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A Brief History of the Attempts to Unionize Walmart

Rick wartzman on the behemoth’s antipathy toward organized labor.

If there is one thing that runs as deep in Walmart’s DNA as its devotion to keeping costs down and prices low, it would have to be its antipathy toward organized labor.

The company’s open-door policy, Sam Walton maintained, was the perfect avenue for hourly employees to bring any complaints they might have to management’s attention, and he didn’t want some third party wedging itself between Walmart and its workers. “We resent outsiders coming in and saying things which aren’t true and trying to change the company that has meant so much to all of us,” Walton said.

Whether Walton was also worried that a union contract would force him to pay his workers more, he never said. But whatever his mix of motives may have been, this much was certain: every time there was so much as a flicker of union activity at his company, Walton and his sidekicks would rush in and do everything they could to snuff it out.

Walton took his cues from attorney John Tate, who as a young man in 1936 had been conked on the head while crossing a picket line at Reynolds Tobacco Company in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where his father was a manager. It was a licking he never forgot. “I hate unions with a passion,” he once said. An ardent conservative who construed his clashes with labor leaders as one aspect of a bigger fight for “freedom” being conducted by right- thinking Americans, Tate perfected the art of “union avoidance.” By the early 1970s, when Sam Walton procured his services, Tate’s bag of tricks included trying to keep workers happy by soliciting their input for improving the business and rewarding them with profit sharing.

But he also had his clients trot out hardball tactics whenever necessary: convening captive meetings where workers were force-fed anti-union propaganda, delaying elections, stalling negotiations, replacing strikers, and moving to decertify unions that had won the right to represent the rank-and-file.

Walmart eagerly embraced all of Tate’s teachings. When the Retail Clerks threatened to gain a foothold at two Missouri Walmarts in 1972, a company executive instructed the manager at one of them that if he caught any workers with union cards, he should fire them even if he had to bring on all new employees. When the Teamsters tried to organize a Walmart distribution center in Searcy, Arkansas, in 1982, Walton himself told the workers that he’d take away their profit sharing if they voted for the union.

Then he went even further. “He told us that if the union got in, the warehouse would be closed,” one of those in Searcy related. “He said people could vote any way they wanted, but he’d close her right up.” All of this was illegal, but that didn’t seem to give Walton any pause. The Teamsters lost the election, much to his delight. “Our good associates at our Searcy distribution center rejected the union by an overwhelming margin of three to one,” Walton wrote in Wal-Mart World . “Bless them all.”

For union organizers, attempting to penetrate Walmart was perpetually frustrating. When Mr. Sam was around, many hourly employees were persuaded that the company took sufficiently good care of them, particularly with profit sharing and the ability to purchase Walmart stock. “They felt they were going to be wealthy,” said Pat O’Neill, who endeavored to organize Walmart workers in the upper Midwest for the United Food and Commercial Workers from the mid-1980s through the early 90s before later becoming a top union official. “It created a psychological barrier.”

By the late 90s, Walmart had become so big, with hundreds and hundreds of Supercenters having been built in rapid succession all over the country, that there was almost no practical way for labor to make a dent. “It just started to blow up on us,” said Ron Lind, a UFCW official in Northern California who suddenly had to deal with unionized grocery chains like Safeway and Kroger citing competition from Walmart as the rationale for holding down their own wages and benefits. An article in Fortune spelled it out like this: “Think your job is tough? Meet the people whose task is to unionize the world’s biggest company.”

Organizing Walmart store by store was essentially impossible because buttonholing workers across such a vast expanse entailed an equally vast expense—one beyond the capacity of any union or even group of unions. “If you tried to do the whole thing, it would cost a couple hundred million dollars,” said Jeff Fiedler, a veteran UFCW organizer who, in an earlier post at the AFL-CIO’s Food and Allied Service Trades Department in the 1980s, was the first person to sound the alarm for many of his union brethren that Walmart was on the verge of becoming a leviathan. And suppose organizers had been able to crack a few locations. So what? “It would be pure delusion to contend that a handful of isolated successes in individual Walmart stores would give workers significant power to bargain decent contracts with this giant, alien corporation,” said Wade Rathke, a community organizer who tussled with Walmart on several fronts, including leading the resistance to the opening of new Supercenters in Florida.

Even isolated successes proved elusive, however. “I’ve never seen a company that will go to the lengths that Walmart goes to, to avoid a union,” said Martin Levitt, who consulted with the company before writing a book called Confessions of a Union Buster . “They have zero tolerance.” To gauge which stores were most susceptible to organizing, Walmart tracked employee attitudes and entered the results into a computer, which spit out a UPI—Union Probability Index. “The commitment to stay union free must exist at all levels of management—from the chairperson of the ‘board’ down to the frontline manager,” read a manual circulated in 1991 at a Walmart distribution center in Indiana. “Therefore, no one in management is immune from carrying his or her ‘own weight’ in the union prevention effort.” Whenever there was the slightest hint of an organizer coming around, salaried supervisors were directed to call a special hotline.

“We were basically spies, spies for the stores, spies for the company,” said a department head at a Walmart in Kingman, Arizona, where the UFCW had made strides in organizing a group of auto technicians in 2000. A “labor team” from Bentonville was dispatched to the scene to monitor what was happening, coach management on how to defeat the UFCW, screen militant anti-union videos for the workers, and all but take over the store until the organization drive had been thwarted. Kingman wasn’t an anomaly, either.

Despite decades of trying—and the filing of 288 unfair labor practice charges against the company between 1998 and 2003 for purportedly surveilling, interrogating, and firing workers who hoped to organize—neither the UFCW nor any other union was ever able to notch a single victory at a Walmart in the United States. Except for once. In February 2000, butchers at a Walmart Supercenter in Jacksonville, Texas, voted seven to three in favor of being represented by the UFCW. Soon, the company announced that it would stop cutting meat and instead sell prepackaged beef and pork at all of its stores. Walmart said this move to stock “case-ready” meat was long planned to keep pace with industry trends and that the UFCW’s triumph was unrelated.

In any event, Walmart was now able to argue that because the employees in Jacksonville were no longer using specialized meat-cutting skills on the job, they now failed to constitute an appropriate bargaining unit under labor law. The court agreed. Once again, Walmart had escaped being unionized.

In September 2004, right around the time that Lee Scott was holding his “choice meeting” on the environment, John Tate—then 86 years old and retired—was invited to speak to an assembly of Walmart executives and store managers in Dallas. “Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living!” he thundered. The Walmart faithful rose to their feet, hooting and shouting their approval.

In the 1950s, Tate told the crowd, more than a third of all private-sector workers in the United States were union members. Now, fewer than ten percent were. “Sam would have been proud of you for that!” Tate said amid another standing ovation. “The battle isn’t yet won. I want to conclude by challenging you to reduce that percentage. You can do it and at the same time ensure your own future.” The unions weren’t about to roll over, though. Far from it.

About six months after Tate’s provocation to Walmart managers, the UFCW and the Service Employees International Union both launched new campaigns against the company. Only this time, they were less about signing up workers and more about tearing down the company.

The SEIU kickstarted things in late 2004 when it seeded a nonprofit called the Center for Community and Corporate Ethics, which, in turn, stood up an advocacy arm known as Five Stones—a reference to the rocks that David plucked out of a streambed to slay Goliath. The Goliath in this case was Walmart, and the campaign designed to bring the company to its knees was christened Walmart Watch.

The SEIU’s intention wasn’t to drag Walmart to the bargaining table. Its membership was made up mostly of nursing aides, homecare and childcare workers, janitors, security guards, those in food services, and government employees; a retailer was beyond the union’s purview. Rather, the SEIU set out to attack Walmart as if it were a political opponent—with nonstop negative messaging. “We referred to what we were doing as an air war,” said Janet Shenk, who helped raise funds for the campaign. “We’re not organizing workers on the ground. This is an air war.”

Part of what the SEIU wanted to accomplish by going after Walmart so publicly was to raise people’s consciousness about larger issues of economic justice that the union’s president, Andy Stern, was increasingly upset about: income inequality, wage stagnation, and a dearth of good healthcare coverage for working people and their families. “This was a great way to get out there and say, ‘Big corporations are screwing America,’” explained Stern, who led the SEIU from 1996 to the middle of 2010.

Walmart Watch also wanted to “make other businesses realize that if they act in the same irresponsible manner they will be attacked as well,” according to an internal memo. Meanwhile, if Walmart could be bludgeoned into boosting workers’ pay and benefits, other corporations were sure to follow suit. “It was never that they were absolutely the worst,” Shenk said. “That’s not why Walmart was picked on. It’s because they were the biggest, and if they changed it would make a huge difference for the sector as a whole.”

_______________________________________

This article has been excerpted from Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism by Rick Wartzman. Copyright © 2022. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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You are here, how walmart persuades its workers not to unionize.

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One former Walmart store manager tells the story that after discovering a pro-union flyer in his store’s men’s room, he informed company headquarters and within 24 hours, an anti-union SWAT team flew to his store in a corporate jet. And when the meat department of a Walmart store in Texas became the retailer’s only operation in the United States to unionize , back in 2000, Walmart announced plans two weeks later to use prepackaged meat and eliminate butchers at that store and 179 others.

With 1.3 million U.S. employees—more than the population of Vermont and Wyoming combined—Walmart is by far the nation’s largest private-sector employer. It’s also one of the nation’s most aggressive anti-union companies, with a long history of trying to squelch unionization efforts. “People are scared to vote for a union because they’re scared their store will be closed,” said Barbara Gertz, an overnight Walmart stocker in Denver.

Walmart maintains a steady drumbeat of anti-union information at its more than 4,000 U.S. stores, requiring new hires—there are hundreds of thousands each year—to watch a video that derides organized labor. Indeed, Walmart’s anti-union campaign goes back decades: There was “Labor Relations and You at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center,” a 1991 guide aimed at beating back the Teamsters at its warehouses, and then in 1997 came “A Manager’s Toolbox to Remaining Union Free.” The first half of a statement in that toolbox has been repeatedly snickered at for being so egregiously false: “We are not anti-union; we are pro-associate.”

Early last year, Anonymous, a network of hacker activists, leaked two internal Walmart PowerPoint slideshows. One was a “Labor Relations Training” presentation for store managers that echoed the “Manager’s Toolbox” in suggesting that unions were money-grubbing outfits caring little about workers’ welfare. “Unions are a business, not a club or social organization—they want associates’ money,” the PowerPoint read. (Walmart confirmed the PowerPoints’ authenticity.) “Unions spend members’ dues money on things other than representing them,” it added.

Walmart is perfectly within its rights to communicate its stance to employees. While employers are legally barred from threatening store closures, layoffs, or loss of benefits because of unionization, they are free to tell workers why they oppose unions.

Walmart has battled for years against the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents employees at many grocery stores and retailers, and its offshoot, OUR Walmart, an association of Walmart employees. Walmart insists that the UFCW is out to damage Walmart’s business. The second PowerPoint that Anonymous leaked last year attacked OUR Walmart, asking, “Is OUR Walmart/UFCW here to help you? Answer: NO.”

Tensions have risen between the retailer and OUR Walmart in recent years, with the labor group organizing nationwide protests outside hundreds of stores each Black Friday. The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint in January of last year, accusing Walmart of illegally firing 19 OUR Walmart members and illegally disciplining more than 40 others after strikes and protests demanding higher pay. Walmart maintains that the firings and disciplining were legal and not in retaliation for protesting.

Getting a glimpse of Walmart’s internal PowerPoints and training manuals is rare, but one of Walmart’s orientation videos was leaked recently, and it again revealed Walmart’s anti-union efforts. Labor experts and Walmart employees say they were surprised at the blatant untruths in many of the video’s pro-company and anti-union statements.

Walmart confirmed the video’s authenticity and said the company showed it to new hires from 2009 through last year. Early on in the course of the video’s nine minutes, an actor dressed as a Walmart employee says, “You’re just beginning your career with us. It’s hard to grasp everything that’s available to you, like great benefits.”

Ken Jacobs, the chairman of the University of California, Berkeley’s Labor Center, suggested that this was essentially propaganda. “Walmart's benefits are well below the standard for union groceries,” he said. “They are not ‘great benefits’ by any standard.” A discounter like Walmart certainly doesn’t have the generous pensions or Cadillac health plans offered by some companies. Gertz, the overnight stocker in Denver, says her health plan is so stingy that she often doesn’t see a doctor when she’s sick because the deductible requires her to pay the first few thousand dollars out of pocket. Gertz said that when workers call in sick, their first day off comes out of their vacation days or personal days, not their paid sick days.

A spokesperson for Walmart says it will soon revamp its policy so that employees can use paid sick days starting on their first day out. The spokesperson added that its bonuses, 401(k) plan, and health plan are considerably better than at most other discounters—its 401(k) plan gives a dollar-for-dollar match for the first six percent of pay and the premium for its most popular health plan is just $21.90 every two weeks. That said, part-time workers, who represent nearly half its work force, don’t qualify for many of these benefits.

