Walmart Case With Perspective Of Behavior Theory

Walmart case with perspective of behavior theory

Introduction

Behavior theory is one of administrative theories. This focuses on the behavior of people and those factors that motivate employees is an organization.

Walmart As we know is an international company that had its origin within a small community in the United States called Arkansas. It arises in 1962, as a company that sought to offer low prices every day, this phrase became its slogan later.

The objective of this report is to apply and propose a new perspective to the company’s administration, so we will take behavior theory to modify aspects that will lead the company to its optimal operation.

Planning

The planning is defined as the “function of the administration in which the goals are defined, the strategies to achieve them are set, and plans are drawn to integrate and coordinate the activities.”(Robbins/Coulter, 2013, P. 9). This is considered the basis of the administration, therefore, it is essential and primary for an organization and/or company to have clarity in planning.

Emphasizing the case of Walmart, in order to apply the theory chosen, we must take into account certain main elements that will guide us in the correct adequacy of the perspective.

First, we have to take into account the mission and vision of the company. We consider that Walmart’s mission is based on the planning of a unique strategy, a simple organization structure, an effective human resources policy, an inspiring leadership style and skilled use of information technology to administer its inventories.

As for the company’s vision, this is to expand its stores worldwide and be able to achieve the same impact that it generated on the rural areas of the United States.

Other points to consider are the objectives of the company, which we can differentiate between the central (or general) objective, which is focused on covering the needs of people living in rural areas and also also being able to maintain a good relationship with thestaff and suppliers (being a less populated rural area) also taking into account the main values of the company. On the other hand, there is the specific objective, which is usually carried in the short term and are small goals that lead us to the central objective. In the case of Walmart, its specific objective is to have everything in one place to cover any type of need and in this way the public will only need this store for any type of specialty that requires.

Within the planning process we must take into account decision making, which always goes hand in hand along with the strategy. To make an efficient, effective and effective decision it is necessary to carry out a SWOT analysis (strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats). This in order to have an account that benefits the company more and what are those aspects that can bring negative consequences to this.

Next, we present Walmart’s SWOT analysis:

Strengths

Opportunities

Being a large company, it has a greater purchase capacity, which allows them to obtain the products at a lower price and thus be able to sell them cheaper to the public (compared to other stores).

Great leadership and motivation by employees.

Being such a well -known company, it can continue to expand in the countries in which it is not yet present, but in a safe way taking into account its errors of the past.

Weaknesses

Threats

Despite delivering many services, it is not yet able to meet all the needs of people in the same place.

Its effect on small communities produced the obligatory closure of small stores that could not compete against their low prices, which damages the image of Walmart.

Smaller companies such as the French Carrefour and the German Metro, which despite being much smaller than Walmart try to snatch customers.

Emergence of new needs that meet and little capacity for innovation against them produce that small innovative stores can supply such needs.

Already having the analysis, we can use strategies and make decisions for the optimal development of the company. We must devise a plan that is in accordance with the theory and that in turn amplifies the benefits for the company.

We must take into account what type of plan we will use to obtain effective results. In this case, it is appropriate to use an operational plan, which focuses on the processes to achieve a goal. This kind of plan is useful to meet the objective of Walmart, since, being a store, and considering that we are focusing on the needs of the employee, it would make the work process fast and effective.

As for strategy, we must formulate actions for our SWOT analysis, that is, as we are going to use in our favor that already mentioned. Starting with the strengths, we must promote them, so we must work depth with keeping low prices and continuing to motivate employees. With the opportunities, we have in our favor that Walmart works on the quality of work of its ‘associates’ and in having a good relationship with its suppliers, and it is also a large company which has earned its place over time, so thatWe must reinforce these values.

On the negative side, we have the weaknesses, which we mention that despite being many services they fail to meet or meet all the needs of people, which we must compensate with strengths, to make weaknesses to beless. On the part of the threats, we have that Walmart’s competition is a lot and that every time these companies are innovating, which takes away the usual public of the company.

With the aforementioned, we must make a decision -making, which means the process in which an expected result occurs, in this case we expect the central objective.

To make an adequate decision, we must have clarity regarding the problem, here we identify as the main problem the impossibility of covering all the needs that employees have and the public to which the company is directed.

After being clear about the problem, we must develop decision criteria, that is, that we will focus. Considering that we have a behavioral perspective, we must rely on what people need, both our clients and workers, since they are the main pillars for the company to work. We must keep in mind that we are doing wrong, that we need to improve.

Already having clearly mentioned, we must choose a decision and develop it, and then analyze if it has really been effective. In the event that this occurs, we must implement it to generate favorable changes, otherwise, we must discard the decision and implement another.

