Management Information Systems for Walmart: Business Units, Data Warehousing, and Legal Implications

This report discusses Walmart's business units, hierarchical structure, data warehousing, and use of information systems like EDI and big data. It also covers legal and ethical implications associated with information handling and security, including GDPR compliance. The report recommends improving Walmart's big data system to enhance customer experience and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of implementing Amazon's checkout-free technology. Subject: Information System, Course Code: N/A, Course Name: N/A, College/University: N/A

Information System

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................4
Different business unit of Walmart organization:.......................................................................4
Different form of data and data warehousing for the Walmart...................................................7
Key concern about legal, ethical and professional implications associated with information
handling and security.................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Information system is the sociotechnical system of the organization which is used to
design for storing, collecting the information which is distributed in the system. It is used to
interpret the information through which the organization effectively manage their system
(Kidschun and et.al 2019). Walmart a largest retail organisation, currently operating globally. As
they are looking forward to innovating their counter strategies for increasing their shares. This
report covers the area which involves the description about the Walmart interconnected units, it
also defines the form of data warehousing which is used by the organization. It will also lay out
the current information system along with the recommendations about the big data solution. This
will also cover the new GDPR protection laws for the organization.
MAIN BODY
Different business unit of Walmart organization:
Business unit are the separate unit of the organization who operate independently and
carrying out the implementation of the process to enhance the core values of the business.
Walmart is the largest retail industry, company has its own warehouse, and diversification in
their product and services which makes them able to earn the great revenues for the business. As
for the organization it is important to have a good inclusive work place environment so that
every employee proceed to achieve the objectives of the company. As Walmart organization's
structure are the key aspect to define their business activities, as these activities are usually in the
retail sector or in a E-commerce sector. Different business unit are in a interconnected form
involves the workforce power, technological resources and other resources which are linked
together. Interconnected system mainly aims to improve the efficiency of work place culture.
In the interconnected system all department are linked together as to carry out the task
effectively for achieving the good revenues of the company. The main benefit of this system as it
improves the communication among the employee which is essential for healthy work place
environment (Arumbarkah, 2020). For the Walmart organization their work place structure helps
them to implement the certain strategies for the effectiveness of their organization. Their
structure will help them to acquire the bigger share in their retail industrial market. As the work
place culture defines the productivity of the organization, if the organization is lacking in

providing the better resources to their employee then it will reflect in the work efficiency of the
employees.
Walmart structure:
As the Walmart organisation is operated in the hierarchical structure. Hierarchical structure
define as the chain demand of the business which is generally varies from senior authoritative
management to the general staff members. In which task is equally assigned to the entity of the
company, as the junior members will report to the senior authority for better performance. Main
advantage of the hierarchical structure as it helps to clear the vision also the employees have
right information about their work. This structure will resolve the ambiguity which might have
seen in other structure (Bai and et.al 2017). As for the Walmart organization their junior staff
report to their senior staff and this process will further move to the main head of the
organization. It will enable them to solve the issues within a time or to give team forward
direction for carrying out their business operations.
Illustration 1: Hierarchical organisational structure

In the Walmart work place structure except from the CEO every staff member has their
direct superior, as the directives are coming from the high level of the organizational
management and it is processed from the intermediate management and finally reached to the
down rank management. Whereas, the functional based aspect of the company involves the
employees who are aim to carry out their certain specific functions. As for example finance
department, human resource team all have different function, in which the team members carry
out their specific function for enhancing the productivity of the company. Walmart company has
different level of department which involves the finance, information technology, operational
department or other departments (Kotzé, 2017). Every department of the company operates in a
hierarchical order, therefore leaders of the department encourage the employees to carry out their
task in good manner for enhancing the business property.
Illustration 2: Data flow diagram of Walmart

