Management of Walmart: Behavioral Theories of Leadership and Organizational Culture Analysis

This study focuses on management of Walmart. Different behavioral theories are explained, that can differentiate effective leader as well as ineffective leader of Walmart. An analysis of Walmart’s culture has been conducted here using the various dimensions of organizational culture.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
a)Background of Walmart............................................................................................................2
b)Behavioural theories of leadership...........................................................................................3
c) Analysis of Walmart’s culture using dimensions of organizational culture...........................6
d) Analysis of leader’s effectiveness and ineffectiveness and the organizational cultural
dimensions have improved and obstructed the goal attainment of Walmart...............................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
This study focuses on management of Walmart. In accordance with the opinion of
Schermerhorn et al. (2014) management refers to the set of the principles associated with
functions of the planning as well as organizing the resources. In the opinion of Kerzner and
Kerzner (2017), effective management helps the companies like Walmart to attain its targeted
objectives there increasing the overall workflow of the respective organization. In this particular
studies, different behavioral theories are explained, that ca differentiate effective leader as well
as ineffective leader of Walmart. A short overview of Walmart has been provided in this
particular study. Apart from this, dimensions of organisational culture are highlighted in this
particular study. It has been observed that an assessment of Walmart’s culture has been
conducted here using the various dimensions of organizational culture. Apart from this, an
analysis has been conducted on leader’s effectiveness and ineffectiveness that has improved and
hindered the goal attainment of the respective company.
Discussion
a) Background of Walmart
Walmart Inc is a reputed multinational retailer of America. It functions a chain of
hypermarkets, grocery outlets along with discount department outlets. This organization
is a public organization. It was founded in 1962. The headquarter of Walmart Inc was
located in Bentonville, Arkansas. This organization is conducting its business through 11,
718 stores all across the globe. About 1.4 million skilled professionals work at this
organization in U.S as per the statistics of 2018. There are 2.3 million individuals who
work at this company according to the statistics of 2018 (Walmart.com 2018). It offers

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diverse range of products such as electronics, craft supplies, grocery products, health and
beauty items to its users and buyers. This company also offers pet supplies, jewelry,
footwear, toys, home and furniture etc to its users and buyers. About US$500.34 billion is
the total revenue, which is earned by this company in 2018. In the same year, its net
income is US$S 9.862 billion. About US$20.437 billion was the total operating income
of Walmart Inc as per the statistical information of 2018. Doug McMillon is the Chief
Executive Officer of this particular organization since February 2014 (Walmart.com.
(2018).
b) Behavioral theories of leadership
Trait theory of leadership
As per the theoretical concept, there are certain behavioral characteristics, that
segregates a leader from an ineffective leader. In other words, trait theory concentrates on
identifying various personality traits as well as characteristics, which are connected to the
successful leadership in diverse situations. This theory was developed by Thomas
Carlyle. This particular theory is used for forecasting the effectiveness of leader. Some
of the common leadership traits are initiative, tenacity, high levels of energy, flexibility.
There are other traits of leadership are creativity, charisma, self-confidence, honesty,
integrity, emotional intelligence and high levels of energy (Christopher 2016.).
According to the concept of this particular theory, leadership development comprises of
identifying as well as measuring qualities of leadership, screening the leaders from the
non-leaders and training the leaders with potentials (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus 2014).
In other words, training the leaders with potentials will make them a great leader (Heizer
2016). It is seen that successful leaders possess interests, capabilities along with

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personality traits, which are completely different than that of ineffective leaders. On the
other hand, ineffective leaders do not have a proper vision. They do not have a sense of
accountability and they are incapable to cope up with any kind of situation. Poor integrity
is one of the most common qualities of an ineffective leader (James et al. 2014). This is
applicable for Walmart.
Behavioral theories of leadership:
According to this theoretical concept, it focuses on the patterns of the behavior of
the leader in the conditioned situation. This theory has been created scientifically by
examining the behavioral attitudes of the leaders and impact of their leadership on the
skilled employees along with surrounding environment ( Lackland 2014). In this context,
it can be stated that University of Michigan Studies and University of IOWA studies are
the most common theories which are well- connected to behavioral theories of leadership.
Michigan Leadership Studies
It has been noted that there are two different kinds of leadership style which
results in the higher performance along with group satisfaction.
Job-centred leadership
In the opinion of Lehmann and Joseph (2015), managers who follows this
leadership style pay minute attention to the work of the subordinates. Not only this
managers also explains the work processes and they are focused on improving
performance of the employees.
Employee-centred leadership

