conflict, as the firm attempts to gain control over, maximize, and exploit the labor of its personnel, while employees actively oppose the company’s domination and disrespect (Stubblefield, 2019). Consequently, in their business analysis reports, researchers state that Walmart utilizes communication tools and approaches that generate negative attitudes or influence its emergence. In addition, according to the examinations and organizational performance in human resource management, experts were able to create a unique concept with the name “Walmartism”. The term “Walmartism” relates to management’s dependence on surveillance technologies to monitor employees’ performance and overall production schedules, as well as the need to offer customer support (Harrison, 2019). There is nothing inadequate in overseeing the activities inside the firm, including personnel relationships and production processes, since this notion ensures the presence of discipline. Nevertheless, considering human resource management, Walmart applies a controversial controlling strategy.
The issues of unethical behavior and excessive control become ubiquitous concerns the overall feedback from the employees that do not perform managerial duties. Walmart workers become anxious in relation to consumer rudeness and bosses’ excessive use of authority than they do due to the inadequate earnings (Harrison, 2019). It is essential to mention that an important labor market aspect, which is wages and payment level, is less relevant and popular among the employees compared to the abuse of authority. The fact that Walmart remains the major choice for both working and shopping in many locations cements workers’ dependence on, and in many cases, devotion to the corporation (Harrison, 2019). Since the initiators of personnel relationships and the creators of the organizational guidelines for overseeing workers, it is feasible to state that Walmart’s supervisors are the cause of the problem. The potential root cause of the issue is an inadequate elaboration of working procedures and their inappropriate implementation. The problem in the human resources relations severely impacts, firstly, the operational personnel, which is the determinant of the company’s financial results, by undermining a positive attitude to the management.
Needs Assessment
Organizational, Personnel, and Task Analysis
What concerns the organizational analysis of Walmart, the firm utilizes a matrix structural framework, which is a combination of divisional and functional layouts. To administer this massive retail network, the corporation has split the country into districts, with a district supervisor in charge of each region’s stores. In terms of personnel analysis, Walmart’s human resources administration guarantees that regular evaluations, interviews, and processing of personal data occur, and managers conduct reports on workers to measure their progress and development (Tiftik, 2020). Consequently, Walmart recognizes the necessity of creating a proper system for assessing individual and team performances since these factors correlate with the final business results.
Considering the task analysis, it is essential to identify Walmart’s tasks and objectives in working with the employees and training them. Walmart’s executives initially engage talent by acquiring a significant number of high-performing graduates, and, additionally, the corporation offers career development programs and workshops in schools and universities to recruit graduate students (Tiftik, 2020). Walmart retains personnel by ensuring that employees are well-trained, participate in collaboration, and the promotion processes appear internally in accordance with the organizational standards (Tiftik, 2020). Walmart has designed a series of lifetime training, in which employees obtain ongoing education and certification after joining the firm (Tiftik, 2020). Therefore, the company attempts to elaborate a distinctive and unique system of attracting, training, onboarding, developing, and promoting talents and fully-qualified individuals. Walmart’s top-management executives emphasize the importance of internal promotion and education and compare it with a more traditional approach, where a more preferred option would be to recruit an experienced specialist with a substantial background. At the same time, although the workforce training system is decentralized and flexible, the issue of abusive relationships between managers and employees remains relevant since performance control negatively impacts the attitude.
Key Findings
Referring to the key findings, in this case, in order to analyze the issue and determine possible solutions, it is obligatory to utilize a needs assessment. This is the method that involves identifying and deciding how to minimize and abolish the imbalance between an organization’s present and the intended condition is a needs assessment. In further detail, the process describes which operations a team or a group of leaders should prioritize, enhance, or allocate resources to in order to achieve its objectives (Mahmud et al., 2019). In human resources, this is a test that examines and assesses the expertise, skills, and capacities of employees and the firm as a whole to determine if there are any weaknesses or areas of need. Regarding the examination’s findings, Walmart aims to establish a sustainable and innovative workforce evaluation and training system. However, the available worldwide evidence assists in stating that the major issue encompasses broader terms since there is a presence of the abuse of power and excessive control. Consequently, it is impossible to implement modern techniques and comprehensive procedures in a situation where there is no trust between supervisors and employees.
Solution
Considering a feasible solution for the issue in the human resources relations of Walmart, there is a need to emphasize the prevalence of social movement tactics in the process of transformation. For more than twenty years, labor experts and activists have argued that social movement tactics to mobilization are more beneficial than top-down commercial union methods (Harrison, 2019). Addressing the aspects of design, development, and implementation, it is possible to use scientifically discussed practical approaches. Maintaining the synergetic effect requires encouraging subordinate creativity, an all-encompassing leadership style that should be indicative of top management, and instilling an entrepreneurial spirit in divisions (Chizhevskaya et al., 2020). Moreover, it is feasible to propose arranging conferences, seminars, and corporate events for more substantial collaboration and unification of the complete team (Chizhevskaya et al., 2020). Executives should foster a cooperative and mutually beneficial business culture by fostering initiative and reducing internal organizational impediments to the flow of important information and new suggestions (Chizhevskaya et al., 2020). Although the company employs a considerable number of people, a more coherent connection transpires primarily within departments; therefore, more emphasis should be put on local groups.
Conclusion
To summarize, what concerns the overall feedback from Walmart employees that do not perform managerial duties, the issues of unethical behavior and excessive control become ubiquitous. Since the initiators of personnel relationships and the creators of the organizational guidelines for overseeing workers, it is feasible to state that Walmart’s supervisors are the cause of the problem. Even though the workforce training system is decentralized and flexible, the issue of abusive relationships between managers and employees remains relevant since performance control negatively impacts the attitude. Directors should encourage initiative and reduce internal organizational obstructions to the flow of critical information and new ideas to promote a collaborative and mutually beneficial corporate culture.
References
Chizhevskaya, E. L., Zemenkova, M. Y., & Mayss, N. A. (2020). Directions to improve effectiveness of management of management of the industry company personnel. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 459(5). Web.
Harrison, J. A. (2019). Working for respect: Community and conflict at Walmart. Social Forces, 97(4). Web.
Mahmud, K. T., Saira Wahid, I., & Arif, I. (2019). Impact of training needs assessment on the performance of employees: Evidence from Bangladesh. Cogent Social Sciences, 5(1). Web.
Stubblefield, C. (2019). Walmart in the Global South: workplace culture, labor politics, and supply chains. Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 44(2), 252-253. Web.
Tiftik, C. (2020). Analysis of management approaches in terms of human resources strategies to realize healthy and successful organizations. IBAD Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, (8), 457-470. Web.