The leaked video also boasts, “There’s no retail company that offers more advancement and job security than Walmart.” Considering that some retailers are unionized with strong job-security provisions in their union contracts, some labor advocates wondered how Walmart could begin to assert that its job security is as strong as any other retailer’s.

“That’s patently false,” said Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a division of the UFCW. “At Walmart you can be fired for any reason at all or no reason.” He contrasted Walmart, one of the nation’s many “at-will” employers, with retailers that are unionized or partly unionized, including Costco, Macy’s, H&M and Modell’s. At unionized stores, workers can only be fired “for cause,” meaning managers need a strong reason to fire someone—for example, stealing from a store or arriving 30 minutes late five days in a row. Moreover, workers in those unionized stores can usually challenge their dismissal by bringing in an impartial arbitrator who helps determine whether a firing was justified.

Walmart, in its orientation video, makes other attempts at belittling unions. It features an actor who says, “I was a union member at my last job. Everyone actually had to join the union . . . The thing I remember most about the union is that they took dues money out of my paycheck before I ever saw it, just like taxes.” The character’s assertion that he “had to join the union” diverges from the truth. The Supreme Court ruled in 1963 that workers cannot be required to join the union at a unionized workplace—although they can be required to pay union dues or fees (unless they live in one of the 25 states with “right to work” laws).

In the video, an actress standing in front of a rack of produce continues to hammer the message. “I always thought that unions were kind of like clubs or charities that were out to help workers,” she says. “Well, I found out that wasn’t exactly the case. The truth is unions are businesses, multimillion-dollar businesses that make their money by convincing people like you and me to give them a part of our paychecks.”

Although some union leaders have generous salaries, Benjamin Sachs, a labor law professor at Harvard, said that unions aren’t for-profit businesses. “If unions are businesses, they’re the best example of the sharing economy we’ve seen,” Sachs said. “Here’s the business model: By sharing their resources, including their financial resources, workers make better lives for themselves and their families.” Thomas Kochan, an MIT professor of management, said that the phrase the actor uses — “clubs and charities” — “insults any new hire’s intelligence.” “Most people know what unions are and what they try to do,” Kochan said.

Indeed, one might ask, if unions are doing as little for workers as Walmart maintains, why then does Walmart bother to battle unions so aggressively? Walmart takes a far more jaundiced view of unions than do many Americans—for instance the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops. “The Church fully supports the right of workers to form unions or other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions,” the bishops once wrote in a pastoral letter , Economic Justice for All. And Pope John Paul II, never known as a raging liberal, called unions, “an indispensable element of social life.”

Brian Nick, a Walmart spokesman, explained why the company made the video. “The core reason to have the training and information on video, in and of itself, is we know that third-party groups often reach out to our associates,” he said. “This is an opportunity for us to provide accurate information that gives our associates knowledge about their work environment and their own rights as associates.”

In boasting about Walmart, the video says, “Walmart jobs are flexible jobs, giving associates the opportunity to balance our personal life with our worklife.” But Carrie Gleason, director of the Fair Workweek Initiative at the Center for Popular Democracy, an advocacy group, strongly disagreed. “I’ve spoken with countless Walmart associates who talk about how erratic their work schedules are, about how managers regularly disregard their requests for basic accommodations so they can go to school or take care of their families,” she said. Some Walmart workers say their stores slashed their hours when they asked managers to accommodate their college schedule or their efforts to hold a second job to make ends meet.

Brian Nick, the Walmart spokesman, said the company was improving its scheduling practices. Beginning next year, it will offer some employees fixed schedules each week—many employees complain that their work schedules change vastly week-to-week.

In urging workers to shun unions, the Walmart video says, “In recent years, union organizers have spent a lot of time, effort and money trying to convince Walmart associates to join a union, all without any success.” But that’s not quite true. The UFCW hasn’t sought to persuade Walmart employees to join a union in recent years, although it did help form OUR Walmart to push for better wages and working conditions. OUR Walmart claimed a victory in February when Walmart announced it would raise its base pay to $9 this year and $10 next year. A spokesperson for Walmart said it was responding to a tighter labor market and boasted that the move would mean raises for 500,000 workers.

The Walmart video is correct about at least one thing: Most of the recent unionization votes at Walmart stores in the U.S. were unsuccessful. For example, the tire and lube workers at two Walmart stores, in Colorado and Pennsylvania, voted overwhelmingly in 2005 against unionizing. But the UFCW had a big success in 2004, when it unionized a Walmart in Jonquiere, Quebec—a first in North America. Walmart closed that store shortly afterward, and Canada’s Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the shutdown was an illegal ploy to avoid having a union. Walmart has long argued that it closed the Jonquiere store because it was unprofitable and that the closing had nothing to do with the union. As for Walmart’s decision to suddenly begin using prepackaged meat after that meat department in Texas unionized in 2000, the company said that the timing was just a coincidence and that the decision had nothing to do with unionization.

This past April, Walmart abruptly announced it was closing its store in Pico Rivera, California, along with four other stores, for six months. Many workers saw that as a daunting anti-union statement—the Pico Rivera store has the nation’s most militant OUR Walmart chapter, having staged a sit-in and numerous other protests. Walmart, however, insisted that the closing was necessitated by “ongoing plumbing issues.”

Source: The Atlantic

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Harvard Law Case Studies A-Z

OUR Walmart

Sharon Block, Lisa Brem, and Brittany Deitch

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Dan Schlademan , founder and director of OUR Walmart, reflects on his organization’s success in taking on the anti-union retail behemoth, Wal-Mart. This case study provides an overview of unions’ failed efforts to organize Wal-Mart employees and describes OUR Walmart’s achievements and challenges. It distinguishes the traditional union model of organizing from OUR Walmart’s online-to-offline model, bringing attention to the potential of using technology as a means of empowering workers’ collective action. This case study highlights some of OUR Walmart’s key worker-led initiatives to show the impact the organization has had on Wal-Mart’s policies. It also describes OUR Walmart’s innovative smartphone app, WorkIt, which serves as a platform through which employees can ask questions about and easily access Wal-Mart’s human resources policies. Given OUR Walmart’s creative approach to organizing Wal-Mart employees, Schlademan considers how technology has changed the way workers organize, and how that might affect OUR Walmart’s structure going forward. He also ponders how best to measure the organization’s success, and how such measures would differ from the metrics used by unions . As he looks back, he also looks to the future and consider s OUR Walmart’s best path forward.

Learning Objectives

After reading and discussing this case study, students should be able to:

a ssess OUR Walmart on the dimensions of power, sustainability, and scope
a rticulate various metrics for measuring success
d istinguish OUR Walmart’s organizational and legal structure and strategy from those of labor unions, worker centers, and other labor advocacy movements
c onsider paths forward to achieve OUR Walmart’s goals
understand that, although laws may be enacted for a particular purpose, their impact may change over time, producing very different results than those intended
learn how creative lawyers can use the law as a tool to advance policy objectives that may be very different than those intended by the laws’ drafters
understand how moments of crisis can create great opportunities for trying new solutions to old problems

Subjects Covered

Employment Law; Workforce Issues; Civil Rights, Justice, & Equality; Internet & Society

United States

Industry: Retail; Non-Profit

Event Year Begin: 2018

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To obtain accessible versions of our products for use by those with disabilities, please contact the HLS Case Studies Program at [email protected] or +1-617-496-1316.

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“We Need People to Lean into the Future”

Adi Ignatius

For years, Walmart’s unrivaled customer research capabilities helped it dominate retailing. Then along came the internet, and Walmart suddenly found itself playing catchup to e-commerce pioneers like Amazon. In 2014 the board appointed Doug McMillon as CEO and gave him an imperative: Bring Walmart into the future—without sacrificing its longtime strengths.

McMillon, who began his career unloading trucks at a neighborhood Walmart, respects tradition but is impatient for change. In this interview with HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius, he describes the ups and downs of transforming America’s largest company. Going digital is a top priority—which is why Walmart recently paid $3 billion to acquire e-tailer Jet.com. But the company also wants to strengthen the in-store experience. “The reality,” notes McMillon, “is that customers want everything”—low prices, convenience, and seamless interactions online and in person. In this new world, all employees, including those on the sales floor, will need to be tech savvy. And the management team can no longer make strategic decisions on an annual or even quarterly basis; “strategy is happening on a much faster cycle time,” says the CEO.

A conversation with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon

For years, Walmart seemed to understand exactly what its customers wanted. It developed complicated consumer analytics and used that data, along with relentless pressure on suppliers, to become a retail powerhouse that sold practically everything at the lowest possible prices.

Adi Ignatius is the editor in chief of Harvard Business Review.

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Harvard Case Study: Global Management (Wal-Mart)

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Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)

Our-Walmart-Organization-United-for-Respect

OUR Walmart was founded by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), and was an integral part of UFCW’s organizing efforts. The OUR Walmart campaign launched strategic wildcat walkouts and press stunts designed to pressure Walmart and its employees into unionizing. Although OUR Walmart’s aim was to protest supposed unfair labor practices, the group’s union ties indicated that its real aim was to unionize Walmart associates. Additionally, OUR Walmart’s claim of widespread active worker discontent was dubious, and the organization’s demonstrations appeared strongly to be “Astroturf” — fake grassroots.

Connection to UFCW

A disclaimer on OUR Walmart’s website stated that OUR Walmart was “an independent, not-for-profit organization for hourly Associates.” But, according to the UFCW’s federal fiscal filings with the Department of Labor (Form LM-2) for 2011, OUR Walmart was listed as a subsidiary of UFCW.

Additionally, UFCW local unions provided significant support to the OUR Walmart campaign. Reports indicate that OUR Walmart recruited Walmart employee supporters from previous UFCW campaigns such as Wake Up Walmart. The UFCW also recruited a high-powered liberal political consultancy formerly headed by senior Obama 2008 campaign adviser David Axelrod to run the OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart (openly in-house UFCW) campaigns.

OUR Walmart Protests Involved Very Few Workers

OUR Walmart was most notable for staging annual protests on “Black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving that is traditionally America’s busiest shopping day), although all available evidence suggested most of the agitators were not striking employees. Walmart officials claim that as few as 50 actual employees missed shifts due to labor actions in 2012, while news reports suggested that at most a handful of the OUR Walmart protesters were actually striking employees.

Alleged Violations of State Laws

Protesters affiliated with OUR Walmart demonstrated at the homes of Walmart officials during the company’s annual meeting and even made empty threats promising massive actions to disrupt the general shareholders’ meeting. In response to intimidatory picketing, Walmart filed for restraining orders against the UFCW and OUR Walmart in Florida and Arkansas state courts. Additionally, Walmart alleged that OUR Walmart’s disruptions of in-store operations amounted to trespassing before courts in Texas and California; Walmart’s attorneys reported that restraining orders were granted.

Where is OUR Walmart Today?

In 2015, UFCW’s current president Mark Perrone took office, and substantially defunded OUR Walmart. That same year, the two leaders of the OUR Walmart campaign were fired. As the Washington Examiner then noted : “The abrupt change in union strategy is a tacit admission that OUR Walmart’s efforts have been an abject failure.”

Today, OUR Walmart goes by the name of United for Respect. The majority of the group’s union funding between 2017-2019 came from UFCW Local 21. Although the campaign has been rebranded, a legal notice at the bottom of its website confirms its ties to OUR Walmart.

The notice reads: “Legal Notice: Courts have enjoined non-Associate OUR Walmart agents from entering any Walmart property, except to shop, in Arkansas ( Read the order ), Florida ( Read the order ), Texas ( Read the order ), Colorado ( Read the order ), Ohio ( Read the order ), and Maryland ( Read the order ) from entering inside stores. A court has enjoined non-Associate OUR Walmart agents from entering the insides of stores in California to engage in activities, such as picketing, patrolling, marching, parading, flash mobs, demonstrations, handbilling solicitation, manager confrontations or customer disruptions ( Read the order ).”

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Study says wal-mart's anti-union tactics violate workers' rights.

Wal-Mart's exploitation of weak U.S. labor laws interferes with workers' rights to organize and violates the human rights of its employees, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, an independent nongovernment organization.

In a 210-page report released Monday, Human Rights Watch said Wal-Mart uses an arsenal of sophisticated tactics -- some of which it says are illegal -- aimed at thwarting union organization and creating a climate of fear for its 1.3 million U.S. workers.

The Human Rights Watch study was based on interviews with 41 current and former Wal-Mart workers and managers, as well as labor lawyers and union organizers, between 2004 and early 2007. The organization also said it analyzed cases against Wal-Mart charging the company with violating U.S. labor and employment laws.

While Wal-Mart Stores is not alone in engaging in illegal anti-union tactics, the retailer "stands out for the extreme sophistication and aggressiveness of its anti-union strategies," said Carol Pier, senior researcher on labor rights and trade for Human Rights Watch and author of the report.

Pier noted that while Human Rights Watch had been following reports on Wal-Mart's anti-union efforts, what was missing from the debate was a "human rights analysis" and a roadmap to its systematic approach. With Wal-Mart being the largest private employer in the States, Pier noted that "the company's treatment of its workers has significant impact in the U.S. and beyond." She emphasized that the report was not funded by labor unions and the group is not an anti-Wal-Mart organization.

