By: Kevin Fletcher
MGT/230
Instructor: YoLanda Roach
June 3, 2013
Wal-Mart uses organizing a function of management very well. The company use organizing to achieve their goals. “Organizing activities, include attracting people to the organization, specifying job responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units, marshaling and allocating resources, and creating conditions so that people and things work together to achieve maximum success” (Bateman & Snell, 2009, p. 15). For a business to achieve their goals, they would have to use these important organization factors. A business have to be well-organized will ensure that the company would run smoothly, in which Wal-Mart does a great job. Wal-Mart was founded by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. By 1972, Sam Walton had 15 Wal-Mart stores, and he wanted to expand Wal-Mart even more, but he did not have enough funds. That is why he had offered the New York Stock Exchange Wal-Mart Stock. Wal-Mart was able to expand because of their sales of stock. Wal-Mart was able to establish 273 stores when the 80s had hit (Wal-Mart Corporate, 2012). Organizations use organizational resources such as physical assets, monetary, human resources, knowledge, and technology, but this paper will only be discussing only human resources and monetary of Wal-Mart.
The success of Wal-Mart came from the effectiveness of human resources. According to Bateman and Snell (2009), recruitment selection and outplacement, training and development, performance and appraisals, reward systems, and labor relations are basic functions of human resources management. There are about 2.1 million associates who Wal-Mart provides work for. There are three basic beliefs that Sam Walton had established in 1962 for Wal-Mart staff to practice. They are respect for individuals, services to our customers, and striving for excellence (Wal-Mart Corporate, 2012). “Servant Leadership” was a technique that Sam Walton had encouraged for his employees to use micromanaging and teamwork. In this managers and supervisors could communicate and work with their staff collectively. Wal-Mart also established an open door policy for any concerns, problems, or situations that need to be brought up to the store manager, whether it is immoral or ethical. Their ethics came about from a number of lawsuits that they had encountered. Wal-Mart policies of encouraging, employ, and equality have all been mentioned in sexual discrimination of woman cases (Lithwick, 2011).
Wal-Mart conducted a survey that states “70 percent of employers leave within the first year – is attributed to a lack of recognition and inadequate pay” (Business Practices, 2010, para. 5). Wal-Mart had to face these issues, which made it look like their human resources department was not doing a good job even though one of Wal-Mart’s main goal was to take good care of their staff. Wal-Mart give a variety of good health and wellness benefits so the organization argues that they are one of the top workplace for employees. Qualified employees are covered 80% of the benefits. Wal-Mart’s consists of health benefits, such as yearly checkups and doctor visits, dental benefits, life insurance, dismemberment, and accidental death coverage (Wal-Mart Corporate, 2012).
Wal-Mart started off just like any other business. Many issues is influenced by Wal-Mart like insurance costs, competitive pressure, economic conditions, market trends, unemployment, and the cost of goods and services (Wal-Mart Corporate, 2012). Salaries are another issue that Wal-Mart is influenced by. There are plenty of Wal-Mart employees who receive public assistance from the state. Workers at Wal-Mart are liable to make anywhere between $12,000 to $17,000. “Yet the employees on average take home pay of under $250 a week. The salary for full-time employers (called associates) is $6 to $7.50 an hour 28-40 hours a week, which is typical