Management and Leadership in Wal-Mart Stores

Management and Leadership

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Management and Leadership

Wal-Mart Stores

While management and leadership are two integral aspects of organizational behavior, each of these facets has diverse implication to an organization. This research paper is an attempt to assess various aspects of management and leadership with respect to Wal-Mart Home Depot

The company runs a chain of large discount department in American corporation and still outstands as the world’s largest corporation among the public sector. This has been approved as per the 2008 Fortune Global. The founder of this fast growing company was in the year 1969 by the so called Sam Walton and the company named after Him. Within a few years the Company was listed in the New York Stock Exchange late in 1972. This makes it to be the largest private employer in the in the whole of United States and it even It serves about 47 million Americans. The major operation areas are Mexico as Walmex, as Asda in the United Kingdom and as Best Price in India.

All the organizations have two basic different tasks that aid them to make the organization as efficient as possible and to create new ideas and directions for the success and future expansion. More emphasis has been laid on innovation as this has become the major source of competition. Leadership is the episode act like creativity that some people exhibit at a times but not at all times. It is an aspect of management which serves as a good asset for the manager to possess (see 1997). It does not become a as a rank of responsibility as most people would I imagine. Leadership might not be primarily concerned with the issue of making. It is basically about challenging the people and making them to change their deep thoughts and directions. It is a gradual change process not firm decision making in an organization. This is because the decisions can be made but they might not be to the organizations benefit. It entails having directions and good and profitable motives. The participative leadership is not always the best because it will only be one person making decisions and implementing them. This becomes a stupid idea. Management on the converse is the set of responsibility. Managers have to organize to deliver agreed outcomes. What others used to be called leadership is the management. To become a manager means one has to occupy a position of having and accepting to have responsibilities. A manager has more task than a leader. She/he uses variety of styles on his/her personality and conditions. Managers do use the decisions made by the leaders efficiently. Management hence becomes a huge term covering variety of aspect in an organization. It basically refers to giving directions, control of the business, and supervision. Leadership on the converse is restricted to only a group of people.

Roles and responsibilities that organizational managers and leaders

Managers and leaders create and learn how to run the business. They ensure existence of a good relation between them and the employees to maintain the good working relation in the organization. Good working relations also aid to improve the safety working conditions in Wal-Mart. It is due to good managerial and leadership that Wal-Mart has achieved fifteen members of the board of Directors. These boards of directors are to be elected annually the shareholders. The former son of the founder serves as the chairman of the Boards. The annual election also helps in the monitoring of the leaders performance.

Coughlin left after stealing the hundreds of Dollars from Wal-Mart in 2005. This was due to good and effective system created by the managers and leaders and sentenced to 27 months of home confinement, five years of probation and further forced to pay a fine of $411000. They in a great percentage help to boost and to maintain a competitive atmosphere. Wal-Marts competitors are, store such as ShopKo, Target, Kmart and Canada Zellers from Canada. This is achieved by ensuring the resources are mainly applied to the activities and fields that make the greatest returns and profits. Good branded goods are made and fair prices also made to reduce both indirect and direct competition from the alternative goods and also companies. They play a great role in cost of products to give customers affordable prices. The prices are as per the expectorations of the most potential buyers. They have low prices that the majority can afford even those who do not own bank accounts (one-fifth of the buyers). They also ensure that the customer’s utility is achieved by the high quality of the products. In 2006 financial report by al Mart it has been evident that the Wal-Mart’s customers have been sensitive to utility cost and prices. They can even make an estimate of them. This has resulted to almost 100 million customers who visit the company. This is about a third of the U.S population. Wal-Mart leaders and managers have taken a great step in expanding its customer base for the customers who reside in US Wal-Mart have grouped its customers to three categories; low income people, shoppers who are considered wealthier, and people who like low priced goods and who cannot purchase much. It’s the managers and leaders who ensure all the customers are satisfied (rural residents and suburbanites). The wide gap between rich and enabled filled. They also monitor the process of production such as labor used; product quality and even the quantity packed and even make a change in the system and structures. The manager comes together with the employers and even the employees in pursuing of Wal-Mart’s goals and objectives. This the company makes real by maintaining a mechanism in a two way relation and communications. Leaders and managers get the decisions from the employers and employees but not from themselves. The employees are there hence given their wants, their needs in the company and creating a healthy organization culture.

Managers and leaders make changes in needs of the employees to achieve higher level of production. This they achieve by changing management practices, specialization of employees in different fields according t the level of education and interests of the employees (Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research 2002). They also supervise the work of the employers and employees for the organizations goal and objectives. Although they have been accused of bad treatment of employers and product suppliers and even environmental practices, they have to a great percentage improved in this. The accusations have been mainly that they use excessive, unfair, unwanted and wasteful corporation welfare. The female employees were discriminated in matters regarding to payments and promotions in the organization. They made up to 65% of the Wal-Mart’s workforce who are paid hourly but surprising they contributed to only 35% of the managerial staff. This over years has been looked into by the leaders and managers. They help to plan the companies business and the asset to be used in the production level, sales and even marketing of the products in various countries and regions. They plan on how to fulfill the Wal-Mart’s objectives, and goals. They plan formulators even for the workers and to produce a method that boosts the percentage of the organizations income percentage. They show annual budgets and this makes high organization and focus for the organization.

Affect of globalization and management across borders

Globalization has made Wal-Mart to expand greatly over a short period of time. It has expanded internationally. This has driven growth and aided in maintaining Wal-Mart’s position in the rural and international markets. This has made Wal-Mart to diversify in both its production and marketing. Globalization has given the organization an upper hand in the global advertisements and even the customers can access the organization’s products and make orders. This has resulted to the Wal-Mart products moving abroad and finding a good market. Globalization has also improved communication levels that have reduced the cost. It has joined China and many more countries (Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research 2002).

Strategies that organizational managers and leaders can use to create and maintain a healthy organizational culture

The strategies that organizational managers and leaders can use to create and maintain a healthy organizational culture includes; implementation of several measures to increase energy efficiency. They should use the renewable power resources like wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, biofuel-capable boilers to reduce the cost of running the organization. These sources are also environmental friendly. All the products should be advertised through the electron means to reduce the cost of advertisements. For the fast and efficient expansion they should set up companies in different areas and countries. In order to reduce the competition from other goods and companies they should produce low priced products as it has wanted to become the world’s seller of the organic milk.

Reference:

See (1997) Leadership; Accessed on November 29, 2009 from URL: http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Intro/leader.html

The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (2002) Leadership and management in the information age; illustrated Edition I.B.Tauris Publishers