Human Resource Management Responsibilities

Human Resource Management Responsibilities

Overview of Walmart

Walmart has grown over the years to become among the leading organizations in the retail industry. As part of its growth strategy, the company has opened numerous stores in different areas across the world (Walmart, n.d.). The organization encourages employees to foster innovation in the workplace in order to provide products and services that match customers’ needs and expectations. The three essential subsystems of Walmart include inputs, outputs, and suppliers. These subsystems take into account both the internal and external forces of the business environment. Although the business has maintained a competitive edge for many years, it has started struggling in the output subsystem. The output subsystem involves how the company interests with the community, especially consumers. Walmart should find strategies to attract and hire competent workers. The organization also needs to implement suitable changes to improve the quality of the output subsystem. The paper proposes changes in Walmart’s human resource management to effectively perform the functions of attracting, developing, and maintaining employees.

The Organizational Subsystem That Needs to be Changed

The output subsystem requires changes to ensure Walmart achieves long-term success. This organizational subsystem comprises of information, financial results, goods, and services. Walmart has failed to improve employee and customer satisfaction. The lack of effective human resources management has made the organization fail to attract and hire workers who can satisfy the needs of customers. Although the company has a large workforce population, it experiences high-turnover rates due to poor labor-management relations and the lack of employee motivation. Besides, the company has received negative attention for offering workers low wages (Corkery, 2017). Without proper motivation incentives, employees feel less valued and appreciated in the organization. Therefore, the inefficiency of Walmart in attracting, developing, and maintaining the workforce has led to adverse consequences on the output.

Walmart needs to restructure the entire human resource department. In the proposed changes in human resource management, the department will have the capability to attract and hire employees with the right skills and competencies. Besides, the department should recognize that employee motivation and satisfaction have significant effects on customers’ satisfaction and the overall organization’s productivity. The department should put a suitable compensation system in place to ensure employees obtain rewards and benefits according to their contributions to the organization. When workers receive high wages and benefits, they feel valued and appreciated in the company. By the organization investing in employee compensation and training, it would achieve higher financial outputs and improved customer satisfaction (Mabaso & Dlamini, 2017). Thus, in the proposed change, Walmart will incorporate compensation and benefits, labor-management relations, work-life balance, employee retention, and career development.

Impact of the Output Subsystem Changes on Inputs and Suppliers

Implementation of the proposed changes will affect the outputs, suppliers, and inputs. Walmart needs to increases its investment in technology, human resources, and sourcing of quality raw materials. Besides, the changes will bring a transformation in the operational methods and employee management strategies. By ensuring that the processes and procedures in the input subsystem work properly, the company will accomplish the goals of the output subsystem.

The success of the new changes requires Walmart’s human resource department to commit itself to attract the right candidates to join the workforce. Since workers interact with customers on an everyday basis, it is essential they possess exceptional interpersonal and communication skills. They should also have technical competencies to explain to consumers about products’ features. Thus, the recruitment should be designed properly to allow the selection of employees with the right competencies. Subsequently, the human resource department should remain focused on developing the skills and knowledge of workers. Through a suitable training program, employees will acquire adequate skills and knowledge that are required to improve efficiency and productivity (Jha, 2016). The management should also provide employees with flexible working hours to enhance the quality of their lives.

Impact of the Proposed Changes on Employees, Consumers, and Suppliers

Basically, the proposed changes target changing how Walmart interacts with workers, consumers, and suppliers. As the organization invests in employee motivation, compensation, and training programs, the workers will become satisfied with their jobs (Jha, 2016). Consequently, motivated and satisfied employees will provide services that match customers’ expectations. With a competent workforce, the company is able to collect complaints from customers and respond immediately by findings areas of improvement. As the consumers become satisfied with the products and services, they remain and loyal and even refer their families and friends to the business. Thus, Walmart will experience significant growth in market share, sales, and profits. With the growth in Walmart’s sales, suppliers will also benefit. The suppliers will start delivering massive amounts of products to the retail firm, leading to increased profits.

Attracting, Developing, and Maintaining the Workforce Needed to Bring the Proposed Changes

Walmart is going to incorporate compensation and benefits, labor-management relations, work-life balance, employee retention, and career development. If the human resource management performs its functions of attracting, building, and maintaining employees appropriately, the organization will be able to achieve the goals of the proposed changes. The organization should advertise vacancies through print and mass media to attract many potential candidates. After the candidates are shortlisted, interviews and tests are conducted to select individuals who meet the job specifications. After hiring individuals with the right competencies and knowledge, the management needs to train them about their roles and responsibilities. The training program should also ensure they understand the company’s procedures, systems, and practices. According to Jha (2016), employee training has positive effects on quality improvement, effective management, customer satisfaction, and organizational performance. Therefore, it is in the interest of Walmart to incorporate employees’ welfare that includes career development, work-life balance, compensation, and benefits in the organization’s goals. The implementation of these changes would lead to significant growth in Walmart outputs.

Conclusion

Although Walmart has grown over the years to become a leading organization in the retail industry, the company is experiencing stagnating outputs. The failure of the company to achieve the goals of the output subsystem is attributed to the lack of efficient human resource management. For the business to ensure long-term success, the human resource department should be restructured. Restructuring of this department would ensure proper processes are put in place to allow the recruitment of competent workers. The proposed changes also encourage the creation of a training program that equips employees with sufficient competencies to enhance their efficiency and productivity. The consideration of the employees’ interests would translate into improved customer satisfaction and overall organizational performance. Thus, Walmart’s human resource management should incorporate career development, retention, work-life balance, compensation, and benefits in its processes and practices.

References

Corkery, M. (2017). Walmart, criticized for low wages, will let workers take pay before payday. Retrieved from https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2017/12/14/walmart-criticized-for-low-wages-will-let-workers.html

Jha, V. (2016). Training and development program and its benefits to employee and organization: A conceptual study. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 2, 80-86.

Mabaso, C. M., & Dlamini, B. I. (2017). Impact of compensation and benefits on job satisfaction. Research Journal of Business Management, 11(2), 80-90.

Walmart. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story