Organizational Case Study



Organizational Case Study

Introduction

Wal-Mart Corporation was the genius creation of a humble visionary in the no non sense state of Arkansas, named Sam Walton. The first store surfaced in 1962 and within 10 years 15 stores flourished throughout the region and stock offers were distributed in New York Stock Exchange in 1962. Capitalizing on the popularity and affordability to the masses, the corporation introduced Sam's club and Wal-Mart supercenter. By 1989, there were 1,402 Wal-Mart stores and 123 Sam's Clubs, and their sales had grown from $1 billion in 1980 to $26 billion.

Currently, the stores net over 345 billion a year and employ over 2 million employees, who are called associates. Every organization has its' own organizational culture which defines the organizational behaviors that it believes to be most important. An organization's values, mission statement, goals and philosophy all make up the organizations culture. For Wal-Mart associates the three deities' of work culture are 1. Respect for the Individual 2. Service to our customers 3. Striving for excellence.

In essence, as nice as an employer is or however many company picnics are frequented, the reality of paying fair wages and benefits cannot be negated. While the open door policy of management is embedded in their cultural creed, clearly dispute over a simple issue as breaks and off the clock work reached the superior court, in the state of Pennsylvania. To further add, Wal-Mart has been accused of unfair labor practices, poor working conditions and violation of Child labor laws, January 2004, The New York Times reported on an internal Wal-Mart audit conducted in July 2000, which examined one week's time-clock records for roughly 25,000 employees. Alleging were working too many hours in the day and too few of breaks. The community that Wal-Mart seems so steadfastly serving has also seemed to have had issues relating to unfair business practices and treatment of local competitors. While it is all good and well the public image and catchy slogans that the organization puts as it's face. There is a great deal to Wal-Mart's' low prices, to the detriment of local community competitors and employees. Cultural strengths are in dichotomy with its practices and hence the true values of the organization have not been able to adapt to a larger market place.

Discussion

The global economy is changing rapidly during the last two decades. The transformation in the global economy has reduced the geographical boundaries present between countries. The technological advancements have allowed a number of businesses to expand their markets globally. The changing global environment has provided businesses with diverse opportunities. The most vital opportunity that is available to businesses in the current business environment is globalization (Gilman, 2004).

One of the most important vehicles for company growth is international expansion. In order to manage growing operations, Wal-Mart has set up the International Division. The expansion of stores is the most important plan of Wal-Mart. The standardization of formats has helped the company in international ...