But Wal-Mart has been more successful where Kmart has failed. The author of the study explains this difference with the treatment, importance and role played and offered to the human resource. "Kmart and Wal-Mart are virtually identical, right? Yet most people prefer to shop at Wal-Mart. Kmart recently declared bankruptcy. Could the reason for this be as fundamental as leadership style and the resultant employee attitude? I believe so. Kmart has been said to use the "control" method of leadership, while Wal-Mart has used an "empowerment" model. Thus, there is a subtle, yet big, difference between the customer relationship with employees of each corporation" (Work Motivation Incentives, 2004-2005). Otherwise put, Wal-Mart allows its staff members to make their statement and to voice their opinions. And this often proved beneficial for the organizational well-being. For instance, Tim Gebauer was once talking to an employee who suggested putting an extra product line in the premium space. The manager felt it was a bad idea, but due to the strong beliefs of the employee, he approved of a 30 days trial period. The success of the idea was obvious and the manager recognized he was wrong and the associate was in fact right. After having admitted it to the staff and having used the idea forwarded by one employee, more associates came to him with newer and better ideas. "Once employees know that their ideas are indeed considered and used, they'll be more open to tackling the problems and opportunities in the workplace. Your people usually know there's a problem or opportunity before the leaders do. However, they won't say a word unless they know they'll be listened to and know that some of their ideas will be put to use. An important part was for people to see me using others' ideas" (Tim Gebauer, quoted in an article for the HR Made Easy).

To conclude, Wal-Mart understood the importance of the human resource and got them involved in the decision making process, allowed them more rights and responsibilities and all of these contributed to an increased on the job satisfaction and consequently to a superior quality of the services offered, all to culminate with...

From this particular instance, Wal-Mart represents the epitome of organizational success.
3. Conclusions

The Wal-Mart Stores represent an American symbol and despite the criticism received by former employees and other stakeholders, the company remains the ultimate emblem of corporate success. The organizational strategy has been for years based on the offering of the lowest prices, but today, the company's management is focused on developing newer and better strategies that improve the features of the organizational behavior. The changes are present at most all corporate levels and can be best identified relative to the human resource and the company's culture. Wal-Mart remains committed to satisfying the needs of its clientele with the final purpose of increasing its revenues, but in doing so, they invest large sums of money into the development of their associates and the communities where they operate. And to answer the question in the abstract: Yes, a large company can combine all features and retrieve success and Wal-Mart is the most relevant example in this sense.

Works Cited

Kliger, M., Tweraser, S., Motivating Front Line Staff for Bottom Line Results, McKinsey & Company, Retrieved at http://www.mckinsey.com/practices/retail/knowledge/articles/Motivatingfrontlinestaff.pdfon May 16, 2008

Miner, J.B., 2002, Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories and Analyses, Oxford University Press

Robbins, S.P., 2005, Organizational Behavior, 11th Edition, Prentice Hall

2008, Official Website of the Wal-Mart Stores, http://www.walmart.com/,last accessed on May 16, 2008

2004-2005, Employee Motivation, Work Motivation Incentives, http://www.workmotivationincentives.com/employeemotivation/last accessed on May 16, 2008

Wal-Mart 2007 Annual Report, Retrieved at http://walmartstores.com/Media/Investors/2007_annual_report.pdfon May 16, 2008

Wal-Mart Manager Explains Ways His Employees (Associates) are a Great Idea Factory, HR Made Easy, http://www.biztrain.com/motivation/stories/walmart.html. Ast accessed on May 16, 2008