Using the textbook and other credible outside sources, select an organization that is public, or one

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ANSWER

Walmart Human Resource Management Issues

Introduction

Walmart is among the largest retail companies in the world, with over 2.3 million workers. Walmart is a major competitor within the geographic markets where it has established business. Since the establishment of the company, Walmart has focused on improving the lives of the consumers positively. The company is approximated to serve over 200 million consumers each week through retail outlets, online and mobile devices (Gereffi and Christian, 2009). The company is operating in more than 27 countries. Considerably, Walmart deals with a broad range of consumer products to increase their profit objectives. The company also deals with a broad range of services within the international market, which offers household and generic products. Over the years, the firm has been faced with issues related to the ineffective management of human resources. This paper will focus on poor human resource management at Walmart and illustrate how the worker development program may improve human resource management at Walmart.

Poor Human Resource Management at Walmart

Ineffective management of human resources at Walmart has been a significant issue affecting the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The controversial labor practices have lowered the productivity and performance of employees within the company. Underperformance has been a significant issue at Walmart Stores, which has been linked to poor employment practices such as lack of rewards, low wages, unequal pay, and ineffective policies that have undermined employee’s efforts (Covert, 2014).

Walmart has faced criticism from different individuals and groups, including its employees, who have protested against the business practices and policies. Considerably, the labor practices have led to performance problems such as tardiness and low employee morale. Walmart has faced issues related to their employment practices, which involve poor working conditions, low wages, as well as inadequate healthcare. These human resource issues have lowered the financial performance of the company. Walmart is claimed to be highly stealing from the employees through underpaying them, offering poor working conditions, violating their fundamental human rights as well as limiting their benefits (Ganta, 2014). The company has been accused of denying workers their rights to join unions, thus unable to pass their grievances.

Walmart’s refusal to effectively compensate their employees are among the poor employee practices. For instance, the managers are known for getting employees to work off the clock and deleting the hours from the time records. Walmart has encountered over 50 lawsuits that involve off the clock. For instance, in 2000, the company was forced to pay $50 million for the off-clock lawsuit, which involved 69,000 workers in Colorado. The company also paid about $33 million back wages after violating the overtime rules. Walmart has been known for denying the employees the federally mandated breaks.  The workers have stated that the company has failed to grant proper breaks and lunchtimes. Walmart has also been faced with discrimination issues since they have been accused of paying female managers lower than male managers as well as employing more male workers than females (Shabat, 2011).

Worker Performance Development Program

The success of any firm depends on its ability to manage human capital. The efficient management of human resources plays an essential role within the organization since it brings benefits to the organization. However, improving employee performance, as well as the working environment, remains a significant challenge for most companies. Considerably, the poor working conditions at Walmart have led to low employee satisfaction, increased turnover, as well as low productivity (McMann, 2019). The worker performance development program will be used to address the performance deficiencies resulting from poor human resource management. This will also be used to address the failures within the company to ensure that Walmart meets the specific job goals.

Most companies within the United States rely on the performance development programs related to career development, promotions, compensations, and performance review to manage the human capital. Ideally, workers are interested in working with employers that will develop their skills and gain from their job performance. Therefore, through aligning performance development with the organization’s objectives, Walmart will improve employee performance and foster a positive working environment (Ndulue, 2012). For instance, since Walmart is encountering employee relation issues, they need to ensure that the development program drives towards improving employee performance through career development, compensation, and performance appraisal to deal with employee turnover and satisfaction.

Worker performance development program will facilitate the effective management of human resources within Walmart through ensuring efficient employment practices and a motivated workforce (Noe and Kodwani, 2018). Considerably, effective management of human resources will increase motivation, knowledge, commitment, and synergy resulting in a competitive advantage. The development programs will be utilized to shape employee behaviors and attitudes to accomplish organizational goals.

Walmart should focus on the success of the employees through developing and supporting employees in different roles. The worker performance development programs at Walmart should be focused on effective compensation techniques and wage systems that will offer means through which employees are equally compensated. Incentives will be effective performance development plans since they will promote the productivity and efficiency of the workforce as well as enhance the retention of employees.

Conclusion

On several accounts, Walmart has been criticized due to poor human resource management. Walmart’s ineffective business practices have been more evident due to lawsuits filed against the company due to poor employment practices such as off-clock issues, minimum wages, punishing employees that engage in union activities, and discrimination issues. These have undermined employment efforts, discouraged and demotivated employees from performing well. This has resulted in underperformance within the organization. However, to address the bad employment practices, Walmart should focus on worker development programs to motivate the employees, foster equality, and fair practices within the organization. These will promote the health of the employee, thus facilitating the success of the company as well as the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives.

References

Covert, B. (2014). Walmart’s labor practices backfire. Available at: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/10/3271221/walmart-downgraded-understaffing/

Ganta, V. C. (2014). Motivation in the workplace to improve employee performance. International Journal of Engineering Technology, Management, and Applied Sciences, 2(6), 221-230.

Gereffi, G., & Christian, M. (2009). The impacts of Wal-Mart: The rise and consequences of the world’s dominant retailer. Annual Review of Sociology, 35.

McMann, S. (2019). Turnover Rate: Walmart.Available at: https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1367&context=acadfest

Ndulue, T. I. (2012, September). Impact of training and development on workers’ performance in an organization. In Book of Proceedings, Proceedings of International Congress on Business and Economic Research (ICBER2012), International Association for Teaching and Learning, Granada (Vol. 1, pp. 135-148).

Noe, R. A., & Kodwani, A. D. (2018). Employee training and development, 7e. McGraw-Hill Education.

Shabat, J. M. (2011). Ongoing Employment Discrimination Against Women in the Wake of Wal-Mart v. Dukes. DePaul J. Women, Gender & L., 2, 173.