HR essay on: HR strategy in Walmart

The company level strategy of Walmart is a little different with a stress on the cost. Managers in Walmart engage in three different levels of planning. They are strategies at the corporate level, the business level and the functional level strategy; it can be referred to as the short term, meduim term and long term strategy. The functional strategy that is formulated is responsible for serving the HR system and can be said for serving the corporate strategy. As we all know the corporate level strategy of Walmart is low cost leadership and hence all the other strategies are serviced in a way to fulfil this purpose. The low cost strategy adopted by Walmart seems to impact the employees and the suppliers adversely because people work for money in most cases and it is one of the most important motivational factors.

Great support to intrapreneurialism

Walmart builds the low cost leader strategy and employment policies and hence forth letting Walmart enjoy employment at a very cheaper cost. The HR activities are are kept at low cost and that also helps Walmart in facing up to the challenges that exists. In other words it can be said that the low cost strategy that is put by Walmart impacts the level of justice that is done to the suppliers and the employees on terms of training, compensation and performance management. But on the other side leadership is well acclaimed in the case of Walmart. There are opportunities for growth provided; they keep up with the pressure of demands on HR.

Organisational Structure

The organization structure of Walmart itself depicts that a high level of importance and exposure that is given to intrapreneurialism development in the case of Walmart. Most of the employees started up small as a cashier and grow up the career ladder. This means that their effort is given high important. It is also one among the principles that are proposed by Sam Walton to listen to the various members who are working in the departments so that the responsibility for the actions can be pushed downwards and can extract commitment from them. Further importance to training and development can be seen in the policies and performance appraisals that are given for the employees from Walmart. The structure of the organisation as shown in the organisational chart depicts too much of centralisation. This means there is increased power in the hands of the employees as they climb up the ladder. The attitude of servant leadership that the leaders are trained on makes interaction easier for them. The HR has in this case established a balance between centralisation and decentralisation do power in the firm that is necessary for the firm. People are responsible for their actions where as they are to report their actions to their immediate seniors.

HR policies and integration of strategies

The SHRM model that is adapted by the firm is contingency perspective or the best fit model. The practices by Walmart can be thus said to be perfect to the context in which the company is in. The strategies that are adapted by Walmart differ as various models and it can be said that the strategies that are developed by the HR are prone to be similar to the strategies that are adopted by the firm at that particular point of time. This would mean unrest to the employees and the suppliers. The threat of organisational change is very high especially in the scenario were unionization is not allowed. There is no strong representation for the employees and the other partners to the management. The policies should be made in favour of them so that employees can voice out the concerns they have.

One of the major goals that they look forward to implementing in Walmart is to incorporate Walton’s philosophy. The duties that are dedicated to all the employees are the same and idea is to continue getting, keeping and growing good people. This role is to be fulfilled by the employees who enters the organizations and who climbs up the ladder. This is a concept that cannot be developed and applied without supporting the entrepreneurial talent.

Recruitment

The strategy as proposed by Walton is followed even now in Walmart which is to hire good people. They prefer hiring upbeat people and the initial hiring decision is made b investing on the personal energy of the current management who are devoted to fixing and improving the strategies taken for hiring people. They had initially experiences problem f increased turn over and managed at a very early stage. The strategy is also included in their recruitment plans which are to get high quality personnel. They have to highly concentrate on recruitment as turnover is highly dependent on the people that they hire. This was one of the reasons why hiring is done with extreme care now. They also employ tools for the process of selection of the employees instead on a normal interview and recruit people on the basis of the interview results. They also run a back ground check up when the employees are hired. This helps in eliminating the employees who deserve to be something else that is different from they are and also false qualifications.

The HR systems and the procedures in the case of recruitment are very strong as there aren’t any chances for false entries in the organisation. These policies are also required for the success of any firm.

Training and Walmart

It can be noticed that the employees are often referred to as associates in Walmart and the managers are to be servant leaders. This means that people are not allowed to show of the centralized structure or to not appreciate the work that is done by other employees in middle level management or the lower level management. Through this way the focus and the energy is spot on showing results in Walmart and that is well reflected as integration and value. The practices ensure that the employee behaviors in the scenario are well controlled in the atmosphere. This proactive step not only lays controls but also rewards the people who are working in accordance with their demands. This is also in consistent with the strategy that is adopted by Walmart.

In training one of the major efforts that are done is to adjust the behaviors in accordance with the requirements of Walmart. In training encouragement is given to behaviors as required by Walmart and there by upgrading the standards and attitudes of the employees to that in accordance with the requirements as they are required by Walmart. Training makes them adapt to the concept of imparting value to the organization. Walmart also do not approve on any kind of shrinkage behavior in the case of the employees and thereby eliminates unauthorized trips outside for personal matters. The personal freedom is a person is restricted when one is working for Walmart fun and enjoyment to motivate the employees is still an alien concept which HR has to change. This will make the organisation more employees friendlier.

