Organizational Culture and Ethics in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Saudi Arabia

This article discusses the organizational culture and ethics in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Saudi Arabia. It covers the functions served by the organizational culture, ethics and laws within Wal-Mart, and the conclusion. The organizational culture of Wal-Mart must facilitate the generation of commitment among the employees for giving their best in order to achieve the organizational goal leaving behind their individual self-interest. Ethics and law plays a very important role in governing the customer relations as well as in governing employee relations.

RUNNING HEAD: Wal-Mart Project
Wal-Mart Project

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Functions served by the Organizational Culture of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia..............................................................................................................................................2
Ethics and Laws within Wal-Mart...................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is a multinational retail corporation and the largest company by revenue in
the world. It functions as a chain of grocery stores, hypermarket and discount department stores
having its headquarters situated in Bentonville, Arkansas. Wal-Mart provides general
merchandise for household needs, health and beauty aids, crafts, family apparel, electronics,
fabrics, toys, lawn and garden, shoes and jewelry. Wal-Mart has its stores in different parts of the
world including United States, United Kingdom, China, Brazil and many more.
As the result of increased market opportunities and demand, the organization has decided to
extend its operations in Saudi Arabia. As the newly appointed CEO for the Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia some considerations are required to be made in respect of
organizational culture and ethics and laws which will structure the base of the organization.
Functions served by the Organizational Culture of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia
Organizational culture of Wal-Mart is responsible for determining the way they respond to the
various challenges that arises within the workplace. Wal-Mart requires a strong organizational
culture base in order to establish its identity in Saudi Arabia. The flexibility experienced by the
human resources of Wal-Mart is dependent to some extent on the outlook supported by its
organizational culture (Lombardo, 2017). Moreover, the competitive advantage and success
achieved in the international market by Wal-Mart over a period of time is the result of its
organizational structure and organizational culture. In other words, organizational culture can
play a boundary defining role for Wal-Mart by making it distinct from other organizations. The
organizational culture must serve the function of enhancing the social system stability along with
the holding of operations together by the way of providing appropriate standards for what the
employees should say and do (Swiftutors, 2017).
The components of the Wal-Mart’s organizational culture must perform the function of
guiding the attitude and behavior of employees by the way of acting as a sense making and
control mechanisms. These components must also highlight the Wal-Mart’s beliefs such as
action with integrity, respect for an individual, service to customers and strive for excellence.

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Wal-Mart need to identify the contribution made by each employee in order to achieve success
of the business. Therefore, it conveys a sense of identity for the employees of the organization.
The organizational culture of Wal-Mart must facilitate the generation of commitment among the
employees for giving their best in order to achieve the organizational goal leaving behind their
individual self-interest. Moreover, the business of Wal-Mart is based on the morals and values.
The customs and rules are grounded on the value of respect for the suppliers, customers and
associates which has enabled it to become one of the most admired companies (Bizfluent, 2017).
Ethics and Laws within Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart’s culture of integrity is promoted by global ethics and includes the development and
upholding of various policies for the purpose of ensuring ethical behavior for all its stakeholders
in every country where it operates. It includes raising of awareness regarding the ethics policies
and provision of networks to the stakeholders in order to enable them to bring ethical concern in
their notice (Walmart, 2017).
Global ethics guides Wal-Mart in ethical decision making, provides a confidential and
trustworthy system of reporting along with leading to a continuous communication system and
ethics education. Wal-Mart promotes integrity in day- to- day behavior by the way of building a
universally stable ethics education experience for associates and incorporating ethics content into
current functional-area training. Wal-Mart has currently executed a consistent education program
in the United States and is taking steps in order to expand instructor-led training and e-learning
all around the world (Farfan, 2017).
Wal-Mart makes the use of a Statement of Ethics in order to create an honest, fair and objective
workplace including the procedure for reporting and raising concerns regarding the violation of
ethics without disclosing the name. The Statement of Ethics is applicable at all the levels of the
organization and even to the Board of Directors. Moreover, in addition to the Statement of

