Trust and Delegation in Wal-Mart Company - Case Study Example

Trust and delegation in an organisation Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Abstract This report discussed trust and delegation practices as practiced by Wal-Mart Company. According to the report, trust can help to improve the competitive advantage of an organisation. The ways in which trust can be built include effective promotion of the employees and offering quality products to meet the customer standards. Wal-Mart Company has been practicing the delegation practices, hence there is effective relationship among the employees. Wal-Mart Company has managed to build trust by engaging in corporate activities like ensuring minimal waste which can otherwise pollute the environment. The report recommended that trust can be improved by ensuring effective training and development, continues improvement and developing multilateral communication strategy. Delegation practices can be improved by following organizational culture and allowing the employees to handle tasks in their own way. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 How the organisation should be managed 5 Trust 5 Delegation 6 How Wal-Mart Company is actually managed 7 Trust 7 Delegation 8 Differences from the theoretical expectations 8 Recommendations 9 Trust 9 Delegation 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Appendices 13 Introduction Organizational behavior is important since it helps to influence the behavior of the employees. Most successful organizations engage in corporate social responsibility so that they can develop good reputation among the stakeholders (Taylor & Hansen 2005). The Wal-Mart Company is a multinational company which is based in the United States and it runs many retail outlets and stores globally. The company was founded in the year 1962 and in the year 1969 it was incorporated as a company. The company operates more than 11,000 stores globally and it is operating in more than 27 countries. Wal-Mart Company is considered as number one Multinational Corporation globally in terms of revenue and this is according to Fortune List of 2014 (Wal-Mart Company 2015). Wal-Mart Company was selected for this assignment because the information can be easily accessed. The company is also considered among the best managed companies globally hence the trust and delegation practice will be assessed in relation to the company. My position in the organization is the business of assistant administrator in the operations department. Having three years working experience in the company, I understand the organizational culture. The organizational structure of the company is shown in the appendix below. This report will discuss the concepts of trust and delegation of authority in relation to Wal-Mart Company. It will analyse how the company should be managed, how it is actually managed and then show the difference as well as give recommendatins in relation to those two aspects. How the organisation should be managed Trust In managing the organisation, there are various ways in which trust can be built. The first way is through hiring and promoting the employees who are capable of promoting interpersonal relationships (Taylor & Hansen 2005). This means that there should be equity in promotions and based on merit. In this way, the employees will be able to develop trust in the management hence there will be a good relationship between the management and the employees. In addition, trust among the employees can also be developed by ensuring that they undergo training so that they can develop their personal and professional skills (Hughes et al 2012). The types of training that can be applied by the management include training through seminars and public forums as well as formal lectures. As a result, the employees will develop a positive attitude towards the management and they will posses competent skills in handling their tasks. In this way, the employees will have trust in the management. On the other hand, the management should build trust with the customers by ensuring that grocery products meet the required standards. The expectations of the customers are to get high value for their money (Hughes et al 2012). This means that they can develop trust in the organisation and its products only when the products are of good quality to meet the expectations of the customers. It is expected that Wal-Mart Company should be managed by taking into consideration the needs of the customers in terms of quality and accessibility of their products (Hughes et al 2012). Keeping the customers informed is another way in which trust can be built in the organisation. The customers can develop a positive attitude towards the organisation if they are informed of the changes like pricing and new products (Ashkanasy et al 2002). This is because information is power and the customers should be given the priority in terms of information. Keeping the customers informed is important to Wal-Mart Company because it helps to influence the perception of the customers as they will be familiar with new products and changes in prices. There are many retail companies coming up like Tesco, which are increasing competition in the retail industry and this means that information given to customers will help to understand the discounts and changes in prices and this will help to develop trust among the customers (Ashkanasy et al 2002). Delegation Concerning delegation practice, it is expected that the leadership of the company should be able to delegate authority effectively to ensure effective communication. For instance, it is expected that the delegation of authority should start right from the top management down to the employees (Jones 2008). This is important because when there is an effective delegation practice, there will be good interpersonal communication between the employees and the management. This means that there will be hierarchical structure which will help to pass information effectively from the top management to the employees. Because Wal-Mart Company is a multinational corporation, it is expected that there should be effective delegation of duties so that each region will be represented by the regional managers who then report to top management (Jones 2008). Furthermore, the line managers are expected to delegate duties and responsibilities to the supervisors who then manage the employees and report back to the line managers. In this regard, delegation of authority is important in ensuring that there is effective contact between the employees and the top management. The organizational chart in the appendix can indicate how the organisation is structured. How Wal-Mart Company is actually managed Trust Wal-Mart Company has been striving to ensure that they build trust among the stakeholders. The strategy that is applied to build trust among the stakeholders is through global ethics (Wal-Mart Company 2015). The aim of the global ethics strategy which is applied by Wal-Mart Company is to help to build the organizational culture throughout the market and also promoting integrity. One of the global ethics which is promoted by the company is promoting integrity among the employees. The integrity policy has been applied by the management globally with the aim of improving the working relationship. For instance, Wal-Mart Company has implemented education program in the US (Wal-Mart Company 2015). In addition, the company is expanding the e-learning so that it will be easy to communicate with the stakeholders like the customers. In this effect, the integrity has helped to promote trust in the organisation by the customers. Another management practice which is applied by Wal-Mart Company to build trust among the customers and other stakeholders include the program called the integrity action award. The integrity in action award recognizes the associated committed to promote integrity throughout their actions by doing the right thing (Wal-Mart Company 2015). In