A Plan For Submission to The Executive Team of One's Company (Essay Sample)

A Plan for Change for
Master of Science
Human Resource Management
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Student’s Name
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A Plan for Change
Organizational change is inevitable in today’s dynamic business environments and progressive cultures. Entities that desire to remain competitive must develop adaptability to transformation (Piotrowska-Bożek 2019). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is one such enterprise that has constantly been changing, enabling it to lead in the multinational retail industry. One area of concern within the company is poor labor practices and standards, which demands a plan for change to attract and retain qualified personnel crucial to maintaining Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a multinational retail company founded by Sam Walton and his brother Bud in 1962. The firm later expanded outside Arkansas and internationally. Wal-Mart is regarded as one of the world’s largest brick-and-motor retailers since it records over $500 billion in sales per fiscal year (Walmart 2021). It operates three primary store formats, each tailored to different locations and offering general products and groceries. Today, Wal-Mart runs around 10,526 stores in 24 countries and employs approximately 2.3 million workers (Walmart 2021). It adopts a hierarchical functional organizational structure characterized by two features, including hierarchy and function-based definition. The hierarchy component relates to the vertical chains of command throughout the system, while the function-based feature involves teams fulfilling certain functions, such as the human resource management department. Overall, this structure enables Wal-Mart’s managers to influence the entire firm’s culture, values, and identity. The company’s organizational culture encompasses four elements that guide employees’ behavior and establish corporate abilities to add value to its customers. They include service to customers, respect for the individual, strive for excellence, and action with integrity (Walmart 2021). The firm prioritizes its clients, recognizes each worker’s contributions to its success, and endeavors for quality in the performance of individual employees, teams, and the whole organization. Over the years, the company has upheld this culture through the values of integrity, honesty, fairness, and impartiality.
Need for Change at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart is often criticized for its failure to address workers’ concerns about poor labor practices and standards. The company offers few benefits, manipulates employee’s hours, and understaffs its outlets. For example, front-end associates are paid a minimum wage of $11 per hour despite an increasing workload (Walmart 2021). Wal-Mart has massive power to set trends for the retail and service industries and the economy. Therefore, there is a need to change its working conditions and eliminate exploitative wages to minimize a ripple effect throughout jobs in the areas it operates. High employee turnover, unsatisfied personnel, and inefficiencies at the company are factors that suggest Wal-Mart needs to change.
Judging readiness for change is a crucial consideration in the process of moving a strategic priority to a successfully executed and well-sustained operational reality (Piotrowska-Bożek 2019). In this paper, change readiness is viewed from two perspectives. The most outstanding view is the firm’s available financial, material, human, and informational resources. Readiness is also established by employee’s psychological willingness to cooperate in achieving the desired change (Gondo et al. 2013). Primarily, Wal-Mart has made significant investments in workers’ pay, with the recent increase being 15$ from 11$ per hour (Walmart 2021). The firm has also set to convert most hourly store roles to full-time positions with consistent weekly schedules through a full-time staffing approach (Smith 2021). Likewise, the entity is prioritizing skills training and new paths for growth to ensure all jobs lead to careers (Smith 2021). In particular, training and equipping workers with broad knowledge, skills, and abilities is crucial for their professional progress. Finally, frequent uproars among Wal-Mart’s associates concerning poor pay and unfavorable working conditions indicate their readiness for the change. Indeed, the commitment to creating supportive work processes, investing in workers’ salaries, and converting hourly roles into full-time positions suggests that Wal-Mart is ready to improve its labor practices and standards.
Change Model
The planned change will occur through the appreciative inquiry (AI) process, an approach Wal-Mart already uses to boost its global sustainability initiatives (Walmart 2021). AI is a technique for changing social systems that advocates for collective examination of strengths instead of weaknesses (Orlowski and Storey 2020). It entails a coevolutionary search for the best in individuals, their organizations, and their relevant surroundings. AI engages the art and practice of asking questions fundamentally, strengthening a company’s ability to capture, predict, and reinforce positive potential (Orlowski and Storey 2020). The four primary AI stages include discovery, dream, design, and destiny.
Discovery
In this stage, the change team will try to understand the situation at the company by engaging stakeholders to express the strengths and best strategies to respond to the problem. Articulating best practices and standards will create widespread engagement and build relationships in the early stage of the change process (Orlowski and Storey 2020).
Dream
Then, stakeholders will be requested to envision the firm at its best regarding labor practices and standards. Wal-Mart, its leadership, and employees will have a clear picture desired outcome based on the aspirations of all system members (Orlowski and Storey 2020). This phase will create a representation of an ideal work environment.
Design
With a universal dream in place, stakeholders will be asked to develop concrete proposals for the new state. This phase will articulate the best arrangement of schedules, employees, and relationships to foster good labor practices (Orlowski and Storey 2020). Stakeholders will be encouraged to draw upon and magnify the positives to realize the ideal relationship with the company.
Destiny
This step will strengthen Wal-Mart’s affirmative capacity to improve its labor practices and standards, enabling it to build a sustainable momentum for positive change and optimal performance of excellent human relationships (Orlowski and Storey 2020). In this stage, managers will monitor, support, and create processes to energize emergent and self-organizing change.
Change Barriers
Any change process is subject to various barriers. Conducting a baseline evaluation is essential to help Wal-Mart identify potential hurdles to implementing the change. Obstacles create a gap between desired and current practices, eventually affecting individual and organizational performance negatively. Corporate complexity is the most outstanding barrier to overcome. Wal-Mart is a multinational company with many employees, complex processes, systems, and products, which may be difficult for the organizational members to understand. However, introducing a skillful and keen tactic, such as employing diligent and highly effective change management teams, will help the firm tackle the complexities, hence handle the complex change. An inadequate budget is also a possible obstacle to the change. In particular, part of the suggested change entails increasing wages and salaries, which will cost the enterprise massive financial investments. Restructuring, training, and other resources, such as time, new technologies, and infrastructure, will add to the cost of change. Creating a detailed budget will help unearth hidden expenses that may raise the anticipated cumulative change costs.
Change in Culture
One crucial aspect in Wal-Mart’s culture about labor practices and standards is respect for individuals. Undoubtedly, concerns regarding poor wages, manipulation of working hours, and few benefits point to the difference between respect for employees and actual treatment. Therefore, there will be a change to the corporate culture by executing effective strategies for fulfilling respect for all associates.
Structure and Design Considerations
One central shortcoming of Wal-Mart’s hierarchical functional structure is that it does not support corporate flexibility. It becomes strenuous to adjust business practices due to lengthy approval and communications processes involving middle-level and top managers at the company’s headquarters. However, this structure fits Wal-Mart’s type of business and global scope of operations. Therefore, the firm will only improve in applying best labor practices and standards in the context of it