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Managers who are following this particular leadership style, they take care of
their subordinates. In addition to this, managers lay emphasis on the interpersonal
relationships
University of IOWA
Different leadership styles have been identified in this particular study. In 1939,
Lewin, Lippit as well as White had conducted this particular study (Dinh et al. 2014).
Authoritarian leadership style, democratic leadership style and Laissez-fair leadership
styles are the three different kinds of leadership (Bartlett and Beamish 2018).
Authoritarian leaders:
In accordance with the opinion of Meuser et al. (2016), it is seen that leaders
gives instruction to its subordinates. Leaders are authorized to dictate as well as control
every activity without taking any opinions from the subordinates. These autocratic
leaders are authorized to determine what objectives are to be attained by the rest
employees.
Democratic leaders:
In case of democratic leaders, leaders includes skilled professionals in the
decision-making procedure. In the opinion of Ghasabeh, Soosay and Reaiche (2015),
democratic leaders gives importance to the opinions of its subordinates. Based on their
decisions, effective decisions are undertake by democratic leaders.
Laissez-faire leaders:
Such leaders give the group freedom to make decisions and finish the allocated
tasks. In accordance with the opinion of Buchholz and Sandler (2017), in laissez-faire
leadership style , final decisions are undertaken by the members of the group. It has been

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observed that Walmart follows a job-centred leadership style. In this particular style,
close attention is being given to the workforce by the management of the respective
multinational retailer of America (Van der Brempt et al. 2017). It is seen that managers
are mainly interested in the performance delivered by the employees within the workflow
of the respective organization.
c) Analysis of Walmart’s culture using dimensions of organizational culture
It has been noticed that there are six dimensions of organizational culture such as people-
oriented dimensions, outcome-oriented dimension, detail-oriented dimension, team orientation,
aggressiveness, stability, innovation and risk. In accordance with the opinion of Platow et al.
(2015 ), outcome-oriented businesses are concerned about results. In case of team-oriented
culture, skilled professionals love to work together as a unified team. It has been observed that
employees cooperate with rest members of the team in order to achieve the targeted goals of the
respective organization. It has been noticed that there are certain business firms who values
cooperation, whereas there are certain companies that gives importance to aggressive
competition. It is seen that Walmart’s culture is based on four essential components (Kerzner and
Kerzner 2017). These four elements are ‘Service to the Customer’ and ‘Respect for the
Individual’. In addition to this, there are other components such as ‘Strive for Excellence’ and
‘Act with Integrity’ (Dezyre.com, 2018). It has been team-oriented culture exists in Walmart,.
Almost all the employees work together as a team and they working in a coordinated manner.
The owners of this multinational retail form believes in teamwork. Jacobs, Chase and Lummus
(2014) commented that teamwork enables the organization to meet its strategic goals thereby
sustaining the comparative edge in the current market of America. In this context, Heizer (2016 )
commented that this multinational retailing organization has encouraged its team members to

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work as a team. On the other hand, Heizer (2016) commented that team members cooperate with
each other. All the employees shares a relationship based on mutual trust. In this context it can
be stated that this approach of the team members reduces the chances of internal conflicts within
the team. In this regard, Christopher (2016) commented that by teamwork has increased the
productivity of Walmart. It has been noticed that teamwork also enhances the interpersonal
relationships among team members. It has been observed detail-oriented culture exists within
the working environment of Walmart. It is seen that detail-oriented organizations pay minute
attention to details of its business. It is seen that precision is being valued in such consumer-
oriented business firms. Heizer (2016) has observed that this multinational organization believes
in giving close attention to details of its business. In this regard, it can be stated that this
company keeps a track of its consumers. It targets each consumer individually. This company
keeps a track on what their consumers are purchasing. In addition to this, Walmart also gathers
information on the residential address of their existing customer base (Bartlett and Beamish
2018). In this regard, it can be stated that this organization keeps a track on the choices and
preferences of their customers. In this way, meticulous attention is being given by the
management of Walmart in every aspect of its business. It has been noticed that outcome-
oriented culture exists within the workflow of the respective multinational retailing company. It
has been observed that the managers are concerned about making profits in the organization. It
has been observed that managers of Walmart are concerned about increasing the revenue
generation of the respective. It is seen that Walmart believes in aggressive competition rather
than valuing cooperation. It has been observed that this respective multinational retailer has
adopted merger and acquisition strategy for dominating the retail market of America. This

