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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:


GROUP J

Letter of Transmittal
10thJanuary, 2013
Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed
Course Instructor,
HRM-370,
School of Business,
North South University

Subject:Case report on ‘Wal-Mart Stores Inc: Dominating Global Retailing’.

Dear Sir,

We are truly privileged to have you as our instructor in HRM-370: “Managerial Skills
and Development” and we are pleased to inform you that, we have been able to meet
the schedule to complete the case analysis on “Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
Dominating Global Retailing”.

We have tried to employ our best knowledge to analyze the case as


meticulously as possible and it sure had offered us the opportunity to
enhance our knowledge in regards to HRM-370.

Furthermore, if you have any queries about the case report, please feel
free to ask any of the group members for further cooperation.

Sincerely Yours,

RonikaKarmaker (ID#111 0750


030)
TanjiaHaqueNirjhar (ID#111 0137
030)
Sunny Isnain Hassan (ID#103 0692 530)
Ankur Chandra Kuri (ID#102 0831
030)
SaifuddinZiku (ID#103 0157 030)
________________

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Background …………………………………………………………………………………..4-13

Needs Assessment …………………………………………………………………………..14

Main Issue ……………………………………………………………………………………….16

Internal/External Needs Assessment…...………………………………........18-29

Existing Arrangements.………………………………………………………………..24-36

T&D Plan …………………………………………………………………………………….37-42

Proposed T&D Realization …………………………………………………………..43-57

Appendix…………………………………………………………….58

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Executive Summary

People say that there is traditionally a belief in the USA that anyone has opportunities
to succeed and obtain a great fortune in their life though own effort in the freedom
nation - it is called ‘American Dream’. Sam Walton was one of the men who gained
an American dream in the recent ages.
Wal-Mart founded by him in 1962 is now the largest company in the world since they
have exceeded Exxon Mobil in 2002 (Bronn, 2006 *1). Their activities often attract
people through the media as a business trend today, on the other hand, the company
has also been indicated the negative aspects, such as low wages, worse working
condition, deficient health care or a disruption in local market (Fishman, 2006).
However, although it should not be neglected to think, I strongly believe that Wal-
Mart has much more advanced logistics and core competences on managing.
Moreover, they have a great adaptation skill in environment power. Thus these are the
reasons why Wal-Mart stays as the world number-one company. In this essay, I will
examine my belief to analyse their strategies and the business environment.

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Background
GROUP J
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
HRM 370
Dominating Global Retailing
Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

BACKGROUND

History:
The Wal-mart is the largest retail chain in United States and in the world. The wal-
Mart was founded in the year 1962 by Mr Sam Walton. It was originally named as
Wal-Mart discount city in Rogers, Arkansas. At the time when the Wal-Mart stores
started in the year 1962 it was focused only in small rural cites and town which had a
population of 5000 to 25000. It was soon increased to 18 stores in 1969. In the next
30 years it had more than 4750 stores across 50 states in USA and 9 countries with
$245 billion sales. It started its international operations in Mexico in the year 1991
and then it expanded it to different countries across Europe and Asia.

In the late 1940s, when Sam Walton was franchising a Ben Franklin’s variety store in
Newport, Ark., he had a simple but momentous idea. Like any retailer, Walton was
always looking for deals from suppliers. Typically, though, a retailer who managed to
get a bargain from a wholesaler would leave his store prices unchanged and pocket
the extra money. Walton, by contrast, realized he could do better by passing on the
savings to his customers and earning his profits through volume. This insight would
form a cornerstone of Walton’s business strategy when he launched Wal-Mart in 1962.

Today Wal-Mart servers around 130 Million people worldwide and it has employees
over 1.3 million people across the globe. They have been increase in growth of sales
over 11% which amounted $6.4 billion US dollars. The earnings of the Wal-Mart are
far ahead of its French competitors Carrefour although it is having its branches in 32
countries it earning and saving far behind. With wide range of suppliers the Wal-Mart
has it has been one of the successful retail chains in the world today.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
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Dominating the Retail Market :

A key strategy of Wal-Mart is to dominate the retail market. Company founder Sam
Walton put in place a retail philosophy the company still follows. Wal-Mart is
primarily a discount retailer because they sell their products at the lowest possible
prices. By selling at the "lowest price." Walton outlines that the essence of successful
discount retailing to cut the price on an item as much as possible, lowering the
markup, and earn profit on the increased volume of sales.

Another subset of this strategy is the competitiveness of every unit. Each store is
encouraged to ferociously compete against all other stores in its customer base until
the Wal-Mart store gains dominance over its local competitors .Wal-Mart is currently
ranked as the world's number one retailer and the number one company in the world
in terms of sales (over $200 billion) on the Fortune 500 list. The key strategy is to
dominate a market. Using its size and volume buying power, the company effectively
implements its strategy.

The way Wal-Mart developed:

Wal-Mart capitalized on its rural locations to establish important competitive


advantages during its infancy. Many rural markets were characterized by populations
that were scratching a subsistence level of living with very few employment
alternatives. But from 2003 Wal-Mart started its operation in the major cities. The
rural network was still intact and the company had stores in all 50 states in the United
States. All stores were quite uniform, both in their external and internal appearance. A
substantial part of the real estate was leased and custom-built by the property owners.
Given the fact that many of the smaller communities had been blanketed with stores,
the company started driving into suburbs. It was, however, not met with quite the
same enthusiasm that it received in the rural settings. Local community activists in
various parts of the country were banding together to use zoning laws to keep the big-
box retailer out of their backyard. It was against this backdrop that Wal-Mart started
conceptualizing new store formats that would have a small enough footprint to remain
unobtrusive.

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Low
er
price

Minimize Maximize sales volume


expence and industry turnover
s
Wal-Mart’s Promotional strategy

Everyday low prices

WC o a m l - pM e ati r t o r s
How Wal-Mart maintain low price:

Nearly every third person in the United States visits a Walmart store every week, and
the reason people flock so regularly to this store is because of its low prices strategy.
Ever wondered how Walmart manages to maintain low prices, almost driving away
other retail chain stores from the area? Here are some strategies applied by Walmart.

Strategies Behind the Low Prices at Walmart

Low Cost Leadership


To arrive at such consumer-friendly rates, Walmart focuses on the strategy of low cost
leadership. This strategy gives them a competitive advantage over their rivals. It

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maintains a low cost of operation, and this enables Walmart to produce and sell goods
of competitive or even better quality, at lower costs than other retailers. Walmart

gradually increased its market share by striving to decrease its cost of operation, even
lower than other retail chains. It did so by offering high volumes of basic
commodities, and by limiting or cutting back on personalized service. It looks to
innovate not by focusing on new product development, but by concentrating
extensively on process improvement.

Economies of Scale
Walmart benefits from the concept of economies of scale, which causes its average
production costs to dramatically fall, and output to increase. It does this by purchasing
materials in bulk from vendors by having long-term contracts in place. Another factor
is Walmart tries to obtain low interest rates from banks when it borrows large sums of
money. It also tries to reduce its marketing costs by distributing its advertising costs
over a wider output range. These factors are instrumental in reducing their average
production costs. Targeting the mass market with tried and tested products has always
been Walmart's strategy.

