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One of the highly successful retail chains in America is Wal-Mart, which offers everyday goods for working families at low prices. It may be a key concern regarding the way they are able to offer goods at lower prices than their rivals, and how their employees have benefited from their success. This paper follows Wal-Mart: The High Cost Low Price, which is one hundred minute long documentary film done in the year 2005, directed by Brave New Films and Robert Greenwald (Top Documentary Films, 2013).
Robert Greenwald, who is a documentary film maker, looks at the inside of Wal-Mart, the discount retailing empire, the high cost of low price, only to discover that the company is short on principles and long on poor treatment of employees. The film portrays Wal-Marts negative picture in their business practices through conducted interviews with small business owners, their former employees, as well as footage of the companys top management. Greenwald has also used statistics interspersed in between the interview footage, as a way of providing an objective analysis of Wal-Marts effects on communities and individuals (Greenwalt, 2005).
The film is featuring Mr. Lee Scott, who is Wal-Marts CEO, as he praises the corporation in a big convention of the employees intercut with some interviews conducted in the design to undercut the statements of Mr. Lee Scott. The film also includes cheery television advertisements for the company, which seem to be hypocritical, when other materials in the film are presented to contradict their message (Top Documentary Films, 2013). The film argues about Wal-Marts poor financial compensation to its workers. This was seventeen thousand dollars per year on average in the year 2005. In accordance with the conducted interviews, these wages are very low for an employee to afford the health insurance of Wal-Mart. This has led to the companys management counsel employees to do applications for the government programs, for instance, Medicaid. The film shows how the company goes further to employ undocumented employees for their cleaning program crews. According to Greenwald, these undocumented employees are financially compensated well below the minimum wage (Top Documentary Films, 2013).
Further criticisms for the retail mega chain are Wal-Marts practices that are anti-union. The business has negatively affected pop and mom stores, as well as the small communities. It had insufficient policies for the protection of the environment. The film shows that the company further had a poorest record on employee rights in the United States and the rest of the world. Then film also has scenes, which have been filmed from abroad, to document factory employees in China and Bangladesh making the goods of Wal-Mart for very little amounts of eighteen cents per hour. One Wal-Marts nine year veteran testifies how he was moved to a point, where he broke into tears after viewing clothing manufacturing facilities conditions in Latin America. He explains that even though he made efforts and reported the abuses, nothing was done by the company to solve the problem. According to the documentary, the parking lots of Wal-Mart are full of unusually high rates of crime; something, which can easily be rectified or improved by spending some money to put in place cameras outside the stores (Top Documentary Films, 2013).
As the film approaches the end, Greenwald documents the efforts of some communities, which successfully have resisted the company from setting up branches in their areas, suggesting that other companies should open up their facilities in the towns (Top Documentary Films, 2013). Wal-Mart has come forward to dispute the accuracy of statements characters made in the documentary. The company posted ten pages of material that is anti-Greenwald in its website, quoting cheerfully from each bad review Greenwald got since the year 1980. The documentary film has been credited to be a major contributor to why Wal-Mart formed public relations.
Poor working conditions have a significant impact on the employees, the company itself, and the surrounding community. Poor working conditions including poor remuneration discourage workers; hence, de-motivate them. If this happens, then there is a risk of poor or non-production of the employees leading to losses for the chain of businesses. Research has shown that tension at place of work could be brought about by dreaded managers. The managers create fear among the workers by constantly setting unreasonable deadlines, as well as rebuking the noncompliant employees. This situation will make an employee dislike his or her place of work creating attitude infiltration (Liopis, 2012). If peace is absent, then it has disadvantages. It creates two camps in the organization: the sycophants and the rebels. Good working conditions are used in order to motivate employees. Employees need to be studied well by the organization, so as to anticipate their behaviors among other tendencies. Organizations also need to come up with the improved conditions at work in order to motivate workers to increase their performance and to keep them in track. This does not need to be initiated to aspire and project long and short term performance only, but also as a factor to help employees to achieve and to develop, while they mature, and as well begin understanding what truly matters to them (Liopis, 2012).
What Wal-Mart forgot to understand is the importance of employee remuneration, and the associated economic value. When an organization comes up with benefits and compensation plans, which are well designed, it helps them to attract, motivate, as well as retain their talents within the firm. Employees will love their jobs and love working for the firm, if they are getting fair remuneration. Labor turnover will be low, since employees will not run to better paying companies, since they are well remunerated. Motivation comes in the different ways, since employees have different needs. Some need money; thereby, deciding to work for the organization, which pays higher salaries. Others will value achievement much more than money, so they would like to be associated with those companies offering greater promotion chances, development, and learning. A plan of compensation that fits employees will likely motivate them to act desirably. Well compensated employees would not skip a day of work, especially if they enjoy their office environment and in addition get what they are in need of. If workers are offered the rewards, which they feel they deserve, they will have no need to work for other firms. This minimizes the companys staffing costs, which are incurred due to the employee turnover.
In conclusion it can be ascertained that when employees are well compensated and have better working conditions, they have a piece of mind. If the firm offers a number of assurances to its employees, the employees are relieved off their fears. They work with a relaxed mind as a result. This ensures a long relationship between them and the organization. Secondly, their self confidence is increased. Everyone likes his or her efforts to be acknowledged. The workers gain confidence in themselves, and also in their abilities, if their working conditions are good and they are rewarded justly. Their level of performance shoots up ultimately. This is the way to better productivity and high profits for any corporation.