Wal-Mart Was Formed By Sam Walton In Term Paper

Wal-Mart was formed by Sam Walton in 1962 with the intention of concentrating on small towns and not on downtown retail districts. He had set up the super store from small beginnings on a town's interiors, stock various kinds of goods in the shelves, and sell the goods to the customers at comparatively lower prices. The progress of Wal-Mart has been tremendous, with the expansion to 4,300 stores recently from 874 stores in the year 1985. Wal-Mart is a 39-year-old retail store which is very popular in U.S. companies, and it is only behind ExxonMobil in annual turnover. (Lawsuits a volume business at Wal-Mart) It could be witnessed that every week, certain 138 million do their shopping at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has its retail stores in all states and more than 80% of U.S. families have had made at least a single purchase from a Wal-Mart retail store. (Analysis: Wal-Mart's growing pains) Should identify the arguments of Wal-mart management and the employees in the recent lawsuits. Basically the pros and cons

Wal-Mart, the world's largest company has become the target of criticism by being dragged into several court cases and it has become the target of the biggest sex-discrimination court cases in U.S. history. It has also been criticized for its low wages being paid to its employees, policies of the company which promotes anti-unionism. (Analysis: Wal-Mart's growing pains) Workers argue that for each Wal-Mart retail shop being started, there are jobs being lost to the society, the tax base reduces, employees having health benefits reduces, and employees who are to become eligible for welfare expands. (Wal-Mart Myths and Realities) Even customers who prefer the cheap prices of Wal-Mart products are against its gender discrimination and against its anti-employer policies. (Analysis: Wal-Mart's growing pains) According to industry analysts the reason for Wal-Mart becoming the target of several court cases is that because the most-sought out and most popular private-sector company. (Lawsuits a volume business at Wal-Mart)

Everybody do not have an all-encompassing details of all the country's court cases, but according to law analysts, Wal-Mart is being dragged into the maximum number of court cases in U.S. than any other company, other than the U.S. government. Wal-Mart, which promotes as a company which is friendly with its customers, is trying to transform the face of corporate court cases by determinedly opposing several cases in spite of the fact that it would have been less expensive for Wal-Mart if it would have had an out of court-settlement. Such a strategy is against the usual policy which has been resorted to by companies for several years to have out of court-settlement to reduce expenses for running court cases. (Lawsuits a volume business at Wal-Mart)

Wal-Mart, having 3,250 retail stores throughout the country, has around 1 million employees in all the stores together. (Wal-Mart Loses Unpaid Overtime Case) In the year 2002, Wal-Mart had more than $8 billion on revenues of $246 billion. This was an average of $7,300 which was a rate per employee. In the year 2001 the hourly employees of Wal-Mart averaged $8.23 per hour, and this was much lower less than the national average hourly income of retail employees, which consisted of both union and non-union employees. (Analysis: Wal-Mart's growing pains) Wal-Mart workers have filed lawsuits in different states throughout U.S. On several matters relating to employment with Wal-Mart. Among the several lawsuits a federal judge in San Francisco area gave the ruling that 1.6 million female workers may file lawsuits as a group activity based on the criticism that they are paid wages which are lower than the opposite sex and very few among them are being promoted to higher posts. 3 The historic lawsuit which was filed by 6 women as a group activity in the year 2001 accused Wal-Mart that they are paid wages which are lower than the opposite sex and very few among them are being promoted to higher posts. (Robert, 10) There are 40 such group-activity court cases which are against Wal-Mart in 30 states of the country. In these court cases which travel from California to New York, have involvement of several thousands of employees who several million dollars in back pay. (Wal-Mart Loses Unpaid Overtime Case) The company has been involved in court cases whereby employees have sued that hourly workers are being forced to work overtime without additional payment. (Analysis: Wal-Mart's growing pains)

The workers alleged that they were forced to work at least for 45 hours per week and at times they were to work leading to 72 hours a week at no additional pay. (Robert, 11) Large worker premium payments and huge deductibles...

...

