Quantitative Measures
In today’s business climate, quantification often becomes the benchmark for organizational process improvements and measurements of success. However, as the article “Six sigma: What went wrong?” in your readings states, increased efficiency levels often lack sustainability.Reflect on how incorporating quantitative measures of quality performance could improve the long-term benefits of strategic initiatives. How might it be useful or detrimental to a company? Consider how this might be incorporated into your Final Project. Write approximately 250 words.
4 Organizational Change Intervention Research Marcus McCall 08/16/2020 Table of Contents Introduction to change intervention Research Investigation for Walmart intervention Conclusion for the case of Walmart intervention Introduction to Change Intervention The purpose of this assignment is to an organizational change in the selected organization. This requires regulatory intervention. The proposal for intervention involves a study of the leadership, the different functions of the organization, such as marketing and human resources. It also requires a significant change in the company's culture—the behavioral change of the staff plats a substantial role in a successful intervention. The company that is selected is Walmart. Since it is an old and established company, it has a traditional culture. Through the years, the company has slowly increased its market share and gained its competitors by using various strategies. However, to implement a successful approach to increase its market share in the present scenario, the company requires an organizational change. This is the study of the change intervention required in Walmart. Research Investigation for Walmart Intervention Sam Walton established Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. The name, in full, is Walmart, Inc. The company's headquarters are in Bentonville, Arkansas. It is among the largest corporations and American operator of discount stores. It focused on agricultural growth in its initial phase. Therefore, it avoided competition by retails giants such as Sears and Kmart. It slowly moved into a format that sold both groceries and merchandise. Within a decade, it was one of the largest grocers in the United States. The company paid a lot to attend to its advertising using direct mailing to its customers. The other important strategy it used was cost control. It reduced costs by lowering the cost of imports and improved warehouse distribution. These factors helped it to become the largest retailer. The company expanded into countries like Canada, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After the death of Sam Walton in 1992, there was a decline until 1995, when the newer strategies started to work. The sales increase, and by 2001, Walmart had become the largest corporation and the largest employer. (Tikkanen 2019) As the company has grown, there have been many culture clashes that have been handled remarkably well. At present, there are some clashes between its headquarters and its coastal outposts that handle its online business. Walmart created its online shop for more than two decades ago. Ever since it launched its website, there are power struggles between its e-commerce department and the brick and mortar stores department. The power struggles arise because managers do not communicate, and groups have been kept separate for decades. There was no integration between the two channels. The channels often clash with each other over even minor issues. This has resulted in talented executives from both sides, leaving Walmart. Profit margins in Walmart are already wafer-thin. The low price point is the strategy that they have adopted since the inception and continues to be the backbone of the company. The leadership of the company is trying to integrate the entire online and brick and mortar business. The customers are looking for better service from the company, especially since the other competitors like Amazon and Target are eating into their business. The tension between the two groups has prompted many customers to move away from Walmart. The integration between the departments, including the supply chain teams, resulted in cost reduction and customer satisfaction. Therefore, the wafer-thin margins are maintained only if the massive behemoth can find scale operations due to its size. (Boyle 2019) This is a common problem in traditional companies. When the company is small, there are fewer people at its senior management level, and hence decisions are taken faster. As the company grows, the workforce of the company at all levels of management increases. The larger the company, the bigger the layers of bureaucracy, and the higher the chances of mismanagement. The power struggles emerge as different power centers emerge. The company's focus and vision, which was shared and carefully nourished by its initial employees, are soon diluted. This is precisely the scenario in Walmart. The prices of the shares of Walmart have trailed behind Amazon. The company is also incubating various smaller things like virtual reality. However, t these have remained mainly nonstarters. The traditionalists believe that digital spending is a waste, and money should have been spent more productively. The digital arm believes that the future of retail lies in e-commerce. The layers of management decision-making make a transformational change or even adaption to new models very difficult for the company. It slows down the business. The entire system needs to be revitalized. (Doh and Quigley) Hence the proposal for change will include a revitalization of the digital arm of the Walmart business. The intervention will focus on creating a level playing field between store owners and online sellers. The leadership focus will be on improving and cementing relationships between the two groups. The focus will also be to ascertain the reasons for the rivalry. The customer should have a seamless experience during a Walmart purchase. The intervention is also to build a culture of trust between the e-commerce department and the traditionalist store operation department. The current culture of non-communication is causing frustration among the employees. The newer generation of employees recruited from colleges was promised that they be in a position of authority to make decisions. However, they found themselves unable to make decisions due to a lack of delegation. They had to face the resentment of the far experienced older employees. Slow decision making also meant that new ides took much longer to incubate and gain acceptance. This does not support the fast-paced retail business. The company's top management is credited with the success of the strategies corresponding to the company's vision and mission. However, future success will depend on the ability to convey the image to the employees and the successful implementation of the vision—conclusion for the case of Walmart Investigation. Conclusion Walmart can improve profitability and productivity through successful intervention. The areas of improvement are an explanation of company culture, which firmly explains the identity vision and the mission of the company to employees. The leadership has that responsibility. The idea and purpose of the company must percolate to each staff member. The staff is the interface of the company between its customers, suppliers, and retailers. Therefore, effective intervention increases profitability. The practical implementation of the strategy will transmit to the customer. So, it will lead to a better buying experience and an increase in sales. Margins will improve because of better coordination. References: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Walmart https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-12/walmart-s-physical-and-digital-businesses-are-in-a-culture-clash https://journals.aom.org/doi/full/10.5465/amp.2014.0013