To end the planning, we must consider the possible scenarios that can make it impossible to use our strategies, so we must think that it can affect us in case unexpected situations occur. Cases such as our workers can occur and there are poor attention from them, or there may be that the quality of our products down and customers may prefer another place to make their purchases. Given this we must have an immediate response to prevent the company from affecting the company.

Organization

According to Robbins (2013, P. 16), An organization is a deliberate association of people to meet a certain purpose. Therefore, it is necessary to build an organizational structure for the effectiveness of its functions.

Considering that we have a perspective from the behavior of the workers and that it is what motivates them to contribute to the company, it is necessary to resort to a flexible organizational structure and that allows a narrow relationship of chief-employe.

While we can see that Walmart has a mechanistic structure, we can perfectly adapt an organic structure, because the company already has an effective human resources policy and remarkable leadership. By changing a rigid structure to a flexible we can make employees (also called associates) feel comfortable and important in the company, and in turn they can feel that they are part of the company, which are heard and considered in every way. On the other hand, to this we add an organizational equipment design, which generates ties among employees and thus the work will be more effective, and in this way we increase support and safety between them.

As for the departmentalization that the company must have, it would be a functional departmentalization, since we consider that we apply an organizational equipment design, so the functional departmentalization would make the work more efficient. In this case, as we talk about Walmart, the departmentalization must be per area because it is a multi -store, a design that would generate greater motivation to the workers, since we would assign bosses or commissioned by area to carry out control for the correct operation and attentionof these. Delivering autonomy to workers is key for them to feel comfortable with their work, since in this way they feel they contribute to the company.

According to the theory and organizational design, the command chain must also be flexible, and that is also aligned with our purposes and objectives, so an ascending chain of command is ideal. In this type of command chain, the client is the one who manifests their concerns and bonuses about the service, which, if we want to reach our goal that is to cover the needs of our clients, this chain is the necessary. However, being such a large company, we must grant a decentralized structure to deliver freedoms and autonomies to those managers who are in charge of the different stores that are found.

Finally, all this must be in charge of an authoritarian authority, but in turn it must be a leader, because if we seek that our employees get involved in the company there must be a boss who guides and supports them, that there is trustIn order to resort to in the event that an incident occurs. In the opposite, a boss or manager who does not possess these characteristics will cause disgust and a bad disposition to work. In a concrete way, what the company needs to comply with this is a technical moral authority, which has the necessary knowledge to carry out tasks and in turn is seen as a positive leader for workers.

If all of the aforementioned is met, the company would have a good performance and increase its prestige, so we would be copening in a good way the central objective.

Address

The action of directing is a process in which it seeks to influence people, so that they contribute to organizational goals in an efficient way. However, directing is not just taking command of an organization and giving orders, since if we want our employees to contribute to the company they must have a fundamental value present: motivation. No motivation cannot be directed and vice versa.

[Image:] To keep workers motivated according to behavior theory, we must look at their needs and what things can improve their quality of life within the organization. In the case of Walmart, they already have an interest that the employee feels part of the company and that he also has the opportunity to contribute ideas and be awarded by this, that is, he is fulfilling the need for the individual to be recognized byhis work. Even so, to this we can add even more factors that can keep the worker motivated, for example, giving short shifts so that the employee does not present stress or exhaustion due to the long shifts that some works can offer. Also something that can generate satisfaction to the worker are recreation spaces, spaces where he can take a break and then resume the work so that he feels comfortable at work. These aspects can be represented better through the Pyramid of Needs of Maslow, who presented a theory of motivation according to which human needs are organized and arranged at levels (Chiavenato, 2006, P. 283).

According to Maslow’s needs, there are primary needs that are the basis of secondary needs, these being necessary for the motivation of an individual.

The pyramid has an upward orientation, where the base is the physiological needs, who respond to those basic needs that every human being must have access. Applying it to employees, we must give them places of rest, recreation, places to eat and have adequate development.

Security needs correspond to the employee must feel safe about his work, that his work climate is suitable and safe. For this, you must carry a feedback regarding your work, inform the employee that he is doing well and that he should improve.

Third, there are acceptance needs, where the employee must be accepted by the working group itself, since without this it is very difficult for an individual to be able to develop properly. For this to work properly, you need to create instances for coexistence between co -workers, such as meetings, celebrations within the company, etc.

Estimate needs are very important, since each employee needs to feel that it is being a contribution, otherwise it would only generate that it feels demotivated. For this, Walmart already presents a way to cover this need, through the recognition of their workers’ achievements on Saturday mornings. Despite this, it is essential to continue strengthening these activities for a greater motivation of the staff.

Finally, we find self-realization needs, which has to do with the individual’s need to meet his personal goals, to feel performed as a person. The company must comply with all the aforementioned to get to the employee feeling completely done and motivated to continue fulfilling its functions.

