1 2 Wk2 Walmart - Managing Change Paper Name Institution Walmart is among the biggest retail corporations in the United States and the world. It has branches in nearly all the major cities in the United States and many countries worldwide. However, the dominance of Walmart has been threatened by the rise of online and digital marketing centers that have taken advantage of lower pricing to attract customers. Online ventures have gone as far as taking advantage of the traditional Black Friday shopping that was started by Walmart. The one thing that Walmart should change is the way it treats its employees. Strategic human resource has become influential in the 21st century as evidenced by the high number of companies that attribute their success to strategic human resource management (Hamid, 2013). The company is faced by the increasing competition across the world that threatens to finish its dominance in the retail sector. The first step towards changes starts with getting the right people to steer the change. Therefore, the success of Walmart boils down to a quality human resource team manning the company. A group of motivated employees is in a good position to develop cutting edge strategies that will help Walmart to retain its dominance in the retail sector. Walmart should consider offering improved compensation, better work experience, and comprehensive benefits (Dessler, 2015). Transparency should also be upheld to ensure that all employees understand performance appraisals and awarding. The company should also develop new ways to attract talented employees who can guide the organization to the future. Strategic human resource management will allow Walmart to create a highly motivated workforce that can counter any strategy developed by competing organizations (Hamid, 2013). The team will also improve the current programs under Walmart Corporation. Comprehensive benefits and good compensation has seen organizations like Google, Apple, and Microsoft succeed. It is bound to have the same effect in Walmart as the company faces increased competition. WK3 Shared Vision and Organizational Culture Team “A” MGT426 – Managing Change in the Workplace January 14, 2016 University of Phoenix Shared Vision and Organizational Culture Importance of Understanding Shared Vision in Change Management Without a vision, there is no future. This is a statement that every organization understands very well and knows its implications. A shared vision is important as it plays a role in change management because it is the driving force for all organizational change it initiates. By definition, a shared vision is the guideline through which all organization processes, goals and objectives are built. Whether change is occasioned by external forces such as the political, social, economic and technological factors or internal forces such as organizational policy and structure, it is important to develop a vision to provi.

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Wk2
Walmart - Managing Change Paper
Name
Institution
Walmart is among the biggest retail corporations in the
United States and the world. It has branches in nearly all the
major cities in the United States and many countries worldwide.
However, the dominance of Walmart has been threatened by the
rise of online and digital marketing centers that have taken
advantage of lower pricing to attract customers. Online ventures
have gone as far as taking advantage of the traditional Black
Friday shopping that was started by Walmart. The one thing
that Walmart should change is the way it treats its employees.
Strategic human resource has become influential in the
21st century as evidenced by the high number of companies that
attribute their success to strategic human resource management
(Hamid, 2013). The company is faced by the increasing
competition across the world that threatens to finish its

2. dominance in the retail sector. The first step towards changes
starts with getting the right people to steer the change.
Therefore, the success of Walmart boils down to a quality
human resource team manning the company. A group of
motivated employees is in a good position to develop cutting
edge strategies that will help Walmart to retain its dominance in
the retail sector.
Walmart should consider offering improved compensation,
better work experience, and comprehensive benefits (Dessler,
2015). Transparency should also be upheld to ensure that all
employees understand performance appraisals and awarding.
The company should also develop new ways to attract talented
employees who can guide the organization to the future.
Strategic human resource management will allow Walmart to
create a highly motivated workforce that can counter any
strategy developed by competing organizations (Hamid, 2013).
The team will also improve the current programs under Walmart
Corporation.
Comprehensive benefits and good compensation has seen
organizations like Google, Apple, and Microsoft succeed. It is
bound to have the same effect in Walmart as the company faces
increased competition.

