Quality Issues in Walmart: Causes and Strategies for Improvement

This paper discusses the causes of poor quality in Walmart's products and services, including lack of planning, short-term planning, lack of supervision, and failing to analyze customer demand. It also suggests strategies for improvement, such as training, communication, time management, motivation, and daily meetings.

Running head: WALMART
Wal-Mart

WALMART
QUALITY ISSUES IN WALMART
It has been observed that quality should be maintained by the companies whether it is small or
large. If quality is not maintained then it can impact the goodwill and can also affect the market
share of the company in the highly competitive market. So, in this paper the discussion will be
made on the WALMART COMPANY.
It can be examined that there are various causes that are related with the poor quality of the
products. One of the major causes of poor quality of the services offered to the customers is
planning. It can be stated that due to lack of planning, the negative impact can be on the overall
quality of the services. In relation to the Wal-Mart company, it has been examined that customer
face the challenge in enhancing their experience in the outlet. The outlets of the company are not
clean and there is no tidiness in the stores. The issue related to cleanliness and tidiness is because
of the lack of planning. The management was not able to assign and coordinate their work which
leads to negative impact of the services offered to the customers (Business insider, 2019).
Planning is important in the workplace so that the activities can be conducted in a smooth
manner without any other issue. This issue in the workplace took place because the employees
were not aware about their work and also there is no process of the company in which proper
allocation of the work should be there. Due to this the company lacks cleanliness which impact
the quality of the services offered the customers. If the stores are not kept clean then it can be
difficult to enhance the experience of the customers and also the customers will not prefer to visit
again the stores. It is necessary to boost the experience of the customers so that positive outcome
can be attained (Reich and Bearman, 2018).
In reference to planning, it can be seen that one of the causes of the poor quality of the products
is that Wal-Mart emphasizes on short term planning. Due to short term planning, the issue
related with over spoiled milk has been enhanced. According to this case, it is important for the
company to focus on long term planning so that activities can be managed effectively in the
market. Also, it is important so that the milk which was sold in the Wal-Mart store has been
expired or it is near the expiration dates. It has been observed that when the products are near the
expiration date it is thrown away because the customers think that it is not safe for consumption.
Same here experienced by one of the women and she said that in Wal-Mart, the product WANE
1

WALMART
15 have poor quality as there are three cartons purchased from the store and over a course of
month it was spoiled before the expiration date. Also, the products at Wal-Mart are sold at the
expiration date which can be considered as the poor quality of products offered by the company.
In reference to this case, it has been seen that the story has been generated on more than 75,000
page and in this the customers complaints about WANE15 sold in the Wal-Mart stores and it has
been stated that by the customers that quality of the product is not good (Robinson, 2019). This
issue rose due to short term planning done by the company and the focus is not given by
considering the feedback of the customers on regular basis. They thought to take actions in future
if the issue arises but by not taking any prompt actions towards the case, the impact has been
seen on the overall satisfaction level of the customers.
The next cause related with poor quality can be lack of supervision and monitoring. It has been
observed that due to lack of monitoring and supervision, the employees are not able to give their
best which can also impact the overall growth in the workplace. It is important for the
management to focus on supervision as if proper guidance is not offered then employees will not
be able to emphasize on maintaining the services or the quality of the products offered in the
market. Due to lack of supervision in Wal-Mart, it has been observed that the employees in the
workplace were not able to maintain the store layout and also it lead to compromise in the
customer convenience. The guidance is not given to the employees and due to this they have no
knowledge of maintaining the store layout. Store layout has an important role as it helps to boost
the experience of the customers. It can be seen the customers share their experience when they
visited the outlet. They said that there is no systematic sequence of the products in the stores.
Also, there are many products which are placed on another shelves and it is difficult to find out
the right products which is needed. So, this issue has been enhanced in Wal-Mart Company due
to lack of supervision and monitoring. It is necessary to give proper directions to the employees
so that it can be easy for them to control the activities but in Wal-Mart the strategy of monitoring
the activities was not considered and it has affected the overall growth of the company and also
the customer base. It has resulted in the poor services of the company in reference to enhancing
the overall satisfaction level of the customers (Caraway, 2016).
The next cause that can result in the poor quality of the products is failing to analyze the demand
of the customers. It is important for the company to focus on the needs of the customers so that it
2