Low Operation and Production Costs


Walmart maintains low operation and production costs by using standard and less
number of component parts. It tries to keep overhead expenses to a minimum by
offering low wages to workers and leasing sites in low-rent areas. Goods are
manufactured in countries where labor is very cheap. To keep up with low operation
costs in every aspect of its business, it controls production costs, and limits costs
involved in outsourcing, distribution, advertising, and research and development.

Effective Supply Chain Management


Walmart started the EDLP (Every Day Low Prices) approach. To make the most out
of this technique, Walmart also has a very effective supply chain management in
place, to ensure it keeps its prices low. It maintains a tight control over its logistics,
transport, and inbound supplies. Being a tough negotiator, it exerts a fair deal of
bargaining power over all its suppliers. It ensures that its suppliers maintain very low
production prices and produce items on a large-scale. This enables Walmart to buy

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bulk quantities of the product at the lowest price possible.

Cross-Docking
When it comes to transportation of goods, Walmart owns an extensive fleet of trucks
which ensures that all products are delivered to its stores through the network of
distribution channels in the least amount of time possible. By eliminating middlemen
and not depending on external transport supply chains, Walmart cut down heavily on
its business costs. Using the technique of cross-docking effectively, Walmart has
eliminated any inventory handling, storage, and warehousing costs, ensuring products
reach the distribution centers and from thereon, to its vast customer base at a faster
rate.

Radio Frequency Identification Tags


RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Tag) tagging, an innovative use of information
management, helps Walmart keep an accurate and up-to-date record of its inventory
all over the country. Goods are tagged at the time of manufacture, and the sale of
goods is relayed to all its distribution centers and suppliers. This means that the goods
that are sold are replaced back on the shelf with new products within no time, thanks
to the exemplary use of information technology.

Technology and Logistics:


Wal-mart was very conscious about using technology. Wal-Mart was best at using of
technology to maximize operational efficiency. Very early on, the company realized
the value of proactive investments in technology and deployed a private satellite
network. The satellite network worked in using the EDI system and a point-of-sales
system to capture store sales data in real time. Every time a customer made a
purchase, the point-of-sales systemtransmitted the details of the transaction through
the satellite network to the warehouses which were the staging grounds for inventory
management. Wal-Mart had progressively moved from simple inventory management
to data mining, an approach that offered the company rich insights into customer
buying patterns. This allowed the company to better customize some of its offerings

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on a regional basis along with its usual training approaches which factored in local
consumer tastes and preferences. These insights helped manufacturers understand
regional differences much better and design their products accordingly.

Wal-Mart has it own operating system to manage logistic. They managed the system
using a central hub-and-spoke system of warehouses and distribution centers. It was
estimated that the corporate logistics department handled over a million loads each
year. These central hubs were located in such a way as to cater to Wal-Mart stores
within a 250-mile radius. All of them had easy access from interstates and were
conveniently located in less-populated rural areas that were within driving distance
from store concentrations. The warehouses were quite massive structures with loading
and unloading bays on either side of the building. There was very little inventory
storage in these centers. Instead, the company designed them to use cross-docking, a
practice that allowed the transshipment of inventory from an inbound truck to an
outbound truck that was loading to carry merchandise to the stores. The whole process
was orchestrated through a system of conveyors within the warehouse to route the
correct merchandise to each truck. Much of the seasonal merchandise was unloaded
from trucks coming in from manufacturers to trucks that were outbound to stores in a
matter of ten minutes. Distribution orders were generated based on previous-day
sales, with allowances for weather patterns and seasonality. This resulted in a
replenishment cycle that was only 48 hours long at most.

Culture and people within Wal-Mart:

In private industries Wal-Mart was the largest employer by 2004. It totaled over 1.3
million associates amongst its ranks.The company employed a flat organizational
structure with the store managers playing pivotal roles in linking management
personnel in Bentonville with field operations.

It offered a range of development opportunities spanning scholarships to college-


bound associates, business skill acquisition programs, and a systematic mentoring
program that paired successful managers with junior associates, to name a few.
Almost all senior positions within the company were filled through promotions from
within. Many amongst the upper echelon had started on the shop floor or in the
warehouses and had moved their way up the ladder. Roughly 65% of Wal-Mart’s
management associates started out as hourly associates.

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The company was suspect of paying very low wages—about $8.23 an hour in the case of
sales clerks, according to Business Week. This amounted to $13,861 per year, below the
federal poverty line of $14,630 for a family of three. Its record in terms of employee diversity
also came under increasing fire. Some critics noted that although women comprised 90% of
the customer service managers, they accounted for only 15% of store manager positions. This
alleged unfair labor practice was the subject of a lawsuit in California. This lawsuit had the
potential of ballooning into a major issue for the company since the judge was considering
class action status so that a large number of plaintiffs might join the class action against the
company. Wal-Mart associates nationwide filed 40 cases against the company, alleging that it
sought to keep labor costs low by leveraging its clout to force employees to work overtime
without offering overtime pay. These transgressions were closely watched by the unions who
had always wanted to bring Wal-Mart employees under their fold.

Women in workplace:

Women working at Wal-Mart stores are paid less than men in every region, that pay
disparities exist in most job categories, that the salary gap widens over time, that
women take longer to enter management positions, and that the higher one looks in
the organization the lower the percentage of women.

Some employees had filed suit against Wal-Mart, claiming that the company forced
them to work overtime without any pay. This suit, some believed, had the makings of
a large class-action suit, probably amongst the biggest in the realm of employment
law in recent years. A similar case in Oregon was decided in favor of the employees.
There was yet another pending lawsuit that charged that the company routinely
discriminated against women in job promotions, especially at the supervisory and
managerial levels. It was reported that although roughly90% of Wal-Mart associates

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were women, they represented only 15% of the positions in top management, a
disparity that was at the heart of the gender discrimination suit.

In 2000, a female employee at a California Wal-Mart who found herself denied


promotions filed a sex-discrimination suit. That case now involves nearly two million
women, and, in 2004, it was certified by Judge Martin J. Jenkins, of the United States
District Court in San Francisco as a class action. Discrimination is a difficult thing to
prove, but the figures in the case do not look good. According to numbers compiled in
2003 by the plaintiffs, female store managers average slightly under $90,000 in
annual income, while their male counterparts average slightly over $100,000. And
while women make up 79 percent of the store’s department heads (an hourly
position), only 15.5 percent are store managers.

How did Wal-Mart go global:

Wal-Mart opened its first international store in Mexico in 1991 and


has grown both through acquisitions and its own innovation. It
acquired a minority interest in a joint venture with a Mexican
company, Cifra, a retailer of repute. At first glance, it might be
difficult to spot a Wal-Mart in another country. Though it is
synonymous with the big-box stores it helped pioneer in the United
States, Wal-Mart has nine international store formats ranging from
relatively tiny Bodega AurreraExpress stores in Mexico to a cash-
and-carry warehouse in India to the traditional box in Canada. It
operates under 55 different banners --Acuenta in Chile, Asda in the United Kingdom
and Seiyu in Japan.In a short span of time, the company set up operations in nine
countries with over 1,300 stores system-wide. By 2003, international operations
accounted for close to 17% of total revenues. It had started in textbook fashion,

sticking close to home with forays into countries of geographic proximity such as
Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Canada. After penetrating promising regions of South
America, the company had ventured into Europe.

