Preview

Summary: Walmart And Equal Opportunity

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2576 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary: Walmart And Equal Opportunity
Walmart and Equal Opportunity
Jenny Lindemann & Demetria West
Austin Peay State University

Case Summary
In a small rural Tennessee town called Smallville, resides approximately 5000 people. The members of Smallville are tight knit and everyone knows one another. Smallville is located more than 30 miles from any major metropolitan area, making employment outside of the community very difficult. Aside from any locally owned motels and restaurants, the largest employer in the town is the Walmart super-center. Walmart employs the majority of the workers in Smallville. Recently, a female worker named Carol (whose sexual orientation is lesbian) has expressed being passed over for a promotion three different times after
…show more content…
Members of Smallville have already began meeting as a community to voice issues of concern and it would be an appropriate place for the issue of Walmart and gender inequality to be brought to light. Brining the issue to attention, mustering support, and then collectively engaging about the issue are the initial steps. Surveying Walmart employees with close attention to women will be a tool used to measure the scope of the …show more content…
PREPARE can be used initially to create awareness of the problem, which is Walmart and gender inequality in workplace. Discussing the problem and setting goals are the first steps. The goal for Smallville is for Walmart to enforce and follow equal employment opportunity laws.
To get a realistic scope of the problem data is needed to support the claim. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used. Qualitative research methods such as interviewing the Walmart employees at community meetings will be used to receive an initial and detailed scope of the problem from the perspective of the employees. Is this a gender issue, or sexual orientation issue? Quantitative methods such as a survey will be given to all Walmart employees to help reduce bias and increase accurate and anonymous feedback. Surveys will be distributed at community meetings, and via door knocking methods to all Walmart employees for the purpose of insuring that they all have an equal chance of being

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In “Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, she finds the truth about how Wal-Mart treats its customers and more importantly how the million dollar company treats its employees. In this essay, Olsson strongly believes that Wal-Mart keeps its stores understaffed and their employees overworked and underpaid, with minimal options for reasonable benefits.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the unstable society that we live in today, Wal-Marts’ affordable prices are eye-catching to the middle class in the United States. One of the biggest debates that come up when discussing Wal-Mart, a global supercenter, is if it really is as friendly and appealing as it appears. In Karen Olssons’ article “Up Against Wal-Mart,” she emphasizes her perception of the poor treatment that the employees receive at Wal-Mart and emphasizes the struggle that the everyday Wal-Mart supercenter employee goes through. Olsson, a senior editor at Texas Monthly, who has written for Slate, the Washington Post, and the New York Times Magazine, opposes the actions of Wal-Mart. In contrast to Olsson, Sebastian Mallaby, a columnist for…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The film makes use of firsthand information from interviews conducted by Greenwald on individuals that have faced the impact of Wal-Mart’s reign. Since its establishment, Watson had promised customers and workers great services by offering goods at low prices. According to the film, Wal-Mart has established its retail business in local areas where large retailers are not available to avoid competition. As a result, they drew attention of many small community consumers because of their cheaper prices and variety of differentiated products. This has caused havoc to small business, which have been wiped out because they lack the potential to compete with this retail giant. Lack of competition has enabled Wal-Mart to dominate its business at low prices because they have captured all customers (Fishman 23).…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The essays “Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson and “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really” by Sebastian Mallaby portray Wal-Mart to two completely different lights. Olsson shames Wal-Mart for its poor health benefits, the meager pay Wal-Mart employees receive, and the managers who purposely fail to schedule enough workers. Mallaby, on the other hand, commends Wal-Mart on how much money the franchise saves customers.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within Karen Olsson’s “Up Against Wal-Mart” logos the author throws numbers at the audience to appeal to our logical sense of financial instability created by the poor benefits and wages Wal-Mart gives its employees. This is the author’s way of depicting the difficult if not impossible means that these families live. This article is very clearly anti Wal mart, mentioning not one instance of any “good deed” done by the corporation. Using each of the first-hand account the author shows a different aspect of the cruel mistreatment of employees. Even telling us about Wal mart’s tendency to hire a major company to bust up any union supporters in the corporation. Using logos the author shows us all the numbers that appeal to our financial reasoning, presenting these numbers that lead us to the conclusion that the workers at Walmart are…

    • 1238 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Liza’s article is very critical of Wal-Mart’s treatment of its employees and community. She makes the point that Wal-Mart attempts to constantly get the employees that are most in touch with their customers and uses them to exploit their consumer base. Liza makes the argument that Wal-Mart has no sense of value for their workers, who are abused and taken advantage of in almost every way. These are people who work for extremely low wages and, she cites an instance where Wal-Mart employees were locked away after they had completed their hours, totally exploited. She also says that these lack of values are a result of Wal-Mart’s low prices, as what they lack in profit is made up by low labor costs and violations of workers rights. Wal-Mart goes as far as discriminating against its workers and paying them wages which force them to buy from their own store. But Maich disagrees with her arguments, under the line that the majority of Wal-Mart’s workers appear to be content dispite the low wages and questionable benefits; The amount of interest in the jobs available at Wal-Mart’s would appear to contradict Liza’s arguments that Wal-Mart abuses its workers. So why would people join a company that abuses them? More or less, Liza makes the argument that they are the only jobs available to these workers as sort of another Wal-Mart…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wal-Mart Research Paper

