Wall-mart

Wal-Mart Task: Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is a public corporation running a chain of large discount stores and warehouse stores in the United States (US). It has numerous stores in a number of countries across the US stocking dissimilar commodities. A company of this magnitude has to possess a perfect organizational structure in order to achieve its goals (Simon, 2011). Wal-Mart adopts a divisional structure in its operations, the Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s club and international stores (Wal-Mart, 2011). These three divisions run different businesses but adopt the same organizational structure. The divisional structure works for Wal-Mart in attaining the objectives of each division.
Annual shareholders meeting assists in the governing process of Wal-Mart in several aspects, with the assistance of a president or chief executive officer. The Wal-Mart Corporation has forty-one regions, thirty-five Wal-Mart regions and six Sam’s club regions (Maestri, 2010). Regional vice presidents head the regions thus supervise the operation of stores in the region. Each region has stores in each district chaired or headed by district managers for Wal-Mart stores and directors of operations for Sam’s clubs. District managers collaborate with regional personnel managers who are responsible for hiring workers and settling their issues. Each Wal-Mart has a person responsible for the overall store activities (store manager) and one in-charge of the overall activities (general manager). Below the store manager, there are co-managers; their deputies depending on the size of the store (Maestri, 2010). Down the ladder, there are hourly department managers who supervise all the junior workers in the stores.
However, there are certain elements in the company that affect this structure. The company has a transparency policy in its operation, based on documents filed by the US Security Exchange Committee. This policy applies in all the Wal-Mart stores situated outside the territories of the US. The nomination of the Wal-Mart’s directors is based on shareholders votes. Wal-Mart has a significant number of stakeholders thus should engage all of them in its operations. However, this is not the case, as there is no evidence that shows the engagement of this audience in the executive duties. In addition, the Wal-Mart structure does not encourage training its staff in a manner that engages the stakeholders. Wal-Mart lacks a policy to appraise its ecological effects. However, it has a social assessment plan that evaluates its significance to the society through ethical standards auditing (Wal-Mart Watch, 2011). Wal-Mart has a complain policy responsible for handling complains reported by workforces and not the external stakeholders (OWT charity, 2007).
Wal-Mart can enhance its functionality by adopting or embracing a majority rule in coming up with ultimate decisions. This can be executed excellently in annual shareholders meetings. The corporation can also engage all its stakeholders by creating a department that will oversee the engagement of the community. The members of this department should be well trained in engaging the community in its operations. The department can also be trained in handling complains launched by the external stakeholders. This department should give a report that will also evaluate the social impact displayed by the company. Improving on these elements will enhance the effectiveness of the well laid out organizational structure of Wal-Mart. These will help Wal-Mart achieve its objectives and enhance its functionality.
References
Wal-Mart. (2011). Home. Retrieved from http://walmartstores. com/
Wal-Mart Watch. (2011). Wal-mart stores inc. 2005 ethical sourcing report. Retrieved from
http://walmartwatch. org/get-the-facts/wal-mart-stores-inc-2005-ethical-sourcing-report/
OWT charity. (2007). Wal-mart Corporation. Retrieved from
http://www. google. com/url? sa= t&rct= j&q=&esrc= s&source= web&cd= 10&ved= 0CH4QFjAJ&url= http%3A%2F%2Foneworldtrust. org%2Fpublications%2Fdoc_download%2F102-2006-gar-accountability-profile-wal-mart&ei= XburTuHVMNCzrAeV_vXCDA&usg= AFQjCNHLBttPmv62D0LoCkfxJ4c5s-Pa9A&sig2= 09yv4ai52kqowwBcKrf-Rw
Maestri, N. (2010). Wal-mart seeks efficiency in new US structure. Reuters. Retrieved from
http://www. reuters. com/article/2010/01/29/us-walmart-idUSTRE60S03G20100129
Simon, B. (2011). Pressroom. Wal-Mart. Retrieved from
http/walmartstores. com/pressroom/9624. aspx