3. WK3
Shared Vision and Organizational Culture
Team “A”
MGT426 – Managing Change in the Workplace
January 14, 2016
University of Phoenix
Shared Vision and Organizational Culture
Importance of Understanding Shared Vision in Change
Management
Without a vision, there is no future. This is a statement
that every organization understands very well and knows its
implications. A shared vision is important as it plays a role in
change management because it is the driving force for all
organizational change it initiates. By definition, a shared vision
is the guideline through which all organization processes, goals
and objectives are built. Whether change is occasioned by
external forces such as the political, social, economic and
technological factors or internal forces such as organizational
policy and structure, it is important to develop a vision to
provide direction (Branson, 2008). One business organization
that contends to these principles is Wal-Mart. It is in this light
that this paper looks at the role of shared vision, organizational
culture, change management and models with respect to the
organization.
Wal-Mart’s Shared Vision and Organizational Culture
The companies can locate its success to its founder Sam
Walton’s ideals. These are contained in its vision statement
which reads: “To be the best retailer in the hearts and minds of
consumers and employees” (Ferguson p 1, 2015). The company
aspires to achieve the best position in the industry and based on

4. the prevailing trend, it has fulfilled its vision of being the best
retailer. The company’s vision statement considers its
employees and customers need and it has already influenced its
customers’ and employees minds based on its financial success.
However, the main component of its vision statement is yet to
be achieved. In order for the organization to succeed in
attaining its vision in the long run, its leadership it must prepare
for its continued expansion. This can help in handling the global
competition pressures (Ferguson, 2015).
Wal-Mart should pay close attention to its organizational
shared vision because it plays a critical role in the successful
implementation of an organization’s strategic change.
Shareholders must show commitment to the achievement of the
desired change. Branson (2008) observes that it is important to
share changed vision for employees to show commitment in its
attainment. In addition, a lack of clear vision may result in
confusing projects which can lead an organization astray. The
change in vision must at all times align with a company’s
overall vision and mission statements. Providing direction and
set of values which articulate the organization’s culture can
help in attaining the desired change. The researcher further
suggests that change management studies note that misaligning
changes with an organization’s vision, mission and objectives
can result in employee’s lack of commitment affecting the
proposed change.
Importance of Understanding Organizational Culture in Change
Management
An organization’s culture comprises of its shared values,
norms as well as beliefs that unite its employees. Culture
affects employees’ perception and actions as well as the hiring
and retention processes within a company. Mallinger, Goodwin
& O’Hara (2009) observe that organizational culture provides
organizational employees with important tools to apply in their
daily operations. A clear understanding of an organization’s
culture helps organizational leaders in two major ways. First, a
clear insight of the culture will provide them with adequate

5. knowledge on the degree at which employees will accept the
proposed change. Secondly, cultural evaluation can help in
providing useful information on a possible cause of a particular
problem.
Wal-Mart’s culture is divided into four main categories to
guide employee behaviors. These components form the
organization’s beliefs which include customer service, respect
for all individuals, need for excellence and integrity. In its
endeavor to meet customer requirements, the organization
prioritizes its customers in its activity. The organization
recognizes the employees input for its success and it is in effect
striving for individual’s and the entire organization’s
performance excellence. In addition, the organization promotes
honesty and fairness to maintain its integrity in decision making
(Lombardo, 2015).
Wal-Mart’s culture is ideal for its global operations and
the type of business. However, the organization can still
improve in the application of its belief to match its
organizational culture. The organization does not effectively
address its employees’ welfare as it pays them a lower wage.
This signifies a difference between the organization’s culture
for the need for individual respect and the real treatment of
workforce. Wal-Mart should put in place effective mechanisms
to help in fulfilling the organization’s culture component of the
need for individual respect (Lombardo, 2015).
Modeling and Change Management
When it comes to the element of change management, Wal-
Mart thrives on a change model that strives to promote is
corporate strategies under four main principles that include ,
attaining global expansion, dominating the retails markets in
America, branching into new retail segments, and developing
the best brands in the retail sector. The principles of the model
are not only future-oriented but also accommodate the nature of
the characteristics of the retail industry. The approach adopted
the organization does significantly deviate from the traditional
change management models discussed in class.