As the data flow for the Walmart define as that company is the largest chain having a
large number of work force who are able to carry out their business operations in a effective
manner. Therefore, it is general that in this era the product are buys through the online platform.
Walmart company proceed to make order for the raw materials to their different suppliers, in
exchange vendors sends the invoice which include the details about the order. It all manage by
the procurement management to search for the relevant vendors in the market. The order which
the company make to deliver it to other stores as well as to their potential customers, where the
organisation sends the invoice to both stores and to the customer. In return company receives the
order or payment from the other stores (Lakshmanan and Tigani, 2019).
Therefore company's business is interconnected as their procurement strategy involves
the cross docking, which implies the direct transformation of the products and service from
inbound carrier to the outbound carrier. As Walmart company's supplier deliver the resources to
the organizational distribution area, from which the product were cross docked and deliver it to
the company's different stores. The main reason why the Walmart organisation operate in the
hierarchical structure due to their massive business size, as company has the large employee base
and they do not have other alternatives for organizational structure which suits their company's
environment. Therefore, hierarchical structure will help the company to carry out their task in a
structural form so that no problem can encounter, also with this they can be able to find the
effective solution for their business issues. Also, each business unit are interconnected to each
other which is essential to carry out the specific task (Tuah, Tahir and Lada, 2021). Company's
other stores are operated in a hierarchical order which improves their inter communication so
that the work can be carried out to develop the good revenues for the company.
Different form of data and data warehousing for the Walmart
Data for the Walmart company involves the data mining process to identify the possible
patterns in their sales data. Data mining process helps the company to observe the patterns from
the data which is essential for making effective decisions for their business. This process will
help the company to build the good relation with their customer by providing them their desired
products and services. Data warehousing define as the secure electronic storage for the
organization to store their all information regarding business. It is considered as the library of the

historical data which can company easily access to reach at certain point. The data warehousing
which is used by the Walmart organization is the relational database system from the NCR and
the software system which is created by the company. Company also stated that their database
management system solve about 120,000 questions or queries in a week. As for the company
their customer ask queries, and they receive the real time solution for their queries. The main
intention of warehousing the data as it gives the information to the company about what is
happening and what are going to happen (Chavan and Nehe, 2017). It is helpful for making
decision to implement certain strategies for carrying out the operational work effectively.
Information system for the Walmart organisation:
Walmart a giant company who have good market reputation as well as anticipating their market
from five decades. Company is operated in various kind of the information system, as they are
known for their well innovation. Organization always proceed to involve the technological
advancement in their product and service, as they always begin to adapt the new technology and
the information system to enhance their productivity. Walmart organisation use the EDI system
which is mainly for the procurement. EDI system which is electronic data interchange system,
that is generally used to transfer the data from the internet. It allows the company's suppliers to
track their sales of the products as well as it offer the efficiency to the small suppliers to sales
their product in efficient manner (Chatterjee, 2017). Big data is the effective technology which
helps the company to manage their large data sets for great access and for the data reliability.
For the Walmart organization they have the large customer base eventually the data is
also bigger, for that reason they can proceed to imply the big data technology to reduce the
complexity in the data. As company has the great Big data ecosystem which usually process the
daily terabytes new data and also process the historical data of size petabytes. As it involves the
more than a million products and the customer from various sources. The main aspect of the Big
data for the Walmart is to improve the experience of their customers with their services, also to
provide the effectual browsing on the website so that customer can easily access the website
when they are in motion.
Recommendations for the big data solution:
As it is understood that the Walmart has massive big data system which helps them to process
their information, also beneficial to provide the better shopping experience to their customers. As
to recommend the board of the members about the big data are as follows:

Privacy:
Big data technology properly manage the data and reduce the redundancy in the data or protect
the sensitive data. As the main quality of the big data is that it manage the large complex data set
as compared to the traditional tools which are not capable of managing the data set. As for the
Walmart company with the Big data technology they will be able to build a good relationship
with their customer or to protect their privacy so that customer shows trust in company's product
and services (Alsharari, 2021).
Business value:
Big data analytics will be helpful in cooperating the identification and the design of the different
strategies which is essential for enhancing the business values. It enables the company to access
the relevant information or to proceed with innovation in their product and services which
involves the suggestions from the customer.
Therefore for the Walmart company their major aspect is to improve the customer
experience in their product and services for growing their revenues. They can proceed to enhance
their Big data system for the better performance of their business.
Advantages and disadvantages for the system:
As it is identified that the Amazon organisation has been proceeding with the strategy
which states as customer can easily pick their products and walk out from the store without
checking on the counter. This strategy will provide the Amazon customer to not bother about
checking also it offers the flexibility to them. Therefore, Walmart is also looking for the counter
strategy to enhance their customer experience in order to enhance their E-commerce shares.
For the Walmart company if they proceed by adapting this technology they get the bigger
advantage in terms of time management, as the main idea behind this strategy is to save the time.
It will enable their customer to come and select their item without wasting time on the counters.
As the system directly tracks as the item is picked and remove from the shelves just like the
transparent process (Kavanagh and Johnson, 2017).
Major disadvantage of implementing this technology is that it enables the turnover of the
employees, it result as job loss for the employees. This technology is threat to the some
profession, also it is not possible that the company is depended on the technology only, they also
needs a work force team for carrying out the work or to handle the technological devices.

