Leadership and Management in Walmart Inc.

This report discusses the role of leaders and managers in Walmart Inc. and their reactions to different situations. It explores different theories of approaches and key approaches to operation management. The report also highlights the importance of operations management and PEST analysis for Walmart Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1. Presenting definition and comparison of leader and manager.................................................3
2. Presenting examples of Walmart Inc. situations and how manager & leader react to this
situation........................................................................................................................................5
3. Application of different theories of approaches within Walmart Inc......................................6
4. Presenting key approaches to operation management and the role the leaders and managers
play...............................................................................................................................................7
IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT.........................................8
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND DECISION-MAKING.................................9
PEST analysis for Walmart Ltd-..................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Leaders and Managers are the part of the organization that plays vital role towards the
achievement of organization and employee’s common goals (Glock and et.al., 2019). The report
will be based on Walmart Inc. Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail organization
having headquarter in Bentonville, US. The company operates in discount departmental stores,
grocery stores, chain of hypermarkets etc. The present report will discuss the definition and
comparison between leader and manager. Further, the report will discuss the role of leader and
function of manager of Walmart Inc. in different situational context. In addition, the report will
discuss the three theories of approach such as situational, system and contingency leadership
based on Walmart Inc. examples. The report will also explain the importance and value of
operational management in the achievement of business objectives. Further, the report will also
discuss the key approaches to operations management and the role that leader and managers
plays. Lastly, the report will assess the factors within the business environment via PEST
analysis that operational management and Walmart Inc. leader & manager decisions.
1. Presenting definition and comparison of leader and manager
Definition of leader: A leader is basically a person in the charge that convinces the other
people and inspire confidence in other people so that they can achieve their targets on a daily
basis (Choi, Wallace and Wang, 2018). For example, in Walmart Inc. the work of employees is
closely managed and supervise by the leaders on a daily basis.
Definition of manager: Manager is a person who are liable or responsible for the
administering and controlling whole organization or part of company (Benjaafar and Hu, 2020).
For example, the manager of Walmart Inc. is the support system of the employees and they are
expert in their own fields. The manager of Walmart work together with the leaders and
employees to achieve company common goals.
Comparison of role and characteristics of leader and manager
Basis Leader Manager
Role  Their role is to create a
culture of trust with the help
 Hiring and staffing
 Training new employees

of their own character and
competence.
 There role also involve the
creation of shared vision and
strategies as well as
communicate the same with
team members.
 Leaders’ role also involves
the execution of vision and
strategies (Choi, Wallace and
Wang, 2018).
 They also need to improve
performance of others with
there potential coaching
skills and consistent
feedback.
 Providing coaching to existing
employees.
 They also need to deal with
performance problem and
terminations.
 They also conduct timely one-to-
one session and performance
evaluation.
 Support decision-making and
problem solving.
 They also monitor and control
expenses as well as budgets.
 They also plan and set goal for
future period.
 They role also involve the
tracking and reporting scorecard
results to senior management.
 Lastly, they are also responsible
for converting the corporate
goals into functional and
individual goals.
Characteristics  An effective leader always
honest, trustworthy and
truthful.
 The capability, efficiency and
productivity of leader should
be high.
 An effective leader should be
forward looking and must
have sense of direction.
 They are also energetic and
 A good manager known how to
create a positive and productive
environment with the use of
different approaches.
 They are also committed towards
the team working in order to
achieve organization objectives.
 They also have the ability to
judge which employee they can
delegate responsibility (Benjaafar