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Ethics, Wal-Mart takes care of the compliance with all the applicable local laws, rules and
regulations. They are committed to act in accordance with various applicable laws and
regulations related to wages and working hours, fair competition and dealing, money-laundering
laws, immigration laws, product and food safety laws, trade laws, health and safety laws and
many other laws as per the requirements specified by different countries (Walmart Ethics, 2017).
Wal-Mart also organizes Integrity in Action Award Program for the purpose of recognizing those
associates who becomes an inspiration for other associates by doing the right things and
demonstrating integrity through consistent words and actions (Wohl, 2012).
Conclusion
The establishment of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a variety of
opportunities to be grabbed due to total reliance of the customers on the company. This
necessitates Wal-Mart Stores in Saudi Arabia to have even stronger organizational culture and
ethics in order to achieve success in the new market. The employees concerns regarding the low
wages are required to be addressed on time so as to keep them motivated to work hard in order to
enable the organization to meet new heights in Saudi Arabia. The competition in the market can
only be defeated with the proper support of the employees which is the strongest asset of the
organization. A great organizational culture will require transparency at its priority and make the
employees feel a sense of belonging to the organization with the help of improved
communication and collaboration (Driskill & Brenton, 2010). Moreover, the moral concerns of
Wal-Mart can only be addressed with the help of business ethics and laws. Ethics and law plays a
very important role in governing the customer relations as well as in governing employee
relations (Morley, 2017).
The organizational culture adopted for establishing business in Saudi Arabia is expected to bring
outstanding results for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. which will establish its business in the new market.
It must aim to contribute better job satisfaction of the employees in order to contribute towards
their happiness (Indeed, 2016). On the other hand, ethics and law will ensure the culture of
integrity within Wal-Mart in the day to day operations with on time reporting of any wrong
practices being undertaken within organization. The compliance with the laws of Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia will allow the smooth functioning of the organization without any uncertain

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circumstances which may cause the hindrance of the normal working of the Wal-Mart internal
functions.

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References
Bizfluent. 2017. Two Major Functions of Organizational Culture, [Online]. Available at:
https://bizfluent.com/info-7749236-two-major-functions-organizational-culture.html [Accessed
on: 5 December 2017].
Driskill, G. W. and Brenton, A. L. 2010. Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural Analysis
Workbook. SAGE Publications.
Farfan, B. 2017. Another Day, Another Walmart Class Action Employee Lawsuit, [Online].
Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/walmart-classic-action-employee-lawsuits-3974960
[Accessed on: 5 December 2017].
Indeed. 2016. 3 Examples of Great Organizational Culture You Can Learn From, [Online].
Available at: http://blog.indeed.com/2016/09/21/build-great-organizational-culture/ [Accessed
on: 5 December 2017].
Lombardo, J. 2017. Walmart: Organizational Structure & Organizational Culture, [Online].
Available at: http://panmore.com/walmart-organizational-structure-organizational-culture
[Accessed on: 5 December 2017].
Morley, M. 2017. Roles That Ethics & Laws Play in an Organization, [Online]. Available at:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/roles-ethics-laws-play-organization-20434.html [Accessed on: 5
December 2017].
Swiftutors. 2017. Organizational Culture, [Online]. Available at:
http://www.swiftutors.com/behaviors/organizational-culture.php [Accessed on: 5 December
2017].
Walmart Ethics. 2017. Global Statement of Ethics, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.walmartethics.com/uploadedFiles/Content/U.S.%20-%20English.pdf [Accessed on:
5 December 2017].

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Walmart. 2017. Ethics & Integrity, [Online]. Available at: https://corporate.walmart.com/our-
story/ethics-integrity [Accessed on: 5 December 2017].
Wohl, J. 2012. Wal-Mart urges worker integrity amid bribery probe, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-meeting-international/wal-mart-urges-worker-
integrity-amid-bribery-probe-idUSBRE84T11I20120530 [Accessed on: 5 December 2017].