Wal-Mart's Research Paper (Research Paper Sample)

WAL-MART CRITICAL ESSAY
Student Name Here
Unit name and Unit code here.
March, 19 2015.
As a giant outlet spanning in all US states and millions of customers, Wal-Mart is definitely a benchmark for many people and small businesses alike. It is used to gauge how firms should interact with the society. While all players in a capitalistic world are independently wise, giants like Wal-Mart set precedence for bad or good practices that may trickle down to smaller players and hang around for centuries. Keep in focus that Wal-Mart is the largest non-government employer in the world! This should mean that the way they do their internal affairs matters a lot. For this reason alone, the organization has been the subject of heated debates drawing contributions from high ranking individuals such as senators and even US presidents.
This calls for a meticulous study of the way this corporate giant interacts with society. While much of the information available in the media about huge organizations is largely negative, there are numerous aspects of their operations that deserve applause. This paper will examine specific areas of concern in relation to human rights violation or promotion as well as environmental conservation or degradation. The insight can then be used to rule for or against the company’s record in society.
Wal-Mart’s interaction with the environment
Like every corporate heavyweight, Wall-Mart has struggled to handle negative publicity and hide behind PR strategies to protect its brand. Historical evidence however shows massive violation of environmental safety in the past five years. This comes hand in hand with a praiseworthy and deliberate effort to solve the menace as well as mitigate other forms of environmental pollution. According to their  HYPERLINK "http://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/environmental-sustainability"
official website the company has a three pronged approach to dealing with environmental degradation.
The positives in Wal-Mart’s approach for environmental protection are huge. First, Wal-Mart’s policy to use 100% sustainable energy is very commendable. Its energy sources will purely be wind, solar and green-energy powered. While this has been debated many times as a public relations gimmick, the company’s investment of several hundred million dollars is enough proof that their intentions are sincere.
Over and above the policy to run on sustainable energy, Wal-Mart has resolved to create zero waste by streamlining its operations according to the best environmental practices. This will include the use of organic methods of pest and rodent control, in order to get rid of non-biodegradable chemicals. This can be majorly seen as a gimmick to respond to their famous $110 million fine. However, their approach is sustainable and is likely to bear fruit in time to come.
The last of Wal-Mart’s three pronged approach to environmental conservation is their pledge to sell environmentally friendly products. This last policy can be underlined by their renewed commitment to encourage all suppliers to package products in degradable materials such as pulp paper. While received slowly in the industry, Wal-Mart has actually saved the environment billions of tons of PVC packaging that could be choking the environment up to date.
The bad side of Wal-Mart’s environmental record is not as rosy. According to  HYPERLINK "/opa/pr/wal-mart-pleads-guilty-federal-environmental-crimes-admits-civil-violations-and-will-pay-more"
Ministry of Justice Official portal the company has been charged with release of hazardous wastes from many of their retail stores in the US. They were subsequently fined $110 Million after pleading guilty of three counts of criminal environmental activity. Among them the violation the Clean Water Act by releasing hazardous materials into natural water, and transgression of the Insecticide, Fungicide & the Pesticide acts.
Human rights watch in Wal-Mart
As indicated at the start of this paper, Wal-Mart is a huge name. It is common for Wal-Mart to be used as a measuring rod for human right standards for smaller organizations. With a workforce of more than 2.2 Million workers around the globe, the organization plays a key role in creating legal precedence for human rights watch.
Good
As a part of their concern to the immense task that is ahead of them, the managers at the giant have come up with initiatives to safeguard human rights within their workforce and supply chain. First and foremost, the company supports the philosophy of supply chain empowerment. This means that the company seeks to improve the lives of communities and individuals engaging in supply of key products. Among the biggest human rights watch criticisms against Wal-Mart have traditionally revolved around Asian suppliers. The company has made it its primary goal to work with suppliers that have a stable human rights policy as well as minimum fair wage inclusions in their employee contracts. This has seen a huge shift in attitudes against the corporate, for the better, at least in the minds of objective observers.
Wal-Mart is party to a new policy of worker welfare and protection. While this is an internal check, the company uses it as a guide to the minimum working conditions they must offer their employees. This has created a strong debate on the fringes of the reliability and practicability of the document, given Wal-Mart’s poor reputation in human right violations. The management has however consistently expressed optimism that the company does its best to protect the needs of the consumer, while respecting the workforce.
As part of a human rights watch campaign, Wal-Mart has set out on a transparency in supply sources campaign. Customers and the media are allowed to peek into the list of Wal-Mart’s suppliers so as to subject them to scrutiny for human right violations. This has been in the words of the company been done in ‘good faith’ to promote a new image for the giant in human right protection.
Finally, Wal-Mart’s non-discrimination employment policy has attracted tons of praise from many players in the human rights watch groups. Specifically, the group’s recognition of gay rights and protection of LGBT workers against firing, discrimination and other forms of human rights violation has been lauded across the skeptics divide. According to the Human Rights Campaign Network  HYPERLINK "/press-releases/entry/hrc-applauds-walmart-for-adding-gender-identity-non-discrimination-protect"
websites, the progress has showed the good faith intentions of the giant and given hope to minority vulnerable groups in society.
The road of human watch approval has not been rosy for the company though. Wal-Mart has been accused of going to extreme lengths to try and stop employees from forming trade unions. Its anti-union policy has always been viewed as a suppression strategy geared towards covering tracks for human right violations. Past retail managers and management associates all admit the situation often generates a fear-filled work environment that is not good for employees. According to A former manager in an online interview on Bloomberg Press,
"The retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus."
Much of the noise around the retail giant’s woes has also come from minimum wage observers. Wal-Mart has in the past overstated its retail chain’s workers’ pay leading to embarrassing scenarios of hypocrisy and wage policy violation. The company has been accused of maintaining the hourly wage of its 2.2m work force below $8.1. This is a big deal considering majority of them work on extended hours with some doing more than 40 hours weekly.
The giant has been on the spot for promoting poor work conditions for its employees. From the extended hours of service, to the poor health insurance and employee damage cover, the company has performed dismally on human rights promotion. Many of Wal-Mart’s fulltime workers complain of overworking as well as lack of proper remuneration infrastructure such as housing and retirement schemes.
Poor health cover also tops the list of complaints made against Wal-Mart. Workers assigned to hazardous work stations and those exposed to risky chemicals have often complained of poor health after years of active service in the corporate. As a standard, the labor protection and safety act only specifies the minimum targets for any workstation. While Wal-Mart can navigate around such requirements by ordering Helmets, overalls and other forms of protective gear, the buck stops with the firm’s sincerity in its actions. Sincere motives will often be followed by a generous insurance cover for infected, maimed or affected employees. This is non-existent in Wal-Mart.
In the past, Wal-Mart has been on the spot for inappropriate and wrongful termination of tenure. This has especially resonated against employees involved in labor-related organizations or lawsuits against the company. While all the information may not be available in a public domain, past employees narrate of their ordeals and frustrations while trying to work in a better environment, underlining Wal-Mart’s poor human right infrastructure.
The final bit of the human rights violation trends touches on overseas labor ills. The giant has been accused of using prison and child labor suppliers due to cheaper offer prices. While this is debatable, credible research papers and media exposes have bred out the massive labor law abuse committed by the corporate. Jails in China as well as child-labor firms in Bang...