HRMG204 Organisational Behaviour- Wal-Mart Corporation

Introduction

Unethical business behaviors in organizations are the main factors that are affecting the organizations today. One may argue that the behaviors have some positive impacts on the business in the short run but in the long run, the practices might bring a lot of complications in the management of the organization. For instance, an organization that exploits its workers, in the long run, is likely to lose most of their workers which may lead to business failure. In my paperwork below I have critically analyzed the different ways organizations engage in unethical practices, how it managed to control the issue and finally the implementations it put across to control such wrong doings from happening. For instance, Wal-Mart Corporation is a good example of a company that was engaging in unethical practices in the year 2014.

Case of organizational failure

Wal-Mart Corporation is an example of a company that incurred difficulties in the running of it when the wrong deeds were put to focus. Wal-Mart is believed to have been getting away with unethical business practices in many years till now; the most recent case was in 2014. According to research, it shows that Wal-Mart is the leading corporation regarding employment and is believed to have more than two million employees around the world that work in this organization that exists in different countries of the world. (Sethi, 2013)

The question of what happened to this corporation can be answered in this way; due to its malpractices such as over exploiting of the employees, Wal-Mart has been losing quite a huge number of skilled employees, though it has no problem of replacing employees the rate at which it loses potential employees is high. Wal-Mart has been in accusations of underpaying the overtime workers not only that but also withholding the benefits of healthcare that they are supposed to have, thus it has constantly been facing lawsuits from the employees due to their treatment. (Anuar, 2012)

Factors leading to the failure of Wal-Mart

The pricing tactic, Wal-Mart implements a tactic where it lowers its prices so as to drive away competitors and lure more customers in the utilization of its products. This is unethical practice for this big company that has several branches worldwide also regarding price Wal-Mart is believed to be pressuring its suppliers to sell their products quite cheaper than they are willing. Just because its suppliers depend so much on them, it takes advantage of overexploiting them, in addition to the supplier Wal-Mart also manipulates the other countries in which it operates in since they have a massive market power they easily get away with violation of the labor force of foreign countries and damage to its environment. (Barstow, 2012)

Bribery, research has it that Wal-Mart also takes out bribes where the situation is not going their way. In a recent study, it shows that Wal-Mart had engaged in bribery issue in Mexico. This is according to an article that was published by New York Times Magazine the article showed that there had been a suspicious payment to the officials in Mexico where a big some of the money approximated to be about 24million dollars. This was done to enable its workers to sneak around and carry out practices that were against the law of Mexico. Wal-Mart usually faces bribery charges but is never affected by the fines they pay due to its powerful nature. (Barstow, 2012)

Ethical disasters, it said that due to Wal-Mart’s unethical practices it leads to a disastrous situation in Bangladesh where many deaths were experienced, this was due to the improper hiring of personnel's in carrying out of their activities. This is some of the factors that negatively affect Wal-Mart hence leading to failure in terms carrying out the expected business ethics because its business it has failed because it does not abide by the law in which business practices is to be conducted in. (D, 2013)

Strengths

Wal-Mart as an organization due to the power it has it should use the powers effectively in there way of carrying out their activities. It is one of the ways they can easily influence employees into working with them. Hence they should use their power of hiring and training high profiled personnel to carry out their activities, rather than employing unskilled labor and not training them on how the operations should be carried out. Individual strengths are to be appreciated appropriately where they are realized; this will encourage all of the stakeholders to work harder towards the realization of their goals. (J, 2014)

Weaknesses

The weakness in the Wal-Mart management sector is the major factor that leads to the business being considered worldwide as the world most corrupt organization in the world. This is a weakness to them as it will deter their normal operations even if it somehow stops engaging in unethical business activities the image it has created around the world is not good for them. The corporation should be able to evaluate the stakeholders to detect any weaknesses in them; this will enhance improvements in departments where the weakness is detected and will help in improving it effectively leading to increased and quality output. (Harmon, 2014)

Opportunities

Wal-Mart could have many opportunities regarding quality output if they could stick to the desired rules of business. For instance, if it could treat its workers fairly rather than over exploiting them and then not paying them for the work done over time, it could have a better and a strong workforce that could increase their output which will make it unnecessary for them to engage in unethical practices. The stakeholders of the Wal-Mart Corporation should work together in the realization of the many opportunities that exists within the economy rather than depending on unethical practices for their survival regarding popularity and power.  (E, 2010)

Treats

Wal-Mart can be able to treat negative factors that may hinder the ethical practices of the organization by encouraging the involvement of all key stakeholders in their decision making and in electing new leaders of the organization. This will enable the corporation to have better leaders that can abide by the rules in which they are required to operate in. (Summer, 2015)

Ways through which Wal-Mart is improving

Getting rid of greed leaders: In the recent years, it said that Wal-Mart organization is improving its management by employing ethical leaders who choose to put the good of the stakeholder such as employees, retailers and their customers ahead of any other interests. The greed leaders in the organization are the ones hindering the effectiveness functioning of the organization as they try to speed up the process in an unethical way which is a negative factor in the organization as it ruins its name in the market hence losing stakeholders to its competitors. (J, 2014)

