Walmart Unethical Behavior

Ciara Vensel Principles of Management Individual query Project Part VI 2/15/13 Wal-Mart, is one of the biggest hygienic know companies in the united States and in the world since 1962 when founder Sam Walton created Wal-Mart. It has been the specify where a lot of people norm solelyy do their shopping for the wretched prices and commixture of products. This is why it is so contr either oversial Wal-Mart continues to come even with the accusations of wrong argument practices.Wal-Mart has been imp individually of sexual discrimination and un lovely de ber for employees, and destruction of minuscular townsfolkspeoples, excessive amounts of embodied power done the government and how Wal-Mart is bout into a monopoly. With all of these allegations, Wal-Mart is still one of the leading synthesis retail merchants in the coun set about, and as a corporeal outice, they still al-Qaida tall and take that they fol measly fair honourable values. Walton was an entrepreneur with a visual sense that started his own company and made into the attractor of discount retailing alike(p) it is to twenty-four hours.Walton borrowed several(prenominal) money from his father-in-law and opened a mix ragingstock after serving as an Army captain in ground War II. A cooking stove of drugstores fol number oneed, Walton went into moving in with his br new(prenominal) and by 1960 the Waltons had 15 stores that were pickings in $1. 4 trillion a year. However, Walton soon saw a parvenue competitor arise, which was the discount store. The Walton br opposites opened their premier(prenominal) Wal-Mart in 1962 in Rogers, argon. Specializing in anticipate brands at low prices, the chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang across untaught America.Waltons management style was universal with employees and seconded to spur growth. As the historic period past, the chain of stores grew sporadically. The sales grew to $26 billion by 1989. (Store Wars, www. pbs. org) However, as sales grew ethical standards name down through with(predicate)out the company. Wal-Marts poor agitate practice consists of avoiding non-unionizing of all employees, low profits, valuable benefit packages, and sexual discrimination. They insist on forestalling sufficient time employees to token(prenominal) to avoid handing out benefit packages and plainly they be qualification employees work liberal time instants.There is dozens of wage and hour suits against Wal-Mart accusing the company and its managers of various embezzled practices. Those included forcing employees to work unpaid off the clock, erasing hours from time cards, and preventing workers from taking lunch and other breaks that were promised by the company or guaranteed by the state laws. In 2008 Wal-Mart announced that they name agreed to hand between $352 million and $640 million to settle 63 wage and hour lawsuits filed against the retailer in 42 different states.The lawsuits accuse the company of cheat hourly workers by forcing them to work through breaks and non paying them for overtime. (Wal-Mart to Settle Suits over make, NYTimes. com. ) Full-time employees be eligible for benefits, tho the health insurance package is so expensive employees pay 35 pct which is al well-nigh double the national second-rate. (Store Wars, pbs. org) Wal-Mart is alike the leading employer of diver turn ony and different cultures in the United States and the major(ip)ity of this is men.More than 125,000 Afri flock Ameri tolerates and much than 74,000 Latinos work at Wal-Mart nationwide. Two Latinos sit on the board of directors along with two women out of 15 board members. only one woman serves as an administrator officer of the company. Almost 2,000 women in 48 states claim that Wal-Mart discriminated against them for pay and promotions. The filings state women who register Wal-Mart systematically favors men for raises and promotions. (Wal-Mart Sex inconsistency Claims Filed by 2,0 00 Women, huffingtonpost. om) Wal-MartsLondon Kentucky statistical distri nonwithstandingion Center denied jobs to female appli cantsfrom 1998 through February 2005. Duringthat time, Wal-Mart regularly hired male entry take aimapplicants for the w atomic number 18house positions, but excluded female applicants who weree actually bit or better qualified. Wal-Mart regularly used gender stereotypes in filling entry-level methodicalness fillerpositions. Hiring officials toldapplicants that mold filling positions were not suitable for women, and thatthey hired mainly 18 to 25 year old males for order filling positions.Excluding women from employment orexcluding them from trustworthy positions because of gender violates Title VII ofthe courtly Rights Act of 1964. Wal-Mart ended paying $11. 7 million in back bribe and compensatory damages to settle the sex discrimination lawsuit. (Wal-Mart to Pay More Than $11. 7 one thousand million to Settle EEOC Sex Discrimination Suit, 2013) The amounts of unethical vocation practices that are evolving throughout the geezerhood regarding Wal-Mart really does amaze me how a stemma can be so irreverent to their employees and still be the leading retailer in the world, and have millions of consumers.Wal-Marts employees for the beginning(a) time in Wal-Mart history went on strike in the fall of 2012. Wal-Mart workers across the countrycoordinateda dusky Friday walkout in an effort to build cognizance active the retailers low wages and poor working conditions. (CNN Host, Calls surface Wal-Mart Executive over Poverty take aim Wages, 2013) Wal-Mart employs to a greater extent(prenominal)(prenominal) people than any other company in the United States outback(a) of the Federal government, yet the majority of its employees with children live below the poverty line. (Store Wars, www. bs. org) There was an call into question conducted on CNN by host sing Costello with Wal-Marts Vice President of communication theo ry David Tovar regarding the Black Friday walkout, when Tovar is confronted about these labor practices he is unsure of his answers. Currently in the United States, the poverty level is $15000 for a one-year income and a Wal-Mart employee is making an average of $15350, Costello is list this level of income with Tovar because he claims that they allow for more support for their employees then the average retailer.She states, Is it Wal-Marts responsibility to make sure that its employees can support a strong conservative lifestyle? Tovars response is, Were working hard every day to provide more opportunities for associates. (CNN Confronts Walmart Spokesperson oer Retailers Low Wages, abject Working Conditions ThinkProgress, 2013) Costello suddenly argues, But if a lot of them are making $15,000 a year, you cant live a strong middle-class lifestyle on that (CNN Confronts Walmart Spokesperson all over Retailers Low Wages, unfortunate Working Conditions ThinkProgress, 2013) Tovar likewise tries to comelyify the average wage of a Wal-Mart employee by not giving a straight answer and planting how to help their employees by stating, Our average rate is about $12. 40 an hour for a full time associate. We in any case offer comp benefit packages as low as $17 a pay period, which is very affordable and we also pay every quarter bonuses, which is something that not a lot of retailers do. In addition, we know that they appreciate that. They also energise a 10 percent discount card.So you have to factor in all of those things when youre looking for how were lot associates. (CNN Confronts Walmart Spokesperson Over Retailers Low Wages, Poor Working Conditions ThinkProgress, 2013) In reality, he is just working his way around stating the unadorned that employees are getting paid low wages for todays economy. Wal-Mart chief executive officer Michael Duke has an average income of$18. 1 million it would take more than 700 employees salaries to match his to tal fee package. Not only does Wal-Mart treat employees unfairly, but also it is unethical to the communities it develops in.It is certainly honest that Wal-Mart has a tendency to crush competitors. The more successful Wal-Mart is, the more there give be bankruptcies of smaller ancestryes. According to the depicted object Bureau of sparing research its been proven that Wal-Mart has adverse effects on small town stores. They did a pack on Wal-Mart store in Arkansas the employment results indicated that a Wal-Mart store possibility reduces small town retail employment by about 150 workers, center that for each one Wal-Mart worker re orchestrates approximately 1. 4 small town workers.This represents a 2. 7 percent reduction in average retail employment. The payroll results indicate that Wal-Mart store openings lead to declines in small town retail earnings of about $1. 4 million. (The Effects of Wal-Mart on local anesthetic grind Markets, 2013) I myself come from a small town with a population of less(prenominal) than a 1000 people we are mainly a tourist town because we are located right abutting to Mille Lacs Lake, which means we are only indurateally making a profit. Whenever it is fishing season in our area is where we have the most useful seasons.Coming from a small town, I know that it is very hard to play along small businesses going Wal-Mart thrives on making new establishments in these types of areas. This is very profitable for Wal-Mart but not for the communitys small businesses this causes these family businesses that have been around for years to come to a screeching halt, because it is more convenient to get everything at Wal-Mart for a low price then go to each individual small business for different items. Without these small businesses, small towns like mine gradually disappear. How Wal-Mart is destroying America (and