Organizing

When concerning leadership in business, the most important aspect is the organizing function of management. Implementing the organizing function of management can make or break a business. Organizing is the function of management, which follows planning. Organizing is an operation in which the synchronization and combination of human, physical, and financial resources takes place. All three resources are important to obtain results. Therefore, organizational behavior helps to achieve results that are important for the functioning of a concern. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the organizing function of management as it relates to organizational resources such as physical assets, monetary, human resources, knowledge, and technology. This paper will also discuss if Wal-Mart has optimized the above organizational resources for effectiveness and efficiency. Wal-Mart is a company that strives in saving people money and helping people live better lives. The company has been very successful for more than 40 years and is a Fortune 500 top leading company. Wal-Mart has optimized their physical assets to the fullest. According to their 2010 financial annual report, the company holds $170 million dollars in physical assets. Wal-Mart has optimized its physical assets very well because of their strategic direction and selling at low prices. All of their products are bought wholesale in large quantities that leave enough room to sale its products at low prices and still make a profit. Assets illustrate the values of various items a corporation owns. Wal-Mart is primarily a retail chain store. Their physical assets range from real estate to thousand of merchandise and operating equipment. The company operates on a volume basis and their physical assets include; fixtures/equipment such as gondolas, metal shelves, wall standards, clothing racks, glass showcase, and trash compactors. Also their fresh departments are also a major source of revenue, which is the bakery, meat, deli, and café. On the other hand, there is also the automotive department, which includes pad lifts, swing arm, lifts, front-end alignment lifts, jack stands, and light reels. The company also has a fourth of its physical assets invested in machinery and equipment such as forklifts, walkie stackers, pallet jacks, and stocking carts. Wal-Mart has proven to be a company that has maximized its resources and increased their sales by reinvesting in the company. Some of those investments have been in land, buildings and improvements, fixtures, and equipment. Their global empire has expanded in many countries around the world. The company’s economic financial health has been thriving throughout the years due to their consistency of low prices. Their financial reports have proven that the company expands in reinvesting in new equipment and in their brand. Another major source of physical assets is their employees. It would be impossible for the company to operate daily without its employees. In short, the main goal for the company is to obtain market share through competitive advantage, which is to be 10% different. The company’s competitive advantage is to buy at low prices through its suppliers and sale, to gain a profit margin by selling in high volume of merchandise sales. Evaluating the organizational function of management in relation to monetary assets is imperative, especially when referring to a multi-billion dollar company like Wal-Mart. The monetary asset of the business is necessary because it is the resource that provides the sources, supplies, items, produce, and vital equipment for the corporation. The financial aspect of Wal-Mart is also critical to maintain a business and have future growth; employees, inventory, environment, programs, public auctions, online auctions, and store sale promotions are contributions from monetary assets. Wal-Mart must manage and thrive in allocating their monetary sources to obtain profit in the industry. Wal-Mart vows to their slogan, “Always low prices” by providing customers product with low selling points (Wal-Mart, 2010). Demonstrating that they provide low prices compared to many retail competitors, in return, has consumers being loyal customers. The use of monetary assets also allows the organization to provide more services, hire employees who can provide constant customer service, purchase equipment for the business to flow more efficiently, provide training, and other up-to-date resources. The corporation has dramatically grown in the retail business that it has powerful influence over manufacturers, suppliers, and even control over prices. Nevertheless, Wal-Mart has spread all over the world due to monetary assets, from providing low prices, extensive inventory to opening numerous locations. The financial aspect is inevitable in accomplishing company goals, business development, or any company plan. Therefore, Wal-Mart definitely has utilized the monetary resources to impart an effectiveness business with ultimate success. Three stages in the human resources planning process are planning, programming, and evaluating. Planning is labor market, technology, and job analysis. Programming consists of employee recruitment, training and development, and labor relations. Evaluating is quality, satisfaction, and turnovers. It is vital that the manager is knowledgeable about the organizational business plans to ensure an adequate amount of qualified people to execute the plan. With Wal-Mart opening in so many communities, it has provided not just a job but careers to those individuals who do not have a college degree. Wal-Mart plays an important role in the communities where