But Wal-Mart was quick to dismiss the study's allegations as untrue and unsubstantiated.

"Wal-Mart provides an environment of open communications and gives our associates every opportunity to express their ideas, comments and concerns," said David Tovar, a spokesman at Wal-Mart, in a statement. "It is because of our efforts to foster such an environment that our associates have repeatedly rejected unionization attempts."

He continued, "...Wal-Mart respects our associates' right to a free and fair unionization vote through a private, government-supervised process and we remain committed to compliance with U.S. laws regarding workers' rights to unionize."

Tovar added that less than 5% of all retail workers in the States are part of a union, so the current trend is not unique to Wal-Mart.

In a statement, Justin Hakes, legal information director at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group, called the study "the latest tactic in the aggressive efforts by union officials to force union affiliation on Wal-Mart's workforce."

Employee Free Choice Act

Human Rights Watch is using the report to call on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA -- which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March and is now under consideration in the Senate -- increases penalties for labor law violations. The legislation also would restore what the group calls a "democratic" union selection process by requiring employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers sign cards showing their support. Currently, employers can force union elections and then intimidate workers with their aggressive anti-union message during the campaign period, Human Rights Watch said.

Unions have been trying to organize Wal-Mart for years, but after failing in several attempts to represent workers at individual Wal-Mart stores, union-backed groups like WakeUpWal-Mart.com have emerged to embrace a broader strategy that goes beyond its employees and aims to get the retailer to improve its wages, health care benefits, environmental record and to be a better neighbor.

According to Human Rights Watch, Wal-Mart uses training sessions, videos and other means to indoctrinate its employees on the negatives of joining a union, tactics that the group says starts on the day employees start their job. The company also gives explicit instructions to managers on how to prevent union formation, according to the report. The report said that Wal-Mart generally responds within a few days to workers organizing by dispatching from headquarters members of its Labor Relations Team.

According to Pier, Wal-Mart engages in illegal tactics such as restricting the dissemination of pro-union views and firing workers for their union activity, in extreme cases. According to former workers and managers at one store, Wal-Mart ordered the repositioning of surveillance cameras to monitor union supporters, the report said.

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Is Walmart Unionized In 2023? Here‘s What You Need To Know

You may be wondering – with over 1.6 million employees, is Walmart unionized?

The short answer is no. Walmart remains entirely union-free in the United States. But it wasn‘t always this way. Over the years, brave Walmart employees have tried organizing unions, only to be shut down by the retail giant each time.

Keep reading to learn why Walmart is so opposed to unions, the history of failed organizing efforts, perspectives from employees, and predictions for if Walmart could ever unionize in the future.

Walmart‘s Long History ofUnion-Busting

Walmart has been staunchly anti-union since founder Sam Walton opened that first store back in 1962. As the company grew into the world‘s largest retailer, so did their efforts to prevent unions from taking hold.

Here are just a few examples of Walmart‘s union-busting tactics over the years:

In the 1970s , Walmart used illegal intimidation tactics like firing union supporters to defeat early organizing efforts. Walton called unions a "threat to everything we‘ve built."

In 2000 , when 10 meat cutters in Texas voted to unionize, Walmart responded by eliminating butchers in 180 stores and switching to pre-packaged meat.

In 2004 , an entire Walmart store in Quebec unionized successfully. Walmart closed the store shortly after. A court ruled the closure illegal.

In 2008 , Walmart tire and lube workers unionized in New Hampshire. Once again, Walmart simply eliminated the entire departments nationwide.

In 2011 , when a California store was rallying to unionize, Walmart shut it down "for plumbing repairs" that took 6 months to complete. Employees believed it was retaliation.

As you can see, Walmart will pull out all the stops when faced with union activity. From surveillance to firings to shuttering whole stores, they‘ve set the bar high for union-busting.

Why Is Walmart So Against Unions?

With such an aggressively anti-union history, you might be wondering – what does Walmart have against organized labor?

There are a few key reasons why unions threaten Walmart‘s business model:

Increased Costs: Unionized workers typically negotiate higher wages and expanded benefits, increasing a company‘s labor costs. This could hurt Walmart‘s razor thin profit margins and low price advantage.

Loss of Control: Walmart is used to setting policies unilaterally across stores. Collective bargaining agreements with unions could reduce corporate control and flexibility.

Threat to Hierarchy: Walmart has an authoritarian corporate structure they wish to maintain. Empowered unions could undermine the top-down hierarchy.

In essence, unions could disrupt almost every aspect of Walmart‘s formula for generating massive revenues on small margins. By resisting organized labor, they preserve full control over the company‘s strategy and costs.

By the Numbers: Unionization in the Retail Sector

To give some perspective, let‘s look at the union representation rates across major retailers:

As you can see, Walmart and Amazon have been completely successful at resisting unions, while Kroger and Costco have significant union membership, especially among grocery store workers.

In fact, only 4.5% of America‘s retail workforce was unionized in 2021 – down from 5% in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sector remains very challenging to organize.

Perspectives from Walmart Employees

With firsthand experience of Walmart‘s anti-union stance, here‘s what some employees have to say:

"When I started working at Walmart, they showed us a video during orientation that was all about why unions are bad. It felt more like anti-union brainwashing than training." Sam W., Walmart Associate since 2019

"A couple years ago, someone put up a pro-union flyer in the break room. All the managers freaked out trying to figure out who did it and take it down. They‘re really paranoid about that stuff." Sarah P., Former Walmart Department Manager

"I‘m making $12 an hour after 3 years with the company. I wish we could form a union to demand better pay, but they‘d probably just fire me for trying. Walmart doesn‘t mess around with unions." Brandon G., Walmart Stocker

The perspectives make it clear – any union support is swiftly suppressed at Walmart locations. Workers are discouraged from organizing under threat of termination.

The Case For and Against Unionizing Walmart

If Walmart employees were ever able to successfully unionize, it could carry some major pros and cons:

Potential Pros:

Higher wages and improved benefits
Increased job security protections
More promotions based on seniority, not favoritism
Productivity enhancing grievance procedures
Employee empowerment against unfair policies

Potential Cons:

Loss of managerial control over wage-setting
Difficulty responding nimbly to market changes
Higher labor costs cutting into profits
Potential for contentious labor negotiations
Risk of strikes disrupting operations

There are reasonable arguments on both sides. While unions could empower employees, they also create new challenges for management and may threaten Walmart‘s strategic advantage.

There are no easy answers, which explains the ongoing tension between workers and the company.

Are Shoppers Supportive of Walmart Unions?

With low prices as their top priority, what do Walmart shoppers think about unions? Are they supportive of organizing efforts?

In a 2019 UMass Amherst poll, researchers surveyed over 900 Walmart shoppers and found:

75% of regular Walmart shoppers would continue shopping there if workers unionized.

55% support Walmart employees organizing unions.

82% think Walmart should pay its workers more .

This indicates most loyal Walmart shoppers are sympathetic to higher wages and collective bargaining rights for employees. Yet it‘s unclear if they would sacrifice the retailer‘s ubiquitous low prices for those gains.

Will Walmart Ever Unionize? What Labor Experts Predict

Barring legislation significantly strengthening labor protections, most experts think national unionization at Walmart is unlikely in the next decade. However, there are some potential scenarios where organized labor could make inroads:

" Walmart has been extremely effective at union-busting so far, so full-scale unionization is a very uphill battle. Where I could see unions gaining traction is in liberal local markets like New York or California where pro-labor sentiment is stronger.” – Dr. Ruth Milkman, Sociologist CUNY Graduate Center

“The most vulnerable place for Walmart on unions is in higher wage stores like grocery and online fulfillment centers. As more competition emerges, they may have trouble staffing without raising pay, which could spur more openness to organized labor.” Dr. Ileen Devault, Professor of Labor History at Cornell University

“For years, Walmart‘s high turnover made unionizing impossible. But employees are staying longer lately. If that trend continues, the stable workforce could create conditions for successful organizing.” Louis Hyman, Author of "Temp: How American Work and the American Dream Became Temporary"

While the consensus seems to be that national unionization is a distant prospect, these experts point to some potential opportunities that could lead to small inroads over the next decade.

The Bottom Line

So in summary – is Walmart unionized in 2024? Not yet . With its staunch anti-union philosophy, Walmart has so far prevented any organizing efforts from taking widespread hold.

But as public support for higher wages and collective bargaining rights grows, we may see small pockets of success emerge in liberal regions and higher wage departments.

While national unionization still seems a distant reality, a savvy and determined labor movement could potentially make incremental gains in the coming years. But weakening Walmart’s fierce resistance won’t happen overnight.

Ultimately, employees, unions, and the company all want what’s best for workers. There are good-faith debates on both sides regarding how best to achieve that aim. The story at Walmart is far from over, so keep an eye out for new developments in the years ahead!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

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Case Study: Business Strategy Analysis of Wal-Mart

Sam Walton, a leader with an innovative vision, started his own company and made it into the leader in discount retailing that it is today. Through his savvy, and sometimes unusual, business practices, he and his associates led the company forward for thirty years. Today, four years after his death, the company is still growing steadily. Wal-Mart executives continue to rely on many of the traditional goals and philosophies that Sam’s legacy left behind, while simultaneously keeping one step ahead of the ever-changing technology and methods of today’s fast-paced business environment . The organization has faced, and is still facing, a significant amount of controversy over several different issues; however, none of these have done much more than scrape the exterior of this gigantic operation. The future also looks bright for Wal-Mart, especially if it is able to strike a comfortable balance between increasing its profits and recognizing its social and ethical responsibilities .

Why is Wal-Mart so Successful ? Is it Good Strategy or Good Strategy Implementation ? In 1962, when Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas, no one could have ever predicted the enormous success this small-town merchant would have. Sam Walton’s talent for discount retailing not only made Wal-Mart the world’s largest retailer, but also the world’s number one retailer in sales. Indeed, Wal-Mart was named “Retailer of the Decade” by Discount Store News in 1989, and on several occasions has been included in Fortune’s list of the “10 most admired corporations.” Even with Walton’s death (after a two-year battle with bone cancer) in 1992, Wal-Mart’s sales continue to grow significantly.

Regarded by many as the entrepreneur of the century, Walton had a reputation for caring about his customers, his employees (or “associates” as he referred to them), and the community. In order to maintain its market position in the discount retail business, Wal-Mart executives continue to adhere to the management guidelines Sam developed. Walton was a man of simple tastes and took a keen interest in people. He believed in three guiding principles: 1. Customer value and service; 2. Partnership with its associates; 3. Community involvement.

The Customer — The word “always” can be seen in virtually all of Wal-Mart’s literature. One of Walton’s deepest beliefs was that the customer is always right, and his stores are still driven by this philosophy. When questioned about Wal-Mart’s secrets of success , Walton has been quoted as saying, “It has to do with our desire to exceed our customers’ expectations every hour of every day”.
The Associates — Walton’s greatest accomplishment was his ability to empower, enrich, and train his employees. He believed in listening to employees and challenging them to come up with ideas and suggestions to make the company better. At each of the Wal-Mart stores, signs are displayed which read, “Our People Make the Difference.” Associates regularly make suggestions for cutting costs through their “Yes We Can Sam” program. The sum of the savings generated by the associates actually paid for the construction of a new store in Texas. One of Wal-Mart’s goals was to provide its employees with the appropriate tools to do their jobs efficiently. The technology was not used as a means of replacing existing employees, but to provide them with a means to succeed in the retail market.
The Community — Wal-Mart’s popularity can be linked to its hometown identity. Walton believed that every customer should be greeted upon entering a store, and that each store should be a reflection of the values of its customers and its community. Wal-Mart is involved in many community outreach programs and has launched several national efforts through industrial development grants.

What are the Key Features of Wal-Mart’s Approach to Implementing the Strategy Put Together by Sam Walton — The key features of Wal-Mart’s approach to implementing the strategy put together by Sam Walton emphasizes building solid working relationships with both suppliers and employees, being aware and taking notice of the most intricate details in store layouts and merchandising techniques, capitalizing on every cost saving opportunity, and creating a high performance spirit. This strategic formula is used to provide customers access to quality goods, to make these goods available when and where customers want them, to develop a cost structure that enables competitive pricing , and to build and maintain a reputation for absolute trustworthiness.

Wal-Mart stores operate according to their “Everyday Low Price” philosophy. Wal-Mart has emerged as the industry leader because it has been better at containing its costs which has allowed it to pass on the savings to its customers. Wal-Mart has become a capabilities competitor. It continues to improve upon its key business processes, managing them centrally and investing in them heavily for the long term payback. Wal-Mart has been regarded as an industry leader in testing, adapting, and applying a wide range of cutting-edge merchandising approaches. Walton proved to be a visionary leader and was known for his ability to quickly learn from his competitors’ successes and failures. In fact, the founder of Kmart once claimed that Walton not only copied our concepts, he strengthened them. Sam just took the ball and ran with it.

Wal-Mart has invested heavily in its unique cross-docking inventory system . Cross docking has enabled Wal-Mart to achieve economies of scale which reduces its costs of sales. With this system, goods are continuously delivered to stores within 48 hours and often without having to inventory them. Lower prices also eliminate the expense of frequent sales promotions and sales are more predictable. Cross docking gives the individual managers more control at the store level.