Regaining of competitive footing in retail, Wal-Mart is offering low prices without the need to compromise a service. As some of the competitors are beating Wal-Mart, the management should consider a high profile layout of treating its retailer so that they can widen their gap in a more competitive market. One of the most competitive areas that need to be focused on is on the pricing of the private label portfolio of Wal-Mart. (May C, 2013)

Improving assortments across general merchandise, provision of fresh foods and grocery, this is done by understanding the needs of the customers and the customer decision tree. Through this, they will be able to know which products they are to illuminate and the products that customers are ready and able willing to consume. Understanding customers' needs are very important in creating good customer relation. This will show the concern you to your customers, and you will work to provide that which they want, and in appreciation, they will consume it in large amounts. (Supattra, 2013)

Empowering managers with freedom and decision making of the products, giving the managers the freedom to make the decision about the products to be produced will enhance faster production of the goods rather than the slow way of decision-making criteria, it’s not about saying you can that you are in charge of all the replenishment because automated replenishment system can actually do a better job than the manager. (Sachdeva, 2013)

Focusing attention on inventory and flow: The organization's flow of inventory needs to be much focused on, as it tends that they have too much inventory which they don't use. Initiatives such as lowering the prices of the products that are nearing expiry date will help in getting rid of unwanted stock, thereby availing space to the required stock in the market. The lowering of the prices will deliver value to the customers hence making them consume more of the product during the short run. (Sachdeva, 2013)

The effectiveness of this response to its failure

Increased quantity demanded: Wal-Mart’s products may increase in demand upon lowering of their prices; this is because it will attract customers with different capabilities all over the world. This is an effective way as it increases the quality and quantity output of the products hence leading to increased sells. Having many customers in an economy encourages an organization to set high targets hence realizing more profits in an accepted conduct. (Pual Richard, 2014)

Increased supplies, treating suppliers fairly by giving them the required prices to the products supplied to them will lead to motivated suppliers hence the availability of stock in circulation thereby increasing its yields as an organization. Suppliers are amongst the stockholders that can impact a business in a big way. Creating a conducive environment with the suppliers leads to increased yields as the supplies are always willing to supply goods where the compensation is paid faster. (D, 2013)

Better markets, as a result of improved management Wal-Mart, will have better markets around the world; this is because it will not require about illegal activities that it has dueled on in the past activities for quicker succession. Engaging in ethical practices enhances customer belief in your products due to the required ways of law that have been observed by the company in its production process. (Anuar, 2012)

Motivated employees, as motivated employees work effectively in bringing out quality output, thereby treating all the employees fairly will create a conducive environment for work as they will be even be motivated to work overtime and get paid for the hours that they have exceeded working in the office. This will create a stable environment where everyone will want that extra pay. Thus the motivation will keep them at work for more extra hours. (J, 2014)

Recommendations

I can recommend the following factors for the improvements of Wal-Mart organization:

Wal-Mart should try not to dwell much by its founder; this will facilitate more open views on how the organization can be managed more effectively. Due to its over-dependency on its founder members though the power it holds in the recent economic state it is believed it could have been much better if it could be doing its activities in a more recent way rather than in a historical way whereby wealth determined the power you have and the more you are wealthy, the more you can manipulate situations in the historical world. Hence, I recommend Wal-Mart to appreciate its present and carry out its activities in a more recent way.

I recommend the use of technology in the way Wal-Mart is carrying out its activities, it should now that the current economy has many preferences and it is facing a lot of competition from other organizations hence it needs to more conscious on how it handles its stakeholders as they are the major determiners of the influence they will have on the economy. Technology will help with liable forces that will enhance production in accordance of what is needed in the market.

I recommend that due to its many branches that it has around the world with different cultural and economic state, each branch should have its leadership based on its geographical location. This will help in availing products that are necessary to that particular society hence leading to quality output thus acquiring of ready customers ready to utilize this product that suit their demand.

It is highly recommended for a business to stay within the law that governs it. For Wal-Mart organization, it should stop issuing of bribes to the foreign states that they engage their activities in. This will help in reducing the number of fines and cases they face in a year hence wasting time to carry out activities which could have been managed differently.

Wal-Mart being the leading world's biggest retailer it should raise its efficiency especially in its key marketplaces, for instance in the United States it should be highly competitive with the various competitors that may exist in the market both in the short run and in the long run. This effectiveness in key areas where demand and income are high will enhance improved working environment within and outside the corporation.

Conclusion

Wal-Mart Corporation is a good example of an organization that is likely to fail due to its unethical practices. For an organization to be considered successful is where it achieves all the expectations ethically. Hence it should not that be being successful does not mean having the power to manipulate situations around so that a certain goal may be achieved in a certain geographical setting. Business ethics are important in that they enhance quality performance of the stakeholders of the that it has, Wal-Mart having quite a big number of stakeholders it should try its level best to stay within the rules governing the operations and it should not its wealth in manipulation of various factors since its able to pay off certain charges that it can incur without any difficulties.  

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