WALMART
can be easy to enhance the demand of the products in the market. But in many areas Wal-Mart
failed to meet the demand of the customers which has resulted in the poor quality services
offered to the customers. In the present scenario, the need of the customers is related with the
services of ordering the products through digital media. But Wal-Mart wants to allow the
customers to purchase the groceries by ordering online and on the initial level they are
implement it which also impact the sale of the company. To boost the sales, it is important for
the company to emphasize on adopting the latest technologies or the concepts so that the needs
of the customers can be maximized and also it will help in boosting the experience of the
customers in the market. So, it can be stated that these are the causes that led to the poor quality
of the services and products offered by Wal-Mart in the competitive market (Raheja, 2015).
To resolve the issue related to poor quality it is necessary for the company to focus on
considering the strategies so that improvisation can be made in the entire quality of the services
or the products offered by the company. If effective strategies are considered by the company
then it can be simple to maximize the market share and also it will help to boost the experience
of the customers in the market. So, the strategies that should be considered by Wal-Mart are
many.
The first strategy on which Wal-Mart should emphasize is related to training. It is important for
the company to focus on giving training to the employees related to overall operations which are
assigned to them. Also, by giving training, the role of the employees can be cleared and also it
will help the employees to be efficient towards the work. It can be observed that if training to the
employees is given according to the set roles then it can help in boosting the overall efficiency of
the employees towards their work. Training can also help in acquiring the new knowledge and
skills which are necessary for the employees to bring improvisation in the quality of the products
offered by the company. The strategy related to training can help in strengthening the skills of
the employees and also they can bring improvisation in their skills where they lack. It can be
examined that in the workplace there are many employees who have some weakness in their
overall skills related to workplace (Raheja, 2015).
The training program helps to boost those skills so that it can be easy for them to bring
improvisation in the overall working pattern. In house training programs should be introduced by
the company in which the employees should be given training according to their experience and
3

WALMART
skills possessed in them. This strategy can be one of the best strategies that can help in bringing
improvisation in the overall quality of the products offered by the company (Lindsey et al.,
2015).
The next strategy that can help in bringing improvisation in the services and quality offered to
the employees is channel of communication. It is important to emphasize on maintaining the
hierarchy of the organization so that it can be easy for the employees to share their doubts and
views with the management. If the employees in the workplace are left free to share their views
and opinions then it can be seen that it can be easy to clear the doubts. Also, it will boost the
confidence level of the employees towards their work. It is necessary for the employees to
convey their information with the management so that clarity in the work can be boosted. So, by
maintaining the hierarchy it can be easy for the employees to know their role and also they can
easily divide their work and can boost their efficiency towards work. When proper
communication process is taken by the management, then employees can clarify their doubts and
they can give their best towards the work which will lead to bringing improvisation in the overall
quality (Allen, 2016).
The strategy related to time management should be considered by the company. In this it is
important for the management to assign the work according to the set time so that employees can
complete various activities easily. Time management strategy can help in maximizing the
working structure of the employees and it can also help the employees to coordinate their work
with the other activities in the workplace. It is the responsibility of the higher authority to set the
time table of the employees with their name and their role of work, so that they can have clarity
of the activities which are important to be completed on time. This strategy can help the
employees to bring improvisation in the work which will result in the overall improvement of the
quality of the services and products offered to the customers (Grissom, Loeb and Mitani, 2015).
Motivation can also be one of the strategies that should be there so that it can be easy to boost the
performance with the overall quality in the workplace. If the employees in the workplace are not
motivated towards the work then it can lead to inefficiency in the overall working pattern. The
management should set the criteria in which the rewards and incentives should be given to the
employees by analyzing the performance and also the quality standards which are maintained by
them at the time of conducting the entire activities in the workplace. The focus should be given
4