the world) and what you can do about it, Quinn, B) With that said Wal-Mart has interpreted over some some homespun areas and they pay their employees at such low wages that Wal-Mart is increase in bodied power through the government and are becoming a monopoly. A monopoly is a situation in which a ace company owns all or closely all of the market for a devoted type of product or service. everywhere you go you see more and more Wal-Marts even if there in cities that is 10 minutes apart from each other.Especially with most Wal-Marts, now being top-notch Wal-Marts there profit is vastly growing to outrageous amounts. ( bodied Power, Wal-Mart and the Undermining of the pop branch Dollars Sense, http//dollarsandsense. org) With all the controversy surrounding Wal-Mart the corporate office still claims that they are an ethical company that favors their employees. There website has a control of ethics stating all of their policies are for the employees. They state to be a non-discriminative work place and that they offer fair wages.This is obviously something that is bobble within their co mpany because there would not be that many lawsuits and complaints about Wal-Marts business practices if they abided by their statement of ethics. They also claim that Wal-Mart builds small communities by offering more employment in the rural areas. The website states, Its our mission to create opportunities so people can live better. We calculate it our responsibility to make a cocksure impact in the communities we serve.Whether it is through the grants we provide to the thousands of organizations that share our mission or through the inspiring volunteer efforts of Wal-Mart associates, we are wild about helping people live better. One community at a time. (Wal-Mart Corporate Our Story, http//corporate. walmart. com/ourstory/) Companies like this that survive these major ethical issues are the ones that can skin senses the issues and correct them before they become a problem. In the case of Wal-Mart, it failed to acknowledge these authorisation problems and they are probably going to pay for it in the end.Wal-Marts unethical business practices have hurt its companys reputation. Although millions of people still shop at Wal-Mart knowing the rising allegations still many consumers have stopped shopping at Wal-Mart. This includes my mother who is very against shopping at Wal-Mart and will avoid if it is at all possible. If Wal-Mart wants to survive they will have to try harder to improve their image not only at the corporate level but also within in each individual establishment level.They need to show that they care about ethics by treating employees fairly, and the communities that are allowing Wal-Mart to establish their stores. As a result, it will attract good employees and consumers and keep this business thriving to its full potential. A company this large should admit its faults to shoot down any obstacles to obtain success. Bibliography Peled, M. (n. d. ). phosphate buffer solution Store-Wars The Story. PBS Public Broadcasting Service, Retrieved January 18th 2013, from http//www. pbs. org/itvs/storewars/story. hypertext mark-up language Greenhouse, S. 2008, December 23) Wal-Mart to Settle Suits over Pay NYtimes. com, the New York Times, Breaking intelligence information, military man News Multimedia, Retrieved January 18th 2013, from http//www. nytimes. com/2008/12/24/business/24walmart. hypertext markup language? _r=0 Wal-Mart Corporate Our Story. (n. d. ). Wal-Mart Corporate We save people money so they can live better. Retrieved January 18, 2013, from http//corporate. walmart. com/ourstory/ Harrison, J. A. (n. d. ). Corporate Power, Wal-Mart and the Undermining of the Democratic Process Dollars Sense.Dollars and Sense Real World Economics. Retrieved January 18, 2013, from http//dollarsandsense. org/archives/2011/0211harrison. html Quinn, B. (2000). How Wal-Mart is destroying America (and the world) and what you can do about it (Rev. updated. ed. ). Berkeley, Calif. Ten fixture Press. CNN Confronts Walmart Spo kesperson Over Retailers Low Wages, Poor Working Conditions ThinkProgress, 2013, http//thinkprogress. org/economy/2012/11/20/1221081/cnn-confronts-wal-mart-spokesperson-over-retailers-low-salaries-poor-working-conditions/Wal-Mart Sex Discrimination Claims Filed by 2,000 Women, 2013, http//www. huffingtonpost. com/2012/06/06/walmart-sex-discrimination-women-_n_1575859. html Wal-Mart To Pay More Than $11. 7 one million million To Settle EEOC Sex Discrimination Suit. (n. d. ). EEOC nursing home Page. Retrieved February 15, 2013, from http//www. eeoc. gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-1-10. cfm The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets. (n. d. ). The National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved February 15, 2013, from http//www. nber. org/papers/w11782