Musa Kabanangi

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet
1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

My situation was in regard with the amount of waiting time when shopping from

Walmart. As an external person (customer), Walmart stores I have visited so far have proven to

be operating with the same, chaotic and long lines of customers waiting to be checked out by one

employee operating the only open cash register out of over 15. Walmart employees don’t seem to

pay attention to this issue like I was told by one employee that the store manager is only

interested in meeting the store’s daily sales target.

2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

Strong companies know the kind of people they want and hire those that fit the

mold[CITATION Bol171 \p 140 \l 1033 ]. With Walmart, the case is different. Employees are

unengaged with customers and mostly not ready to assist customers when they enter the store, at

least at all the stores I have visited. Walmart though claims that culture is the foundation of

everything they do. It is how they deliver superior customer service, create a front-line work

environment and improve performance in order to achieve common purpose of saving people

money so they live better[ CITATION Wal211 \l 1033 ]. This may be one of the values at

corporate office, it is not experienced in the stores. The fact that the store manager tells his team

that all he is interested is meeting the daily sales target says a lot about the relationships that exist

in the store. This also shows that there is little training in customer service at store level and that

creates a gap between customer and store clerk.

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 There are times when I walk into the store and I find an employee overwhelmed with

customers at check out while others are either chatting at customer service desk or taking a

cigarette break outside. In my opinion, this symbolizes lack of team work. Employees may be on

the same shift and working in the same department but are not a team and can’t work as one.

Management must jump in and work to build teams that will help each other during high traffic

hours. Training employees how to operate a cash register only is not enough for Walmart

employees. I wonder if Walmart managers do visit other stores like Stop & Shop or Whole

Foods to see how employees attend to customers. The fact that most Walmart store are in low

income arears could be the reason behind them not paying much attention to employee training

and development. One employee told me that for the past 20 years she has been working for

Walmart, she only knows of one person who was promoted to store supervisor level and thios

was after he had been with the company for close to 30 years. The lack of motivation and drive is

because management has no time to interact and learn the difficulties employees go through

every day. They are focused of forecasting sales targets for stores and not those making those

targets possible.

3) Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

Undertrained workers harm organizations in many ways: shoddy quality, poor service,

high costs, and costly mistakes[CITATION Bol171 \p 145 \l 1033 ]. This is the exact area I would

want to correct. Walmart will need to move from the traditional employing process and put in a

well organized and open employment process unique to them. The company must start

employing people who connect with its values and show signs of willing to work in a diverse

group. At some point, it would be necessary for other employees to be trained in how to conduct

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interviews so they can be able to interview potential candidates who are looking forward to join

their teams. Employees must align with the company’s values in customer service and be able to

meet customer demands in the stores. Store managers should also be spending more time on the

floor and interact with their teams and customers so they can have a feel of what is going on and

be able to request employees to cover areas that need help in real time. For this to be possible

and pay off, employees must undergo rigorous training in customer service tailored to Walmarts

values as well as training in other store departments so that when needed, any employee must be

able to cover.

The other recommendation would be building cohesive teams. Teams that will work

together in making sure the store and products are well presented to customers. There are times

when I walk into Walmart store I find carts full of products and left in aisles with no one paying

attention to them while shelves are almost empty. If the company can build store teams just like

they are trying to build teams that are attending to online orders, they will benefit more than they

are currently. There will be need to build teams in every department of the store with a rotating

leadership role. These would be highly effective teams that will attend to every issue a customer

may have in their department and resolve it without need for supervisor or manager. Best

customer service must be at the core of every employee. These team must have a work plan

every time they report for work and should be able to be self managing. Employees and teams

must be at a level where they must operate autonomously die to effect trainings and belief in

themselves and management.

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 4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

What I would do differently is move away from the style of treating people like robots or

machines and let them do what they know is right. People must be left free to use their initiatives

and make decisions that will benefit them and others. I would love to have a team with no formal

roles assigned and will be trained to have all necessary skills to work in every department. The

“notorious” check out system is another area of focus. Rather than encouraging customers to use

self check out, a better idea would be have all check out stations operational especially during

peack hours. A store manager or supervisor must know what hours his/her store is busy and

assign employees to help reduce customer wait time in the store. Thisis the biggest challenge

currently and must be addressed so customers can come for more purchases knowing they will

not spend too much time in the store.

The other thing I would do different now that I have leaned of the human resource frame

is believe in people. I need to move from the idea of me thonking I know more than any person

on the team and embrace the idea of learning from everyone and anyone. I want to be a team

player and connect with other who have different views. I now believe this is the best way to

learn. Even as I am looking around for employment, I should now pay attention to compny

vision and culture, try and meet people working for companies I want to apply to and learn more

about the work environment and what the company looks for in people. I will be more interested

in companies that train and develop employees and promote from within.

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 References

Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (6th
Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass(Perusall Version).

Walmart. (2021). Walmart Corporation: Values. Retrieved from Walmart Corporation:

https://careers.walmart.com/values