Organizational Behavior Analysis: Addressing Issues at Wal-Mart

This report examines the organizational behavior issues at Wal-Mart, focusing on problems such as low wages, employee dissatisfaction, outdated management styles, and the slow adaptation to changes in the retail environment. The analysis, based on a literature review, identifies key issues like employee demotivation, poor customer service, and power imbalances within the organization. The report highlights the negative impacts of an authoritarian leadership style and the need for improved communication and employee training. Recommendations include implementing a fair wage policy, fostering a two-way communication system, promoting equal growth opportunities, adopting transformational leadership, and establishing reward and recognition programs. These proposed changes aim to improve employee satisfaction, enhance organizational performance, and address the challenges Wal-Mart currently faces in its dynamic business environment.

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR- WAL-MART
Organizational behaviour- Wal-Mart
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
The aim of the report is to study the organisational behaviour issues. In this assignment,
Wal-Mart has been chosen for identifying the organisational behaviour issues. Based on the
literature review the two problems the organisation is currently facing are low-wage and
employee dissatisfaction, power corrupts, failing of customers, slow change of the company to
the retail environment and poor quality of customer service. These issues were attributed to the
outdated management style. The objective of the assessment is to analyse this issues in details.
For this purpose qualitative method- literature review has been employed. Websites, articles, and
books have been used for data collection. Based on the literature evidence suitable interventions
are recommended that will help WalMart to overcome these issues. The organisation must cater
to the needs of the employees who add value to the company. Leadership and motivation are
essential factors for the successful organisation.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Organisation background.....................................................................................................3
Current organisational problem...........................................................................................4
Objectives for the Assessment.............................................................................................5
Methodology........................................................................................................................5
Results of the analysis.........................................................................................................6
Limitations of the analysis...................................................................................................7
Recommendations................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................9
References..........................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The aim of the report is to study the organisational behaviour issues. Organisational
behaviour aids in getting deep insights into the human behaviour in an organisational setting. It is
the study of the analysis of human behaviour as the individual or when working in the team or
the analysis of the behaviour of a whole organisation. The rationale for studying the organisation
behaviour is to support the organisation to achieve its goal by various organisational activities.
These goals can be achieved by applying various organisational theories. The management of
the organisation and the employees in it is determined by the leadership skills adopted by the
company. Employees facing ineffective leadership and mistreatment are demotivated. It hampers
the work culture as well as the productivity (Robbins & Judge, 2013). Currently, various
organisations are facing issues due to organisational behaviour. Therefore, this report aims to
analyse the organisational behaviour issue of Wal-Mart, a USA based company. Relevant
strategies will be recommended considering the current problem of the organisation.
Organisation background
For identifying the organisational behaviour issues and critically analysis, Wal-Mart has
been chosen. This section briefs the overview of the organisation and its background. It is the
multinational retailing corporation in the USA, with it’s headquarter at Bentonville. It operates
through the chain of discount departmental stores, grocery stores and hypermarkets. In 1962,
Sam Walton established the organisation. By January 2017, the organisation has set up 11,695
stores in more than 20 countries. The international operations of the company include 6360
stores in 26 countries outside US. in the It also operates with the same name in Canada and with

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different names in other countries. In 1972 the company was listed on the New York Stock
Exchange (Corporate.walmart.com, 2017).
In terms of revenue, it is the largest company across the globe. It could capture a large
market and strong customer base by its low pricing strategy. In US and Mexico, the company is
the largest private employer. The company has coded many technology projects through its labs
related to open source software and the big data analytics. The company believes in “Save more.
Live better” policy. The company has four values including the “service to the customer”,
“respect to every individual”, “strive for excellence” and “act to maintain integrity”. The vision
statement of the company is “to be the best retailer in the hearts and minds of consumers and
employees” (Ferguson, 2017).
Current organisational problem
Presently Wal-Mart is facing various challenges due to its dynamic business
environment. There is a change in the socioeconomic structure. The organisation is struggling to
successfully implement the multi-cultural approach. Therefore, there is a changing need, and
motivating factors encountered in the company. This section deals with the various current
organisational behaviour problems in Wal-Mart.
Employees are dissatisfied due to low wage. There was no satisfactory raise in payment
in recent times despite unofficial strikes and official actions by the workers (Lam, 2017). The
company is scheduling the workers for unlimited hours without any overtime pay. There has
been slight effort taken by the company recently this year to increase the payment. However, this
is still less than the average mentioned by the labour department. Cost cutting for the profit
maximisation is the popular way of every company. However, Wal-Mart has not applied this