A company owned transportation system also assists Wal-Mart in shipping goods from warehouse to store in less than 48 hours. This allows Wal-Mart to replenish the shelves 4 times faster than its competition. Wal-Mart owns the largest and most sophisticated computer system in the private sector. It uses a MPP (massively parallel processor) computer system to track stock and movement which keeps it abreast of fast changes in the market. Information related to sales and inventory is disseminated via its advanced satellite communications system.

Wal-Mart has leveraged its volume buying power with its suppliers. It negotiates the best prices from its vendors and expects commitments of quality merchandise. The purchasing agents of Wal-Mart are very focused people. Their highest priority is making sure everybody at all times in all cases knows who’s in charge, and it’s Wal-Mart. Even though Wal-Mart was tough in negotiating for absolute rock-bottom prices, the company worked closely with suppliers to develop mutual respect and to forge long-term partnerships that benefited both parties. Wal-Mart built an automated reordering system linking computers between Procter & Gamble (P&G) and its stores and distribution centers. The computer system sends a signal from a store to P&G identifying an item low in stock. It then sends a resupply order, via satellite, to the nearest P&G factory, which then ships the item to a Wal-Mart distribution center or directly to the store. This interaction between Wal-Mart and P&G is a win-win proposition because with better coordination, P&G can lower its costs and pass some of the savings on to Wal-Mart.

Sam Walton received national attention through his “Buy America” policy. Through this plan, Wal-Mart encourages its buyers and merchandise managers to stock stores with American-made products. In a 1993 annual report management stated the program demonstrates a long-standing Wal-Mart commitment to our customers that we will buy American-made products whenever we can if those products deliver the same quality and affordability as their foreign-made counterparts.

Environmental concerns are important to Wal-Mart. A prototype store was opened in Lawrence, Kansas, which was designed to be environmentally friendly. The store contains environmental education and recycling centers. Wal-Mart has also adopted the low cost theme for its facilities. All offices, including the corporate headquarters, are built economically and furnished simply. To conserve energy, temperature controls are connected via computer to headquarters. Through these programs, Wal-Mart shows its concern for the community.

Wal-Mart has been led from the top but run from the bottom, a strategy developed by Sam Walton and carried on by a small group of senior executives led by CEO David Glass. Although recent growth has led Wal-Mart to add more management layers, senior executives strive to maintain its unique culture. This culture, described as “one part Southern Baptist evangelism, one part University of Arkansas Razorback teamwork, and one part IBM hardware” has worked to Wal-Mart’s advantage.

Just how Successful is Wal-Mart? — A forecast of Wal-Mart’s income for the period 1995-2000, considering increases of 30.6% in Net Sales, 27.7% in Operating Expenses, and 52.3% in Interest Debt (a level which is below Wal-Mart’s historically compounded growth rate of 55.6%) indicates that the company should continue to report gains each year until 2000.

Growth on Sales — According to most analysts and company projections, sales should approximate $115 billion by 1996, representing an increase of 30.6% as compared to 1995. If the company continues at this pace, sales should reach $334 billion by the year 2000. The growth on sales that Wal-Mart reported during the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s will be difficult to repeat, especially considering the ever-changing marketplace in which it competes. In an interview, Bill Fields, President of the Stores Division, said “Wal-Mart is now seeing price pressure from companies that once assiduously avoided taking it on. These include specialty retailers such as Limited, category killers like Home Depot and Circuit City, and catalog companies like Spiegel. I think everybody prices off of Wal-Mart. You’ve got Limited reaching levels we’d thought they’d never get to. The result is that everyday low prices are getting lower”.

In addition, the baby-boomers are reaching their peak earnings years, when financial and personal priorities change. Thus, savings, not spending, will likely take precedence because most baby-boomers are approaching retirement.

Debt Position — Based on Wal-Mart’s position in 1994, which was considered a year of expansion for the company, (Wal-Mart added 103 new discount stores, 38 “Supercenters”, 163 warehouse clubs, and 94,000 new associates) interest debt increased 52.3%. The cost paid by Wal-Mart to finance property plants and equipment forced the company to increase long term debt by 4.6 times during the period 1991-1995. Long term debt for 1995 is $7.9 billion. If Wal-Mart continues its expansion plans based on more debt acquisition at 1994 levels, the company may not attain forecasted gains by as early as 1998.

Operating Expenses — Operating expenses will be a key strategic issue for Wal-Mart in order to maintain its position in the market. The challenge is how to run more stores with less operating expenses. According to Bill Fields, “. . . the goal is to increase sales per square foot and drive operating costs down yet another notch”. Trends indicate that operating expenses have been growing at a rate of 27.7% in recent years. However, Wal-Mart should reap the benefits of its investments in high technology, and be able to operate more stores without increasing its expenses.

Cost of Sales — Cost of sales historically has been equal to the level of sales. If the company continues to take advantage of its buying power, Wal-Mart can expect to lower its cost of sales.

Wal-Mart’s future will depend on how well the company manages its expansion plans. For the coming years, the company will need to justify its expansion plans with consistent growth in sales, in order to offset the increases in debt interest and operating expenses.

What Problems are Ahead for Wal-Mart? What Risks? — Throughout the 1980s, Wal-Mart’s strategic intent was to unseat industry leaders Sears and Kmart, and become the largest retailer in the U.S. Wal-Mart accomplished this goal in 1991. But Wal-Mart’s current strong competitive position and its past rapid growth performance can’t guarantee that the company will remain as the industry leader or maintain its strong business position in the future. Carol Farmer, a retail consultant, told the Wall Street Journal that, “One little bad thing can wipe out lots of good things”. Every move in its business operation ought to be well thought-out and executed.

Wal-Mart needs to address two major areas in order to maintain or to capture an even stronger long term business position: 1) Single-business strategy — Wal-Mart’s success is mainly based on its concentration of a single-business strategy. This strategy has achieved enviable success over the last three decades without relying upon diversification to sustain its growth and competitive advantages . Given its current position in the industry, Wal-Mart may want to continue its single-business strategy and to push hard to maintain and increase market share. However, there is risk in this strategy, because concentration on a single-business strategy is similar to “putting all of a firm’s eggs in one industry basket”. In other words, if the retail industry stagnates due to an economic downturn, Wal-Mart might have difficulty achieving past profit performance.

Also, if Wal-Mart continues to follow Sam Walton’s vision of expansion, Wal-Mart will reach its peak in the very near future. When it does, its growth will start to slow down and the company will need to turn its strategic attention to diversification for future growth .

2) Social responsibility — Retail stores can compete on several bases: service, price, exclusivity, quality, and fashion. Wal-Mart has been extremely successful in competing in the retail industry by combining service, price, and quality. However, other merchants may object to Wal-Mart’s entry into their community. Because of its ability to out-price smaller competitors, Wal-Mart’s stores threaten smaller neighborhood stores which can only survive if they offer merchandise or services unavailable anywhere else. This makes it very hard for small businesses, such as “mom-and-pop” enterprises, to survive. They, therefore, fight to keep Wal-Mart from entering their locales. Numerous studies conducted in different states both support and criticize Wal-Mart. Nevertheless, Wal-Mart did drive local merchants out of business when it opened up stores in the same neighborhood. As a result, more and more rural communities are waging war against Wal-Mart’s entrance into their market. Besides protesting and signing petitions to attempt to stop Wal-Mart’s entry into their community, the opposition’s efforts can even be found on The Internet. Gig Harbor, a small town in Washington, recently started a World Wide Web page entitled “Us Against the Wal.” The town’s neighborhood association promised that they “will fight them [Wal-Mart] tooth and nail”.

The increasing opposition indicates that the road ahead for Wal-Mart may not be as smooth as Wal-Mart’s annual report would entail. This requires Wal-Mart to rethink its expansion strategy since it would not be profitable to operate in an unfriendly community.

How Big Will Wal-Mart be in Five Years if all Continues to go Well? — Before he died, Sam Walton expressed his belief that by the year 2000 Wal-Mart should be able to double the number of stores to about 3,000 and to reach sales of $125 billion annually. Walton predicted that the four biggest sources of growth potential would be the following: 1. expanding into states where it had no stores; 2. continuing to saturate its current markets with new stores; 3. perfecting the Supercenter format to expand Wal-Mart’s retailing reach into the grocery and supermarket arena — a market with annual sales of about $375 billion; 4. moving into international markets.

Wal-Mart Supercenters represent leveraging on customer loyalty and procurement muscle in order to create a new domestic growth vehicle for the company. With few locations left in the U.S. to put a new Sam’s Club or traditional Wal-Mart, the Supercenter division has emerged as the domestic vehicle for taking Wal-Mart to $100 billion in sales. Before the Supercenter, Walton experimented with a massive “Hypermart”, encompassing more than 230,000 square feet in size. The idea failed. Customers complained that the produce was not fresh or well-presented and that it was difficult to find things in a store so big that inventory clerks had to wear roller skates. One of Walton’s philosophies was that traveling on the road to success required failing at times.

As a result of the unsuccessful experiment, Walton launched a revised concept: the Supercenter, a combination discount and grocery store that was smaller than the Hypermart. The Supercenter was intended to give Wal-Mart improved drawing power in its existing markets by providing a one-stop shopping destination. Supercenters would have the full array of general merchandise found in traditional Wal-Mart stores, as well as a full-scale supermarket, delicatessen, fresh bakery, and other specialty shops like hair salons, portrait studios, dry cleaners, and optical wear departments. Supercenters would measure 125,000 to 150,000 square feet, and target locations where sales per store of $30 to $50 million annually were feasible.

Walton’s prediction was right on target. The Supercenter division more than doubled in size during 1993, then doubled again in 1994. Supercenters, once thought of as risky because of slim profit margins on the food side, will most likely make Wal-Mart the nation’s largest grocery retailer within the next five to seven years.

Expanding overseas, Wal-Mart moved into the international market in 1991 through a joint-venture partnership with CIFRA S.A. de C.V., Mexico’s leading retailer. Since then the company has entered Canada, Hong Kong, mainland China, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Brazil. The Wal-Mart International Division was officially formed in 1994 to manage the company’s international growth. By the year 2000, analysts expect Wal-Mart to be a huge international retailer, with numerous locations in South America, Europe, and Asia.

Conclusion — The ever-changing market presents continuing challenges to retailers. First and foremost, retailers must recognize the strong implications of a “buyers’ market”. Customers are being offered a wide choice of shopping experiences, but no one operation can capture them all. Therefore, it is incumbent upon management to define their target market and direct their energies toward solving that specific market’s problems. Technology, demographics, consumer attitudes, and the advent of a global economy are all conspiring to rewrite the rules for success. Success in the next decade will depend upon the level of understanding retailers have about the new values, expectations, and needs of the customer. If Wal-Mart continues its customer-driven culture, it should remain a retail industry leader well into the next century.

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Communication, Culture, Organizational Model and Style: A Case Study of Walmart

The goal of this paper is to explore and explain the organizational culture – the foundational assumptions, shared values and system of beliefs – that guide the behavior of the employees of Walmart and govern the way they see themselves within the organization, relate to one another, and interact with their customers and the outside world. With an understanding of Walmart’s organizational culture, this paper also seeks to highlight the various types or styles of communication that are utilized within this organization, the organizational structure that influences how decisions are made through its hierarchy and determines the distribution of functions or roles within the organization, and finally the different coalitions or alliances that have emerged as a result of the communication styles and power dynamics within and outside Walmart.

Organizational Culture

Walmart’s organizational culture is believed to have evolved from the fundamental assumption that “a retailer could help people save money and live better” (see Working at Walmart http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart ). This idea of improving the living conditions of the local population by providing a unique customer service experience that is tailored towards offering customers a variety of goods and services that are both affordable and appealing, leading to the creation of a pathway for the revitalization of economies through manufacturing, job employment opportunities and retailing, constitute the bedrock on which the primary motivation of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, is anchored. Sam Walton, through his leadership and worldview – his personal experiences of the world – initiated the Walmart corporate culture , and was “influential in shaping the behavior and values of others {…}, creating the conditions for new culture formation” (Schein, 2010, p. 3).

From this perspective, it becomes logical and plausible to argue that there is a connection between leadership and culture within this organizational setting. “What we end up calling a culture in such systems,” according to Schein (2010), “is usually the result of the embedding of what a founder or leader has imposed on a group that has worked out. In this sense, culture is ultimately created, embedded, evolved, and ultimately manipulated by leaders” (p. 3) to influence leadership and employee performance within the organization. The organizational culture at Walmart, just as it is in any other corporate organization with similar history and basic assumptions, could be understood in light of Schein’s (2010) definition of the culture of a group as encompassing “a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, which has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (p. 18).