Therefore these are the pro and cons for the strategy as if the Walmart uses this strategy than it
can improve their customer engagement but in a result they need to expelled their potential
employee for that.
Key concern about legal, ethical and professional implications associated with information
handling and security
As it is known that Walmart, largest retail company operates over 4,700 retail facilities
globally and now it is focusing on implementing an innovation strategy or convenient store as
like Amazon go. The main aim of Walmart is to provide convenience to customers by which
they can pick out items whatever they want and without waiting in lines for billing and they need
to use self-check out station. In addition, it is also found that Walmart conduct regular
compliance and training program for all levels of company (Stahl and Wright, 2018). The main
aim of conducting such programs is to improve ways as well as approaches by which they can
improve quality of products and can have right information at the right time in right manner.
On the other hand, it is also found that this company has faced number of ethical issues
that has negative impact on its image or reputation. Some ethical issues and allegations on this
retailer include: gender discrimination, exploitation of workers and compensation of workers. It
is the reason as it has developed some ethical programs. It believes that gaining as well as
maintaining trust of stakeholders is the main key of success. So, now, it has focused on
developing a culture that respect values of different culture, gender and age group of employees.
In its new ethical program, it has focused on main 4 core values such as: excellence, respect,
integrity and service.
GDPR: As per this legislation, it can be said that protecting personal and professional
data of employees by companies is important and it is an ethical consideration. The data
protection act 2018 is UK’s implementation of the General data protection regulation. As per this
legislation, it is important for all companies and retailers including Walmart to protect personal
data of employees and ensure them that their data will not be shared with others (Goddard,

2017). This new legislation broadens that scope to include online identification markers, genetic
information and location data. By following all rules and regulations of this legislation, Walmart
can protect information fairly and lawfully. It can help this retailer in regaining its image and
retaining skilled employees with its business for the long run.
Ethical consideration: It is known that Walmart was criticised for its healthcare policy.
It stated officially that it does not feel that women are interested in management position and it is
also an ethical issue. It shows that this retailer discriminates its employees on the basis of gender.
But now, Walmart has committed itself with ethics and ensured to its customers and stakeholders
that they will receive qualitative products and they will not be discriminated on the basis of race,
gender and age. It has focused on Walmart effect that is a term used to refer to economic impacts
by local businesses. As per this effect and new practice, it is buying raw materials and essential
products at lower prices from suppliers. Customers find easier in buying products at lower price
and it increase customers’ retention.
Walmart’s approach: It is stated by CEO of this retailer that at every level of its
business, they create a culture that inspires trust among stakeholders. Its code of conduct was
published in February, 2021 that applies to all associations of Walmart. This code of conduct
helps employees and employers in solving problems related to topics of: conflict of interest,
ethical decision making. It makes employees able in knowing as when and how to speak and
consequences of failing to follow or abide code and examples of how to put integrity in action. In
this context, it can also be said that this code of conduct and new ethical practice has made it able
in regaining its image. it is now finding easier in performing its functions and attracting
customers to the great extent.
It is important for Walmart to consider legal and ethical consideration for improving security
and information handling (Harrison, 2019). Along with this, it needs to implement some
legislation by which it can make employees feel safe and secure. It is found that employees at its
workplace feel unsafe as they are being discriminated and exploited so, in this regard, it can be
said that this retailer requires following all rules of anti-discrimination. Overall, it can be said
that ethical and legal practices play a vital role as it improves image of companies and make
them able in being in the competition. By performing all functions in an ethical manner and
respecting values of employees, Walmart can improve productivity and can take advantages of
competitive opportunities.

Anti-discrimination or equality act: This act legally protects employees from
discrimination at workplace. Equality act has replaced previous acts and now this new act
protects everyone against race, gender and age. There are some situations have been set in which
people cannot be treated and if they are being treated in an unfair manner then they have right to
complain and seek for equal treatment. So, in this regard, it can be said that by following all rules
of this act, Walmart can regain its image and can increase staff retention.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from the above study that ethical practices play a vital role for
organisational success. Ethics and legislation practices protect companies against lawsuit,
penalties and poor brand image. It has discussed impacts and effectiveness of The General Data
protection regulation act and ways in which it makes companies able in protecting their personal
and professional data. Data warehousing systems and information technology also plays a vital
role in managing data safe and secure. There is interrelation of organisational departments and
this relation and continuous communication makes companies able in performing their functions
in an effective manner. It has shown different organisational structures and factors on which
selection of organisational structure relies.

REFERENCES
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