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aggressive approach of Walmart has aided the company to retain its competitive advantage in the
existing retail market of America.
d) Analysis of leader’s effectiveness and ineffectiveness and the organizational
cultural dimensions have improved and obstructed the goal attainment of Walmart
It has been noted that leaders are capable of motivating the skilled proffesionals to
perform better within the workflow of the organization. In the context of Walmart, it can be
stated that its leader used to motivate the workforce. The company has a proper vision for the
future. Sam Walton wanted his company to become the top-ranking organization in the retail
sector of America. Due to his effective leadership, Walmart has occupied the first position in the
retail market of America. The effective leadership of Sam Walton has resulted in the expansion
of business in US, Canada, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. It has been seen that all the directives
are given by Sam Walton to its subordinates. Managers of this organization instructs the
employees how to perform their jobs. Not only this, managers also describe the working
procedures to their employees under the leadership of Sam Walton. As a result, it people
becomes clear about their roles and responsibilities and they tries their level best to achieve their
goals. It has been observed that employees of Walmart share a close bonding with each other.
Therefore, it becomes easier for the company to achieve its targeted objectives. Under the
effective leadership of Steuart Walton, who is the grandson of Sam Walton, it is seen that,
Walmart has achieved success in acquiring Flipkart in 2018. This shows that effective leadership
can result in acquiring other organizations. It has been observed that ineffective leadership can
result in low morale among the employees. In accordance with the opinion of Lehmann and
Joseph 2015 ), ineffective leadership might create disappointment among the employees
working at Walmart. As opined by Lehmann and Joseph (2015), high employee turnover is an

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outcome of ineffective leadership. It has been noticed that organisational culture is based on
four important elements such as ‘ Service to the Customer’, ‘ Respect for the Individual’, ‘Strive
for Excellance’ and ‘Act for Inregrity’. It has been observed that management working at
Walmart focusses on profit-making business. As a result, it is creating pressure on its workforce
that might result in low morale among the employees. It might happen that employees feel
demotivated towards their work, which may negatively hamper the overall production of the
company. On the other hand, it is seen that, sometimes it becomes a problem for the leader to
cope up with the changing nature of customer’s choices and preferences. As a result, it might
happen that the leader might not be able to guide their subordinates properly. Therefore, this
ineffective leadership creates an adverse effect on the performance of the employees thereby
negatively impacting on the overall productivity of Walmart. Besides, there are high chances that
internal conflicts may arise among team members. In this regard, it can be stated that internal
conflicts might negatively affect on the employee performance. As a consequence, productivity
gets hampered thereby reducing the overall workflow of the organization (Lehmann and Joseph
(2015). Aggressive approach of Walmart might lead to low productivity of the respective
organization because it will create immense pressure on the employees and they will be unable
to meet their individual targets as well as company’s specified objectives. Thus, the employee
will suffer from low morale and motivation. This approach of the employees gives rise to low
productivity of the organization. In this way, ineffective leadership creates an obstruction in
meeting the goals of Walmart.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that good leadership aids the
organizations like Walmart to attain its goals and objectives. It has been observed that the proper

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implication of behavioral theories like Trait theory, University of Michigan and University of
IOWA will aid the respective organization to sustain their advantageous position in the
competitive market of America. It has been observed that Walmart adheres to job-centred
leadership style where attention is given by the management to each and every aspect of its
business operations. It has been observed that Walmart lays emphasis on teamwork. It has been
observed that this multinational corporation has given importance on keeping a track of the
customer’s choices as well as preferences. It has been observed that residential addresses of the
customers are also tracked by the management of Walmart.

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