A Study on Leadership, Organizational Culture, and Turnover in Walmart

This report investigates the relationship between leadership styles, organizational culture, and employee turnover within Walmart. The research employed questionnaires, interviews, and observations to gather data from current and former employees and managers. Findings revealed that leadership styles, characterized by a lack of employee involvement in decision-making, an emphasis on outdated management practices, and a disregard for employee welfare, significantly contributed to high turnover rates. The organizational culture, marked by a 'hire and fire' mentality, lack of employee value, and absence of training, further exacerbated the issue. The limitations of the study were the primary focus on leadership and organizational culture while ignoring other potential factors. However, the study provides a foundation for further research into the root causes of employee turnover in diverse organizational settings.

The research is about the contribution of various skills, styles, and activities of leaders and the
organizational culture on employee turnover in Walmart organization. My aim was to make a
follow-up to get evidence on how leadership styles contributed to the employee turnover
witnessed in Walmart organization. I conducted the research via questionnaires, interviews, and
observations. I issued the questionnaires to the current employees and manager of Walmart. To
the employees. I wanted to find out whether the leadership styles used and the organization
culture had any influence on their stay and productivity. I also enquired if the leaders involved
the employees in decision making and implementation. To the managers, I wanted to find out if
they were aware of different leadership styles and their repercussions to employee’s turnover and
productivity, if they were qualified leaders and if they had gone for any training on leadership. I
also made observations to compare and contrast what the leaders were doing how the employees
behaved. I also interviewed a few employees and employers and traced some employees who
had left the organization to find out why they left and what they think the organization should
improve on.
Form my findings, some employees had left the organization because of the organizational
culture where people come and go within two to three months. Those who had left after serving
for a year said that the leadership style of the organization was wanting because employees were
treated like machines and they're social issues were not catered for. They added that the
organization does not value employees culture and religion because people work until Sunday

and no overtime payments. This contrasted with the response of the employees who were still
working in Walmart and whose response was that they were not involved in decision making and
their views and grievances were not considered by their leaders. I also found out that the
organization had a culture where those employees who tried to challenge the leaders would be
fired without any notice and pay. Besides, most leaders had not done management so they knew
little or nothing about leadership styles. Those who had the knowledge were using the old system
of leadership because that’s how they found the organization been run. Also, they had not gone
for training for a longer period of time so they lacked skills in technological ways of managing
the organization. Others never delegated the work because they believe in themselves more than
anyone. Their view was if they delegate the task, the result would be contrary to their
expectations. Moreover, these leaders believe that the more the pressure on the employees they
more they will produce which is not true.a
The limitations of these studies are that I only considered and emphasized more on leadership
and organizational culture but there could be other factors contributing to the turnover. In my
final research paper, I can use this study to explore and find out the main causes of employee
turnover in many organizations other than leadership and organizational culture.