Human Resource Manager in Walmart corporation.

Project Quality Assurance, Human Resources and Communication

Management (MBP2133)
Title : Assignment (1)
Lecturer : Dr. Asnidar Hanim

Due Date : 10/09/2020

Name: BILA ALAA DAWOOD BANY SAAD

Student ID: 110042905

Semester: 2

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 TABLES OF CONTENT PAGES
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1: Introduction 4
2: Performance of Human Recourses Management at Walmart 5
3: Evaluate the performance of the robot worker 6

3.1 Lower Error Rates 7

3.2 Adaptable Workforce 7
3.3 Increased Warehouse Safety 7
3.4 Higher Customer Satisfaction 7
3.5 Innovative Brand Image 7
4: Discuss the challenges and issues faced in that situation 8
5: Provide your impression/opinion about the situation in the video. 10
5.1 PROS 11
5.2 CONS 11
5.3 Why Robots Will Not Take Over Human Jobs 12
5.4 Humans create and humans’ control 13
5.5 Finding your place in a robotic world 13
6: How do you think the situation in the video can impact 14
6.1 So, what is the harm in working with a robot-sidekick 14
7: Conclusion 15
8: References 17

Walmart’s Human Resource Management and Planning

1: Introduction

Human resource planning at Walmart is stratified in terms of the programs and solutions
developed and applied. For example, HR planning takes place at the top management level
of the corporate human resources department. However, the company is a large
organization. Each store has its own personnel responsible for HR management. As a
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result, each store translates the general human resource plan from the corporate HR
department. The stores have varying interpretations of the corporate human resource plan.
Such variations indicate that actual human resource planning occurs at different levels of
Walmart’s organization. Walmart’s human resource managers optimize the business and its
workforce, effectively addressing issues and criticisms. As the company faces challenges in
the competitive landscape (see Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of Walmart Inc.), human
resource development can increase business resilience, especially in supporting growth
against firms like Amazon (Read: Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of Amazon.com Inc.).
Factors like reduced turnover and high employee morale can boost Walmart’s performance
amid changes in the retail industry environment.

In terms of forecasting, Walmart uses special software to automate the process of analyzing
changes in the workforce. For example, the firm gets its employee or workforce data from its
stores. The data is fed to the central database and organized and processed to reveal
trends in the company’s human resources and related operational needs. Through this
forecasting system, Walmart forecasts possible future changes in the workforce, such as
changes in HR demand per season or per region. This condition contributes to the
company’s flexibility in the area of human resources. In relation, in addressing the surplus or
shortage of employees, Walmart uses its information system to determine which areas or
aspects of the organization will face increased demand in human resources and which
areas will have a surplus. The company’s HR management applies corresponding plans that
stabilize the workforce. The HR plans specify the number of employees needed and the
recommended schedules for increased recruitment, along with adjustments in related areas
of the retail business. In this way, Walmart ensures adequate human resource support
despite fluctuations in retail market conditions and corresponding business operations.
In balancing HR supply and HR demand, Walmart’s goal is to ensure adequate access to
qualified workers. The company has a continuous process of hiring and training new
employees. The continuity ensures that vacant positions are immediately filled. The nonstop
recruitment activity helps Walmart access the labor market to maintain an adequate supply
of human resources to match changes in demand for employees at its stores.

2: Performance of Human Recourses Management at Walmart

Performance management at Walmart involves a performance appraisal system. This

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system provides feedback to employees on their performance levels. The company also
gives feedback to workers on how to improve their performance. In addition, the firm uses
human resource management software that analyzes individual and team performance
levels. In this business analysis case, an applicable recommendation is to use a micro-
tailored appraisal system. Such a system allows variations based on the employee being
appraised. The purpose of these activities is to enable Walmart’s human resource
management to fine-tune job responsibilities, specifications, goals and objectives. The
company’s career development plan is also based on performance plans.
Walmart’s corporate objectives are linked to performance management practices, standards
and measures through sales performance. The firm is mainly concerned about maximizing
sales revenues. Through its performance management activities, the company’s human
resource management ensures support for sales performance through employee
productivity, especially sales personnel productivity. Performance interviews are used at
Walmart to provide more information for appraisals. These interviews are conducted so that
the progress of employees is regularly monitored. The interviews also allow the company to
obtain feedback from employees.
Measurements and standards are used to evaluate if the company’s human resource
performance is satisfactory. For each performance measure, the company has a set of
standards. Different HR standards are used for different areas of the business. The following
performance measures are suitable in Walmart’s case:
1. Effectiveness of processes
2. Efficiency of processes
3. Quality of customer service
4. Timeliness of supply chain activities
5. Productivity of sales personnel
Walmart encounters performance problems, such as low employee morale and tardiness.
These HR problems reduce the firm’s financial performance. Walmart can address low
employee morale through job rotation and flexibility, incentives, and recognition for
employees’ achievements, among other approaches. The company can address tardiness
through motivation strategies and new policies, such as rules imposing a maximum
percentage of tardy days per number of workdays.