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Wal-Mart Global Retailing.
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
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Needs Assessment
Assessment
Needs
GROUP J
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
HRM 370
Dominating Global Retailing
Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

 Wal-Mart needs to come up with non-discriminatory work place.


 Need to focus on employees salaries.
 Development of training program.
 Need to develop legal recruitment system.
 Improve awareness about local people’s condition.
 Need to improve more local brands.
 Low price does not mean low quality. Need to focus on quality control.
 Need to focus on suppliers alone with in store brands.
 Leadership should have changed after a certain time.
 Need to focus on technological issues.
 Need to focus on Cultural differences for Individualism and Collectivism.

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Main Issue
Main Issue
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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
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“How should Wal-Mart maintain its lower price strategy alone with good
product quality and service and which way they should maintain their
employee development?”

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Internal/External
Needs
assessment

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL NEED ASSESSMENT


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In this portion of the case solution, we’ll focus on various Internal& External areas of
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where various discrepancies exist & which have the needs to be
sorted out. To assess the internal & external needs of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., we’ve to
focus on the following questions:

 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


 Is it important to the organization?
 Is it correctable through employee development?
 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be
applied?

Internal Needs Assessment


Issue 1

Wal-Mart prides in having deep connections with its associates, who were used in
advertisements of the company.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist in organization. Wal-Mart focuses on the
performance of their associates for choosing them for their circulars. It works
as a great motivational tool for all the associates who want to feature in the
advertisements of Wal-Mart.
 Is it important to the organization?
It is important for the organization. The associates need to say motivated in
order to remain loyal to the company. The company should always keep the
deep connection with its associates lively in order to create a beneficial
relationship between the two. The associates are more like assets to the
company; they come in use with time.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. Employee development also
encompasses the relationship of the company with its associates, who are an
integral part of the organization. Associates should feel motivated to be
engaged in activities like participating in the circulars given out by the
company. Associates are given promotions after working for a while in the
company.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
Of course, employee development is the most cost effective solution that can
be applied. Just concentrating on the associates can makes things much easier
for Wal-Mart. Associates can help the company cut back on advertising cost
of Wal-Mart by participating in the circulars which are given out as a form of
advertisement. Employee development in this case is more cost effective than
spending money on unnecessary advertisements.

Issue 2

Wal-Mart manages much of its own logistics through a central hub-and-spoke


system of warehouses and distribution centers.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist. The performance of the employees do
matter a lot in this case. Employees are expected to manage the crucial points
of this system. Different warehouses will need different sort of management,
according to the region.

 Is it important to the organization?


It is important to the organization. Wal-Mart now possesses superior
technology which makes the processes of the company run smoother. Its
ownership of warehouses and distribution centers has made the job more
easier for the employees.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. Employee development can
result into better communication within the employees in order to manage the
operations. Great communication amongst the circle of employees can
increase worker productivity and thus the operations will be carried out more
efficiently.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?

I think employee development is the most cost effective solution that can be
applied in this case. If employees can manage the whole distribution system
then Wal-Mart will remain independent by the means of taking care of its own
logistics.

Issue 3

Women working in Wal-Mart stores complained to have faced discrimination.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist in the organization. There are more
women than men working in all Wal-Mart stores. But they have claimed to
not receive promotion in spite of their hard work. They complained against
the organization of such acts of discrimination. The company should have
focused on the performances of each employee and give them promotion on
fair means so that there is no such allegations faced in near future.

 Is it important to the organization?


Of course, it is important to the organization. It is important for an
organization to deal with such allegations. Women should not face
discrimination; men and women should be assessed on equal basis. Wal-Mart
has a great image around the world, and such issues can restrain women from
working in this great retail chain.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


Of course, it is correctable through employee development. The management
should train all the employees the basic things of the organization. All the
employees, regardless of their gender, should follow the rules. No biases
should be held for any of the employees.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
Yes, employee development is the most cost effective solution that can be
applied. If employee development is used appropriately, then there would be
no such complains in future. The human resource management should stress
on a stronger appraisal system, that will listen to the complaints of the
employees so there is no negative actions displayed by them in future.

Issue 4

Employees complained that Wal-Mart pays them with low wages and makes
them work over time.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist. Employees from one of the outlets of the
retail chain complained that they were paid with low wages and also asked to
work over time. Wal-Mart may require working over-time on some occasions,
not always. Because Wal-Mart provides products with the lowest price
possible, they do not pay their employees with high wages. This might have
created an unrest amongst the working employees and they were inclined to
complain.

 Is it important to the organization?


It is important for the organization. Such complains of the employees can
affect the company greatly. Incidents like this might have been encountered in
some of the stores of Wal-Mart, but it puts an effect on the organization as a
whole. It is very important for the company to keep record of such complains;
this can affect the employee productivity in the long run.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. The complaints of
employees should always be kept in record. The human resource management
of any company tackles such problems and prevents them from occurring in
the near future. Employee development can ensure that employees are being
fairly treated and do not face any unfair means.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
Employee development is the most cost effective solution in this case. Only
employee development can solve such problem. More stress on employee
development can prevent such incidents to occur and will lead to more
satisfied employees.

Issue 5

The company had initiated the “national brand” strategy in its merchandising to
capture the market.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist. Providing well-known brand with lowest
possible price was the goal of Wal-Mart. All the stores under Wal-Mart
functioned under this strategy which caused them to build a huge rural base.
Wal-Mart’s different stores may have different by the exterior, but used this
national brand strategy as pull up a consistent performance from their
employees.

 Is it important to the organization?

It is important to the organization. The company relied heavily on this


strategy. This national brand approach was central to Wal-Mart’s approach of
capturing the market shares of its competitors. It presented superior value to
customers by providing all the well-known brands at relatively low prices.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. Employees trained to carry
out the functions for implementing this strategy will be able to tackle any
problem related to this strategy. Employees following the rules of this game
can help the giant retailer gain more market share.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
Employee development is the most cost effective solution that can be applied.
This solution is more cost effective that creating a team of workers who can
implement the national brand strategy can bring down the costs other
operations.

External Needs Assessment


Issue 6

Wal-Mart’s goal is to create a pleasant shopping experience for its customers by


greeting them with the “10 foot rule”.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist in the organization. This “10 foot rule” is
indeed innovative and unique, creating a different zest for the identity of Wal-
Mart. The employees are expected to greet any and every customers within
their 10 feet distance. If such rule is practiced by the employees of the
organization, then they will be able to build better customer relationships over
time.

 Is it important to the organization?