And among these, several of them- a sizeable section consists of women, who do not have access to the health benefits given by Wal-Mart. (Wal-Mart Myths and Realities) McDonough, who was the organizing director of United Food and Commercial Workers union having 1.4 million memberships, asserts that the female workers will not promote Wal-Mart which is based on gender-discrimination. (Analysis: Wal-Mart's growing pains) The fight against Wal-Mart is regarding the maintenance of the living standards of the society. The most vocal opponents were leaders of unionized grocery giant Safeway Inc. Of Pleasanton and United Food and Commercial Workers who had tens of thousands of membership of the supermarket employees.
Wal-Mart Stores started an offensive campaign throughout the country to argue against the allegations being spread against Wal-Mart's salary and benefits to its employees and its effects on society. Wal-Mart started an advertisement campaign in 15 California newspapers, as an open letter to the entire community of California, against the allegations referring to the allegations as half-baked facts and wrong knowledge of some bureaucrats, pressure groups and competitive enterprises. According to Wal-Mart even though the company is ready to accept positive criticisms, whatever has been alleged against the company is wrong. Wal-Mart said that it provided health benefits to its full- time and part-time employees. According to Wal-Mart, more than 40% of its workers did not have medical insurance facilities prior to entering Wal-Mart. It also mentioned that the wages of Wal-Mart wages, which stands at $10.37 an hour in California, are much more competitive than the wages offered by its competitors. (Strasburg, 4)

More than 80% of Wal-Mart workers work on a full time schedule, according to Wal-Mart in response to the allegation that the company recruits huge part-time employees for the purpose of keeping the expenses at a low level. The public relations campaign started by the company came a fortnight after the Chief Executive Officer of Wal-Mart. Lee Scott informed the Wall Street analysts in New York that Wal-Mart had not proved successful to improve its reputation within the midst of high-profile court cases which were based on allegations that discriminations against women and minorities existed in Wal-Mart and there was the prevalence of biased wage and time policies. Critics informed that they were not satisfied with arguments raised by Wal-Mart. (Strasburg, 4) In spite of the several criticisms Wal-Mart denies any wrongdoing.

Pick any job (associates) and do the job description.

A Staff Pharmacist in Wal-Mart has the facilities to progress and grow through several methods in the phase of their career, according to company sources. Wal-Mart says that it provides extended career opportunities which prove of great interest to a Pharmacist, since they do not have to limit their career growth within the field of pharmacy itself. (Staff Pharmacist) According to the company, Wal-Mart Pharmacists can work according to their flexibility as work is accordingly scheduled within the company. Majority of the retail stores remain open throughout the week, which provide greater opportunities for them to select the time schedule according to their conveniences. Wal-Mart also employs Relief Pharmacists who take the position of those Pharmacists who are on leave or those who are leaving the job. (Pharmacist Employment with Wal-Mart) There are no specific physical characteristics attached to the job. Regarding the mental characteristics, it requires a pharmacist to get rid of the fear of moving away from one's comfort area and to have the courage to move away from that comfort area. This is necessitated to have a fine experience with Wal-Mart, according to the company sources. The varied duties and responsibilities of a Pharmacist to be employed by the company will depend on the levels of experience that one has and the exposure that one had experienced so far. Wal-Mart says that it promotes the pharmacists with an environment which is suitable to work. Wal-Mart argues that they encourage leadership at several levels and a Pharmacist to be employed by the company is to follow and promote the interests of Wal-Mart. (Staff Pharmacist)

The process to identify and select staff

Providing competent customer service is the motive of any retail store and hence hiring employees who are self-motivated and who can work comfortably within a group with a dedication for customer service…

Sources Used in Documents:

References

Boczkiewicz, Robert. Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Wal-Mart Pharmacists' Case. The Pueblo Chieftain. September 30, 2004, p.8-12

Learn about us. Retrieved from http://www.containerstore.com/learn/index.jhtml Accessed on 12 October, 2004

Pharmacist Employment with Wal-Mart. Retrieved from http://allpharmacyjobs.com/wal_mart_jobs.htm Accessed on 12 October, 2004

Retail Store Managers. Retrieved from http://www.thebeerstore.ca/about/tbs-jobs-storemanagers.html Accessed on 12 October, 2004
Staff Pharmacist. Retrieved from http://walmart.rxcareercenter.com/search/Jobs/job.cfm?job_id=62464 Accessed on 12 October, 2004
Swanson, Al. Analysis: Wal-Mart's growing pains. United Press International. 6 July, 2004 Retrieved from http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040706-053855-7346r.htm Accessed on 12 October, 2004
Wal-Mart Loses Unpaid Overtime Case. Dec. 20, 2002. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/20/national/main533818.shtml Accessed on 12 October, 2004
Wal-Mart Myths and Realities. Retrieved from http://www.flagstaffactivist.org/campaigns/walmyths.html Accessed on 12 October, 2004
Retrieved from http://www.nfsi.org/walmart/Lawsuits%20a%20volume%20business%20at%20Wal-Mart.htm Accessed on 12 October, 2004


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