WALMART
on the incentive schemes in which the employees should feel good and positive towards their
work. By setting performance and quality standards it can be easy to maintain the quality of the
products and services offered in the highly competitive market. Through incentive schemes the
employees can be motivated and with this strategy it can be easy to maximize their satisfaction
level which can result in the high level of productivity in the workplace. Therefore, it can be
stated that motivation is the best strategy that can help the employees to give their best towards
the activities and also it can boost the efficiency of the employees which will result in
maintaining the quality of the products and services offered to the customers in the competitive
market (Steen, 2016).
Daily meetings should be considered as the strategy that can help in bringing improvisation in
the issue related to quality. It can be stated that the leaders should focus on conducting the
meetings at the end of the day so that issue faced by the employees in a day can be discussed and
resolved. Also, the employees should be set free to share their views and opinions or the
experiences with the management so that quality can be boosted with the experience of the
customers. This strategy can be considered as the strategy that can help in maintaining the
overall activities of the company and also it will help in boosting the efficiency of the employees
towards their work. The management should have the motive to give positive speech to the
employees at the time of meetings so that they can feel good and positive towards the
organizational activities. It can also help in boosting the interaction of the employees with each
other and can help in attaining the positive outcome which can maximize the market share of the
company in the highly competitive market (Zentes, Morschett and Schramm-Klein, 2017).
Therefore, it can be concluded that quality is considered as one of the essential aspect that can
help the companies to maintain its competitive advantage in the market. Wal-Mart should focus
on maintaining the quality so that it can be easy to attain the goals and objectives in the highly
competitive market. It is also important to consider the strategy like training, communication,
daily meetings, motivation and time management so that proper division of the work can be done
and also it can be easy for the employees to be efficient towards their work.
5

WALMART
References
Allen, M., 2016. Using Communication to Create Environments That Empower Employees.
In Strategic Communication for Sustainable Organizations (pp. 189-229). Springer, Cham.
Business insider,2019. Wal-Mart CEO reveals the company's 8 biggest problems [Online].
Available at:https://www.businessinsider.in/Wal-Mart-CEO-reveals-the-companys-8-biggest-
problems/articleshow/46790074.cms. [Accessed on 29 January 2019].
Caraway, B., 2016. OUR Walmart: a case study of connective action. Information,
Communication & Society, 19(7), pp.907-920.
Grissom, J.A., Loeb, S. and Mitani, H., 2015. Principal time management skills: Explaining
patterns in principals’ time use, job stress, and perceived effectiveness. Journal of Educational
Administration, 53(6), pp.773-793.
Lindsey, A., King, E., Hebl, M. and Levine, N., 2015. The impact of method, motivation, and
empathy on diversity training effectiveness. Journal of Business and Psychology, 30(3), pp.605-
617.
Raheja, K., 2015. Methods of training and development. Innovative Journal of Business and
Management, 4(02), pp.35-41.
Reich, A. and Bearman, P., 2018. Working for Respect: Community and Conflict at Walmart.
Columbia University Press.
Robinson, A., 2019. Concerns grow over spoiled Walmart milk, experts discuss expiration dates
[Online]. Available at: https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/concerns-grow-over-spoiled-
walmart-milk-experts-discuss-expiration-dates/1423816387. [Accessed on 29 January 2019].
Steen, J.C., 2016. How Customer Shopping Motivation Influences Perceived Design of the
Retail Environment. Atlantic Marketing Journal, 5(2), p.8.
6

WALMART
Zentes, J., Morschett, D. and Schramm-Klein, H., 2017. Marketing Communication. In Strategic
Retail Management(pp. 307-326). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
7