It is very important for the organization. Wal-Mart wants to build a friendly
image of them in the customer’s mind. Thus, such a great rule can help create
pleasant shopping experience for the customers, making them come back
again. Creating a better experience than other retail stores is vital for Wal-
Mart. One of its goal is to provide valued customer service, which it can
fulfill through this strategy.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. In order to gain and retain
customers, a company has to build a great team of employees. Employees
should be well-trained, and should be familiar with their duty. They should
always follow the “10 foot rule” which will help them appear friendly and
approachable. The friendlier your employee is, the more customers you get.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
Yes, employee development is the most cost effective solution for this. The
employees can be trained in a way help the customers so that the customers
feel at ease. If the employees are trained well, then Wal-Mart does not have to
focus much on other factors that influence customer’s psychology.
Developing employees to follow and maintain such great rules will help
create better experience for Wal-Mart’s customers.

Issue 7

Discount retail industry is a highly competitive environment with mostly big

retailers competing for market shares.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist. The performance of various retailers
surely differs from one another. The strategies, goals, and functions are
different but they all want to contain the biggest market share. In the discount
retail industry, every retail store runs in the competition of getting more
market shares. The performance of the employees does matter a lot in
defining the performance of the company.

 Is it important to the organization?


Of course, it is important for the organization. Wal-Mart is the king of retail
shops now, but discount retail industry is a highly competitive ground. Wal-
Mart must keep in track of its competitors and be aware of their strategies. It is
vital for any retail chain to maintain its growth while competing for market
shares.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. Employees must be trained
to promote the products of Wal-Mart so that customers can recall the brand
and be loyal to it. Employees must follow the discount retailing procedure
carefully because of the immense competition.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
Employee development is not the most effective solution that can be applied
in this case. Employee development can be effective but not the solution in
this case. This needs to be solved by taking global communication measures.
Taking the global context in perspective, different competitive strategies
should be taken into account.

Issue 8

Wal-Mart faces difficulty in capturing the global market.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance discrepancy does exist. Wal-Mart does have a huge hold of local
customers in the retailing market inside USA. However, it faces problems
penetrating in foreign countries.

 Is it important to the organization?


It is important to the organization. It is evident that Wal-Mart has to face a lot
of barriers while venturing into foreign countries. Wal-Mart rural strategy
does not really work outside the country, so they have to choose different
formats for different countries. It is a challenge Wal-Mart has to face to break
into different markets with its unique mantra.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. While breaking into foreign
market, employees must be hired from the foreign country, or the employee
must be trained according to the culture. The employee must then represent
Wal-Mart using the foreign customs, relative to the foreign country.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
Employee development is the most cost effective solution in this case. Breaking into
international markets takes good understanding of their market and culture as well.
Developing employees who will fit into the foreign culture is extremely important.

Issue 9

Wal-Mart’s idea of launching in-store brands created problem for its suppliers.

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 Does a performance discrepancy exist?


Performance Discrepancy does exist. Wal-Mart has become such a large
retailer that they came up with their own in-store brands. This created a great
threat for its own suppliers. However, it Wal-Mart keeps on maintain selling
their in-store brands along with their suppliers’ brands, it will prove them to
be a great organization.

 Is it important to the organization?


It is very important to the organization. Wal-Mart is known for controlling a
lot of suppliers. However, the in-store brands can reduce the sales of
suppliers’ brands, causing a rift in the relationship of the supplier and the
giant retailer. Wal-Mart needs to focus on the balance of keeping its suppliers
at hand and also maintaining the growth of its own brands.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


Yes, it correctable through employee development. If the employees are
instructed to deal with Wal-Mart’s in-store brands and its suppliers’ brands the
same way, then it would not hamper the suppliers’ sales.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?
I believe employee development is not the most cost effective solution that
can be applied. Here the problem is with Wal-Mart’s in-store brands
suffocating the suppliers’ brands. The focus should be on balancing the sales
of both the sector. The top management should carefully plan out that Wal-
Mart does not scare away its suppliers and remain on the top as well.

Issue 10

The “Big Box” retailing format led to low penetration into urban areas.

 Does a performance discrepancy exist?

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Performance discrepancy does exist. Being a giant retail store, Wal-Mart


followed the “Big Box” retailing format. This worked wonders in rural areas,
soon Wal-Mart formed a large rural base. However, this format did not quite
work in urban areas. Wal-Mart has to learn that this retailing format does not
always work in every scenario. In order for higher penetration into urban
areas, a different strategy has to be followed.

 Is it important to the organization?


It is extremely important for the organization. Wal-Mart has to recognize such
problems so that they can retain their market share. They started off with rural
market and now they have to penetrate into the urban market. The “Big Box”
retailing format should be used in some places, but a new strategy is needed
for breaking into urban areas.

 Is it correctable through employee development?


It is correctable through employee development. Employees must be trained
according to the urban culture and scenario. They must fit the requirements of
the urban customers. Wal-Mart must train their employees so that they can
penetrate into the urban scene faster.

 Is employee development the most cost effective solution that can be


applied?

Existing
I do not think employee development is the most cost effective solution that
can be applied. Employee development can come in use in this case, but it is
not the best solution. Better marketing development strategies can help the
company to penetrate faster into the urban sectors.

Arrangements

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Arrangement one
Existing Arrangements
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Dominating Global Retailing
Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
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Wal-Mart started to merchandise with “National Brand” strategy

Wal-mart is a very established international brand. For earning fame world


wide, an organization needs to be well-known in its own nation. Wal- mart
used the trick very tactfully and successfully completed its goal.

Pros

 Gained fame in own nation


 Grabbed the vision of international market
 Local customer increased
 Customers of all social statuses showed interest
 Increased the marketing value of its own nation as well as
organizations own profit

Cons

 It had to stand out of local brands. As a result, it couldn’t build


partnership with national brands.
 Weak competitor’s comparison left negative image on
international market.

Arrangement two

Wal-mart tries to set price as low as possible without having any


competition with competitors

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Wal-mart products are cheapest in the world. It sells higher quality products in
lower prices. Its marketing and supply chain is the largest in the entire planet.
It doesn’t focus on how cheap its competitors are setting as a price of
particular product. It concentrates on how it can make the price low and give
few portion of their profit to the end customer by providing highest quality.

Pros

 It never fails to keep customer because of its low price margin.


 It always has a great customer traffic in store because of small
fee
 It is always near to the ground charged than its competitors.
 It gained fame internationally as a cheap quality assuring
organization
 It has high amount of customer purchase number which leads to
higher profits.

Cons

 Quality conscious people create misconception about the fact


that of low price. The mistakenly mix it with quality. Though the
product prices of wal-mart are low, it provides highest quality
product. Still it losses quality conscious people
 Elite and snobby people feel so low buying products from such
an organization where every social class belonging people can
purchase for satisfying their own need. Moreover, it losses a
minor extent of elite crowed.

Arrangement three

Wal-mart follows a category captain policy in their


showrooms worldwide.

