Case Study of Wal-Mart
Question:
Discuss about the Issues and challenges faced by Wal-Mart.
Human resources management plays an integral role in every organization to improve the position of the company (Itika, 2011). There can be various challenges that may impact the productivity of the employee of the company. The main focus of this report is to understand the theory of HRM to manage the issues and challenges of the company. The case study of Wal-Mart has been taken for describing the issues and challenges faced by company regarding training. Training is the most important function of the company that provides the guidance to the employees towards accomplishing the task (Waseem & Majid, 2015). The discussion regarding this function has been mentioned in this research and to provide the depth detail regarding HR function, 8 Peer reviewed journals has been taken for supporting to case study of Wal-Mart. The research will be helpful to understand the functions of HRM in adequate manner with relevant journals and books. The main purpose of this report is to analyze the issues of human resource management and to gain a deep and critical understanding of HRM theory, processes and their practical implications.
The case study has been chosen of Wal-Mart which title is “How Wal-Mart Minimizes Strategies with HR Practices”. The author of this case study is Michael Bergdahl. Wal-Mart is an American multinational retail corporation and it has 8000 stores and 100,000 different products. The company was found by Sam Walton in 1962.The case study is focused on the practices of HR and the founder of the company, Sam Walton, is very cooperative towards his employees and appreciates them in every success of the company. It is the only organization where human resource department is known with the name of “The People Division.” The company has faced various challenges and issues in the company such as out of stocks, lower pay to the employees, poor services, lack of digital services and higher rate. These are the main issues which are faced by the company and Wal-Mart has started to improve the issues by involving the HR practices in their operations (Bergdahl, 2010).
The cover page of the article is pasted here and rests of them are pasted in the section of Appendices.
The peer reviewed journal will be analyzed in the section of Analysis of scholarly and industry material and interlinked with the case study of Wal-Mart. Human resource management is crucial part for the organization as it develops the strategy after analyzing the requirements of the organization for the development.
The training and development is vital for the organization because it develops the confidence of the employees towards accomplishing the goal. Training and development is the main concern of every organization because the lack of training may impact the growth of the company. The FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) industry has been described in this article which has applied various approaches such as Reactive approach, Proactive approach and Active learning approach. Along with that it focuses on the training need analysis (Niazi, 2011). As per the taken case study, it has been analyzed that there are some major issues regarding training because the employees of the company are not trained in well manner. It has been analyzed that company is not able to give proper training to its employee for making satisfy the customers as the workers are working at lower range over there. The confidence of Wal-Mart’s employee is low which brings doubt in the mind of customers.
Analysis of Scholarly and Industry Material
As per Sarnovi?s, (2010), the importance of human resource management has been mentioned in journal article and consider as the coherent and strategic approach to the management. The strategic goals of public administration are essential for the personal recruitment, training and development. In the 2008-2009 due to economic crisis, various problems had been arisen but due to effective human resource department this problem has been resolved easily such as HRM solutions represented the “resource” model are dominant for instance, to increase the work effectiveness reduction of the number of civil servant and workers as opposed to rational revision of functions.
(Sarnovi?s, 2010). In the context of Wal-Mart case study, it has been analyzed that the HR department is there but due to lack of training, company is unable to provide high quality performance to the employee. it has been proven by the journal article that effective HR strategy can reduce the issues and contribute into the growth of the economy (Obisi, 2011).
Noe, (2010), focused on the training program of the employee to work with person from various cultures of the home country and abroad as well. It has been analyzed from this book that it is essential to adapt the latest technology for growing the business. Training can be done by involving various methods such as online training, traditional classroom training or by applying the combination of the method (Noe, 2010). Technology has changed rapidly and improper training is the biggest issue of human resource management. It is vital for the organization to conduct effective training program for improving the learning process of the employees. As per the Wal-Mart’s case study, the employee as well as company has to face issues due to lack of mingled with latest technology that is why it is necessary for the HR department of the Wal-Mart that connect with digital knowledge and provide the training to the employees by applying various methods of training. Proper training about the changed technology has the positive impact on the organization as it would enhance the opportunity to connect with latest up-gradation and advancement of technology. The major advantages of this on Wal-Mart is to learn about latest trend which would be successful for increasing the revenue of the company but it has some disadvantages as well such as company has not well skilled employee and company need to spend its lots of time and investment on training to make its employee ready about new technology.