enthusiastic about the future. and Hu, 2020).
 At the time of reviewing and
assessing work, a good manager
always adheres the policy of
fairness.
2. Presenting examples of Walmart Inc. situations and how manager & leader react to this
situation
Situation 1: Conflict within the diverse team
This is a first situation where the employees or team members of Walmart Inc. unable to
coordinate with each other because of the difference in thought, ideas and cultural values. The
result of which the productivity as well as performance of its various stores get down as
employees unable to process the payment of customers because of their internal conflicts.
Leader reaction: The leader of Walmart Inc. in this situation conducts a meeting with the
employees to listen each employee concern and also solve the problem with there own skills and
though process (Rahman, 2019). They also guide the employee to remain polite with its customer
in the store’s despite of any internal conflict.
Manager reaction: The manager of Walmart Inc. has announced informal get-together of
employees in a restaurant so that each employee can interact with others. This helps the
employee to understand other values, culture, ethics and thought process. The impact of which
the diverse team can coordinate with each other to achieve common goals.
Situation 2: Poor Quality of Walmart Products and services
This is another situation of Walmart Inc. where employee of company unable to complete
their task on time during the high demand in the market. The work load has affected the quality
of Walmart products as well as services as employee are working in a demotivated stage and
negative workplace environment.
Leaders’ reaction: In this situation, leader of Walmart has adopted strategies to motivate
the teams of Walmart so that they can work positively during work-load. The strategy adopted by
Walmart leader is creating a positive work environment and providing food party to employee in
lunch break, institute casual dress days within the organization.

Manager reaction: The manager of Walmart Inc. after analysing this situation has
announced voluntary incentives or overtime for extra work done by them with there full potential
and without compromising with the quality of products and services. Also, the manager with the
communication with HR arranges a training session for employees so that they can learn how to
work hard in tight deadline with the proper time management skills (Chen and et.al., 2021).
3. Application of different theories of approaches within Walmart Inc.
The three most significant theories of approaches that should be implement by the leaders of
Walmart Inc within the organization are as follows:
Situational Leadership: This is a first theory which state that the leader with the
implementation of this style can adjust there way of leading after evaluating their organization
and team. For example, in the case of uncertain situation such as Covid-19, leaders face
difficulty in keeping their employees motivated because of work from home as well as cut in
their salary. So, with the help of situational leadership theory they can adjust their leadership
style i.e., rather than being strict the leader can remain flexible and calm with its employee in the
current situation.
Systems Leadership: The system leadership theory is basically a set of skills and
capabilities that leaders can adopt in order to support system level change process within the
organization (Lai and et.al., 2019). For example, due to continuous change in technological
world, the use of systems also gets changes which affect the work of the employees. So, the
leaders of Walmart Inc. can use this theory of approach to guide their team members on any
system change. This also help the leaders to mobilize innovation and action across a large.
Contingency leadership: This theory state that the success of the leaders depends on the
action as well as reaction of leaders in a particular situation. For example, the leaders of
Walmart Inc. can use the decision-making theory model of contingency leadership to first
analyse the situation, assess their impact over group and then determine the steps they can adopt
to support the group (Guo and Ling, 2020). This will help the leaders of Walmart to understand
the contingent situation that might arise in future and the way they can adopt to reduce the
negative impact of that contingent situation.

4. Presenting key approaches to operation management and the role the leaders and managers
play
The different key approaches to operation management that is available to leaders and
managers of Walmart Inc are as follows:
Six Sigma: This is an approach of operation management that used by the organization to
improve the quality of output via terminating the reason of defect and wastage of resources. For
example, the manage and leaders of Walmart Inc plays vital role in the adoption of this approach
within the company. The manager can adopt this process and guide the team leaders regarding
the same. Further, the team leaders will provide the training to employee of Walmart so that their
efficiency will improve, wastage of resources get decrease and defect in products will also
terminate that result into higher quality production with 99.6666% defect free.
Lean production theory: This is another approach of operation management with the help of
which company can minimize the wastage of resources and increase the productivity of
employee. For example, the manager and leader of Walmart can use Just-in-time principle or
method of inventory within there business in order to improve the efficiency and decrease the
waste within the business (Bunjak and Černe, 2018). For this, the leader needs to inform to their
manager about when the new order of raw material needs to place and further the information
will provide by the manage of production department to the purchase department. This will lead
to reduction in wastage of resources as well as inventory holding cost.
Total quality management: This is the process of detecting and addressing the quality of the
products or services, supply chain, customer addressing etc. in which all the key dimensions are
taken into consideration for the purpose of managing and augmenting their quality. (Dahlgaard-
Park, Reyes and Chen, 2018.) For example- In Walmart Ltd such a strong mechanism is
installed in order to carry out total quality management practice with higher efficiency. The
management or the leaders of the company timely review the policies or practises with this
regard and also prepare such plans to encounter any discrepancy in the quality of the above said
elements.

IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operation management is the process performed by administration to mark up highest
level of efficiency in the organization. Operations of an organization are key factors the success
of the entire organization depends on the efficiency of their operations.
The operation management of Walmart Ltd addresses the retail design so can ensure cost-
effectiveness and efficiency of their flow. It helps the organization to reduce the costs and also
hiking their growth in the market (Wilson, 2018)
As one of the key task in operation management quality management is also an essential
act. The quality standards of the products ensure success and by providing better quality the
goals of the organization can be easily achieved. For the purpose Walmart keeps their attention
always on the quality standards of the products and services.
Higher operations management also makes the work of Human resource management
easier. if the operations are well managed it helps to drive the human resources efficiently. In
Walmart HRM is laid out strategically so all the personnels are driven toward achieving the
goals of the organization.
Reduces the conflicts among employees in the entity so ultimately it hikes the mutual
cooperation among them. It not only helps in reducing such barriers but also hike their morale of
working with proper efficiency. Walmart has framed such HR policy which leads all to work
together with collaboration (Singh, Kurian and Napier, 2018)
Customers satisfaction is the ultimate result of strong or well managed operations of the
organization, If the customers are satisfied they will become loyal toward the company. Walmart
is having a huge constellation of such satisfied customers who are continuously buying from the
organization.

So altogether it can be concluded that the operation management derives higher value to
the organization in many ways which ultimately drives the organization to achieve its goals or
objectives.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND DECISION-MAKING
PEST analysis for Walmart Ltd-
Components
Political The global political scenario is getting over fluctuated with the time.
In chine one store sold prohibited products to the customers which caused
serious issues for the company and Chinese government took strong actions
against Walmart.
Minimum wage regarding rules may get passed which may be considered
serious issues for the organization (Al-Achi and Kulkarni, 2019.)
Economical Economic stability across the world is facing severe threats due to hit of
pandemics.
Supply chain crisis also impacted the flow of row material and impacted so
many industries across the nations.
In the phase of inflations in many markets of Walmart the consumers are now
inclined to buy only necessities and other unavoidable products.
Social In Germany, Walmart did not impact much the people due to its strong image
of an American company, it failed at convincing the people of Germany where
it beards higher loss (Bonsu, 2019)
After hit of pandemics people are prone to purchase healthy products and
organic items they are ready to pay more but can not sacrifice in term of the

quality.
Social behaviour of purchasing products is also frequently changed. People are
more likely to place order online and wants delivery at home.
Technological All the strong competitors of Walmart are adapting higher technologies for
conducting their operations.
Online shipping aspect is also widening with the time people want fast,
errorless and perfect shipping facilities so can place their orders reliably. With
this regard Walmart is working greatly from so long so can sustain in the
market.
In different situations the role of management plays big role. In China where company faced
jeopardy, for preventing such instances in future the management can install strong internal
norms or product quality related rules.
To encounter the inflations the management could go for hiking prices of those products
which are lavish in natures and being purchased by upper income class people so can
substantiate the losses.
For copping up SCM related issues the leaders may draft new policy with regard to
storage and purchasing row materiel they could go for now collaboration with row material
providers so can reduce such risks in future and can perform with perfect flow.
To avoid the perils like what happened in Germany, management can lay out ethnocentric
marketing and brand promotional plan. So for different culture can make appropriate policies.
For attracting those customers who are looking up for better quality of hygienic products and are
ready to pay higher cost, the management can target them with specific marketing plan (Goel,
2020)

Management could shift their stores to such locations where respective governments are
giving ease of doing business with lower taxes and paper works. Further the leadership may pay
their attention on installation of utter automation so can hike higher performance. So by making
above suggested decisions such hindrances can be eliminated.
CONCLUSION
From the report above it can be concluded that in the success of an organization
management or leaders play big role. The report had discussed their roles and characteristics to
the fullest extent. Also, articulated how in different situations manager and leaders play
significant role, different theories and models are applied and key approaches to operations
management and the role of management and leaders in their proper applications was also
examined. The report also presented the importance or prominence of operation management and
how it helps in achieving business goals. At the end of the report for Walmart Ltd PEST analysis
was carried out and on the basis of the traced jeopardies how management can eradicate issues
with their decision-making also suggested.

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