An analysis of available archival information at Walmart suggests that new Walmart executives and associates are first of all immersed into the life stream, the fundamental assumption that “a retailer could help people save money and live better.” This foundational belief guides and informs their actions, behaviors, relationships, and attitudes within and outside the organization. However, holding such assumption alone does not in itself constitute a corporate culture . Something else is needed – that is, how to bring idealistic assumptions to fruition or reality. The organizational culture at Walmart could therefore be understood from a “praxis” perspective which underscores an accepted practice. This explanation is best captured by Walmart’s definition of culture: “Our culture is how we work together to fulfill that purpose [purpose here refers to helping people save money and live better].” (See Working at Walmart http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart ). To realize its dream in a collaboratively engaging manner, Walmart adopts four core values that, when put together, form what could be described as the organizational work culture at Walmart. These values are: “service to customers, respect for the individual, striving for excellence, and acting with integrity” (See Working at Walmart http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart ).

In the table below, effort is made to summarize the organizational work culture at Walmart, the theory of change underlying each of the component parts of the Walmart’s organizational culture, as well as the descriptions or the constituting elements of each of the organizational culture.

The analysis of the data collected from this ethnographic study of Walmart-Employees (or associates) conflict, using three main techniques: observation, interviewing, and archival research, revealed that there is a discrepancy or dichotomy between what Walmart upholds as its organizational work culture (the above mentioned fundamental beliefs and core values) and how Walmart’s employees or associates are actually being treated by Walmart’s chain of command and management. This discrepancy between beliefs and actions has generated a lot of criticisms from various interest groups against Walmart, caused different communication styles to emerge within the organization, created a vacuum for alliance building and coalitions at different levels, and has caused internal strain or polarization leading to a high number of lawsuits and penalties against Walmart by its own associates.

While the subsequent sections of this paper highlight these communication styles, discuss the chain of command or organizational structure responsible for policymaking and its implementation, and the types of coalitions or alliances that have developed within and outside Walmart, it is important to now outline where exactly the discrepancies are located and the particular actions that seem to go against the traditional core values or beliefs of Walmart.

The data analysis revealed that the main problem underscoring the continuous escalation of the Walmart-Employees conflict has to do with Walmart’s failure to address the major concerns of its associates – their perceptions that some of Walmart’s actions toward them are contrary to their organizational core values: service to customers, respect for the individual, striving for excellence, and acting with integrity.

Service to Customers: In the course of this research, it was found that there is a discrepancy between Walmart’s claim that it is supporting associates so they can best serve customers and the associates’ perception of Walmart’s treatment toward them, and how this treatment has affected their relationship with customers, their socio-economic status, and their psychological well-being. It was also discovered that the claim Walmart holds about giving to the local community in ways that connect to customers is to some degree in contradiction with the perception of some community members toward Walmart’s contribution to community development.

Respect for the Individual: The analysis of the data collected showed that Walmart’s affirmation that its management values and recognizes the contributions of every associate is not in alignment with what some of the associates experience in their interactions with management. The question that emerged during the research was: Isn’t it one thing to recognize one’s contributions, and another thing to value those contributions? Walmart’s associates believe that their hard work and efforts to help Walmart achieve its organizational goals are acknowledged by the management because of the enormous profits Walmart is accumulating and its continuous expansion around the world. However, their contributions to the discussion on how to improve their well-being as employees are not being recognized and valued. From this perspective, they have decided to openly resist any agenda that will make them become a means to an end in lieu of becoming an end in themselves. Walmart’s associates also argue that although Walmart believes that its management – top-level and middle-level leaders – communicates by listening to all associates and sharing ideas and information , in reality, however, the attitudes and behaviors of management regarding the interests and ideas of the associates on how to improve their well-being as employees are against the very core values and beliefs Walmart claims to uphold.

Striving for Excellence: Another domain where Walmart’s associates perceive discrepancies are in the areas of innovation and team work . The findings revealed that the fundamental belief or value that obliges both management and associates to innovate by trying new ways of doing things and improving every day is implemented and enforced to the extent to which it serves the interests of Walmart’s leadership and management, while denigrating the interests, and disregarding the voices, of the associates. The various grievances underlying the associates’ claims and struggle are outlined in the table below. However, one of the main questions that arose during the data collection and analysis was: if Walmart upholds a fundamental value to innovate by trying new ways of doing things and improving every day, why is its leadership against the employees’ request for unionization of Walmart’s associates? There is also a perceived discrepancy between the core value of working as a team by helping each other and asking for help and the responses and reactions of Walmart’s leadership and management regarding the stated needs and interests of the associates.

Acting with Integrity: There is also a growing concern about the existing dichotomy between the obligation to act with integrity – that is, to be honest by telling the truth, to be fair and open when dealing with associates, suppliers and other stakeholders , or to be objective by making decisions based solely on Walmart’s interests while operating in compliance with all laws and policies , and the perceived unfair, unjust and illegal treatment of some associates by Walmart’s management as well as the perceived discriminatory practices at Walmart, some of which have ended in lawsuits and penalties against the company. The question that emerged during this study was: how would Walmart justify that its leadership and management are acting with integrity and based on the law when some associates and new recruits claim they have been discriminated against or when the management has been accused of indulging in unlawful practices against the associates – practices ranging from unanticipated closure of stores to the reduction of work hours and low wages for certain associates, and then to the threats of firing outspoken associates.

The table below shows in detail the perceived discrepancies (as expressed by the Associates) between Walmart’s cultural norms and the actual practices, behaviors and attitudes of its leadership and management toward the associates. Also, the table highlights the human needs of both Walmart Associates and the management. Exploring the understanding of the Walmart-Employees conflict beyond the initial position and “interest identification to a deeper level, the human needs level,” the human needs model utilized in the table below will help both the associates and management to identify “shared human needs” (Katz, Lawyer, and Sweedler, 2011, p. 109). This table is important in the sense that it serves as a prerequisite to understanding the communication types or styles that have emerged within and outside Walmart.

Types of Communication Utilized within the Organization

In order to respond to the above stated grievances and reinforce its goals, Walmart, for over a decade, has been experimenting with different styles of communication. The research findings on the various styles of communication employed by both Walmart management and Walmart Associates with respect to the unionization conflict revealed that:

Walmart leadership and management have utilized inconsistent tactics or styles at different times and levels and for various purposes to try to either ignore the unionization conflict, suppress or confront it, persuade interested associates and other stakeholders to give up their demands through coercion, or make some concessions with the intention of maintaining the status quo.
Walmart associates have also moved from one style of communication to another since the start of the unionization conflict. Although it appears that the main body of Walmart associates, Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) – a group that is championing the unionization cause, has, since its June 2011 official public rollout (See Worker Center Watch, 2014), adopted a clear, easily identifiable confrontational styles or patterns of communication, many other associates however are still employing yielding styles of communication because of the concerns or fear that confrontational approaches could lead to the termination of their jobs.

For a better understanding of both the communication styles of Walmart leadership/management and their associates, this study adopted a combination of the “Two-dimensional model of conflict” (Blake and Mouton, 1971, as cited in Katz et al., 2011, pp. 83-84) and the Rahim (2011) classification of conflict styles (as cited in Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 146). These conflict styles are: avoiding, dominating (competing or controlling), obliging (accommodating), compromising, and integrating (collaborating). As will be explained below, both the Walmart management and the associates “change their styles/approaches in order to adapt to the demands of new situations” (Katz et al., 2011, p. 84). For each of these conflict styles, the corresponding stakeholder’s communication tactic is highlighted.

The data collected during the interviews and archival research revealed that at the beginning of the Walmart-Associates conflict over the unionization of the Walmart employees, Walmart leadership adopted a tactic of avoidance. The leadership and management of Walmart avoided engaging in direct discussions on the unionization issue with its associates as well as ignored their underlying interests and goals. According to Steve Adubato (2016), “Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott (who served as the third chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., from January 2000 to January 2009) apparently felt that responding to the criticism would give it added validity” (para. 3). Walmart leadership’s response to the early stage of this conflict – their avoidance strategy – subscribes to the noncommittal attitude of denying the existence of the conflict. “By pretending that the conflict does not exist, the high-power party is freed from dealing with the low-power party” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 151). This is evident in the alleged “refusal to address the concerns of Walmart associates” by the different levels of Walmart’s hierarchy, beginning from the retired Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Rob Walton, the oldest child of Sam and Helen Walton, to the members of the Board of Directors, and then to the executive management, to whom members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) and their allies claim they have repeatedly reached out individually and collectively to listen to their concerns (See Making Change at Walmart, The Walmart 1 Percent: History of outreach by Walmart associates and allies to Walmart, retrieved from http://walmart1percent.org/). One of the questions this research sought to investigate was: do the disadvantages of avoiding the expressed unionization goals of Walmart’s associates outweigh its advantages? The findings of this research revealed two important propositions. The one is that avoiding the concerns of the associates is in contradiction with Walmart’s organizational culture. The other is that by avoiding their expressed needs, interests and goals, Walmart associates feel the leadership and management do not care about their well-being, and do not value their contributions to the organization, which in turn set “the stage for a later explosion or backlash” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 152) that has introduced friction in the management – associate relationship.

Dominating / Competing or Controlling:

Another style that emerged from the research on the Walmart-Associates conflict is the tactic of domination, competition and control. Since avoiding the associates’ concerns does not in any way eliminate the presence of the issues underlying the conflict, it was revealed in the research that many associates decided to come together, regroup, form in-store associations, and garner support and momentum from external interested groups/unions, while leveraging on superordinate laws/policies formulated to protect employee rights and seizing every opportunity and means to assert their claims and concerns. This competing move by the Walmart associates confirms the basic assumptions underlying the concept of the dominating style of communication. According to Hocker and Wilmot (2014): “a dominating, competitive, or ‘power over’ style is characterized by aggressive and uncooperative behavior – pursuing your own concerns at the expense of another. People with dominating styles attempt to gain power by direct confrontation, by trying to ‘win’ the argument without adjusting to the other’s goals and desires. […] The conflict is seen as a battleground, where winning is the goal, and concern for the other is of little or no importance” (p. 156).

A careful examination of the umbrella organization of the Walmart associates, Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), revealed that in their conflict with Walmart, Our Walmart is so fixed to, and focused on, its demands while trying to win the battle through various competing strategies and tactics. These tactics include but not limited to: “filing frivolous lawsuits, publishing slanted studies, issuing demand letters to employers, conducting boisterous and disruptive protests in stores and on the street, personally attacking board members and executives and leveling slanderous accusations in the media” (See Worker Center Watch, Our Walmart Tactics, Retrieved from http://workercenterwatch.com ). It is believed that these communication styles constitute part of an encompassing, global campaign strategy that includes the use of civil disobedience (Eidelson, 2013; Carpenter, 2013), organizing and going on strikes (Carpenter, 2013; Resnikoff 2014; Jaffe 2015; Bode 2014), social media, dedicated websites, and other online platforms, designed to publicly persuade or coerce Walmart to yield to the demands of its associates.

The research data revealed that instead of yielding to Our Walmart’s demands and being intimidated by its public campaigns and other tactics, Walmart has employed different styles to communicate, persuade, and coerce its associates not to unionize. Agitation for freedom of association or unionization and participating in Our Walmart-led strikes are frequently met with punishment from Walmart management in the form of threats of, or actual, store closures, layoffs, reduction of work hours or loss of benefits. For example, “when the meat department of a Walmart store in Texas became the retailer’s only operation in the United States to unionize, back in 2000, Walmart announced plans two weeks later to use prepackaged meat and eliminate butchers at that store and 179 others” (Greenhouse, 2015, para. 1). Similarly, it is believed that the closing of the Walmart store in Jonquiere, Quebec in 2004 shortly after the store associates were unionized, and the move in April 2015 to close a store in Pico Rivera, California, along with four other stores, is part of a broader aggressive strategy to fight the unionization agenda of Walmart associates (Greenhouse, 2015; Masunaga, 2015).

Also, the official complaint of the National Labor Relations Board, Office of the General Counsel, against Walmart on January 15, 2014 confirms the dominating and controlling conflict style utilized by Walmart to deter associates from forming or joining a union. “During two national television news broadcasts and in statements to employees at Walmart stores in California and Texas, Walmart unlawfully threatened employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes and protests. At stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington, Walmart unlawfully threatened, disciplined, and/or terminated employees for having engaged in legally protected strikes and protests. At stores in California, Florida, and Texas, Walmart unlawfully threatened, surveilled, disciplined, and/or terminated employees in anticipation of or in response to employees’ other protected concerted activities” (NLRB, Office of Public Affairs, 2015).

In addition to its aggressive move against any attempts to unionize its associates, Walmart mandated its Labor Relations Team to develop “A Manager’s Toolbox To Remaining Union Free,” a training kit that fiercely opposes and condemns unionization of the associates while providing convincing evidences and reasons why managers should say no to Our Walmart and encourage other associates to reject the idea of unionization. All managers are required to receive this training which empowers them to be Walmart’s “first line of defense against unionization” and provides them with the skills to be “constantly alert for efforts by a union to organize the associates” as well as to be constantly alert to any signs associates are interested in a union” (Walmart Labor Relations Team, 1997). When there were signs of union activities organized by Our Walmart or any other union, the managers were required to immediately report such signs and activities to the Labor Relations Hotline, also known as the Union Hotline (Walmart Labor Relations Team, 2014; Human Rights Watch, 2007). Similarly, new hires since 2009 are given an orientation to indoctrinate them into the anti-unionization culture and ideology of Walmart (Greenhouse, 2015), thereby deterring them from pursuing such goals that will leave them with regrettable consequences. So, new associates start off their work with feelings of fear of retaliation, should they associate themselves with pro-unionization elements.

