1. What were the main elements of the control system that Sam Walton created?
It is evident that Sam Walton believed in the importance of control systems in an organization; as he established certain strategic control systems in the company. Walton wanted everyone within the organization to be committed to Wal-Mart's goal "total customer satisfaction", and the strategic control systems were set accordingly.
There are various elements of control systems used in Wal-Mart which are:
Personal Control
An example is when there is an underperforming store; top managers visit these stores in order to lend their expertise to the employees there. Moreover, they fly on monthly basis to various Wal-Mart stores locations to check their performance.
Output Control
The company managers and even associates can share financial information through a sophisticated companywide satellite system including store profits and inventory turnover rates.
Behaviour Control
There is a system of behaviour control in the company such as rules and budget in order to shape and predict employees' behaviour. Each store performs the same activities in the same way, and all employees receive the same type of training in order to behave in the same way with customers. This is how Wal-Mar was able to standardize its operations and therefore save a lot of extra costs.
Using Information Technology
IT control systems are integrated with almost with all the other control systems. For example, Wal-Mart has a sophisticated satellite system used for their output control systems.
Strategic Rewarding Systems
The company is using a linking performance to reward strategy in order to raise performance; where managers' performance and ability to meet goal...
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...he largest lawsuit in history, where 1,600,000 women proved that they suffered gender discrimination as employees of the company since 1998.
In my opinion, the above control systems allowed Wal-Mart more and more growth; and although they were very successful and doing very well they used unethical ways of achieving even higher profitability because of being very greedy. They have so many successful control systems that make their business even four times more profitable than their biggest competitor, therefore they shouldn't go around violating lows and workers' rights in order to make more money and break customers' trust.
References:
Viskovich, Julio. "How Wal-Mart really works". Helium.
Ribeiro, Silvia . "The costs of Walmartization". ZNet.
He was also considered charismatic. He communicated directly with his employees (associates) and he expected customers to be treated as guests when they entered his store. “Mr. Walton always worked hard at shaping his work force, using cheers, rap songs and payment policies to urge employees to be frugal in their jobs and friendly toward customers. Bonuses were paid to all employees in stores where stealing and other inventory losses were kept below 2 percent of sales. Scholarships were established at colleges in names of employees who crafted better ways to handle merchandise.” (nytimes.com, 1992). Today this is not the case. Since the death of Sam Walton in 1992, the company’s reputation has been on a continual downslide. Wal-mart is no longer an ethical company; it has negatively impacted the communities in which it exists. It mistreats its employees and is negatively impacting the nation’s over-all economy. Ethical business practices are not the way of life for today’s Wal-mart.
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
To this day, when I walk into Wal-Mart and come face to face with a manager I once worked under they give me dirty looks. People report that managers will trash talk you to another job that applied for if that job contacts Wal-Mart about you. Wal-Mart has unrealistic workloads for some overnight stockers, their managers aren’t the best in the world, and their policies are harsh. This is why I constantly call Wal-Mart a communist regime; not because it shares the ideals but because it is just bad for everyone in general. Hopefully one day a high positioned power will restore the order and peace that once was Wal-Mart according to the history they teach you in training and that their policies and workloads may become more realistic and doable.
The success of Wal-Mart has yielded admiration and sometimes condemnation from numerous stakeholders. While some people applaud the retail giant for improving the living standards of citizens, creation of jobs, and improving the welfare of its employees, others argue that the retail giant has disrupted communities, brought down small retailers and compromised the living standards of
Throughout the history of America, there have been many businesses that come and go. Success is not guaranteed to everyone. But in the case of Sam Walton, it was different. Sam Walton was the founder the most controversial supermarket chain in existence: Wal-Mart. From the buyer's perspective, Wal-Mart is just a generous business chain which has extremely low prices. But upon closer inspection, the wickedness of Wal-Mart and the company practices become apparent. I think Wal-Mart has a negative impact on society. Wal-Mart mistreats employees, follows unfair business practices, and hurts small businesses.
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