6. Change Management Models
The three common types of change models include the Lewin’s
change management model; the McKinsey’s 7 S model and the
Kotter’s 8 step model of change.
Psychologist Kurt Lewin developed the Lewin’s model of
change management during the 1950s. Lewin observed that
many people prefer to operate within their safety zones and,
therefore, advocated for a three stage process of change, that is,
unfreeze transition and refreeze. In unfreezing, Lewin noted
that many people tend to actively resist change and to overcome
this behavior, an organization management should motivate its
staff to initiate a period of unfreezing. After the initiation of
the change process, the company progresses into the transition
stage and this can take a lot of time. For successful transition,
the management must reassure its staff of the benefits of change
and use appropriate leadership style. Finally, after the
embracement of change and its successful implementation, the
company will stabilize and the employees refreeze under the
adopted guidelines (Cellars, 2007). Lewin’s model can help
Wal-Mart manage employees’ issues that are related to change
resistance. For instance, if the employees oppose the idea of
being transferred to new working places due to global
expansion, the management can communicate the change in
advance to avoid resistance.
While Levin’s model promotes psychological standpoints
on change, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, advocates for the
alignment of seven organizational aspects for its success. The
seven factors are grouped as either hard elements or soft
elements. The hard elements comprise of strategy, structure and
systems, while the soft elements consist of shared values, skills,
style and staff. The management can easily define and influence
the hard elements and they include the strategy statements, the
formal processes, information technology systems and the
organizational charts and chain of command. On the other hand,
it is difficult to describe the soft elements since they are
intangible and culturally influenced. The 7s model can help in

7. improving an organization’s performance, examining the effects
of expected organizational changes, aligning processes in
mergers and determining the best method of implementing a
strategy. The model’s shortcomings include its complexity and
its ignorance to differences. In addition, companies which use
this model have higher chances to fail. Finally, a change in one
of the seven aspects normally causes the other aspects to change
since they are closely related to one another.
The Kotter’s 8 step changes an organization’s change
initiative into a campaign initiative. Professor John Kotter, the
initiator of this model, posed that workers can buy a change
initiative if organizational leaders are able to convince them of
the necessity and urgency to embrace the change. The eight
steps include: increasing the need for change, developing a team
to steer the change initiative, creating a vision for the
anticipated change, communicating with the employees on the
necessity for a change, empowering the employees to accept
change, establishing short term goals, remaining persistent to
the change initiative and finally, adopting the change and
making it permanent. The model is an easier process to embrace
and it presents an opportunity for a smooth transition to a new
guideline. It also prepares a smooth path to prepare workers on
the need to accept change. However, the model presents a lot of
challenges as it is quite rigid to skip a single step and it is also
time consuming.
Wk4
Wal-Mart Managing Change
Team A

8. Wal-Mart Managing Change
Introduction
Organizational Change Management refers to the adoption and
implementation of various activities, ways and technologies in
the effort to helping the company or organization successfully
serve its customers. That extends to business strategy
transformation, technological and processes implementation for
the purpose of enhancing the organizational performance and as
well as bringing about improved management of the dynamics
of the business environment. That means that organizational
change plays a crucial role in positioning the organization in
tandem with the ever-changing business environment demands
and in the process take advantage of the opportunities available.
The focus of this paper is on the organizational change in Wal-
Mart Stores, specifically the various strategies, processes,
technologies and people management that the company has and
should put in place for the purpose of attaining successful
operations in the market. The change model at Wal-Mart
focuses on those critical implementation at the organization that
would propel it to maintain its position as the world’s leading
retail store.
Company Profile
There are several discount and warehouse stores and the
umbrella of Wal-Mart run businesses since the company’s
launch by Sam Walton on July 2nd, 19632 at Rogers Ark palace
(Slater, 2003). The branch at Rogers was opened primarily to
help the people both the customers and the community to save
on their money and in the process led a better life. Wal-Mart

9. was officially incorporated as a company in 1969 as Wal-Mart
Stores, Inc. and three years down the line it made its first public
trading at the New York Stock Exchange (Slater, 2003). That
was followed by continuous growth as evident with the opening
of more stores across the United States in the 1970s with the
aim of serving the small businesses and individuals (Slater,
2003).
Come the 19th century, Wal-Mart went international upon
changing its business strategy by focusing on offering an
exciting shopping experience to its customers both online, on
mobile devices and in stores, a move that resulted in the
company becoming the leading retailer in the world (Slater,
2003). That in turn forced the management to consider
implementing various environmental measures in an effort to
increase the efficiency in operation thereby resulting in the
company becoming the leader in retail business in the world
(Slater, 2003).
The company continued to experience growth as evident in a
2013 report by the Fortune Global 500 list where the company
was in position two as the second largest public corporation
worldwide with over two million associates worldwide and
offering services to about two hundred million customers on a
weekly basis across over ten thousand stores in 27 countries
(History Timeline, 2013). That was as a result of the company’s
two objectives of providing the customers’ needs at the point of
their need at a specific value and the treatment of others in a
better ways and the acknowledgement of employees in the
sustenance of their success (Annual Report, 2012).
That conforms to the company’s mission statement that reads
“We save people money so they can live better” while the vision
statement reads “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of
living for everyone…we’ll Give the world an opportunity to see
what it’s like to save and have a better life” (Farfan, n.d). That
demonstrates the company’s capability in following the right
path in the its growth pattern and as such, it starts the need for
the management to keep in mind the importance of the mission