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Wal-mart first bought the theme of category captain in marketing which they
are still following. These days it has become popular internationally but the
entrepreneur of this concept is Wal-mart. The highly follow this rules as other
competitors are also following but Wal-marts showroom is the largest. It is
visually nicely decorated anywhere in the world which makes it eye catchy. As
a result it allures customers the most

Pros

 Nicely decorated which captivates the customers


 Customer centric concept which makes it easier for customers
to find the products of particular segment.
 It makes the task of employees easier
 It helps to gain more profit
 Customers directly run towards the product the want to buy
without wasting their time in other segments which helps to
reduce customer traffic.

Cons

 All the prices of the products of same segment are not same.
When people find cheaper products near their desired one, they
go for it which leads to hamper the profitability of the
organization.
 It creates brand preference regarding price. So some of the
products loss their customers. As a result, suppliers of those
particular products don’t deal again with the organization.

Arrangement four

Wal-mart always recruits employees with cheap payment and


hardly increases the increments

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Wal-Mart hires many numbers of employees. It is their strategy to recruit big


numbers of employees with low salary. It will help them to work accordingly
and will also contribute in their profitability. Employees are still willing to work
in Wal-mart as it is the largest brand in the entire world. It is a matter of pride
to get the seal of famous workplace like Wal-mart. Moreover, it never faces
less candidate crowd during its recruitment because of low salary.

Pros

 The less amount they pay for employees contribute in their


overall profitability
 More number of employees can be hired
 Employees can be switched internationally with low cost
 Employees are satisfied because of brand value
 The more number of employees show good working
environment for work.

Cons

 Employees never accept willingly to work for overtime


 Employee satisfaction is small in amount and the words of
mouth of the employees are not always positive.

Arrangement five
The position of Wal-Mart in international market is receptive
and suppliers react quickly to it.

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Wal-mart not only has local market positioning but also it can regulate
and dominate the international market. It has a high customer
preference which helps to bring a large number of suppliers and those
suppliers response quickly to Wal-marts proposal.

Pros

 Good relationship with suppliers


 Get quick response always from any type of suppliers.
 It can complete international product exchange in a short time.
 Suppliers get benefited because of its large customer
preference.
 Suppliers often accept low cost deals to accomplish within small
time.

Cons

 Quick supply sometimes bring harm to the product


 Suppliers always expect quick supply which leads to a great
disappointment if it’s been delayed accidentally.

Arrangement Six

Wal-Mart evaluate market prospective based on ease of


use of real estate, growth potential, political and
economical growth

Wal-mart never lends any building for running their business. They
concentrate on their own made things. As it has a brand value, it
doesn’t want to involve in any sort of political and economical
difficulties. Moreover, Wal-mart pays a lot of attention on perfect real
estate opportunities.

Pros

 Safe to invest money to build a market for wal-mart


 All legal issues stay normal
 Hardly get involve in any economic or political biasness
 Easily get access in any country because of not having any past
records of illegal allegation
 Good and famous real estates agree to continue business with
wal-mart for its good past records

Cons

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 It is a time consuming procedure


 It is costly and hampers in the profitability

Arrangement Seven

Wal-mart follows store format. Such as discount stores,


super centers, neighbors market, online store etc.

Wal-Mart has arranged separate store for attracting different types of


customers. It has discount store to captivate customers who want to
buy products in a cheap rate. It has online store for customers who are
unable to go to the stores physically and buy products. It has super
centers for elite and regular customers.

Pros

 It makes the work of customers easier


 It specific and targets specific market
 It is diverse and customer oriented
 It is internationally known and unique than competitors
 Discount stores every time brings huge interest

Cons
 Sometimes in superstores, customer purchase other products
that they didn’t think to purchase while coming just because it
looks appealing in the store which gives birth to a new need.
This contains a large amount of involvement in profitability of
wal-mart. But this type of purchase doesn’t take place in
separate specific stores.
 Customers need to visit different stores if they have more than
one thing to purchase. It brings hectic to them.

Arrangement eight

Wal-mart limits its advertisement more than its


competitors

Wal-mart doesn’t focus on marketing advertisements. Its sells depend


on the price and quality. Wal-marts competitors highly depend on any
sort of advertising. Every now and then they advertise on the basis of

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their product. If the advertisement is good enough, customers increase.


If the advertisements are not good enough, customers go backwards.
Different scenario is visible in the case of Wal-mart. They rarely
advertise and are out of this competition which makes it unique.

Pros

 No probability of loosing customers because of bad


advertisement
 Loyal customers always wait for its advertisement
 Makes it special in the crowd of competitors
 Less advertisement saves money
 Customers focus on price only

Cons

 Alluring advertisements from competitors can sometimes take


away few customers.
 Customers who are celebrity freak often prefer to buy products
from a store which their favorite celebrity promoted.

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T and D Plan
T&D Plan
GROUP J
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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
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Imminent Training & Development Plan

Human Resource Management, training and development is the field which is


concerned with organizational activity aimed at bettering the performance of
individuals and groups in organizational settings. It has been known by several names,
including human resource development, and learning and development. Training and
development (T&D) encompasses three main activities: training, education, and
development. Firstly training is the activity which is both focused upon, and evaluated
against, the job that an individual currently holds, where aseducation is the activity
which mainly focuses upon the jobs that an individual may potentially hold in the
future, and is evaluated against those jobs.Last but not the least development focuses
upon the activities that the organization employing the individual, or that the
individual is part of, may partake in the future, and is almost impossible to evaluate.

Training & Development Plan 1

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An effective training and development plan in Wal-Mart will require


implementing a new process of hiring and promoting in this retail market.

Development

Associates will have the ability to research job descriptions and


responsibilities, career paths, requirements and compensation for each
position within Wal-Mart they will also indicate the specific positions and
locations for which they would like to be considered, and will receive
immediate feedback from the system on whether or not they are qualified and
eligible for the position and finally the associates will indicate positions they
may be interested in at a later time, providing an opportunity for career
planning and development discussions with their immediate supervisor.

Pros

• This method will gradually enhance overall organization people performance

• The power distance will be low

• Right people will be hired at the right time for the right job most of the time

• No more excessive pressure on the leader

Cons

• This process can be time consuming

• Extended expenditure

• In the future, this may lead to explore non-traditional styles of mentoring

Training and Development Plan 2

Another way of development of employees will be by conducting effective

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leadership program by cultivating highly trained management from the inside.

Development

This program takes each participant through a series of developmental,


training, and inspirational experiences that will cause them to think of
themselves as leaders. Over four months, the participants will spend every
third week immersed in the program for a total of six weeks of instruction.
Training consists of on-the-job experience, master classes, virtual classroom
environments, instructor-led events, self-paced study, student-led activities,
experiential exercises, service projects, distance learning, and small group
discussions.

Pros

• Employees will develop extremely good communication and leadership


skills

• Will promote reward systems, based on performance

• Stores and markets led by these graduates will have posted higher sales
growth numbers than the rest of the company every quarter
executives. It will be producing both the quantity and quality of leaders
needed to sustain and drive growth.

Cons

• Past Leaders wont appreciate the system

• The training will be time consuming

• Overall expenditure will increase

Training and Development Plan 3

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A very helpful way of developing employees of Wal-Mart will be by perform a


"Gap" Analysis.