After a reflection on the dominating styles of Walmart and the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), one important question emerged: what are the advantages and disadvantages of these tactics? Have these communication strategies served them well? The research finding on this style is in alignment with Hocker and Wilmot (2014)’s theoretical assumption on the dominating style of communication which holds that “it is useful if the external goal is more important than the relationship with the other person, such as in a short-term, nonrepeating relationship” (p. 157). But Walmart is bound in a long-term relationship with its associates, and so, “conflict waged competitively can encourage one party to go underground and use covert means to make the other pay. Domination tends to reduce all conflicts to two options – ‘either you are against me or with me,’ which limits one’s roles to ‘wining’ or ‘losing’” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 157). Sadly, this is true of the current hostile relationship between Walmart and members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart).

Accommodating or Obliging:

Another important communication style that is being used in the Walmart-Associates conflict is accommodating or obliging. For Katz et al. (2011), accommodating means “giving in, appeasing, and avoiding conflict” (p. 83) either to maintain the relationship or because of the fear of the consequences or impact losing out in the conflict will have on the accommodator. Our research data analysis reveals that many Walmart associates prefer to yield to Walmart’s anti-unionization rules to joining and participating in the pro-unionization activities of OUR Walmart, not because of relationship building, but because of the fear of losing their jobs, which, of course, will have a devastating impact on them and their families. Many people have chosen the accommodating stance in history as seen in the mythology of exodus where some Israelites preferred to yield to Pharaoh’s ordinances and return to Egypt to avoid hunger and dying in the desert, and as was evident during slavery – some slaves wanted to remain under the yoke of their masters because of the fear of the unknown -, or as utilized by many people in everyday relationship, especially in marriages.

It is important to note that some of the associates truly and secretly subscribe to the expressed interests of Our Walmart – that Walmart should improve the well-being of, and respect, associates -, however, they are afraid of speaking out openly. As Hocker and Wilmot (2014) affirm, “one may […] yield to someone else […] grudgingly and bitterly, [and from a perspective of] angry, hostile compliance” (p. 163). This assertion is confirmed in some of the statements that Walmart’s associates made during interviews. “I’m here because of my children, otherwise, I would have left Walmart or joined Our Walmart to fight for our rights.” “As a part-time associate, if you complain or express your views about how you’re treated and disrespected, your hours will be reduced, and you may be the next in line to get fired. So, I prefer to keep quiet to keep my job.” Yielding or conceding to the anti-unionization rules of Walmart is a common practice for many associates. Barbara Gertz, an overnight Walmart stocker in Denver, is reported by Greenhouse (2015) to have said that: “People are scared to vote for a union because they’re scared their store will be closed” (Para. 2).

For this communication style, it was also important to know how advantageous accommodating could be for the Walmart-Associates conflict. The research finding reveals that the accommodating style of communication or obliging was utilized to “minimize losses” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 163). For the associate-accommodators, yielding is a lesser evil when compared to joining Our Walmart which could lead to termination of employment. Although Walmart may be satisfied in the short-run when these associates are obedient, in the long-run, there may be some form of resentment and low enthusiasm toward their work which may have a significant impact on their overall work performance.

Compromising:

Our research also reveals that in addition to the avoiding and dominating styles of communication and conflict utilized by Walmart, the organization has made some compromising decisions aimed at improving the well-being of its associates, saving face, and rebuilding confidence and reputation in the public eye. These compromising gestures include:

improving its scheduling practices by offering some employees fixed schedules each week—many employees had complain[ed] that their work schedules change vastly week-to-week (Greenhouse, 2015);
agreeing to raise its base pay to $9 in 2015 and $10 in 2016 – a move that would mean raises for 500,000 workers (Greenhouse,, 2015);
improving its Open Door Policy by ensuring that “… any associate, at any time, at any level, in any location, may communicate verbally or in writing with any member of management up to the president, in confidence, without fear of retaliation…” (Walmart Labor Relations Team, 1997, p. 5);
initiating inclusive and trusting communication channel for both management and associates by redesigning an intranet and launching walmartone.com in September 2012 (Kass, 2012);
paying millions of compensations for accusations of discrimination, illegal termination of some members of Our Walmart, and other related violations of labor laws like wage law violations, inadequate health care, exploitation of workers, and the retailer’s anti-union stance (Work Place Fairness, 2016; Riper, 2005);
taking a lot of steps to increase employee diversity in the organization;
establishing the Global Ethics Office in Bentonville, Arkansas, that formulates and educates both the management and associates about Walmart’s code of ethical conduct, and also provides a confidential system / process for associates to report what “they feel might be a violation of ethical conduct, policy or law” (Global Ethics Office, www.walmartethics.com.

With respect to the gestures of compromise from the other side of the aisle, it is important to note that Our Walmart and its partner, United Food and Commercial Workers, have given up some of its aggressive and destructive strategies, partly as a sign of trade-offs for something in return on the part of Walmart, and mostly in order to comply with court orders (See appendix for the court injunctions). The most important and significant compromise that is worth highlighting in this final research report is the sudden decision made by Our Walmart to desist from negotiating “contracts on behalf of Walmart workers, but to focus instead on helping “members benefit from federal labor laws that protect workers from retaliation for engaging in collective discussion and action” (Steven Greenhouse, 2011). The commitment not to act as a legal union representing Walmart associates is reflected in the legal disclaimer that Our Walmart posted on its website and social media pages: “UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Walmart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Walmart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Walmart publicly commit to adhere to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of its employees” (Our Walmart, Legal Disclaimer: http://forrespect.org/). As a comprehensive set of trade-offs decisions, Our Walmart has agreed to desist from the following activities:

“entering onto or inside Walmart’s private property to engage in activities such as picketing, patrolling, parading, demonstrations, ‘flash mobs,’ handbilling, solicitation, and manager confrontations; or
entering onto or inside Walmart’s private property without permission or authorization from Walmart for any purpose other than shopping for and/or purchasing Walmart merchandise” (Worker Center Watch: Founding, Retrieved from http://workercenterwatch.com ; Court of Benton County, Arkansas Civil Division, 2013).

The different compromise gestures made by Walmart and Our Walmart with its allies are characteristic of the compromising style of communication or conflict. By making the above outlined compromises, both Walmart and Our Walmart “assume that a win / win solution is not possible and adopt a negotiating stance that involves a little bit of winning and a little bit of losing with respect to both the goals and the relationships of the involved parties, with persuasion and manipulation dominating the style” (Katz et al., 2011, p. 83). After reflecting on this compromising style of conflict, it was important to explore whether this style is more advantageous to the two main parties involved in this conflict than any other conflict style, for example, the integrating or collaborating style. The research finding revealed that the above compromises only served to ‘reinforce a power balance … used to achieve temporary or expedient settlements in time-pressured situations” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, pp. 162) since the other tactics – avoidance, domination, and accommodation – failed to put a pause to the conflict.

However, since compromising could be seen as a sign of loss, and given that Our Walmart would not want to easily give up on what they refer to as a human rights struggle , the conflict could now be described as gradually moving to the highest point on its ladder of escalation. And in addition, it appears that the parties are stuck in these conflict styles or have gotten “frozen into a conflict style rather than developing style flexibility” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, pp. 184-185). Another question that emerged from the interviews and archival research is: why are the parties doing the same thing over and over again since the manifestation of this conflict? Why are they frozen into holding their positions without any sign of flexibility? Why is Walmart not willing to give up its anti-unionization fight? And why is Our Walmart not willing to give up its aggressive campaign and fight against Walmart? The research findings revealed that the best answer to these questions lies in the differences between the concepts of power, rights and interests (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 108 – p. 110). It was found that the focus for this conflict has shifted from interests to rights and then to power; and the escalated nature of the Walmart-Our Walmart conflict confirms that “an overemphasis on power is symptomatic of a distressed system” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 110).

Integrating or Collaborating:

What then should be done to reverse the wheel of this conflict escalation? Many people would be quick to argue that restoring the labor rights of Walmart associates through the formal legal system is necessary to resolving the dispute. Based on the findings of this research, I believe that the rights-based processes of dispute resolution are necessary since the conflict involves rights-based issues such as sex-discrimination, labor laws violation, and other related legal issues. However, because of the long-term relationship that normally exists between employers and their employees, the rights-based processes are not sufficient to resolving the underlying issues in the Walmart-Associates conflict. For this reason, it is suggested in this research to shift the emphasis from the power-and rights-based processes to interests-based processes of conflict resolution. Just as Hocker and Wilmot (2014) say, “when we solve a dispute based on interests, the goals and desires of the parties are the key elements … with rights and power playing smaller but still important roles” (p. 109).

But, has the interests-based communication style been utilized by any of the parties in this conflict? The data collected through interviews, archival studies and other research methods that constitute the foundation on which this final report is based revealed that Walmart and Our Walmart have not yet transitioned to an integrating or collaborating style of communication. Walmart and Our Walmart with its partners have not yet adopted a “win/win posture” that ensures that “both parties to the conflict achieve their personal goals [and act] not only on behalf of their self-interest but on behalf of the opposing party’s interests as well” (Katz et al., 2011, p. 83). Even though this research acknowledges the stated efforts made by Walmart by creating the Global Ethics office, a system that is aimed at providing a confidential and anonymous reporting process and helping associates to raise concerns and speak up about perceived or actual violations of ethical conducts and policies (Global Ethics Office, www.walmartethics.com); and although the research finding is reminiscent of Walmart’s compromising stance on strengthening its Open Door policy, a system and a process that promote a working atmosphere which encourages each associate to express their thoughts and feelings to management without fear of retaliation (Walmart Labor Relations Team, 1997). It is the contention of this research that both the Global Ethics and the Open Door policy are not reflective of a co-authorship of a solution that addresses the underlying issues and concerns in the Walmart – Associates conflict.

Throughout this research, there was no available information about a time when Walmart and Our Walmart co-authored a solution through “mutual problem solving” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 165). Therefore, a process or system through which Walmart and Our Walmart with its partners could collaboratively co-author a solution to their conflict – a joint solution that will meet the core interests and needs of both parties – should be the primary concern of any peace/conflict intervention in this organization, and it should be privileged and welcomed by the leadership and management of Walmart.

Organizational Structure

In order for an organization to function, it must have an organizational structure. An organization should be structured in such a manner to help serve the needs and purposes for which it was created. The same is true of Walmart’s organizational structure. With the aim of saving people money so they can live better , Walmart’s organizational structure could be described as being both hierarchical and functional (Jessica Lombardo, 2015).

Walmart’s hierarchical organizational structure is like a pyramid whereby each employee has a designated superior, except the President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., a position that was held by Doug McMillon at the time of this research. The President and CEO, however, receives guidance and support from the Board of Directors. The research findings revealed the existence of vertical lines of command and authority (Jessica Lombardo, 2015) within Walmart’s organizational structure which allows for a top-down communication pattern. “Directives and mandates coming from the top levels of Walmart’s management are implemented through middle managers down to the rank-and-file employees in the Walmart stores” (Jessica Lombardo, 2015, para. 3). This means that Walmart associates are on the receiving end, being situated at the lowest power line of influence. What is the implication of this structural model for Walmart? It means that “if lower-power people are continually subjected to harsh treatment or lack of goal attainment, they are likely to produce some organized resistance to the higher-power people” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 165). This statement accounts for the increasing struggle by Walmart’s associates to unionize. Unionizing, they believe, could be a way to increase and balance power.

(Jacob Morgan, 2015)

In addition to its hierarchical structure, Walmart also utilizes a functional model of organizational structure. This is a skill-based approach to management. As the word functional implies, employees with similar skills are grouped together in a functional unit to fulfil their specialized functions and report to their unit managers who also report to their superiors in the hierarchy. This is why Walmart designated the positions of President and CEO for each of the four divisions of its business: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, Sam’s Club, and Global eCommerce. Each of the President and CEOs of these business divisions is responsible for their respective functional units and regions, and they report back to Doug McMillon who was the President and CEO, WalMart Stores, Inc. at the time of this research and whose work was guided by the decisions of the Board of Directors, with input from the Shareholders.

(Perez-Montesa, 2012)

From this perspective, it becomes easy to understand how new policies, strategies and directives from the headquarters could be passed on to the managers at various levels to be implemented through the work of the hourly associates at the bottom-low power line of influence. The question that this research sought to answer was: how do Walmart associates perceive themselves in their relationship with their managers? What is their notion of power in general at Walmart? Are their attitudes, feelings, emotions, behaviors and interactions with their managers conditioned by an understanding of power as designated – power conferred by one’s position at work, for example, manager or hourly associate -; or distributive – that is, power as domination -; or integrative – a “relational view of power” focusing on a “both/and” maxim that acknowledges the importance of each person in the relationship, and each has something to offer (see Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 105)?