While Maslow’s pyramid is a fundamental tool to generate motivation, not only can it be affirmed from this. In order for the management to work, there must be a leader, who delivers tools to his staff so that they can efficiently fulfill their work. Considering how we organize the company, the ideal leader form is a democratic, who shares with their staff and encourages them to participate in the organization, all this without losing their boss figure.

To fulfill the aforementioned, we must consider work in command groups, since each group obtains their autonomy and respond to a manager, where this manager is the leader of the organization.

On the other hand, to conclude with the management, we must implement communication in every way, this so that all employees are aware of decisions in the company, otherwise, would generate distrust of the subordinates towards their bosses. Communication must be effective in every way, so we require organizational communication that must be relevant and rapid.

Control

Finally, to corroborate that everything raised in the planning, organization and direction is fulfilled must have a control of all processes. However, we must define that we are going to control, as we will do and those who will be involved.

First, as we focus on the behavior of our employees is the first thing we will emphasize when it comes to supervising. For this, policies and rules must be created within the company to avoid and in turn integrate certain behaviors, in order to adequate development of business objectives.

For example, situations of harassment or labor harassment should be avoided, both among colleagues and by the bosses towards the personnel, so for this one must create an internal regulation to prevent these situations from occurring.

In the event that any situation that hinders the correct development of the company’s activities, an immediate dismissal of the individual must be carried out, since this prevents the established objectives from being met, that is, it is a worker who does not contribute to developmentof the company.

So that these situations are not repeated, they must be corrected, so an option to avoid them is to train employees in emotional intelligence, work on their emotions and break with tensions within the staff themselves.

Those who take care of this must be the leaders themselves, since these are in charge of certain groups and are those that are related to their respective working groups.

Questions

With the saturation of stores in the rural areas of the United States, can Walmart use the same strategies to open stores in cities?, why?, What difficulties can you find?

Clearly not, since the strategies that were used in rural areas are for the needs of people living in rural areas. Walmart is a store that also provides low prices, a lot of products of all kinds, and it is the only company that manages to arrive and supply areas where other companies do not arrive or are not interested in the small population or location where they are locatedThese areas. Clearly in a city the needs are different, Walmart must adapt to new technologies and new uses that occur in the city (not in the rural area, which are used much less services, either why people have no knowledge when living when livingSo remote or why it simply does not generate gain) instead in the city it is different, other people, another climate, other products, other interests, different strategies.

Can the culture of the organization, so effective in the United States, transfer to other countries?, What changes, if any, would you suggest?

As an organizational culture, the set of beliefs, habits, attitudes, traditions between groups are understood in all organizations. The Wal-Mart company was founded with 3 basic principles that are: customer service, respect for the individual and the search for excellence, these values are very influential in the organizational culture by giving customers value, so it can betransferable to any other country.

Could the competitors copy the Walmart inventory system?

It can be something complex to imitate, since its current inventory system uses, the best market technology, so it is considered the second best system in the United States.

Would you like to work as a manager at Walmart?, why?

Of course, since it would be a very good experience, to be part of an organization which is the most detail with the client, also the type of culture that this presents seems excellent.

What should Walmart do to succeed in other countries?

As Abraham Maslow says (P. 283) The needs are a determining factor in motivation and in the relationship in the environment, this gives people have different needs, different motivations that people from more developed or even culturally different countries where Walmart has been successful, this would leadthat the company seeking success in these other countries has to do studies on the objectives, motivations and behaviors of possible workers and possible clients to be able to create an optimal, efficient and effective organization to lead to Walmart’s success in these other countries.

How can Walmart control the world company?

As we already know Walmart is already the second largest company in the world in terms of sale, its efficient administration has taken it to the point where they are and the next step in which they are already carrying out is takes Walmart to other countries, theI follow is that in each country they decide to arrive, it is an investigation into the behaviors of the possible employees and clients to seek the best possible administration in these countries which would eventually lead it to control the company worldwide.

conclusion

By adapting the behavior theory to the Walmart case we could see that it is one of the most close to the ‘business reality’ of multi -store, since it already had certain policies that sought the self-realization and motivation of the employee.

As a closure, we can say that behavior theory can be easily applied to achieve good results, both in a microenterprise and in a macro, so implementing this theory was simple and in turn flexible, since what it seeks is to coverThe needs of those who work for the company and for those who require their services.

Finally, this theory shows us how necessary the motivation is on the part of a worker so that the company can work, since employees are those who make the company work. Without its contribution, a company could not have the expected results and that is what led to the top to Walmart.

References

• Chiavenato, i. (2006). Introduction to the General Theory of Administration (7a ed.) Santa Fe, Mexico: McGraw-Hill/Inter-American Editors.
• Robbins, S & Couter, M (2014). Administration (12th ed). Mexico, Mexico: Pearson.