this effect, the management of the company has been able to promote integrity and as a result the customers as well as the employees have developed trust in the organisation. This has influenced the performance of the company since it has managed to attract and retain customers because their needs have been met by the company (Jones 2008. In addition, the management of the organisation has revolved around the corporate social responsibility around the globe. For instance, the company is fighting hunger in the US since it is committed to ensure healthy and safety foods at cost effective prices. Concerning the environmental sustainability program, the company is committed to ensure zero waste through recycling and selling products which are environmental friendly (Wal-Mart Company 2015). These are among the efforts which are done to ensure that the stakeholders build trust among the consumers and it has managed to actually built trust among the consumers. Delegation The management structure of Wal-Mart Company is vertical. This implies that there is effective delegation of duties and responsibilities. At the top there is the president and then the board of directors who are then followed by the project manage (Wal-Mart Company 2015). Below the project manager there are business analysis manager, the engineering manager, implementation manager and training manager. The last level of management is the teams and the employees. From this chart it is evident that there is effective delegation of authority since each level of management has its roles and duties to play (Richmond 2000). In this effect, there is effective delegation practice and this has helped to promote trust among the staff. Differences from the theoretical expectations From this discussion, there are little theoretical differences. The management of the company has managed to implement the strategies that can help to build trust and promote effective delegation of duties. The first difference from the theoretical expectation is that there is the difference in terms of equity in the organisation (Richmond 2000). This is because there are no clear policies which have been implemented by the company to ensure effective promotions. This means that the policy of integrity has not been implemented fully by the management. In addition, there is difference in terms of training. Despite the training policies which have been developed by the management, it is not clear how the training and development policies have been developed. In this effect, these differences should be managed in order to enable the company to meet the needs of the customers and continue building trust (Richmond 2000). Concerning the delegation, there is no difference in theoretical expectations and the practical practices of delegation. Recommendations Trust The first recommendation on how to build trust is by ensuring effective change management process. All the processes should be automated so that there will be effective sharing of information between the employees and the stakeholders (Robbins 2003). The stakeholder engagement will help to implement the change effectively since the needs of the stakeholders will be incorporated into the change hence there will be no or little resistance to change. Another recommendation is continues improvement strategy. This is the strategy that will help Wal-Mart Company to adapt and implement new strategies like online marketing to meet the needs of the customers (Robbins 2003). This will help to meet the expectations of the customers and in the process the customers will be maintained by the organisation since they have trust in the services which are provided. The third recommendation that can be implemented to improve trust among the employees is effective training and development. This will help the employees to acquire relevant and competent skills which are in relation to the labor market (Scott 2007). The aim of training and development is to ensure that the employees realize their career path and in this way they will be motivated and be retained in the organisation. Furthermore, there should be multilateral communication in the organisation. For instance, there should be open communication between the employees and the leadership (Scott 2007). This will enable the employees to develop a sense of ownership in the organisation hence they will be able to develop trust and will be retained in the organisation (Scott 2007). This will help to improve the competitiveness of Wal-Mart Company. Delegation Concerning the delegation, the first recommendation is that the organisational chart should be available to all employees (Tepper 2000). This will help the employees to be familiar with the organizational chart so that they can be able to understand how to give their grievances. This will help to solve the employee conflicts effectively. In addition, there should be open forums where the employees and the management meet and be part of the strategic decisions which are made. This is important because it will help to promote democratic leadership style since the employees are engaged in decision making (Cohn et al 2005). In this way, the employees will be committed to implement the decisions which are made as they are part of it and in this effect the employees will implement the delegated duties effectively. Moreover, the employees should be given the tasks so that they can handle the tasks in their own way. This is one way in which the employees can be innovative and be satisfied with their work (Cohn et al 2005). This will help to motivate the employees so that they can improve their productivity since they are allowed to handle the tasks in their own way. Conclusion Trust is important for the success of any organisation. Wal-Mart Company is one of the companies globally, which have managed to build trust among the employees. Trust can be built by hiring and promoting the employees equally and also ensuring effective training and development among the employees. The customers can also build trust in the organisation by ensuring that there is effective communication and information sharing as well as quality products. This report recommended that trust can be built further through effective change management process and continues improvement. Delegation of authority can also be improved by communicating the organizational chart and assigning the employees’ tasks and allowing them to handle them in their own way. References Ashkanasy, N. M., Härtel, C. E. J., & Daus, C. S 2002, "Diversity and emotion: The new frontiers in organizational behavior research", Journal of Management, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 307-338. Cohn, J., Khurana, R & Reeves, L 2005, "Growing talent as if your business depended on it", Harvard Business Review, Vol. 83, No. 10, pp. 62–70. Hughes, H. P. N., Clegg, C. W., Robinson, M. A & Crowder, R. M 2012, "Agent-based modeling and simulation: The potential contribution to organizational psychology", Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 85, No. 3, pp. 487–502. Jones, I 2008, The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture, New York, Encounter Books. Richmond, L 2000, Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job, Broadway. Robbins, S. P 2003, Organisational behaviour: global and Southern African perspectives, Cape Town, Pearson Education South Africa. Scott, W. R 2007, Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems Perspectives, London, Pearson Prentice Hall. Taylor, S & Hansen, H 2005, Finding form: Looking at the field of organizational aesthetics, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 1211–1231. Tepper, B. J 2000, "Consequences of abusive supervision", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 178-190. Wal-Mart Company 2015, About Us, retrieved on 20th May 2015 from http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/history/ Appendices Organizational structure (Wal-Mart Company 2015) Read More