Managerial roles and responsibilities at Walmart

¶ … Management: Management at Walmart

Background of Walmart

Mission, Vision and Values of Walmart

Managers at Walmart

Manager's Role in Decision Making and Strategy

Managers Managing Diversity

Managers as Motivators

Background of Walmart

For this study we would dwell into the role of a manager at Walmart -- the largest retailer in the U.S. Walmart has been in business for more than 50 years and at present has a footfall every week of more than 260 million customers in the 11,500 stores under 65 banners in 28 countries and the e-commerce sites in 11 countries. The net sale of the company in 2014 was $476.29 billion. The company has 2.2 million associated across the world. The group recorded a net sale increase of 1.9% in the fiscal year ended January 30, 2015 and it returned $7.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases (Corporate.walmart.com).

The company has been credited with being the leader in application of technology in tits business operations with the inclusion of digitally sharing sales data among the major suppliers that has allowed the company to offer a wide range of products to the consumers at the lowest cost and be able to supply the products at the shortest delivery times (Corporate.walmart.com).

Mission, Vision and Values of Walmart

The vision of the company is not clearly written down as is evident from the website of the company. However some idea about the vision of the company can be assessed from the various deliberations at the annual general meeting and annual reports of the company. The vision is based on the values of the company which states that the company intends to value integrity and provide opportunity for everyone, with special emphasis on the family and te community the company functions in through its offering of products. The company wants ot be responsible to the customers and community as well as everyone associated with it.

The mission of the company, according to documents available on the website, is: "We design small neighborhood stores and the company embraces substance and simplicity." "

The company is a leader in its industry and has maintained a constant profitability and high return on investments which has been driven by its employees apart from its business strategy of low priced products.

Managers at Walmart

The role of the manager in the company is critical in driving the employees to work harder and deliver optimum output. For this reason it is also necessary for the managers to understand the core values of the company. The company has been a customer oriented management policy and it is expected that the employees do everything to ensure satisfaction of customers. This is guided and driven by the managers. The company also values storng employee management leaderships where the voices of the employees are given importance the manager serve as intermediaries in this process (Gupta).

The company has been driven by leadership over the years. the company has strong leadership based attributed. All the managers in the company are expected to exhibit leadership qualities where they guide and motivate the employees to offer the best output. The managers are also expected to effectively manage a diverse working force. With a very large employee base, it is critical that no r minimum discord exists between the employees. Walmart's management system expects the managers to play the role of an integrator and manage the diversity in the company in terms of its employees.

The company offers perhaps the largest range of products to customers. Hence there are numerous business process within the company that helps the company to run effectively. These processes have to be managed by the line and store managers. There needs to be effective coordination between the various processes from order placing to supply to procurement to warehousing and store deployment. Therefore managing the diverse functionalities and business processes of the company is also among the role of the managers at Walmart. .

The company is committed to equitable development of the employees and enhancement of career opportunities. The managers have the role of identifying the employee needs and communicating the same to the higher management. The manager also has the role of ensuring the every employee under him/her gets equal opportunities (Farrington).

Communication is also an important aspect of the management of the numerous processes in the company. The company has installed state of the art information services and managers are key to proper use of these IT systems that have been adopted to ensure smooth running of the business (Bateman).

To better understand the role of manager at Walmart, let us view a job advertisement for manager by the company that details the roles and responsibilities of the manager. The advertisement says: "Walmart management assumes responsibility for ensuring customer service, supervising employees, enforcing company regulations, and taking care of various administrative tasks. Individuals in managerial careers process payroll, schedule employees, delegate daily assignments, implement promotional campaigns, track inventories, analyze and report sales data, and coordinate merchandise shipments. Managers also carry out disciplinary actions when necessary and serve as primary enforcers of loss prevention tactics." (Job-Applications.com)

The above description of the manager's role is sufficient to assess what Walmart expects from its managers.

Managers Managing Diversity

As already mentioned, Walmart is a very large company and there are hundreds of operations and business processes. Though there are managers for most of the processes, every manager has to perform and manage a number of processes within their ambit of their work. Often the roles and responsibilities of the line and store manager at Walmart are varied and diverse. Hence the manager has to possess the quality of managing diverse roles.

Walmart has a very diverse workforce, the 2012 data of the company shows that about 57% of the U.S. of the company comprises of women and 27% of the officers at Walmart's are women. The workforce of the company also has people of African, American Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander American, Indian and Alaska native origins. This is a very diverse workforce who come from varied background with varied values. Manager have the role of integrating this varied workforce and ensure optimum output. A manager at Walmart is expected to understand the dynamics of a workforce that has multicultural origins and values. The managers need to effectively tackle the cultural diversities that emerge from the diverse background of the workforce. Hence the work of the manager is quite diverse -- both in terms of administration and workforce management.

Managers as Motivators

Managers are responsible for the overall output of the division or store under their management. However no manager alone can ensure good output for a large organization with a varied workforce as Walmart. For companies like Walmart, proper coordination and output by each and every employee is essential to get optimum results.

This is possible only when the employees are motivated and eager to contribute. Thus to ensure optimum output by the employees, managers need to be conversant and implement employee motivation strategies and steps.

The company has a policy of motivating employees where it defines motivation as "the set of forces that initiate, direct, and makes people persist in their efforts to achieve the goals" (Walmart).

For this purpose the company has a policy of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Managers have the responsibility to review and present both the types of rewards. The managers have the responsibility of ensuring the employees set personal goals and objectives and motivate t hem to attain the. This is made possible by equitable treatment of employees where the manager splay a critical role. The company also gives extrinsic motivation through financial and promotional rewards. Again, the managers have a critical role to play as they recommend the employees to receive awards. By being equitable and just in such recommendations, managers at Walmart are expected to motivate employees to get the best out of them (Garib).

Conclusion

Hence it can be concluded that the manager at Walmart have multiple roles that include managing the various administrative works in the company, managing employees efficiently and taking important decisions on a day-to-day basis and motivating employees to get he best out of them which enhances the overall output of the company.