Walmart - Conflict, Decision Making and Organizational Design

Walmart - Conflict, Decision Making and Organizational Design

Introduction

Walmart, the company which was started by Sam Walton back in the year 1962, is a discount retailer and warehouse that operates in the United States of America and is one the biggest chain of its kind. In terms of revenue the company has been listed as the second largest retail business in the world. It is also the largest employer in the world with more that 2 million employees serving the valuable customers through over 8500 stores. Today the company has expanded a great deal and is operational in fifteen countries across the globe.

1. Discuss how you could apply negotiation strategies to address potential conflicts in the workplace.

In order to discuss the potential negotiation strategies, it is first imperative to study the conflicts that are faced by the organization, the ones that were faced in the past or those that the organization might face in the future. One of the most notorious issues that the organization faced in the past is the exploitation of resource. There were cases reported where the Walmart workers are working extended hours on a daily basis on the instructions of their supervisors without their consent. The internal control system at Walmart has failed too.

Walmart has a policy whereby the company has described three basic rules to be followed by each and every individual that is associated with the organization in some capacity. These rules are that employees should respect all. This means both the internal as well as external stakeholders are included in the application of this rule (Zimmerman, 2010). The second rule says that the Wal-Mart customer is the king and he should be provided premium services. The third and the last rule refers to the company's commitment to maintain its position as a brand of choice when it comes to retail stores. It wants to achieve its best in everything that the company does. When the company was exploiting its human resource asking them to stay back on a regular basis and work extra hours without extra remuneration, it was basically overlooking the rights of the workers. Hence, rule number one was being violated.

Any conflict that may arise within the organization must be resolves in relevance wit the code of conduct, standards of procedures and other policies of the organization. Some of the policies are (Troy, 2011)

Grass Roots Process

3 Basic Beliefs & Values

Sundown Rule

Wal-Mart Cheer

10-Foot Rule

Open Door Policy

Servant Leadership

2. Determine how evidence-based management could be applied to the work environment you researched (Walmart).

The concept of evidence based management has been adopted from the concept of evidence based medicine and evidence based practice in education. This entails that the best decision must be taken in any given scenario. This means that the decision is made in holistic concept and he is also expected to take into account the ethical implications of the managerial decision. Walmart is essentially based on glocalization. The claim is also reflected in its ...