Mwaniki & Gathenya, (2015), cleared that the effective human resource and its function can improve the organizational performance of the company in an adequate manner. The case study has been taken in this article of Kenya Power and Lighting Company which has engaged with the capacity of the human resource of approximately 11,000 employees who are responsible to supply the electricity to the customers in adequate as well as reliant manner. It shows that these employees are trained efficiently before providing the services (Mwaniki & Gathenya, 2015). It has been analyzed that Wal-Mart also provide the training to its employee for providing better services but it is not that much effective that is why many customers are complaint that the customer services of Wal-Mart is poor. It has been studied that the culture of Wal-Mart is handled by HR is a various collection of entrepreneurship minded people. They are playing like a business owner to reduce the risk of the company.
Training and Development
Parameswari & Yugandhar, (2015), stated the requirement of HRM in the organization in his journal. An organization cannot build good team and growth without effective HR. training is vital for maintaining the ethical policies and behaviour inside the organization (Parameswari & Yugandhar, 2015). The disputes of the company can be resolved easily with adapting the HR policies and HR can contribute to manage the issues in adequate manner. Wal-Mart has faced challenges regarding conflicts between employees and HR policy of the company could resolve the issues. Aligning business strategy with HR practices in Wal-Mart is critical. Moreover, lack of communication is one of the challenges of the company which increase the misunderstanding that influence the performance of the employee.
The two kind of training has been discussed in this article that is on job training and off job training. The training program can be linked with the performance year and the performance of the employee shall be recognized of the requirement of training for an individual employee (Nischithaa & Rao, 2014). In house training program should be arranged by HR to enhance the confidence of the employee as well as make them aware about the latest technology. It has been analyzed from the case study of Wal-Mart that leaders and employees of the company are taught to recycle which helps to decrease the cost. There is a proactive management that helps to reduce the business risk and it has been studied that Wal-Mart hire the fresher and provide them training to improve their skills.
Walters, (2011), mentioned about the hazards of inadequate training and approaches to organizing the program of training and development. It shows that the inadequate training reduce the opportunities of the business for potential growth along with the productivity of the worker (Walters, 2011). The training program should be given in the form of technical training on the basis of decentralized basis. As per chosen case study, it has been analyzed that the approaches of Wal-Mart is effective and the HR department are conscious regarding expense budget and trained employee to provide information regarding lack of stock. Nevertheless, company face challenges in the term of paying lower rate to the employees and that is why it is highlighted in the news of the world (Arrowsmith & Parker, 2013). Wal-Mart is the multinational organization and due to lack of stock company can face the number of challenges. It shows that the training program is not conducted in efficient manner in the organization about how to manage the stock.
Aguinis & Kraiger, (2009), defined the various benefits of training approach in the organization as well as employee such as job performance, organizational growth and increase the productivity of the employee. In the context of organization, training provides the various benefits such as improve the organization performance, resolution of the issues hastily and increase the collaboration between the employees (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). Wal-Mart give training to the employees for improving the merchant skills for the purpose of reduces the risks. The operational competencies are followed by Wal-Mart which are categorized in to people skills and work process. The company involve five “people skills” that is communication, customer attention, motivation, listening and developing others. While in the “work process”, it includes six work forces such as sense of urgency, team development, resolving issues, organization plan, accountability and constant development (Jehanzeb & Bashir, 2013).
Impact of Digital Technology on HRM Practices
It has been recommended that the issues of the company regarding lack of training and development program in the context of technology, store keeping, safety rules, lack of confidence and how to deal with customers can be resolved easily with adapting the latest technology and effective human resource strategy. Training is the process that enables company to grow progressively because training can develop the hidden skills of the employees. Functional performance can identify need of the common training for the employees from the specific function for instance, if customer complaint on the quality services of the particular department, it will show the need of training to the particular department. It has been found that the Wal-Mart has faced number of challenges such as out of stocks of demanded products, lower pay, poor services, lack of digital services and higher rate. The company needs to keep focus on the training and development program and cover some specific matter such as poor quality, lack of knowledge about the products and services and avoidance of latest technology. Training program should be conducted by the HR department after analyzing the performance of the employees. It will enhance the productivity of the employee and improve their skills.
It is necessary for the company to increase the productivity of the employees by providing efficient training and development program. Company should emphasize training as an investment and needs should be targeted of the company as well as consumers. Learning culture should be encouraged by the company to express to all employees that organization is concerned about increasing their skills and wants to remain with every workers. Company should make sure the trainers hired are professional educators. Company should follow the various approaches such as Reactive approach, Proactive approach and Active learning approach to improve the image of the company in the view of the outsiders. A program of training would not be effective unless the company monitor the progress. Pay structure should not be biased and categorized as per fresher and experienced.
The report has been made on the HR function by taking case study of Wal-Mart. The eight peer reviewed journal articles has been taken to describe the training function of HR. The effective training strategies improve the productivity of the employee and provide the benefit to the organization and employee. Training can be done in two forms such as on-job training or of job training. The importance of the training has been discussed in the report which will be facilitated for further study.
References
Aguinis, H., & Kraiger, K. (2009). Benefits of training and development for individuals and teams, organizations, and society. Annual review of psychology, 60, 451-474.
Arrowsmith, J., & Parker, J. (2013). The meaning of ‘employee engagement’for the values and roles of the HRM function. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(14), 2692-2712.
Bergdahl, M. (2010). How Wal-Mart Minimizes Strategies with HR Practices. Retrieved on 23rd December, 2017, from: https://michaelbergdahl.net/pdf/How%20Wal-Mart%20Minimizes%20Risk%20by%20Aligning%20Business%20Strategies%20with%20HR%20Practices.pdf.
Itika, J. (2011). Fundamentals of human resource management: Emerging experiences from Africa (p. 232). African Studies Centre [etc.], Leiden [etc.].
Jehanzeb, K., & Bashir, N. A. (2013). Training and development program and its benefits to employee and organization: A conceptual study. European Journal of business and management, 5(2).
Mwaniki, R., & Gathenya, J. (2015). Role of Human Resource Management Functions on Organizational Performance with reference to Kenya Power & Lighting Company–Nairobi West Region. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 1(5), 432-448.
Niazi, B. R. A. S. (2011). Training and development strategy and its role in organizational performance. Journal of public Administration and Governance, 1(2), 42-57.
Nischithaa, P. & Rao, N. M V A L. (2014). The importance of training and development programmes in hotel industry. International Journal of Business and Administration Research Review, Vol.1, Issue.5, April-June, 2014.
Noe, R. A., (2010). Employee Training and Development. McGraw-Hill/Irwin Publishers.
Noe, R. A., Wilk, S. L., Mullen, E. J., & Wanek, J. E. (2014). Employee Development: Issues in Construct Definition and Investigation ofAntecedents. Improving Training Effectiveness in WorkOrganizations, ed. JK Ford, SWJ Kozlowski, K. Kraiger, E. Salas, and MS Teachout (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997), 153-189.
Obisi, C. (2011). Employee training and development in Nigerian organisaitons: Some observations and agenda for research. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 1(9), 82.
Parameswari, B. N. & Yugandhar, V. (2015). The Role of Human Resource Management in Organizations. International Journal of Engineering Technology, Management and Applied Sciences, Volume 3, Issue 7, ISSN 2349-4476.
SARNOVI?S, A. (2010). Human resource development in public administration: a case of Latvia. Human Resources Management & Ergonomics, 4(1), 1-12.
Walters, M. L. (2011). The Importance of Training and Development in the Workplace.
Waseem, M., & Majid, A. (2015). An overview of strategic integration and devolvement of hrm function. Gomal University Journal of Research, 31(2)
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