Although Walmart’s organizational culture emphasizes the importance of an integrative approach to power relationship, the data collected from archival studies, interviews and other observational research revealed that Walmart associates tend to perceive their power relationship with managers not as integrative , but as distributive – which is an abuse of designated power. Almost all the people interviewed feel that their managers are dominating them, which could be interpreted as a forced manipulation “into a low-power role (Siefkes, 2010, as cited in Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 105).

Since people with low-power within an organization cannot achieve their goals without some form of support, the suggestion to unionize the associates appears to be an alternative for most of the Walmart associates, hence the origin of alliance or coalition building between Our Walmart and its supporters.

Emerging Coalitions or Alliances

There are at least two different ways of understanding the various coalitions that have emerged from the Walmart-Associates conflict. The first is to study, identify, and itemize the current alliances supporting each party in this conflict. The second is to examine these alliances from a historical perspective with the aim of understanding how these coalitions developed from what was primarily a dyadic conflict – conflict between Walmart and its associates – to the formation of a “conflict triangle” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 229) when the United Food and Commercial Workers intervened to supposedly support the associates in their unionization efforts, and then to the development of a multiple-layered coalitions on both sides of the aisle. While the first approach is appropriate for a PowerPoint presentation, the second approach is excellent for a dissertation research. This research, however, seeks to take a middle approach by itemizing the major coalitions involved in this conflict and based on the findings articulate briefly how these coalitions developed.

The coalition listed in the table above developed from what was originally a dyad – conflict between Walmart and some of its associates, especially those who, because of perceived injustices, ill-treatment, disrespect, abuses of power on the part of management, and related labor and human rights violations, decided to unionize to balance power and meet their goals. As this conflict continued, and given the dynamics involved in the communication styles and organizational structure within Walmart, some hourly associates were faced with the decision to fight for unionization or to lose their job and face other punishments. This dominating, authoritarian stance on the part of Walmart management and the lack of freedom of expression inherent in the hierarchical organization structure of Walmart caused some associates to be silent about the unionization struggle.

This dynamics led to the emergence of a conflict triangle – the first coalition of Walmart associates between and across Walmart stores. A broader and stronger coalition was formed in November 2010 and launched in June 2011, and previous struggles and campaigns for the unionization of Walmart associates were rebranded and revitalized under the umbrella of Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). This “marked the official public rollout of Our Walmart, which coincided with Walmart’s annual shareholders meeting and several dozen Walmart associates, former associates and union members held a rally … to mark the launch” (Worker Center Watch: Founding, Retrieved from http://workercenterwatch.com). The research revealed that Our Walmart receives its major funding and support from United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), even though members of Our Walmart pay a membership dues of $5 every month.

On the other side of the aisle, Walmart has also attracted the support of many vested interest stakeholders. Because of Walmart’s harsh stance against unions, and its pro-associate and open-door communication policies, organizations like Worker Center Watch – whose mission is to expose the bad intentions of unions-, as well as some elected officials, and other vested interest individuals, have rallied for the support and defense of Walmart.

The various interests that each alliance supporter have brought into the Walmart-Associates conflict contribute enormously to the complexity and intractability of the conflict. Designing dispute resolution systems and processes that will not only consider the interest (s) of these stakeholders, but will also transform the conflict, the parties involved, and the entire organization, becomes the major focus of the next section.

Dispute Systems Design

Building from the previous section of this research where I examined the various communication and conflict styles – avoiding, dominating (competing or controlling), obliging (accommodating), compromising, and integrating (collaborating) -, this section, dispute systems design, seeks to accomplish the following tasks: identify and acknowledge the different types of conflict management systems and processes or techniques currently being utilized at Walmart; evaluate the strengths and/or limitations of the current practice of conflict management; reflect on how the organizational structure might impact efforts to resolve the conflict; and finally recommend that a suitable and proactive dispute system and process be designed for implementation at Walmart.

Existing Conflict Management Systems and Processes

Before a new dispute system or process appropriate for the Walmart-Associates conflict be developed or designed by conflict interveners, it is important to first of all identify and acknowledge the existing “customary practices” (Rogers, Bordone, Sander, and McEwen, 2013) of conflict resolution at Walmart. It has been found by dispute systems designers that a failure to “take these practices into account [will] place the success of the design at risk” (Rogers et al., 2013, p. 88). For this reason, I propose to examine the various dispute resolution systems and processes that Walmart and Our Walmart have utilized and / or are currently using to manage their conflict. Some of these approaches are highlighted and discussed in detail in the Communication and Conflict Styles section of this chapter. My goal in this sub-section is to outline and summarize these systems and processes, while describing how they work, whether they are confidential, enforced, trusted by the parties, and could possibly lead to mutual satisfaction.

The data collected through interviews, archival research and observational study revealed that the dispute resolution processes listed in the table below have been utilized in the Walmart-Associates conflict. Some of them are currently in use.

Assessment of Strengths and Limitations of Existing Practice of Conflict Management

While this research acknowledges the importance of such systems and processes as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the adjudication process, it seeks to underline the fact that these systems and processes are more adversarial in their nature and operation, and aimed at addressing rights-and power –based issues, and do not pay attention to the fundamental needs and interests of Walmart associates which, as revealed in the previous sections, revolve around the concept of dignity – the longing to improve their well-being, be treated well and fairly, and respected by managers. In order to address the needs and interests underlying this conflict, it is important that a system and process of communication that is trusted by Walmart associates should be established at Walmart. As the research data show, the existing communication and conflict resolution systems and processes – especially the Open Door policy and the Global Ethics raising concerns & speaking up online tool – would have served as indispensable tools to proactively prevent, resolve, and transform conflicts among associates, between associates and management, and between middle managers and higher leaders, if these systems were more transparent, trusted by the stakeholders, especially the associates, and independent of, and situated outside, the organizational hierarchical ranks.

How to transform the line or channel of communication in terms of dispute resolution design within Walmart remains a challenge that the dispute systems designer will have to overcome to be able to successfully inspire a change in Walmart. And this change should start by considering the impact of the existing organizational structure on efforts to resolve the current conflict between Walmart and its associates over unionization.

Impacts of Walmart’s Organizational Structure on Efforts to Resolve the Conflict

In order to design a system and / or a process that will meet the needs of Walmart and its associates, it is also important to examine how the organizational structure affects the ongoing resolution efforts. In the previous section, it is noted that Walmart’s leadership base and management are framed using a hierarchical functional structure whereby the communication lines and decision making power influence descend from the top down, leaving the associates at the lowest sphere of influence with a feeling of powerlessness and inferiority. These negative feelings are compounded by the dominating style of communication explained in the previous section. The challenge that a dispute system designer will face at Walmart is how to constructively balance power between the associates and Walmart managers.

The research finding reveals that the hierarchical structure of Walmart has created an atmosphere whereby some managers conceive “power as distributive” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 105), an idea of “power over or against,” or put differently, the “either/or” view of power. For example, when a manager tells an associate who is about to clock out at the end of the work shift: “either you stay and help out for additional one hour (i.e., work over time) or you may be fired the following day.” This is why most associates have raised complaints about being dominated, disrespected, and ill-treated. Because of the long-term relationship goals that exist between the associates and their employer, Walmart, this research recommends that the “either / or” attitude to power be balanced with an “integrative power, both/and power, power with, or collaboration” (Hocker and Wilmot, 2014, p. 131). The integrative model of power sharing is a good way to empower the associates at the bottom of the line of communication and power influence, motivate them to stay engaged, and finally shift the focus from the high power – low power dynamics to a work relationship that is anchored on the principles of interdependence.

Adubato, S. (2016).Why Wal-Mart’s communication fell short. The Star-Ledger . Retrieved from http://www.stand-deliver.com/star_ledger/080527.asp

Carpenter, B. (2013). OUR Walmart workers rally in SF on way to Akansas for the June 7th shareholder meet . San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center . Retrieved from https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/06/06/18738060.php

De Bode, L. (2014). Walmart’s image problem under scrutiny at annual shareholder meeting. America Aljazeera . Retrieved from http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/5/walmart-moms-protestpovertywages.html

Eidelson, J. (2013). Fired Walmart workers arrested in protest at Yahoo headquarters. The Nation . Retrieved from https://www.thenation.com/article/fired-walmart-workers-arrested-protest-yahoo-headquarters/

Greenhouse, S. (2015). How Walmart persuades its workers not to unionize. The Atlantic . Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/06/how-walmart-convinces-its-employees-not-to-unionize/395051/

Hocker, J. L. & Wilmot, W. W. (2014). Interpersonal conflict . New York: McGraw Hill.

Human Rights Watch. (2007). Walmart denies workers basic rights: Weak labor laws perpetuate abuses . Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2007/04/30/us-wal-mart-denies-workers-basic-rights

Jaffe, S. (2015). Workers confront Walmart executives at star-studded company event. Truthout . Retrieved from http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31236-workers-confront-walmart-executives-at-star-studded-company-event

Kass, K. (2012). How do you communicate to 1,000,000+ associates? – Walmart shares its recipe for social success. Simply Communicate . Retrieved from https://www.simply-communicate.com

Katz, N. H., Lawyer, J. W., and Sweedler, M. K. (2011). Communication and conflict resolution . 2 nd . Ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

Lombardo, J. (2015). Walmart: Organizational structure & organizational culture. Panmore Institute . Retrieved from http://panmore.com/walmart-organizational-structure-organizational-culture

Making Change at Walmart. The Walmart 1 percent: History of outreach by Walmart associates and allies to Walmart . Retrieved from http://walmart1percent.org

Masunaga, S. (2015). Pico Rivera Wal-Mart closure a worry for city. Los Angeles Times . Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart-pico-rivera-20150427-story.html

Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer . Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Morgan, J. (2015). The 5 types of organizational structures: Part 1. The hierarchy. Forbes . Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/

Moore, C. W. (2014). The mediation process: Practical strategies for resolving conflict . 4 th ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

NLRB. (2015). NLRB office of the general counsel issues complaint against Walmart. Office of Public Affairs . Retrieved from https://www.nlrb.gov/search/all/walmart

Our Walmart. (n.d.). Legal disclaimer. Retrieved from http://forrespect.org/

Perez-Montesa, L. (2012). Walmart analysis. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/

Resnikoff, N. (2014). Wal-Mart stages upbeat shareholders meeting despite protests. MSNBC.COM . Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/pharrell-headlines-happy-wal-mart-meeting

Riper, T. V. (2005). Wal-Mart stands up to wave of lawsuits. Forbes . Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/09/wal-mart-lawsuits-cx_tvr_1109walmart.html

Rogers, N. H., Bordone, R. C., Sander, F. E. A., & McEwen, C. A. (2013). Designing systems and processes for managing disputes . New York: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership . 4 ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Walmart Global Ethics Office. (2016). Global statement of ethics. Retrieved from www.walmartethics.com

Walmart Labor Relations Team. (1997). A manager’s toolbox to remaining union free . Walmart.

Worker Center Watch. (2014). Our Walmart tactics . Retrieved from http://workercenterwatch.com/worker-centers/our-walmart/

Work Place Fairness. (2016). The good, the bad, and Walmart . Retrieved from http://www.workplacefairness.org/reports/good-bad-wal-mart/wal-mart.php

All questions about this publication should be sent to the author, Basil Ugorji, Ph.D., President and CEO, International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation, New York. The research was conducted in Summer 2016 as part of the author’s Dispute Systems Design coursework at the Conflict Resolution Department of the Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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How Walmart Persuades Its Workers Not to Unionize

America’s largest private employer cares a lot about preventing its workers from organizing, a leaked training video reveals.

A Detailed Case Study on Largest Retail Giant Walmart

Avinash kumar mahato

Walmart is one of the largest retail companies in the world. It was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. The headquarter of this company is situated in the United States. The main aim of the company is to provide consistent discounts, loyal customer service, and fast friendly service.

Walmart’s targets to expand its business in large cities as well as spread retail stores throughout the world. The retail stores of Walmart are divided into four divisions Walmart Supercenters , Discount Stores, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam’s Clubs warehouses. More than 100 million customers are visiting these Walmart Stores.

It is very uncomfortable for small merchants and communities in America. Walmart reaches their town and provides low-cost offers and the best customer service. It is a very bad condition for small merchants and businessmen in America. To downtown merchants, Walmart just comes and takes over all the small stores.

The purchasing power, aggressive marketing and provide low prices to the customer by Walmart, tend to pull out the business by the small merchants. Gradually the dream of Walmart company to become the largest retailer in the world is full filing day-by-day. But, they increase their business by the wrong actions and do not respect the culture or language of the communities.

Timeline Events Of Walmart company Business Model Of Walmart How Walmart Generates Revenue? Walmart’s Marketing Strategy Walmart’s - Flipkart Acquisition

Timeline Events Of Walmart company

The Timeline of events for Walmart company since its inception.

