Walmart Diversity

Diversity is a wonderful asset to an organization and brings with it many benefits. Employees bring in their own personal experiences and knowledge to the team (Burns & Kerby, 2012). Having diverse teams allows for the possibility to fix a problem or perfect a process by using different employee’s experiences and past knowledge to find solutions. A diverse workforce can drive economic growth and capture a greater share of the consumer market (Burns & Kerby, 2012). With diversity as a core value, the recruitment pool is widened to find the most qualified candidate and reduces employee turnover as a result. An organization can be highly competitive with a diversity initiative by adapting to a changing environment (Burns & Kerby, 2012).

The way in which an organization tackles diversity determines its negative or positive outcome. All the 5 companies agreed that diversity has contributed to their success. Some barriers were identified in managing diversity like the difficulties faced by women in managing the work and family, fear of discrimination, resistance to change, diversity is not seen as an organizational priority, resistance to change and unsupportive working environment for diverse employees. Diversity contributes to more productivity but if not properly managed could hinder success.

Diversity is becoming a more increasing and ever changing dynamic to the business environment. Organizations can either embrace and grow with diversity or be left behind and die out. One of the organizations that is growing with diversity is Target. This paper will look at Target in depth on what they are doing right and wrong, what makes them a leader in diversity, and what leadership is doing to encourage diversity.

As diversity and inclusion gain more attention in the society, more research has been done on their impact to organizations. Not too long ago, organizations implemented diversity management initiatives, such as affirmative action and equal employment legislations, just to fulfill their legal requirements (Jayne and Dipboye, 2004). However, diversity and inclusion have since then become a business imperative.

Walgreens prides itself on its diversity in the workplace. This is one of their core competencies. Since 2013 Walgreens has created an annual diversity and inclusion report that shows what they did that specific year that helped diversify their company. According to the report, in 2014 33% of the United States labor force was people of color while during that same time people of color made up 42.8% of Walgreens employees (“2014 Diversity,” n.d.). Walgreens also offers a disability inclusion report each year. At one of Walgreens distribution centers more than half of the employees have disabilities. With this center they have seen 120% increases in productivity so now they are expanding this model into retail locations (“2014 Diversity,” n.d.).

Diversity at Target, like everywhere, is a work in progress. Target is ahead of the national average in terms of minority hiring. Additionally, the company has a higher percentage of minorities in management positions than the industry average. “The Strength of Many. The Power of One,” is Target’s tagline for diversity. It is realized that we need many points of view all working towards the common goal in order to be successful. The goals set forward in this plan are: to increase diverse hire mix by 30% over last year; improve retention rate by 30% over last year; and to develop high potential diverse talent in the ST. Louis market. This can be done

Our company has done great job in managing diversity so far. We rank in the 11th of the Diversity Incorporated Top 50, and rank the 8th of the Diversity Incorporated Top 10 companies, which has women in the executive committee. In our company, 29% employees in our company are minorities, we are concerned about diversity in work place, and we appreciate our employees’ opinions. We endeavor to provide equal pay and

Human resource managers of today will be highly successful if they create a work environment that fosters equality and inclusiveness regardless of differences. This case study shows through example of Walgreens and their successes in hiring workers with disabilities how beneficial all companies can be in implementing like practices. Walgreens over the years has gained a reputation as a company that offers meaningful jobs to people with diverse backgrounds that have equal opportunities for advancement and job mobility(Gomez, Balkin, & Cardy, 2012). Walgreens has since gone above that reputation by providing work accommodations for people with disabilities so that people with disabilities can also equally work, receive equal pay, and experience job mobility.