Development

Organizations need to check the actual performance of their organization and


its people against existing standards, or to set new standards. In this case
WAL-MART would need to check the performance of the customer service
department against the industry standards. Call centers have a general
performance standard that is recognized throughout the industry. WAL-MART
need to look at their customer service department and rate it according to the
standards set forth not only by the industry but also by WAL-MART
themselves.

Pros

• This analysis will improve the overall organizational goals, climate, and
internal and external constraints.

• Solve most of the customer related problems

Cons

• A lot of inaccurate data may be available

• It provides lack of actionable steps, the technology needed, governmental


influence and seasonal fluctuations.

Training and Development Plan 4

The introduction of the Personal Development Programs will be highly

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effective in many ways and is a very good way of training and developing
individuals.

Development

Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity,


develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability,
enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and
aspirations. WAL-MART may introduce programs such as motivations
speaking, individual counseling, time management, life coaching, etc.

Pros

• Improving self-awareness, self-knowledge and skills

• Enhancing lifestyle or the quality of life by fulfilling aspirations

• Initiating a life enterprise or personal autonomy

• Defining and executing personal development plans

Cons

• There is no flexibility, employees will be hard to motivate for personal


development

• It will discourages doing things that are not included into the plan, or
achieving more than the plan requires.

Training and Development Plan 5


As the world is becoming more and more technologically advanced, most
prefer internet related training as it saves a lot of time and you can improve

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and participate from any where you want. So, improving the E-Training
facilities will be very beneficial for Wal-Mart as it will help achieve a lot of
organizational goals.

Development
Each segment of e-training will be a few minutes long and will give the
associates the basic knowledge they need about various products they deal
with every day, as new products are introduced almost every season.

Pros

• Associates will be quizzed at the end of the training and asked for feedback.
This will keep the employers updated about the employees of Wall-Mart
almost all the time

• Often when new employees learn new information they have to go back and
ask a lot of questions and this takes a lot of time. Due to e-training through the
internet, Wal-Mart will to eliminate a step and have this broken into the three
segments.

• If the employees learn one thing at a time, they will learn it correctly, won’t
easily forget and will learn at a faster rate in the end

Cons

• Technology issues of the learners are most commonly technophobia

• Portability of training has become a strength of e-learning with the


proliferation of network linking points, notebook computers, PDAs, and mobile
phones, but still does not rival that of printed workbooks or reference material.

• Reduced social and cultural interaction can be a drawback. The


impersonality, suppression of communication mechanisms such as body
language, and elimination of peer-to-peer learning that are part of this
potential disadvantage are lessening with advances in communications
technologies.

Training and Development Plan 6


:

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Effective T & D plan for female encouragement to take the lead roles.

Development

Female employees are also capable of taking the higher roles in Organization
they should not be dominated. In Wal-Mart, the lead roles are mostly played
by the male personnel. But the female should be encouraged highly to take
the lead roles in the organizations. The organizational goals can only be
achieved if both male and female employees put same effort and carry on
their responsibilities

Pros

• If they dominate the females, they cannotlead to the proper success. If


organizational culture remains the same like the male dominant system, it will
not help them to go ahead for the further progress of the organization. So the
proper progress of achieving the organizational goals will be hampered.

Cons

• By adopting these T & D plan the eligible female employees can show their
performance to the Organization. Female employees are capable and efficient
as male employees. So they should be encouraged highly to take the high
roles in the organizations to achieve the organizational goals more quickly. So
adaptation of such trainingprogram for encouraging the female employees
should be undertaken as soon as possible to make the functional
competencies of the organization

Training and Development Plan 7

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Effective training and development plan to hire and attract local employees

Development

Local employees can understand better than other employees. But unskilled
workforcesneed training to do their job properly. So employees need training
to develop their competencies

Pros

• They emphasize more on team harmony which hampers the individual


participation of employees. Individual trainings not that much appreciated in
the Wal-Mart. But there should be an established way to reveal more
individual creativity.

Cons

• By adopting these T &D plan employees of the organization can give their
opinion in decision making. Individual training & development should be highly
encouraged to create more scopes for expressing more freely. This will also
help them to take part in the decision making. So the training program in this
regard should be undertaken as soon as possible to raise the creativity
among the employees

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T and D Plan Realization
Realization
Proposed T&D
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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
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Effective training and development plan can help employees to overcome their
obstacles. Because effective training and development plans can help employees,
employees can make better decision. Wal-Mart is a well reputed global retailing
business. They have old reputed competitors. To get competitive advantages than their
competitors, the company needs skilled workforces to run their business smoothly.
Some proposed training and development plans for Wal-Mart are given below:

I m m i
n e n t

Plan
Plan
Plan 1
2
3
T r a in i

Plan 4
n g &

Plan
Plan
Plan 5
6
7
D e v e l

Plan 8
o p m e
n t
P la n
We have to design the complete Training and Development (T&D) plan necessary for
Wal-Mart. We have to select, design, and conduct employee development activities so
that Wal-Mart can come out from aggressive competition. Without the making the
plan we cannot implement anything and also the exact problem cannot be solved.

We have made eight T & D plan for this case. Wal-Mart needs to be more aggressive
in the retail business. The biggest problems of Wal-Mart are aggressive competitions,
lack of skilled women workforce, illegal employees hiring etc. The company needs to
encourage female participants to fill the higher level position. They also need to be
more aggressive than their competitors.

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If we solve these problems and impose our T & D plan properly in Wal-Mart then it
will help them to maintain stable business position. In retail business many companies
solved these problems and also achieving their goals and also getting good results. So
it is the right time to take proper action on those issues.

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Training and Development Plan 1:


Effective T & D plan to make the employees more aggressive and creative.

1st phase

 Checking the employee’s experience


 Choosing the responsibility
 Assigning the proper responsibility
 Regular inter and intra communication
2nd Phase

 A model of total positioning process will be estimated


 According to the positioning, resources will be allocated to different parts
3rd Phase

 Provide feedback and support


 Share information

Employee development needs:

Not to be dependent on mentor only employee should become creative and initiative.
Most of the employees in Wal-Mart are dependent on their heads. They don’t think
that can also give a best solution for their organization. Only dependent on the heads
they involve themselves not to be creative and initiative. As they are dependent only
on their mentors so they cannot show their creativeness. These plans help employees
to show their creativeness and imitativeness.

Directed towards organizational goal:

If employees are more creative and initiative then they become more directed towards
attaining goal. Attaining goal cannot be done without showing employees
creativeness. Employee creativeness help organization to solve problems of
organization which will lead employees to be more directed towards goal.

Undertaken on the required time:

The training program should be taken immediately to make the employees creative
and aggressive. These plan must be taken as early as possible because these plan helps
employees to show their creativeness in the organization which helps to solve
problems and to attain the organizational goal and objectives.

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Careful and through administration evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that every employee get
chance to show their creativity and aggressiveness. Employees are the base of an
organization they know the problems very well then the heads of the organization. So
if they don’t have the opportunity to show their creativeness regarding decision makes
or problem solving so organizations cannot achieve their goals and objective properly.

Pros:

They emphasize more on team harmony which hampers the individual participation of
employees. Individual creativity is not that much appreciated in the Wal-Mart. But
there should be an established way to reveal more individual creativity.

Cons:

By adopting these T & D plan employees of the organization can give their opinion in
decision making. Individual creativity, aggressiveness should be highly encouraged to
create more scopes for expressing more freely. This will also help them to take part in
the decision making. So the training program in this regard should be undertaken as
soon as possible to raise the creativity among the employees.

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Training and Development Plan 2:


Effective T & D plan for female encouragement to take the lead roles of an
Organization

1st phase

 Checking the woman employee’s experience


 Choosing the responsibility
 Assigning the proper responsibility
2nd Phase

 Monitor performance
 Record Information
 According to the positioning, resources will be allocated to different parts
3rd Phase

 Provide feedback and support


 Share information
Employee development needs:

Female employees are also capable of taking the higher roles in Organization they
should not be dominated. In Wal-Mart, the lead roles are mostly played by the male
personnel. But the female should be encouraged highly to take the lead roles in the
organizations. The organizational goals can only be achieved if both male and female
employees put same effort and carry on their responsibilities.

Directed towards organizational goal:

Females also can give the same potential as males to achieve the goal of organization.
The organizational goals can only be achieved if both male and female employees put
same effort and carry on their responsibilities. Women employees should be
encouraged highly to take the high roles to play more vital roles to achieve the
organizational goals.

Undertaken on the Required Time:

The training program should be taken immediately. The training program for the
women encouragement should be taken immediately to take the high roles by them in
the organizations. Female personnel are important for the organizations to run the
companies more efficiently. So the training program for the female employees should
be taken immediately.

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Careful and through Administration Evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that female employees
know that they can be a good leader in Organization. The training program should be
devised in an efficient manner so that the female personnel are encouraged highly to
take the lead roles in the organizations. The training program should be then carefully
evaluated through administration.

Pros:

If they dominate the females so they can not lead to the proper success. If
organizational culture remains the same like the male dominant system, it will not
help them to go ahead for the further progress of the organization. So the proper
progress of achieving the organizational goals will be hampered.

Cons:

By adopting these T & D plan the eligible female employees can show their
performance to the Organization. Female employees are capable and efficient as male
employees. So they should be encouraged highly to take the high roles in the
organizations to achieve the organizational goals more quickly. So adaptation of such
training program for encouraging the female employees should be undertaken as soon
as possible to make the functional competencies of the organization.

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Training & Development Plan 3:


Effective training and development plan to encourage employees to follow properly
supply chain management system.

1st phase

 Checking the information about distribution system


 Assigning the proper responsibility
 Choosing the right employee for right position
2nd Phase

 Monitor performance
 Record & share Information
 According to the positioning, resources will be allocated to different parts
3rd Phase

 Provide feedback and support


 Communicate with higher employee
Employee Development Needs:

Supply chain management system helps organization to make smooth business


operations. This system has the link between all the other business activities. The
purpose of supply chain management system is to provide proper management
support. Wal-Mart needs to make smooth their business operation. So employees of
Wal-Mart need to follow the proper process of supply chain management system.

Directed towards Organizational Goal:

To get competitive advantage, organization needs to have proper supply chain


management system. Supply chain management system helps business operation to
perform properly on right time and right place. Supply chain management helps to
gain organizational goals.

Undertaken on the Required Time:

The training program should be taken immediately. The training program for the
supply chain management system encouragement should be taken immediately to take
the high roles by them in the organizations. Supply chain management system is
important for the organizations to run the companies more efficiently. So the training
program of supply chain management for employees should be taken immediately.

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Careful and through Administration Evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that employees know that
they can be a good leader in Organization. The training program should be devised in
an efficient manner so that the employee’s personnel are encouraged highly to take the
lead roles in the organizations. The training program should be then carefully
evaluated through administration.

Pros:

Supply chain management system can help to achieve organization goals. It can make
the business operation smoother. Wal-Mart is the retailing business organization.
Supply chain management system will help the business organization smoother and
proper.

Cons:

By adopting these T & D plan the eligible employees can show their performance to
the Organization. All employees will be capable and efficient. So they should be
encouraged highly to take the high roles in the organizations to achieve the
organizational goals more quickly. So adaptation of such training program for
encouraging the employees should be undertaken as soon as possible to make the
functional competencies of the organization.

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Training & Development Plan 4:


Effective T & D plan to encourage employees to be good manager.

1st phase

 Checking the employee’s experience


 Choosing the responsibility
 Assign the proper responsibility

 Regular inter and intra communication


 Performance appraisal

2nd Phase

 Eliminate obstacles
 A model of total positioning process will be estimated
 According to the positioning, resources will be allocated to different parts

3rd Phase

 Provide feedback and support


 Share information with others

Employee Development Needs:

Not to be dependent on mentor only employee should become creative and initiative.
Most of the employees in Wal-Mart are dependent on their heads. They don’t think
that can also give a best solution for their organization. Only dependent on the heads
they involve themselves not to be creative and initiative. As they are dependent only
on their mentors so they cannot show their creativeness. These plans help employees
to show their creativeness and imitativeness as well as to be good managers.

Directed towards organizational goal:

If employees are more creative then they become more directed towards attaining
goal. Attaining goal cannot be done without showing employees creativeness and
leadership skills. Employee creativeness and leadership skills help organization to
solve problems of organization which will lead employees to be more directed
towards goal.

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Undertaken on the Required Time:

The training program should be taken immediately to make the employees creative
and aggressive. These plan must be taken as early as possible because these plan helps
employees to show their creativeness in the organization which helps to solve
problems and to attain the organizational goal and objectives.

Careful and through Administration Evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that every employee get
chance to show their creativity and leadership skill. Employees are the base of an
organization they know the problems very well then the heads of the organization. So
if they don’t have the opportunity to show their creativeness regarding decision makes
or problem solving so organizations cannot achieve their goals and objective properly.

Pros:

They emphasize more on team harmony which hampers the individual participation of
employees. Individual creativity is not that much appreciated in the Wal-Mart. But
there should be an established way to reveal more individual creativity.

Cons:

By adopting these T & D plan employees of the organization can give their opinion in
decision making. Individual creativity, leadership skills should be highly encouraged
to create more scopes for expressing more freely. This will also help them to take part
in the decision making. So the training program in this regard should be undertaken as
soon as possible to raise the creativity among the employees.

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Training & Development Plan 5:


Effective training and development plan to develop negotiation skills.

1st phase

 Set the activities to make the employees efficient


 Design tasks that will stimulate the activities of being communicative
 Assign the proper responsibilities
 Give instructions

2nd Phase

 Performance appraisal
 Demonstrate the benefits of interaction
 Monitor performance
3rd Phase

 Provide feedback and support


Employee Development Needs:

Negotiation is a method by which people settle differences. It is a process by which


compromise or agreement is reached while avoiding argument. In any disagreement,
individuals understandably aim to achieve the best possible outcome for their
position. However, the principles of fairness, seeking mutual benefit and maintaining
a relationship are the keys to a successful outcome. Employees of Wal-Mart need to
increase their negotiation skill to get competitive advantage.

Directed towards Organizational Goal:

To achieve organizational goals, an organization needs to get competitive advantage.


To get competitive advantage, negotiation skill will help Wal-Mart to get competitive
advantage. Competitive advantage can help to meet the organizational goals.

Undertaken on the Required Time:

The training program should be taken immediately to improve the employee’s


negotiation skills. These plan must be taken as early as possible because these plan

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

helps employees to show their skills in the organization which helps to solve
problems and to attain the organizational goal and objectives.

Careful and through Administration Evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that every employee get
chance to show their negation skills. Employees are the base of an organization they
know the problems very well then the heads of the organization. So if they don’t have
the opportunity to show their skills regarding decision makes or problem solving,
organizations cannot achieve their goals and objective properly.

Pros:

Employees can learn a proven negotiating process, methodology, strategies, tactics,


and secret phrases to apply to every negotiation, canlearn how to properly and
effectively prepare and plan for every negotiation – whether basic or advanced, can
improve business results, outcomes, and profitability, can reduce unnecessary
compromise and needless price discounting andimprove organizational and personal
performance.

Cons:

By adopting these T & D plan employees of the organization can give their opinion in
decision making. This will also help them to take part in the decision making. So the
training program in this regard should be undertaken as soon as possible to raise the
negotiation skills among the employees.

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Training & Development Plan 6:


Effective training and development plan to adopt and improve technological skills.

1st phase

 Assign Responsibilities and duties


 Share information
 Skill inventory
2nd Phase

 Performance appraisal
 Demonstrate the benefits of interaction and technology uses
 Monitor performance
3rd Phase

 Provide feedback and support


Employee Development Needs:

Employees need to develop their technological skills to perform proper way in their
job. An organization needs various technological skills to run their business
operations. Without technological skills, an organization can not operate their
business properly.

Directed towards Organizational Goal:

To achieve organizational goals, an organization needs to get competitive advantage.


To get competitive advantage, business operation must be in proper and on due time.
Technological skills will help the business operation to run properly. If the business
operation runs properly, the organization gets competitive advantage.

Undertaken on the Required Time:

The training program should be taken immediately to improve the employee’s


technological skills. These plan must be taken as early as possible because these plan
helps employees to show their skills in the organization which helps to solve
problems and to attain the organizational goal and objectives. Employees should
adopt the new technology as early as possible.

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Careful and through Administration Evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that every employee get
chance to show their technological skill. Employees are the base of an organization
they know the problems very well then the heads of the organization. So if they don’t
have the opportunity to show their skills regarding decision makes or problem
solving, organizations cannot achieve their goals and objective properly.

Pros:

Employees can learn a proven negotiating process, methodology, strategies, tactics,


and secret phrases to apply to every negotiation, canlearn how to properly and
effectively prepare and plan for every negotiation – whether basic or advanced, can
improve business results, outcomes, and profitability, can reduce unnecessary
compromise and needless price discounting andimprove organizational and personal
performance.

Cons:

By adopting these T & D plan employees of the organization can give their opinion in
decision making. This will also help them to take part in the decision making. So the
training program in this regard should be undertaken as soon as possible to raise the
technological skills among the employees. But this plan is more time and resource
consuming.

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61
Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Training & Development Plan 7:


Effective training and development plan to hire and attract local employees

1st phase

 Set the activities to make the employees efficient


 Design tasks that will stimulate the activities of being communicative
 Assign Responsibilities and duties
2nd Phase

 Demonstrate the benefits of interaction


 Performance appraisal
 According to the positioning, resources will be allocated to different parts
 Monitor performance

3rd Phase

 Provide feedback and support


Employee Development Needs:

Local employees can understand better than other employees. But unskilled
workforces need training to do their job properly. So employees need training to
develop their competencies.

Directed towards Organizational Goal:

Skilled workforces do their duties and responsibilities properly. To get competitive


advantage, organization has to run efficiently. To achieve organizational goals, Wal-
Mart needs to have skilled local workforces.

Undertaken on the Required Time:

The training program should be taken immediately to make the employees skilled.
These plan must be taken as early as possible because these plan helps employees to
show their competencies in the organization which helps to solve problems and to
attain the organizational goal and objectives.

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62
Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Careful and through Administration Evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that every employee get
chance to show their competencies. Employees are the base of an organization they
know the problems very well then the heads of the organization. So if they don’t have
the opportunity to show their competencies regarding decision makes or problem
solving, organizations cannot achieve their goals and objective properly.

Pros:

They emphasize more on team harmony which hampers the individual participation of
employees. Individual training is not that much appreciated in the Wal-Mart. But there
should be an established way to reveal more individual creativity.

Cons:

By adopting these T & D plan employees of the organization can give their opinion in
decision making. Individual training &development should be highly encouraged to
create more scopes for expressing more freely. This will also help them to take part in
the decision making. So the training program in this regard should be undertaken as
soon as possible to raise the creativity among the employees.

Page
63
Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Training & Development Plan 8:


Effective training and development plan to encouraging employees to adopt
organizational culture.

1st phase

 Set up cultural education program


 Hire external management professor from well reputed university and training
institutions,
 Hire full time faculty members with proper education qualifications, experience,
skills on contractual basis.
2nd Phase

 The external professor who designed courses will conduct a seminar where
faculties members will attend to get perceive the course material.
 Estimated cost and Budget allocation
3rd Phase

 The faculty members would use classroom teaching technique, video presentation,
case analysis, business games etc.
 Effective T & D program should be arranged to practice interactive leadership in
future
Employee Development Needs:

To decrease cultural differences among employees, organization need to follow some


procedure. Unique organization culture can build the brand of the organization. This
will help to get competitive advantage than their competitors. Another important thing
is that culture is learned through learning process.

Directed towards Organizational Goal:

By decreasing power distance and have a strong communication which leads


organization to attain its goal. If this T & D plan followed then it will help decrease
the power distance among the employees which will help in increasing the
communication between the heads and the lower employees this will direct
organization towards its goal and objective.

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Dominating Global Retailing HRM 370
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
GROUP J

Undertaken on the Required Time:

The training program should be taken immediately to have change in Organizational


culture. The organizational culture is very important for an organization if there is a
problem with their culture then it creates problem in organization. So this plan should
be implemented as early as possible because it will help organizational culture to
change

Careful and Through Administration Evaluation:

The training plan must be carefully done and monitored so that the directive
leadership system can be out of from the top management and helped to form
interactive leadership in future.

Pros:

Transracial adoption from developing countries provides an excellent opportunity to


save an individual from the challenges of an economically disadvantaged environment
by bringing them to a more prosperous one where they will have many more
opportunities than would otherwise be available to them. Transracial adoption is a
perfect solution for a racially divided world and will go a long way towards true
integration.

Cons:

By changing the cultural behavior it will change the Organizational behavior. It will
help organization employees to show their creativity and also become communicative
with all types of employees regarding.

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66
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Appendix
GROUP J
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.:
HRM 370
Dominating Global Retailing

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