1960: Sam Walton opened his first discount store in Rogers, Arkansas.
1981: Walmart become the largest company in America .
1981: After becoming the largest company in America, they opened their stores in a small Louisiana town.
1983: Walmart opened its stores in Pawhuska and Oklahoma.
1986: Walmart claims that it can restore more than 4000 jobs to American Communities.
1989: They drive a campaign about Environmental awareness that Walmart is aware of land, water, and air.
1990: There are some activist groups against the expansion of Walmart’s store.
31st December 1990: Walmart’s closed its stores in Louisiana.
5th November 1991: Walmart opened up its store in Lowa City.
6th October 1998: Walmart’s founder Sam Walton created a family charity named Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.
June 1999: Walmart takes over the ASDA Chain (a British supermarket chain), now they have stores and depots across the United States.
2001: Walmart becomes the world’s largest retailer, got huge sales of $191 billion.
July 2003: Walmart opened its stores in Beijing and till now they have 22 stores in China and counting.
2006: Walmart closed its stores in Germany.
July 2007: Walmart is operating more than 2500 retail units in Walmart International and more than 500,000 employers in some countries.
2007: By the ending of this year, they got a net $45 billion sales.
2008: Walmart’s opened its wholesale facility in India. This is the first step of Walmart's to sell products through its retail outlets in India.
2018: Walmart acquired Flipkart for $16 billion and owned 77% stake in India’s largest online retailer brand.

Business Model Of Walmart

There are different business models that are followed by successful companies which vary from time to time. The business model of Walmart is based to eliminate the middleman from the distribution channels. The advantage of removing the middleman is to provide benefit to the consumer by providing products at lower costs. The main motive of Walmart's business strategy company is to enter every segment of the market and dominate the market by providing products at a lower price.

The main marketing strategy of the company is based on leading on price, be competitive, and deliver a great experience by the motto of Everyday Lower price.

Walmart has three important segments.

Walmart U.S

Walmart U.S is operated in the U.S. They provide customers with products and services that are not present physically in stores. They provide their services via the website and mobile application . The website of Walmart company has a special feature that provides a third party to sell products. The company operates its business on various platforms like supermarkets, discount stores, neighborhood markets, and e-commerce websites .

Walmart International

Walmart International is also divided into three sections which are retailers, wholesalers, and other small projects. These sections are also divided into various sections such as supermarkets, warehouses, electronics, apparel stores , drug stores, digital retailers, and many more.

It is the online platform of Walmart’s company i.e., “ samsclub.com ”. This club is consists of memberships of the only warehouse retailer operations. This section includes warehouse clubs in the U.S, as well as samsclub.com.

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How Walmart Generates Revenue?

The Revenue Model of Walmart deals with the principle of buying in bulk in one go. In this system, they got a huge discount from the manufacturers. They sell in small quantities at low prices. By reducing the price they have high sales volume through which they have high earning.

Walmart’s generate its revenue by removing the middleman and selling their product directly to the customers and services to business. The two main sources of revenue are Product revenue and Service revenue .

Walmart's revenue in the fiscal year ending January, 2020 was $524 Billion.

Product Revenue

Walmart has a wide range of products in various categories:-

In the grocery category, they have products like Daily needs products, dairy products, frozen foods, bakery, baby products, beauty aids, and many more.
Health and wellness category have products like Pharmacy products and clinical services .
The entertainment category has products like electronics products, toys, cameras, movies, music, videos, and books.
Stationary, paints, and hardware, Automotive, sporting goods, crafts, and seasonal merchandise.
Apparel categories include apparel for men, women, boys, girls, shoes, jewelry, and accessories.
Home appliances include home furnishing services, home decor, livings, and horticulture.

Service Revenue

Walmart also provide services to generate revenue in various fields:-

They provide financial services like prepaid cards , money orders, wire transfer, money transfers, bill payments, and so on.
VUDU movie streaming services: This is a subscription-based OTT platform for buying and renting movies, watching TV shows on demand.
Clinical Services include primary health care, Physical and Wellness checks, Clinical lab tests.
Health Insurance services

Walmart’s Marketing Strategy

Walmart's Business Strategy Analysis is one of the most important parts of any business whether it is small or large. It is very important to make an effective marketing plan to survive in the market . Walmart uses the principle of business marketing penetration method which is used to capture the market by offering lower prices and competitive prices to the consumers.

The company follows cost leadership which makes a huge profit for the company. The company provide low prices to the consumer and treated all the customers as king of the market to maintain the relationship between Walmart and the customer.

According to Walmart, there are four factors that drive the customer’s choice of retailer:

Assortment.

One more reason for the success of Walmart is purchasing products from local manufacturers in a bulk in one go and selling in small quantities. Buying from local manufacturers is the benefit for both. Buying more products from local manufacturers means they are creating more jobs and they reduce the unemployment rate. They should provide good quality products at a lower price to maintain a good relationship with customers and continue to get profits in business.

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Walmart’s - Flipkart Acquisition

Flipkart is one of the leading Indian e-commerce brands. In 2018, Walmart takes 77% stakes in India’s largest e-commerce company Flipkart and makes the world’s biggest purchase of an e-commerce company.

After this acquisition the future of eCommerce industry in India has become more competitive than ever.

The three main reasons for the acquisition of Flipkart are Flipkart’s leadership in some lucrative sections, its payment platform and the company’s talent pool.

Walmart’s world’s largest company is to continue to expand its business by improving its strategies day-by-day. The main reason for the success of Walmart is the EDLP system i.e., Everyday Low Price. They are working aggressively to maintain profits, market shares, and provide low prices to consumers. There are many business ideas to gain profit from a market. All depends on how you play the cards for a profitable business.

Walmart has made acquisitions of 28 organizations and has 16 sub-organization.

Feel free to reach us and share your understanding and views on the case study of Walmart. We would love to hear from you.

What is the business model of Walmart?

The business model of Walmart is based on eliminating the middleman from the distribution channels. The advantage of removing the middleman is to provide benefit to the consumer by providing products at lower costs.

What is the motive behind Walmart's Business Strategy?

The main motive of the Walmart business strategy company is to enter every segment of the market and dominate the market by providing products at a lower price.

What is Walmart's Market Strategy?

How does walmart generate revenue.

The earning model of Walmart deals with the principle of buying in bulk in one go. In this system, they got a huge discount from the manufacturers. Walmart’s generate its revenue by removing the middleman and selling their product directly to the customers and services to business.

What are the main sources of revenue for Walmart?

The two main sources of revenue are:

Product revenue
Service revenue

Is Walmart owned by China?

The Walmart branch in China is majority Chinese-owned. But predominantly it is owned by Sam Walton's many children.

Why is Walmart so cheap?

They sell in small quantities at low prices. By reducing the price they have high sales volume through which they have high earning. Hence, by selling in high volume they can sell it at a cheap price and still gain profit.

What are the sub-organisations under Walmart?

There are 16 sub-organisations of Walmart. Some of them are:

Walmart Labs
Seiyu Group
Walmart Canada

What are the top acquisitions of Walmart?

Walmart has acquired 28 companies. Some top acquisitions are:

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COMMENTS

A Brief History of the Attempts to Unionize Walmart
When the Teamsters tried to organize a Walmart distribution center in Searcy, Arkansas, in 1982, Walton himself told the workers that he'd take away their profit sharing if they voted for the union. Then he went even further. "He told us that if the union got in, the warehouse would be closed," one of those in Searcy related.
How Walmart Persuades Its Workers Not to Unionize
How Walmart Persuades Its Workers Not to Unionize. One former Walmart store manager tells the story that after discovering a pro-union flyer in his store's men's room, he informed company headquarters and within 24 hours, an anti-union SWAT team flew to his store in a corporate jet. And when the meat department of a Walmart store in Texas ...
Wal-Mart and Workers' Rights: A Case Study
The debate over the relationship between legislation and workers' rights continues even into the modern age, most prominently in President Obama's push—as yet unsuccessful—to raise the federal minimum wage at first to $10.10, then later $9, per hour. However, no recent high-profile bill has sought to embrace this challenge as fully as ...
OUR Walmart
Product Description. Abstract. Dan Schlademan, founder and director of OUR Walmart, reflects on his organization's success in taking on the anti-union retail behemoth, Wal-Mart.This case study provides an overview of unions' failed efforts to organize Wal-Mart employees and describes OUR Walmart's achievements and challenges. It distinguishes the traditional union model of organizing ...
An Inside Look at the Ups and Downs of Walmart's Journey
Going digital is a top priority—which is why Walmart recently paid $3 billion to acquire e-tailer Jet.com. But the company also wants to strengthen the in-store experience. "The reality ...
Human Rights Watch says Wal-Mart's anti-union tactics violate workers
The Human Rights Watch study was based on interviews with 41 current and former Wal-Mart workers, managers, labor lawyers and union organizers between 2004 and early 2007.
OUR Walmart: a case study of connective action
Brett Caraway has examined the US case study of OUR Walmart (an online network using connective action with arms-length support from an established union) to show how technological innovations in ...
How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce
The labor relations team reported "a record-breaking" 1,600 hotline calls from 977 stores; 250 locations reported protests of some kind. On Black Friday itself, there were 372 hotline calls ...
OUR Walmart: a case study of connective action: Information
This case study of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) represents an initial attempt to map the network structure of an emergent form of labor organization. To better understand the relationship between communication and collective action, I utilize Bennett and Segerberg's [(2012).
Walmart Unionization Student Copy
Walmart Unionization, Case Study UFCW - The union side ... Wal-Mart and the UFCW case study only 4% final grade in November 2003 Wal- Mart opened a new store in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Soon after the store opened employees contacted the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) seeking union representation. In April of 2004 the union ...
Harvard Case Study: Global Management (Wal-Mart)
By mid-October all 66 Chinese Wal-Mart locations were unionized (Lague, 2006). Similar to - but still harsher than - Germany's and Canada's labor laws, China's government stance on unions had a dictatorship feel backing its goals. Wal-Mart's only option was to succeed or be made an example of union policy in China.
Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)
Today, OUR Walmart goes by the name of United for Respect. The majority of the group's union funding between 2017-2019 came from UFCW Local 21. Although the campaign has been rebranded, a legal notice at the bottom of its website confirms its ties to OUR Walmart. The notice reads: "Legal Notice: Courts have enjoined non-Associate OUR ...
Study Says Wal-Mart's Anti-Union Tactics Violate Workers' Rights
The Human Rights Watch study was based on interviews with 41 current and former Wal-Mart workers and managers, as well as labor lawyers and union organizers, between 2004 and early 2007.
Is Walmart Unionized In 2023? Here's What You Need To Know
As you can see, Walmart and Amazon have been completely successful at resisting unions, while Kroger and Costco have significant union membership, especially among grocery store workers. In fact, only 4.5% of America's retail workforce was unionized in 2021 - down from 5% in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Case Study: Business Strategy Analysis of Wal-Mart
Walton was a man of simple tastes and took a keen interest in people. He believed in three guiding principles: 1. Customer value and service; 2. Partnership with its associates; 3. Community involvement. The Customer — The word "always" can be seen in virtually all of Wal-Mart's literature.
Factors Influencing Organization Success: A Case Study of Walmart
A longitudinal case study of Amazon's financial situation during the 2016-2020 period, and time-series analysis, ratio analysis, and DuPont analysis, are employed as a quantitative methodology ...
Case Study: Walmart and Unions
TOPIC: Case Study on Walmart and Unions Assignment. The greatest potential advantage for Wal-Mart in working with unions is the ability to control one of the greatest series of costs they perennially face globally. There are the salaries that are paid to part-time workers that are often below industry average, yet the lack of unionization saves ...
Walmart Is Sued For Gender And Race Discrimination By EEOC
Walmart reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings with revenues of $140.53 billion, or $1.45 per share, compared to the analyst expectations of $135.60 billion, or $1.40 per share. ...
Walmart case study
Stance on unions Unions have been discouraged; Sam Walton believed that they were a divisive force and might render the company uncompetitive Wal-Mart keeps an open door policy, Wal-Mart associated have voted against unions in the past Problem with unions- critics believe workers benefits could improve if workers become unionized.
Communication, Culture, Organizational Model And Style: A Case Study Of
The analysis of the data collected from this ethnographic study of Walmart-Employees (or associates) conflict, using three main techniques: observation, interviewing, and archival research, revealed that there is a discrepancy or dichotomy between what Walmart upholds as its organizational work culture (the above mentioned fundamental beliefs and core values) and how Walmart's employees or ...
Walmart Unionization, Case Study in November 2003 Wal-Mart
Walmart Unionization, Case Study in November 2003 Wal-Mart opened a new store in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Soon after the store opened employees contacted the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) seeking union representation.
How Walmart Persuades Its Workers Not to Unionize
Indeed, Walmart's anti-union campaign goes back decades: There was "Labor Relations and You at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center," a 1991 guide aimed at beating back the Teamsters at its ...
Walmart Case Study
Walmart is one of the largest retail companies in the world. It was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. The headquarter of this company is situated in the United States. The main aim of the company is to provide consistent discounts, loyal customer service, and fast friendly service. Walmart's targets to expand its business in large cities as well ...
Amazon vs Walmart Case Study (pdf)
In order for Amazon to build its omni-challenge presence it would have to improve its physical presence in stores to beat the competition from other retailers and marketplaces. 8. Analyze and compare the financial and strategic performance of Amazon and Walmart over the years. Estimate the online sales of Amazon in the US market.