Performance management

The standards that are expected from the employees are very high and the standards and designs for the jobs are preset. It is even said that Walmart requires high level of dedication to the extent where there is breaking in the case of the careers. This also means that performance appraisal is way too difficult to achieve in the case of employees. It is often said there is discrimination in the case of men and women in the case of payments. Entrepreneurial skills are very well appreciated as long as they are not asking for a higher payment

Compensation management

The policies of compensation management also have a very aggressive nature in the case of Walmart. They now export work to the outsiders and pays the labour a cheaper cost there. Inventory and operating costs are set at a higher level in the case of the management. The profits should be increased as to increase the wages that are given for the customers. Walmart also expects the labour costs to be reduced year on year. So as far as the strategies kept are concerned the aggressive laws are fittest, but not probably from the eyes of an associate or an employee.

On the other side it can be seen that about $634.4 million has been spend in providing employee benefits and awards. The awards are highly motivating for the employees to work further and stay with the organisation.

Employee benefits and safety

The policies for the safety and benefits in Walmart are set as high as required in the corporate standards. The workers here are eligible for benefits that include health insurance, but the employees are to pay a part of their costs. There are also chances for an increase in the burden of the employee. The burdens in case of partial payments were insurances are concerned are also increasing. in comparison to the other firms it can be said the the employees ay a part of the insurance that is lesser than 20% were as almost half of it is paid by the employees in the case of the Walmart.

Labour relations

The best fit model is highly applied in the case of the labour relations perspective. One of the reasons behind it is that customers are given aggressive discounts. Union workers are paid less and the new worker are never encourage for joining a union and are expressed that joining any union will have its implication. Payments were decreased on increase in payment for a few employees were also cancelled as they joined. For a change unionization was allowed in China. When there is no unionisation allowed, they also sponsor for multicultural festivals and organise evens like fashion shows, exhibitions, drama, Latin dancing which helps the employees have fun and get really along with the team members.

Role of HR in Walmart

The role of HR in the firm can be summarised into three roles. They are getting good people for wart, growing good people for Walmart and keeping good people for Walmart. These three purposes can be taken as the cornerstones that the HR department has to work on. One of the major roles of the human resource department in Walmart is to integrate the low cost policy fit to that of the employment practices as well. The policies, rules and the standards are too made in favour of the best fits policy by HR. there is also a high amount of focus on high improvement, learning, superior execution and employee empowerment when it comes to adapting strategies or implementing innovative measures. in short it can be said that role of the HR is to hire people who are highly committed to their work, to highly focus on the employees and to ensure that there are high levels of success in the case of the operations that are undertaken, to grow and nurture culture within the organisation that is highly committees to the success of the business that they have undertaken. The connection is to be established between the people and the associates of Walmart and HR plays a pivotal role in implementing this. The HR is also to allow setting self professed goals for the employees who are hired into the organisation as it works optimally for Walmart. This means that every functional area within Walmart is aligned for service and this is ensured by HR (Peterson, 2005).

Challenges faced

It cannot be said that the Walmart bas remained without issues. The business model that is adapted by Walmart so also questioned. One of the reason behind it is the concerns about the ‘Walmart effect’ which the the high cost the community has to pay because of the low prices that are set by Walmart (Basker, 2007). Some of them are Walmart eliminated local competition and generates the effect of monopoly. When it comes to the suppliers, it can be said that the suppliers eventually have to seek for a technique of manufacturing outside America as manufacturing costs have increased highly in US. It can be said that efficiency of the suppliers has increased to the extent that no further excellence can be depicted. The benefits of the cost advantage also means that other perks that customers experience when they go to other stores fails to be experienced in the case of Walmart. It fails to adapt itself to the various segments across the world.

It can be said that there are other negative aspects to the cost control also in the case of Walmart. The relationship between the associates and employees are highly focused and controlled by cost. This means the core value that is to be delivered in the atmosphere is hard work. There are people who are working overtime and sometimes it means that the power that the associates take in illegal measures to fulfill their roles (Basker, 2007). There are cases of discrimination against women. Walmart is also entirely against the concept of unionized employees. It should be notices that the salary of the unionized employees is far higher than the non union employees. There is a high amount of gender bias into his organization. A number of law suits have been files against Walmart because they made children do child labour and this has cause severe unrest in them. Making children and minors gives them competitive advantage but this has been highly disapproved by laws.

Recommendations

Some of the major processes that are to be adapted by Walmart to negate the questionable practices that are at times doubted because , the HR policies are not highly friendly for employees but for the customers and is highly in accordance with the best fit policy of low cost. There should be policy changes to make it friendlier to the employees in the organization; it is true that this is one of the organizations where shares, bonus, dividends and store discounts are given for the employees. But the employees should also be further motivated to depict and grow on the skills they already have.  It can be seen that about 60% of the staff in Walmart is Women now. They are opportunities for women, but they must be given equal pay and be provided with equal rewards.

Some of the major reasons why Walmart is criticized for are its late entry in global market and ecommerce. Walmart should be highly conscious about the steps that taken by the compactors in the future. There should be adherence to Fair Labor standards and Walmart should not compromise on this front. One of the major reasons for it is that the negative publicity will highly impact the efficient employees who come in touch with Walmart to seek jobs.

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