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strategy effectively (Roberts, 2015). The workers at Wal-Mart work for 34 hours a week and
their average salary for an hour $9. It was supposed to be increased to $10, where the advocates
are fighting for $15 per hour. Currently, the employees are highly dissatisfied and unrest (Lam,
2017).
The other current problem is its outdated management style is leading to failing
customers. Outdated management style is associated with poor quality of customer service. This
can be attributed to the authoritarian leadership that has been questioned several times resulting
in the employee demotivation. Outdated management can be attributed to lack of employee
training. Power corruption is experienced at the middle manager level. The company reacts
slowly to the change in the retail environment. The major challenge the company is facing due to
outdated management style is satisfying its employees to improve the organisational
performance (Mourdoukoutas, 2017).
Objectives for the Assessment
The objectives of the assessment related to Wal-Mart's organisational behaviour is to-
 Analyse the issue of low-wage in details
 Analyse the issue associated with outdated management style in details
 Review the evidence-based options that are appropriate to overcome the
organisational behaviour challenges
Methodology
The research paradigm chosen for this assignment is the qualitative method- structured
literature review. Due to time constraints, the qualitative method is chosen. There are various

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advantages to the qualitative research method. It is possible to get thick and detailed information
on any topic. The availability of the description of the participant’s feelings, experiences,
opinions, as well as interpretations makes the literature review process easy and timesaving.
With the help of the literature review, it is easy to identify as to which researchers have
contributed more to the topic and the research gaps about the area (Rahman, 2016). The other
reason for selecting literature review is the deep learning encouraged by this method. It helps to
build new research topics based on the existing studies (Booth et al., 2016).
The search strategy for retrieving the article relevant to the Wal-Mart and organisational
behaviour issues includes use of electronic databases. The database chosen for this purpose is
Google scholar, and various news articles are taken from the websites. As the assignment is
focused on the current organisational behaviour in Wal-Mart, it is not possible to retrieve all the
information from the peer-reviewed journal articles. It was necessary to rely on the websites and
news articles. For literature review on the strategies pertaining to organisational issues, journal
articles have been retrieved. The search terms used for this purpose are “Wal-Mart”,
“organisational behaviour”, “labour dissatisfaction in Wal-Mart, “Employee dissatisfaction, Wal-
Mart”, “raise in labour wages Wal-Mart”, “management style Wal-Mart”, and "organisational
issues Wal-Mart". From the Google scholar, the only article that was published after 2013 and In
the English language were considered.
Results of the analysis
The report has identified the current organisational issues in Wal-Mart. The discussion
implies that a positive working environment is lacking in the organisation. The worst criticism of
Wal-Mart is related to wage system and is going to have the serious impact on the youth

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employment levels. The company is unable to balance the commitment to workers and
customers. It fears that if the demand is satisfied the workers could demand a wage as high as
$20 (Thomas, 2017). According to the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, motivation is the
critical factor for an individual to move to subsequent ages of success (Lester, 2013). In
WalMart, the use of the low wage to maintain profit is affecting the psychological needs and
motivation of employees. The use of the leadership style is ineffective. The organisational
policies are needed to be changed as they failed to motivate the employees. The company's
authoritarian leadership is creating the negative environment. This kind of leadership inhibits the
innovation (Lichtenstein, 2017). According to the negative reinforcement theory, when the bad
behaviour is repeated the consequences are always bad (Burke, 2017).
Outdated management style leads to negative reinforcement of the employees. Some
workers in Walmart are trying to assist the customers in the matter in which they have
themselves have little intelligence and knowledge. This leads to power corrupts. Theories of
intelligence refer to the capability of the person to take on task and apply knowledge, skills, and
information to accomplish the same. Lack of intelligence will lead to an unsuccessful event
(Burke, 2017). Thus, it implies for organisational change as the buyer's behaviour change and the
business landscape changes rapidly. Factors working this year may not work the other year. Even
big organisations must involve in best organisational change management, as there are
innovative technologies that are placing the successful business models on the public chopping
block.

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Limitations of the analysis
Since literature review was used in this report as research methodology; there are some
limitations of the analysis. Some of the information was inaccessible and relevant information
might have been missed. Some of the review reports are based on the author’s personal
experience, understanding and feeling that limits the reliability and validity of the research data
collected (Booth et al., 2016). However, some of the information is taken from the quantitative
research articles that may eliminate the bias, as these are primary research methods and involve
large sample size (Creswell, 2013).
Recommendations
The section deals with the recommendations to address the organisational behaviour
issues in Wal-Mart. These recommendations may be effective in resolving the issues identified.
Firstly, the management must change its labour wage policy. The company must focus on
providing the standard wages. It will not only satisfy the psychological needs of the employees
but also motivate them to work better. The wages must be aligned with the minimum wage
mentioned by the labour department. The enhancement of the salary must have parity with the
nation’s economic status. Based on current condition, $12 is suggested for employee satisfaction
(Reich et al., 2017).
Secondly, the organisation must come up with the "two-way communication system". In
any organisation, poor communication system leads to its downfall. Sometimes, what is unsaid is
more imports the what is being said. Conveying messages effectively at all managerial levels and
the employee’s level help each member to work together for organisational goals (Gungor et al.,
2013).

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Thirdly, the organisation needs to develop a culture that will promote equal growth
opportunities for all the members. Eliminating the power corruption is important to for Wal-Mart
as some managers tend to wield their absolute power without trying to understand the particular
issue. Wal-Mart must provide training facilities for the employees at all levels. These will
provide ample growth opportunities for the employees. The middle-level managers must be
trained to enhance the communication with the workers. It will help the workers to share their
opinions and views. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the organisation to motivate the staff.
Further, career growth opportunities always attract the talented workforce. Therefore, training
facilities are the effective mode of attracting and retaining the potential workforce (Dhar, 2015).
Fourthly, the company must adopt transformational leadership style instead of
authoritarian leadership. Transformational leadership is people-centred approach. It has multiple
benefits such as eliminating communication barrier, improving the overall productivity, enhance
workers’ commitment to doing justice to their efforts (Mittal & Dhar, 2015).
Fifthly, to retain staff and ensure their motivation reward and recognition policy must be
adopted. The existing methods of incentives should be redesigned. It will stimulate the staff
members to achieve excellence. It is based on the positive reinforcement theory (Jain, 2014).
Sixthly, the company must respond quickly to the changes in the retail environment to
address the pressure of the global competition. For this, it needs to quit its outdated management
style. Modern management will eliminate the qualitative issues such as promotion and transfer
policies in an organisation (Li-Jun et al., 2017).

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Conclusion
The paper has provided a deep insight into the organisational behaviour issues in
WalMart. The topic was useful in understanding the trouble faced by the large companies due to
contemporary organizational behaviour issues. The company was paying low wages to its
workers that were insufficient in meeting the psychological needs of the workers. Consequently,
the workers are not motivated to achieve work excellence. There are many other issues faced by
the manager's such power corrupts, failing of customers, slow change of the company to the
retail environment and poor quality of customer service. These issues were attributed to the
outdated management style. Based on the literature evidence suitable interventions are
recommended that will help WalMart to overcome these issues. In conclusion, these issues can
be resolved only if the organisation reorients the management structure and adopt the positive
culture. The organisation must cater to the needs of the employees who add value to the
company. Leadership and motivation are essential factors for the successful organisation.

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References
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