Undra, you are correct, sometimes too many choices can overwhelm a customer, and consequently they may not purchase anything. Furthermore, I believe that sometimes too many choices will make customers buy items that they did not really need. How many times, have you gone into Walmart to get one item, and came out with a basket full of products? The importance, of providing a variety of choices, has long been recognized by manufactures as integral to the business. Additionally, customer satisfaction, has also become an integral part of business. The other day, I went to Walmart to buy those ninety-nine cents blue disc that you drop in toilets. Well, Walmart decided to change the product, and now they have the blue and white disc. However, in

Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization. Workplace diversity is about acknowledging differences and adapting work practices to create an inclusive environment in which diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds are valued. It is about understanding the individual differences in the people we work with that arise from a broad range of backgrounds and lifestyles, and recognizing the value of using those different perspectives, ideas and ways of working to enhance the quality and outcomes of work. Our diversity is shaped by a variety of characteristics including age, ethnicity, gender, disability, language,

In 1963, Sam Walton had a vision. A vision, that he could bring what the consumers needed, to them, at the lowest price possible. Mr. Walton believed that a company could not be run by just one person, it had to take team work. With Mr. Walton relying on his associates at the lowest level possible, he created the retail empire known today as Walmart. Mr. Sam, as he was referred to, would visit each and every store to learn about its culture. He would sit down with each and every associate and get ideas, comments, concerns, and anything that the associates wanted to talk to him about. This practice allowed for Walmart to create a culture of its own. A culture where each person makes a difference, no matter what your background or life style. The cultural synergy remains the same today. This philosophy is the basis for Walmart’s slogan, “Every person makes a difference.” Sam Walton knew that in order to be successful he needed to hear from everyone, to make everyone a spokesperson for the company. Many of the ideas that have been put into play have come from the lower level associates who never thought they could make a difference. Each associate comes from a different walk of life and background. This leads to the diverse workforce that Walmart has today. Sam’s practices have been instilled in today’s current CEO, Doug McMillion.

Most people assume that workplace diversity is about increasing racial, national, gender, or class representation -- in other words, recruiting and retaining more people from traditionally underrepresented "identity groups." Taking this commonly held assumption as a starting point, we set out six years ago to investigate its link to organizational effectiveness. We soon found that thinking of diversity simply in terms of identity-group representation inhibited effectiveness. Organizations usually take one of two paths in managing diversity. In the name of equality and fairness, they encourage (and expect) women and people of color to blend in. Or they set them apart in jobs that relate specifically to their backgrounds, assigning them, for example, to areas that require them to interface with clients or customers of the same identity group. African American M.B.A. 's often find themselves marketing products to innercity communities; Hispanics frequently market to Hispanics or work for Latin American subsidiaries. In those kinds of cases, companies are operating on the assumption that the main virtue identity groups have to offer is a knowledge of their own people. This assumption is limited -- and limiting -- and detrimental to diversity efforts. What we suggest here is that diversity goes beyond increasing the number of different identity-group affiliations on the payroll to recognizing that such an effort is merely the first step in managing a diverse workforce for the

Best Foods Company is a multinational worldwide food company whose vision is “To be the Best International Food Company in the World.” (p.713) Best Foods set out to make some serious strides in diversifying their organization. However, there were three key diversity challenges facing them. First is that the company has very few women who have been on the career path that leads them to executive level position. This unfortunately was due to past practices. Best Foods top 150 senior managers were mostly made up of older males predominately white. At the time that Best Foods sought to change there was only one women and she was a general manager. With the lack of skill level and job experience one of the first

population. Companies need to focus on diversity and look for ways to become totally inclusive organizations because diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages (SHRM, 1995). Stephen G. Butler, co-chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum, believes that diversity is an invaluable competitive asset that America cannot afford to ignore (Robinson, 2002). Managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which can improve workplace productivity (Black Enterprise, 2001).

Diversity in workforce “include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience”(Thomas 1992). Diversity in the workforce is initially perceived as a response toward the increasing diversity of the consumers in the market (Agocs & Burr, 1996). From there, it has been observed that capitalizing on existing differences among the employees provide benefits to the organization. Diversity in workforce fosters and encourages