these stores are, by providing job opportunities. These job opportunities are not limited to retail positions; it includes construction, agriculture, and manufacturing. Wal-Mart offers its employees competitive wages although stakeholders want more money and others are concerned about the ability to remain competitive in serving customers. Although there is a high turnover in the retail business, Wal-Mart helps their staff to advance from within. After being employed for four to five years, about 75% of the part-time staff is in position to advance to an assistant manager position. The Board of Directors carries out the business and affairs of Wal-Mart. The Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing and appointing company executives, setting the strategy, and managing the entire business. In an effort to oversee Wal-Mart strategic planning process, the board meets on a regular basis to be updated about the business and give direction to management. As a large distribution company Wal-Mart continues to expand more retail super stores and grow with the knowledge of developing new technology therefore making its business more effective. To have this competitive advantage over retailers, Wal-Mart increases productivity within the organization by the development of information system. A key component of Wal-Mart business efficiency is the logistic concepts to understand the consumers demand and able to supply those demands with low prices. Wal-Mart adapts to the constant changes in the retail domestic and global market to keep up with the latest business trends. As Wal-Mart continues to expand on a global scale, Wal-Mart takes into consideration the supply and demands of the global market, different values, and beliefs. Through this analysis Wal-Mart makes the necessary changes in the organization to cut cost, increase efficiency, and meet the demands of the consumer. This knowledge of information is part of Wal-Mart business strategy to gain the trust of the consumer, improve the operations of Wal-Mart, increase online purchases, and keep a competitive edge over other large retailers. Computer technology development is a key factor for any business to maintain the company operations, productivity, and advancement. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated is a perfect example of a company using the latest resources to improve the organizations logistic aspects and compete with other retailers. This information is important for managers to use as a tool to increase the organization management functions and create a business strategy to promote growth in the organization. With the proper knowledge of business trends Wal-Mart maintain a dominant competitive edge over other retailers. The use of information technology has been an essential part of Wal-Mart’s growth. Wal-Mart uses a point-of-sale system, a computerized system that identifies each item sold, finds its price in a computerized database, creates an accurate sales receipt for the customer, and stores this item-by-item sales information for use in analyzing sales and reordering inventory. Aside from handling information efficiently, effective use of this information has avoid Wal-Mart from overstocking by learning what merchandise is not selling fast. Wal-Mart uses telecommunications to link directly from its stores to its central computer system and from that system to its supplier’s system. This allows automatic recording of what is selling and coordinating closely with the suppliers. Another technology Wal-Mart adopted was the bar code scanners. The scanners created some problems for Wal-Mart, and for its competition. The use of the bar code scanners made it unnecessary to stamp the price on every item. It also eliminated the jobs of the employees who formerly did the stamping. In California there were cases involving customers being overcharged because of incorrect stamped prices. Technology along with other companies, Wal-Mart is a member of the AMBER Alert Highway Network; the company dispatches more than 20,000 drivers across the country each day relevant to missing-child bulletins. According to Lohr, (2009), Wal-Mart is striding into the market for electronic health records, seeking to bring the technology into he mainstream for physicians in small offices, where most of America’s doctors practice medicine. Wal-Mart have site to store service, enabling online customers to pick up their merchandise in the stores. Wal-Mart uses the Internet for data exchange with thousands of its global suppliers. Their Retail Link System provides vendors information on sales trends and inventory levels. In conclusion, Wal-Mart has successfully optimized each organizational resource; physical assets, monetary, human resources, knowledge, and technology for effectiveness and efficiency. Some resources such as physical assets have been optimized thoroughly. According to Wal-Mart’s 2010 financial annual report, the company holds $170 million dollars in physical assets. Wal-Mart has optimized its physical assets very well due to its strategic direction and selling at low prices. Wal-Mart also continues to expand more retail super stores and grow with the knowledge of developing of new technology therefore making its business more effective. Using the point of sale technology helps Wal-Mart to handle information more efficiently, effective use of this information prevents Wal-Mart from overstocking by learning what merchandise is selling and not selling. With strategic planning, Wal-Mart will continue to be one of the largest and most successful retail department stores by optimizing all resources of the each function of management.