    • 2709 Words
    • 11 Pages

    A company’s image is very important. It shows how a company is viewed as a whole. Wal-Mart has gotten a bad reputation, and many consumers have stopped shopping there because of this image. The change initiative will be to change consumer’s image of Wal-Mart. The public perception can really affect a company’s profit. According to Margot and Rachel (2011), A 2006 marketing report by Walmart’s then-advertising agency described the public’s view of Walmart as that of a “bad corporate citizen who doesn’t treat employees well and isn’t acting as a good citizen of the planet” (p.62). To change Wal-Mart’s Image they will need to change employee’s wages, increase staffing or don’t cut hours, and change the atmosphere.…

    • 2709 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walmart vs Target

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I decided to research the competing stores of Walmart and Target. Sam Walton opened his first store in Arkansas in 1962. His visions included helping customers and communities save money and live better. Walmart was considered the nation’s top retailer by the 90’s and enjoyed its first $100 billion sales year by 1997. In the New Millennium, “Walmart made a major commitment to environmental sustainability, announcing goals to create zero waste, use only renewable energy and sell products that sustain people and the environment. (www.walmart.com)” “ In 2010, Walmart launched a global commitment to sustainable agriculture, aiming to strengthen local farmers and economies, while providing customers access to affordable, high-quality food. (www.walmart.com)” Walmart celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2012 and currently employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide and serves 200 million customers each week at more than 10,000 stores in 27 countries. According to the Walmart website, their core beliefs are service to our customers, respect for the individual, and strive for excellence and to act with integrity. After some research, it appears that the organizational culture of Walmart is still subject to an authoritarian culture. Authoritarian means favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom. The culture is viewed this way after multiple lawsuits against Walmart from their employees regarding wages, work hours, and advancement opportunities. There are many female employees of Walmart that would like to be eligible for promotions to management, however Walmart has made it difficult for women to take those positions. They have created the management structure in a way that most women are simply unable to accept. They do this by making relocation a fixed policy for management positions.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Case for Walmart

    • 989 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Is Wal-mart the ideal store to shop it? Austrian economic and business professional Karen De Coster and banker Brad Edmonds believe that Wal-mart improves the lives of people in rural areas because it gives them access to a lifestyle that they would not have if Wal-mart did not exist.…

    • 989 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Wal-Mart should review their HR documentation covering harassment, correct any policy issues that need to be addressed, establish a posted, open policy with mandatory reviews by all employees at least once per year, and create and encourage easy access for reporting cases to HR for review without fear of reprisal and investigate ways to prevent opportunities for this type of behavior to occur. Some solutions to consider are to ensure that there are always three or more employees on the job at the same time where no two employees are alone to ensure the behavior is preventable or witnessed for proper recourse. Employees can also attend company sponsored computer based, video or live conferences on harassment, and other work place HR related seminars to encourage training and…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Labor relations are a part of our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. For those of us who work, it relates to our wages, the hours that we work and the way we are treated as an employee of an organization, no matter how large or small.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart 's vision is to achieve superior customer service and low prices, and to apply the three basic beliefs of founder Sam Walton: "respect for the individual, service to our customers, and strive for excellence."How might workforce diversity help a company fulfill this vision? How might diversity make this vision more challenging to achieve? Based on the information given in this case, how well do you think Wal-Mart has fulfilled its vision?…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    attention walmart shoppers

    • 3354 Words
    • 14 Pages

    It has long been accepted that when Wal-Mart speaks the world will listen, even more so now after their entrance into the grocery retailing arena. The arrival of a Wal-Mart into a community has far reaching effects on that community, its residents, and the consumers who shop their stores. This arrival into grocery retailing has also changed Wal-Mart itself. Corporate image, capabilities, and responsibilities have all been altered as well as the company’s core business model, which was responsible for its meteoric rise to the top of the retailing world.…

    • 3354 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main purpose of this documentary was to show Americans why they get low prices at Wal-Mart. These low prices are available to people after many others have suffered in return, starting with Chinese workers and ending with the US employees. This documentary shows how employees are treated at Wal-Mart. Many of the Wal-Mart employees were not allowed to work overtime and their managers would change their payroll. Wal-Mart employees were also encouraged to work off the clock or they would face termination. Most of their employees don’t have health care benefits and are encouraged to go on welfare. Wal-Mart also encourages its employees to “use taxpayer’s dollars” by going on food stamps, WIC, and Medicare. Nearly 1 out of every 2 children of Wal-Mart workers are either uninsured or on public health care. Many of Wal-Mart’s commercials have a family orientated foundation, but their actions are contradicted with the facts. The documentary also shows footage of illegal immigrants cleaning the store for half of the minimum wage. These illegal workers were locked inside the store until the next morning. Wal-Mart also discriminates against women by neglecting their promotions because of their sex. Like women, other minorities have also suffered the same discrimination.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hello Walmart Case Study

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages

    With the emergence of new Wal-Mart locations opening, many concerns have been brought to the attention of Wal-Mart executives. We have reviewed the many concerns of the town in which the new Wal-Mart is being proposed to being built. We also reviewed the concerns and benefits that the new Wal-Mart will have on small businesses and the local community. The concerns of the residents are something that needs to be taken seriously and we must address these concerns thoroughly. Also, we must address the concerns of the small businesses located in the area that the new Wal-Mart is being built. Once all the concerns have been addressed that the residents and small businesses have, we then provide a response to each group. We will show the many benefits that the new Wal-Mart will bring forth.…

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays