Order your essay today — written by real experts, guaranteed plagiarism-free, and ready to impress your professor!
Managing Change in Organizations
Introduction
Walmart Inc. operates from the United States with its head office located at Arkansas and launched operations in 1962 under Sam Walton. The retail chain operates different business segments including groceries and hypermarkets to meet customer demand by emphasizing on convenience. Walmart Inc. continues to expand in the United States retail market and around the world with the company owning an estimated 11,000 retail outlets and franchises. Walmart Inc. operates branches outside the North American market such as Asia, South America, and South Africa.
Walmart has an employee base estimated at over 2 million staff members around its retail stores worldwide and $500B worth of revenues. The United States market is critical to the revenue margins of Walmart Inc. as the company accrues more profits in the region, unlike other areas. The international expansion strategy of Walmart Inc. focuses on market positioning and acquiring long-term competitiveness.
Diagram:
Walmart Inc. faces teamwork culture challenges among employees and management outlined a plan to foster collaboration in the organization. According to the management of Walmart Inc., the company loses revenues and customers because of coordination problems that stem from structural problems in the organization. Despite the positive performance and expansion of Walmart Inc., the retail business faces challenges regarding team coordination where employees fail to accomplish objectives because of conflicts within operations (Glassdoor Team, 2016). Effective teamwork culture is critical to an organization such as Walmart and hence management decided to address the situation by identifying problem areas and generating solutions. For example, management realized that managers and supervisors did not communicate issues to employees in the required manner and led to outcomes such as task duplication and strained relationships during operations.
Restructuring operations and infusing efficiency is one goal of implementing the culture change at Walmart. Management realized the losses incurred from poor employee coordination where information movement did not meet expectations hence creating confusion. The retail sector where Walmart operates requires teamwork culture to succeed and management expects the teamwork culture change will change the situation for the better (Carnall, 2014, p. 120). Employees at Walmart complain about poor communication from managers and supervisors where selected individuals receive guidelines on operations hence compromising operations. Eliminating bureaucracy in the retail chain and developing a flexible operating system is another objective of implementing the teamwork culture at Walmart. According to management, managers at Walmart undermine the value of teamwork hence compromises benefits such as high output and revenue maximization (Ericson & Ericson, 2010, p. 82). The losses resulting from operational conflicts within the Walmart business model points to more problems for the company if not addressed the earliest possible.
The change resulted from external factors as Walmart started losing its market competitiveness because of a rigid operational structure. After analysis of market data about the declining market position of the company, management decided to implement the teamwork culture change at the organization to counter the situation and accomplish their objectives.
The teamwork culture change at Walmart seeks to streamline operations, eradicate bureaucratic channels and develop a business model responsive to customer needs. The stiff competitive nature of the retail market means that Walmart requires teamwork culture to remain on top and win the trust of customers. According to management, teamwork culture at the company will not only raise performance levels but also facilitate the accomplishment of mission objectives (Carnall, 2014, p. 120). The adoption of teamwork culture at Walmart will reduce conflicts during operations and develop better relationships among employees.
Planning
Lewis Model The Lewis change model assisted Walmart to evaluate teamwork changes and its implications on their operations where management adopted the unfreeze approach that entailed unlocking communication channels. A new model of operation came into force as management replaced the previous model that restricted coordination by creating differences because of positions held at the company. A survey condu…………………
