Walmart has gone a long way in its economic growth, having experienced several crises and established a very strong brand personality in the target market. However, the company will need to shape its approach to expand and enter the markets of India and Brazil. At present, the organization should make two fundamental changes, which include shaping its corporate values to introduce more diversity in its HRM and marketing, and the shift in the focus toward enhancing communication within the firm, including the dialogue between Walmart’s employees and managers (Finne & Grönroos, 2017). Thus, the company will be able to respond to employees’ needs more effectively while staff members will be encouraged to acquire new skills that will help them to update the quality of offered services and appeal to the new demographic.
Exercise
The activity that is supposed to bring a positive change into the organization will require the participation of both managers and employees. Thus, the idea of unity as the foundational value of the firm’s existence will be promoted. In addition, it will be crucial to address the problem of stereotypes in the team to ensure that both managers and staff members are capable of understanding how intercultural communication works and how it can be improved. For this purpose, one will have to create a setting that will encourage the participants to share their cultural experiences and try to replicate the ones told by their peers in the corporate setting. The selected approach will invite opportunities for the participants to recognize the challenges of communicating in a culturally alien environment and, thus develop cultural sensitivity for conversing with others (Green & Peloza, 2015). The suggested exercise is also expected to create a bond between the participants, enhancing the significance of unity within the team and the company, in general.
Goals
The goals of the exercise described above include shaping the company’s culture and communication toward a greater degree of diversity and a better focus on the needs of the company’s primary stakeholders, which include not only customers and partners but also its employees. In addition, the exercise is expected to shape the company’s culture toward the concepts of knowledge sharing and continuous learning, which will help Walmart to enter the Indian and Brazilian markets successfully.
Change
It is expected that the company will be able to maximize the efficacy of its performance after the training is completed due to a rise in diligence, enthusiasm, and loyalty among staff members. In addition, it is assumed that the selected approach toward promoting change will encourage employees to develop cultural sensitivity and willingness to learn more to improve their skills (Korzilius, Bücker, & Beerlage, 2017). Thus, the phenomenon of lifelong learning may be accepted as an important organizational value that will compel staff members to improve and grow professionally.
Furthermore, it is believed that the introduction of the described alterations and the launch of the training program described above will encourage a more positive dynamic in the relationships between employees and managers. Currently, the extent to which managers acknowledge the needs of employees and evaluate their feedback concerning the comfort of the workplace environment leaves much to be desired. Thus, raising cultural awareness among managers and providing them with the tools that will allow improving the communication with employees, such as emotional competence and especially emotional intelligence, will be required.
Strategies
The techniques to be involved in the training process respond fully to the new goals and requirements of Walmart since they allow managers to concentrate on the promotion of communication and trust among the key stakeholders as the foundational principle of managing workplace processes. For instance, the strategy of appealing to employees’ emotional needs can be regarded as an important element of the support system that the firm will require to maintain the success of the training process and keep its staff engaged. Similarly, the reconsideration of the leadership approach and the shift toward the use of the Transformational Leadership Model (TLM) should be seen as a critical stage in the enhancement of employees’ engagement.
However, the strategy that holds by far the greatest value in the promotion of change is the focus on the application and acquisition of cultural competence. Managers will be encouraged to apply the cultural competence model to create a less strenuous workplace environment for employees, at the same time guiding the latter toward cultural competence as the tool for improving the relationships with customers. The provided support enhances the company’s strengths such as its focus on quality, at the same time addressing weaknesses such as the lack of diversity. Thus, the selected strategies for institutionalizing a change in the corporate setting and rebuilding communication channels within the company can be described as very impressive and holding high potential.
Support and Deliverables
It would be naïve for Walmart to expect that its employees would be thrilled with the idea of change in the corporate setting. Given the current problems in addressing the staff’s needs, the organization is very likely to face rather rigid resistance to change from its employees. By grounding its new approach in the principles of cross-cultural communication and empathy, Walmart will have to provide its employees with the encouragement and assistance needed for the transition.
Apart from the motivational technique, Walmart’s HR managers will also need to consider the strategies that involve extending the staff’s benefits package. The proposed approach suggests increasing salaries and offering employees additional opportunities such as parental leaves and holidays. By considering the culture of staff members, Walmart’s HR department will be able to build an environment that will be fully comfortable for all employees (Kratzer, Meissner, & Roud, 2017). Thus, the levels of resistance toward the promotion of communication with customers and improved services will be managed. In turn, the key deliverable that the exercise mentioned above is expected to produce will be represented by a rise in the quality of communication between employees and managers. In addition, the levels of loyalty and enthusiasm among the staff are expected to rise after the completion of the training process.
Conclusion
By shaping Walmart’s approach toward communication and diversity, one will create a perfect setting for continuous economic growth within the new environment. The outcomes of the designed training and the proposed change in the company will be twofold, including alterations in the inward and outward relationships. First, with the shift toward diversity and the acknowledgment of the fact that the needs of every stakeholder hold significance for the organization, Walmart will create a friendly and comfortable environment for its staff members. Thus, the firm will not only improve the performance of its current staff but also attract more candidates in the Brazilian and Indian job markets. Secondly, the change in the company’s approach toward diversity management will have a significant impact on how it will appeal to its new customers. Thus, Walmart will become capable of rebranding itself to appeal to its Brazilian and Indian buyers, simultaneously retaining its trademark image.
References
Finne, Å., & Grönroos, C. (2017). Communication-in-use: Customer-integrated marketing communication. European Journal of Marketing, 51(3), 445-463. Web.
Green, T., & Peloza, J. (2015). How did the recession change the communication of corporate social responsibility activities? Long Range Planning, 48(2), 108-122. Web.
Korzilius, H., Bücker, J. J., & Beerlage, S. (2017). Multiculturalism and innovative work behavior: The mediating role of cultural intelligence. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 56, 13-24. Web.
Kratzer, J., Meissner, D., & Roud, V. (2017). Open innovation and company culture: Internal openness makes the difference. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 119, 128-138. Web.