10. and vision statement to the growth of an organization (Farfan,
n.d).
It is this tremendous growth pattern that Wal-Mart is able to
counter stiffer competition in a comparative manner by adhering
to three basic principles. Firstly, the company sees it important
to provide value and service to customers by implementing the
low-price strategy for availing quality merchandise. That in turn
enables it to successfully build the relationship with its
customers thus bringing about rapid growth and success.
Secondly, the company is dedicated to the corporate partnership
between its employees, ownership and management. That has
been instrumental in the company’s attainment of growth.
Thirdly, Wal-Mart is committed to the markets it serves in that
it engages in businesses processes that are a reflection of the
critical principles that the company hold important. The results
of this are the company’s adherence to its mission of ensuring
that the people save money and lead a better life.
Change Model
Given an organizational change is a complex process due to the
anxiety and uncertainties that is associated with it, there is the
need for Wal-Mart to come up with clear benefits arising from
the change and the accompanying values and processes that will
ensure the attainment of change. That will be critical in the
company winning over the support of the customers since
involving and communicating any change parameters is critical
in shaping the employee’s understanding of the various
segments of the organizational change model. There are various
critical areas that Wal-Mart need to focus on visa vice the
organizational change model as follows;
The first area under reviews is Wal-Mart’s management
structure. The company has centralized management structure in
that the all stores across different regions across the world are
under the supervision of the company’s Regional Vice President
that is based at the company’s headquarters. The fact that Wal-
Mart has a centralized management structure, the company is
faced with the challenge of congestion of managers in one

11. location. Ideally, Wal-Mart’s regions comprise of
approximately 11 districts with each district having around 8
stores. In addition, Support Manager assists the District
Manager on an hourly basis as well as several Assistant
Managers from each store across the world. There are also Co-
Managers, and General Manager representing the different
departments.
Because there is concentration of managers at the headquarters,
the company should consider adopting a decentralized
management structure so that it can be flexible in adjusting to
the different environments across world markets such as the
political tension (Jones, 2010). It is through a decentralized
management structure that Wal-Mart will be able to engage in a
variety of local projects in different countries and States. That
will in turn accord the company the opportunity to effectively
enter into prolonged negotiations with the governments in the
target markets to shelve the plans of having all the local
subsidiaries to be locally owned (Jones, 2010). The impact of
this would be Wal-Mart retaining majority control of the local
subsidiaries and as such, bring about successful operation in the
target markets (Jones, 2010).
The second aspect of Wal-Mart’s organizational change models
concerns the human resource management, employee training
performance management planning, needs analysis,
measurement and standards. The training of employees and
performance managements plays a succinct role in ensuring that
the company’s human resource department is in a position to
support global expansion. That is because this expansion is a
demonstration that the HR has to also acquire certain qualities
that aligns to the global workforce transformation.
That explains why the training programs at Wal-Mart are
designed in such a way that they ensure the employees are
effective in their discharge of duties on a daily basis by
adjusting to the industry demands. That is in tandem with the
goals of the company’s human resource department of
maximizing productivity through high performance training.

