Organizational Culture at Wal-Mart Essay

Explain how viable employee relations’ practices have contributed to Wal-Mart’s success as an employer When you think of the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart is usually the first name that comes to mind in its industry. With over 2 million employees, one must ask them-selves, why is Wal-Mart so successful and popular among employees? As a corporation, Wal-Mart focuses closely on its corporate culture and behaviors throughout the organization; paying close attention to satisfying both its customers and its employees. The company engages its employees to be happy to serve its customers, which is the reason they are employed. In an article titled, A culture of corporate at Wal-Mart, the author interviews a Wal-Mart management employee and writes, [â€Å"I think they’re very excited about us being here,† Copeland said, in reference to her staffers. â€Å"Just having to adjust [to the fact] that this is kind of like, corporate. That’s what we are. It’s not a typical ‘oh, I’m just coming to work.’ †¦ It’s not just being a cashier forever. Once they learned the benefits, the culture, it all started at the hiring center, it all started with the interviews. The expectations and what we wanted. They just carried that on from there. It’s like a fever everybody’s caught. This is just what it is. This is how our stores operate.†] (Yates, C.). Wal-Mart’s motto when it comes to employees is â€Å"our people make a difference† (Walmart). The company believes that its employees are the heart of its business and build an environment that is based upon integrity, respect, open-communication, and innovation. In fact, Wal-Mart has created four beliefs that it stands by to meet its purpose. Those beliefs are, â€Å"service to our customers, respect for the individual, strive for excellence, and act with integrity† (Walmart). Associates and corporate employees are reminded of those beliefs and strive to act on them every day. Even with bad publicity and criticism, Wal-Mart is still making plans to move forward to improve its employment practices and boost employment in the nation. In 2013, the company announced it would have plans to hire at least one hundred thousand veterans, purchase $50 billion dollars in American made products to help create various new jobs, and promote part-time workers to full-time. These types of employee relations’ practices help to relieve some of the bad criticism Wal-Mart has received and  contribute to retention among its employees in the corporation. Determine how the benefits may contribute to the success of Wal-Mart’s employment practice In today’s world, having great benefits are a deal breaker for many employees when choosing a company to work for. With the high cost of individual healthcare, workers want to ensure they are receiving the best benefits amongst competitors in their prospective industries. Wal-Mart focuses on offering affordable benefits to its employees that include health benefits such as health, dental, and vision with four dollar co-pays for generic medicines, financial benefits such retirement plans, employee stock purchase, employee discounts at Wal-Mart stores and subsidiaries, and discounts wireless services. The company offers great benefits that for sure contribute to best employment practices and the retention employees. These employee benefits are also contributing factors of why there aren’t many unions within the corporation; because many employees are satisfied. Describe how the organizational culture and the use of performance criteria could affect the introduction of a union Unionization is described as â€Å"the process of organizing the employees of a company into a labor union which will act as an intermediary between the employees and company management† (BusinessDictionary). In most cases, when management does not effectively communicate with employees on issues and concerns within the company, employees seek to form a union to act as the liaison on issues they would like resolved. Wal-Mart as a company is highly concerned about addressing issues with its employees. In fact, the company has created a open door policy that states [â€Å"We believe open communication is critical to understanding our associates’ and our customers’ needs. Associates can trust and rely on our open door policy. You are encouraged to raise your questions, concerns and ideas to your management team. This is how we get better.†] (Walmart). Wal-Mart is very much aware of criticized issues and continues to use the employee relation’s process to come up with best practice solutions to rectify these issues for  a more satisfied employee. Discuss why you believe Wal-Mart has not been effectively unionized over the years I believe that unionization has not been effective over the years because of the open door policy that Wal-Mart creates with its employees. Employees may realize the pros and cons of a union and either back out or I believe once Wal-Mart realizes employees feel their concerns are not being handled effectively, as organization they quickly organize a plan of action. In an article titled, Walmart: We Aren’t Unionized Because Workers Don’t Want Unions, the Director of Communications Steve Restivo states, â€Å"We have a clear and open line of communication with our associates. Our associates recognize that they appreciate that, and they know that the wages and benefits they receive are extremely competitive in the industry.† (DePillis, L.). â€Æ'References and Citations Walmart Corporate – Working at Walmart. (n.d.). Walmart Corporate – Working at Walmart. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart/ Yates, C. (2013, December 4). A culture of corporate at Wal-Mart. Washington Post. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2013/12/04/a-culture-of-corporate-at-wal-mart/?tid=pm_local_pop Working At Walmart. (n.d.). Walmart Careers. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://careers.walmart.com/about-us/working-at-walmart/#benefits-accordion Vranjes, T. (2013, February 9). Walmart Promises Bold Moves to Boost Employment  « Revive My Career. Revive My Career Walmart Promises Bold Moves to Boost Employment Comments. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.revivemycareer.com/2013/02/19/walmart-promises-bold-moves-to-boost-employment/ DePillis, L. (2011, May 19). Walmart: We Aren’t Unionized Because Workers Don’t Want Unions. Housing Complex RSS. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/housingcomplex/2011/05/19/walmart-we-arent-unionized-because-workers-dont-want-unions/ What is unionization?