Setting The Tone

Setting The Tone

How the leaders are aligned with the mission and vision of the organization

Walmart’s mission is to save people money to improve their lifestyle, and the vision is to be the destination for customers to save money despite how they want to shop. The company has managed to structure its activities to meet the vision and mission by aligning leaders to the mission and vision. The leaders understand that they need to reduce expenses within the organization to help it offer goods and services to its customers at an affordable price. The board of directors includes individuals with diverse backgrounds and relevant skills and experience in strategic management to promote the sustainable development of long-term stakeholder and shareholder value, focusing on assessing risks and opportunities. Therefore, the company can leverage its leadership to improve the quality of products and services offered to customers while sustaining reasonable prices. Leaders should have experience in retail operations, e-commerce, international business, and marketing or brand management. Experience in the retail industry is leveraged through effective resolution of operational, financial, and strategic management issues that could affect the company’s ability to provide products to customers at an affordable price. E-commerce is leveraged by supporting its omnichannel strategy to combine its unique digital and physical capabilities and assets.

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How the leaders are communicating to all levels of the organization

Walmart maintains an open flow of communication from top management to employees at all company levels. The company maintains direct communication between leaders and all levels of the organization. Direct contact allows a proper flow of information because employees can give feedback as soon as they receive information from top management and ask questions to get clarification on anything that may be unclear. Direct communication has played a significant role in ensuring that employees in every store adhere to the company’s vision and mission and work towards a shared goal. Social media channels such as Facebook are also used to enhance the effectiveness of communication in the company. According to McFarland (2017), Walmart employees use Facebook to share broadcasts and images to ensure that the message being passed to all employees is evident. The use of social media platforms to communicate also creates a record that can be referred to wherever clarification is needed. Walmart leaders also emphasize creating a collaborative work environment, thus encouraging upward communication, characterized by the flow of information from the employees on the lower level of the organization hierarchy to top management. Upward communication is mainly encouraged to understand the issues in Walmart stores and the need for resources that may help improve the stores’ performance.

What tone the leaders are setting, and what they are doing to set that tone

Walmart leaders focus on creating a friendly work environment to encourage good performance from every employee. Therefore, they set a nice tone across all hierarchy levels. One of the things leaders do to set the tone is set an example for the employees. The leaders promote collaboration among top management officials to show employees the value of teamwork and emphasize collaboration to meet organizational goals. They also demonstrate that nobody is too powerful in the company, and everyone should adhere to its rules, policies, and procedures. For instance, Walmart Board members are selected by the Nominating and Governance Committee based on their qualifications in terms of experience, professional and personal integrity, ability to make analytic inquiries, willingness to dedicate their time to the duties of the board, and attributes such as leadership skills. Leaders are thus selected based on qualification and merit, thus setting the tone that the organization promotes transparency, which creates peaceful coexistence among the workforce. The leaders also set the tone by showing the organization’s priorities. For instance, the leaders’ decisions and activities are focused on meeting the organization’s strategic goals while adhering to its mission and vision. Therefore, they have to set the tone by ensuring that all employees understand the company’s vision and mission and their role in ensuring that the vision and mission are achieved. Leaders also set the tone by rewarding employees who exceed the company’s expectations, hence demonstrating that the company acknowledges the efforts made by its workforce to improve its performance.

Other elements are interactions with staff, openness to new ideas, supporting initiatives, etc.

Walmart is open to new ideas proposed by employees at all levels of the organization. It focuses on creating a sense of belonging among employees to enhance employee commitment and encourage creativity. One of the company’s employee support initiatives is providing quarterly bonuses by increasing hourly wages for workers (Repko, 2021). The company has also created a flexible work environment to allow employees who may want to study part-time to get the time needed for their studies even though the course they are looking for may not be directly related to the retail industry and other operations in Walmart stores. The company has also invested in training and development to improve its employees’ skills and capabilities. For instance, the company offers training on the latest technology in the retail sector, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, augmented reality, microlearning, in-store practice, and virtual reality. Employees also have access to higher education opportunities. For instance, the company pays 100% of the cost of books and college tuition for field-based associates to get a college degree through an online curriculum with more than 60 programs, including certificates and degrees in supply chain, business management, computer technology, and cybersecurity (Bank Muñoz et al., 2018). The company also covers the cost of learning a second language for its employees and the total cost of getting a GED or high school diploma for associates and their qualified family members.

Include recommendations you would give to strengthen the leadership in the organization.

Walmart’s leadership is currently robust, but some areas of improvement need to be considered to enhance its effectiveness in meeting its long-term and short-term goals. One of the recommendations I would make is creating an oversight committee to review the activities and performance of the leaders to ensure that their actions are aimed at benefitting the company and not meeting individual needs. The committee should have a disciplinary team in charge of taking action against leaders who misuse their power for personal gains at the expense of its success. The second recommendation is eliminating the chain of command to make it easier for employees to express themselves and contribute to decision-making. Walmart leaders should also grant employees the autonomy to implement their creative ideas without requiring the approval of top management. My third recommendation is to regularly train employees in leadership positions on the most effective leadership styles to use and how to deal with unexpected organizational changes. For instance, leaders should be trained on how to manage good leadership during a crisis, such as unforeseen threats like the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted operations in the retail industry. I would additionally recommend promoting current employees to leadership positions instead of hiring leaders externally. According to Barman (2009), enabling an existing employee to a leadership position strengthens leadership by ensuring that the leader understands all aspects of the organization, including the steps it has been taking to meet its goals, mission, vision, and challenges that could be affecting its performance. Having a leader who is familiar with the difficulties encountered by employees in the lower levels of the organization also strengthens leadership by ensuring that the needs of all employees are considered and that all employees feel free to contribute to decision-making.

References

Bank Muñoz, C., Kenny, B., & Stecher, A. (2018). Introduction. Situating Walmart in a global context: Workplace cultures, labor organizing, and supply chains. Walmart in the Global South, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.7560/315675-002

Barman, K. (2009). Leadership management: Achieving breakthroughs. Global India Publications.

McFarland, M. (2017, September 26). Facebook signs up Walmart for its workplace service. CNNMoney. https://money.cnn.com/2017/09/26/technology/business/facebook-workplace-walmart/

Repko, M. (2021). Walmart ends quarterly bonuses for store associates, as it raises employees’ hourly pay. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/09/walmart-ends-quarterly-bonuses-as-it-raises-employees-hourly-pay.html

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For this assignment, you will need to evaluate your current organization (Walmart). If you are currently unemployed, you can use a previous employer or talk to your instructor about other options.

Setting The Tone

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word evaluation of your organization’s leadership in which you consider:

How the leaders are aligned with the mission and vision of the organization
How the leaders are communicating to all levels of the organization
What tone the leaders are setting, and what they are doing to set that tone
Other elements are interactions with staff, openness to new ideas, supporting initiatives, etc.

Include recommendations you would give to strengthen the leadership in the organization.