12. The training serves to counter the issues that bedevil Wal-
Mart’s human resource management.
Thirdly, the change model has to do with Wal-Mart’s
leadership academy program which plays a critical role in the
company’s transformation of its management training approach
The leadership academy program enables the management of
Wal-Mart to accelerate the preparedness of leaders as well as is
in a position of cultivating managers fast enough to meet rising
demand (Noe, 2006). Thus, the program is crucial in the
company’s efforts of identifying employees with great potential
and going ahead to train them to be highly prepared, successful
managers (Noe, 2006).
Wal-Mart’s leadership training program entails taking each
participant from within the company’s employees through a
series of developmental, training, and inspirational experiences
that end up transforming them into thinking about themselves as
leaders (McCauley, 2014). The results of this is an alumni
network of graduates thinking themselves as who in turn use
their acquired skills in collaborating and working for the
purpose of continued development at the company across
different circumstances (McCauley, 2014).
Despite the critical role that the program plays, there is need
for change to ensure it is effective in nurturing leaders from
within the company. Firstly, the program should be framed in
such a way that it explores real business issue in that the
participants should be invited to bring real business challenges
to the program to engage in problem-solving (McCauley, 2014).
That should include break-away activities to encourage the
participants’ exploration of the specific issues at hand. That
will result in an increased participant engagement due to
capability of making deeper connections between their
development experience and their behavior patterns at work
(McCauley, 2014).
The leadership program should also be improved by avoiding
cramming too much content into one program in pretense of
covering as much ground as possible (Phillips, 2012). Instead,

13. the program leaders identify the most important learning areas
that the program should cover and how best the participants
would develop meaningful takeaways. The focus should be on a
specified number of behavioral competencies and a
demonstration of how they may be connected (Phillips, 2012).
Fourthly, the management of Wal-Mart should consider
implementing a training program on office supply inventory.
The training program should aim at bringing about efficiency in
all fields of operations and the effectiveness of the entire
employee towards productivity in terms of high-quality
production and production in high volume capacities (Noe,
2002).
The training on office supply inventory will serve to encourage
the employee and motivate them as the participants will be
taught on the importance of good performance where the best
performers shall be awarded for their efforts in the production
process. Those trained employees that shall surpass the set
target shall qualify for bonuses at the end of the day and at the
end of the month when a collective award will be awarded.
Promotion will be a gift that each employee will gain once they
each achieve individual targets that will be in line with the
organizational goals.
The expectations of the inventory training shall include high-
performance in form of work being done on a timely basis and
production levels on the part of the employers. That will extend
to early reporting on duty and finishing the job allocated as
required, respect and etiquette (Noe, 2002). There is also the
need for the company to put in place an eye wear safety
program to protect the workers from any objects or particles
that may damage their eyes thus causing on-job accidents. That
is because there are various reports indicating that most
employees in America suffer from eye-related accidents and as
such, the company has to ensure that its workers wear suitable
eye protection as per the OSHA standards.
Finally, the Pricing Strategy makes an eminent change model at
Wal-Mart in that the company keeps an eye on pricing trends as

14. a result of the bargaining power of buyers. Through the
strategy, the company strictly operates under the “Everyday low
price” principle in the effort to offering a wide range of
products thus preventing buyers from switching to other
retailers (Fishman, 2006). That coupled with the fact that any
company wishing to succeed and be profitable in the market,
there is need for the company to offer competitive prices so as
to attain high efficiency in operation, and low operating
expenses (Fishman, 2006).
In the effort to make pricing a competitive advantage, Wal-Mart
engages in direct dealing with manufacturers and maintains a
centralized purchasing process in facilitating inventory control
(Roberts, & Berg, 2012). That has forced the manufacturers to
cut their margin in meeting the company’s employment policies
and in the process enable the company to buy its inputs at the
lowest cost. In return, the company saves inventory holding
costs offering low price products (Roberts, & Berg, 2012).
Such increased operation efficiency enables the company to stay
ahead of the price competition from rivals.
Communication Plan
The best way for communicating the above change model is for
the management to call for a special meeting and inform all the
employees of the new developments in place. That will entail
collecting relevant information from the employees while at the
same time increasing their ownership stake in the running of the
company. That will result in the employees contributing to the
requirements needed to discovering the true status of
organizational performance.
All the managers will have a separate meeting in which there
will be circular containing what the company has decided to
implement in the effort to influence their decisions in I
resolving any issues at hand that may be hampering the growth
of the company. That will extend to exchanging or a dialogue on
the best ways of responding to issues or risks at hand from a
governance and regulatory perspective. All the stakeholders of
the company will be informed of the change model in the effort

15. to ensure all en-gage in the project in ensuring that it meets
their needs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, management change in the organization plays a
critical role in the company’s adoption of new technologies,
procedures and policies. If Wal-Mart adheres to all the above
strategies, the company will operate successfully.