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3: Evaluate the performance of the robot worker in comparison to the conventional
human workers in doing or counting the stock inventory at the hypermarket shelves?

Walmart executives have promised the all-hours robot workhorses will let employees endure
less drudgery and enjoy “more satisfying jobs,” while also ensuring shoppers see cleaner
stores, fuller shelves and faster checkouts. But the rise of the machines has had an
unexpected side effect: Their jobs, some workers said, have never felt more robotic. By
incentivizing hyper-efficiency, the machines have deprived the employees of tasks they
used to find enjoyable. Some also feel like their most important assignment now is to train
and babysit their often-inscrutable robot colleagues.
Companies that invest in robotic technology see many tangible and clear benefits to their
business. Cutting expenses such as packaging costs and increasing efficiency are some
obvious outcomes for most companies, but they also find that their businesses profits from
robotic technology in less obvious ways.

3.1 Lower Error Rates

Human errors can be costly for businesses. They potentially lose significant profit if work
must be done again to correct a mistake. Robots significantly reduce the warehouse cost by
doing the work correctly the first time, every time.

3.2 Adaptable Workforce

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The reality of retail is that there are busy and slow seasons. Robotics allow warehouses to
meet increased capacity demands quickly. During holiday seasons, for example, it can be
difficult to hire and train new employees quickly enough to keep up with the results
of demand forecasting. Robotics make it easier to handle increases because of their ability
to work around the clock without diminished performance.

3.3 Increased Warehouse Safety

Robotics also improve safety for workers. They take over the dangerous jobs that put your
workers at risk. Now that robots can work side-by-side with humans, the robots can take the
dangerous parts of the job and workers take over the rest, such as getting inventory from
heights or carrying heavy loads. In addition to warehouse safety, workers (and companies)
benefit from an increase in morale as the mundane and dangerous jobs are taken off their
plate. Many workers have a reduction in anxiety and stress when robots take over the
routine and risky parts of their job.

3.4 Higher Customer Satisfaction

The increase in delivery speed and decrease in human errors will also increase customer
satisfaction. Customer service is critical for maintaining and growing any business. The
faster your company can execute operations perfectly, the more customers who will come
back. You’ll turn your warehouse ops into a competitive edge. In addition to better order
fulfillment, robotics can afford your workers more time to concentrate on the customer
experience. Instead of manual packing slips, robots automate packaging, communication,
and follow-up can all improve your customer’s experience with your company.

3.5 Innovative Brand Image

Besides increased customer satisfaction, robotics can boost your brand image. You can
present your company as faster and better than ever. By advertising your robotic
technology, you signal to potential customers that you are a cutting-edge and innovative
brand.
The increase in technology and competition in warehouses means that you need to
seriously consider utilizing autonomous robots in your facility. With their ability to improve
operations, increase material handling productivity, accuracy, and customer satisfaction,
every warehouse can benefit from robotics.
Technology continues to improve, and robotics can be specialized for different operations,
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so it would be smart to assess your needs.
 Where are your current warehouse operations bottlenecks?
 Do your workers spend a lot of their time retrieving goods in your large warehouse?
 Do you spend too much time taking inventory count?
 Do you frequently find yourself running out of goods because of inaccurate inventory?
These are questions to keep in mind as you try to decide what would work best for you and
where to start. Strategically adding robots to your operation means that you can increase
your profits, make your customers happy, and create a safe work environment.
The question is not whether your warehouse needs robotic technology, but where to start.

4: Discuss the challenges and issues faced in that situation. What type of problems
do you think can possibly occur?

Despite major spending on inventory management systems, retailers in a recent survey

admitted that inaccurate inventories are to blame for more lost revenue than theft, and
almost all admit to inventory problem. Furthermore, almost three out of four surveyed said
inventory accuracy would improve as a result of introducing automation or in-store robots.

Key findings of the survey included:

 87% said inaccurate inventories are to blame for more lost revenue than theft (13%).
 73% said inaccurate inventory forecasting is a constant issue, which means retailers
end up with too much or too little supply to meet demand;
 67% said analyzing inventory on store shelves is not an effective use of employees’
time;
 92% said their stores spend more time identifying inventory issues than they do
implementing solutions;
 81% said they feel their stores are only keeping pace or falling behind
technologically, despite the availability of new technologies
Inventory accuracy is a never-ending challenge for retailers,” said Martin Hitch, Bossa Nova
co-founder and chief business officer. “We’ve been working in this space for six years, so
we’re intimate with a lot of the issues that retail faces, but it’s always great to have that
backed up by the retailers themselves.

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Supply chains are incredibly difficult to run, and particularly when you get to the very end of
a supply chain in a brick-and-mortar store, where you’ve introduced so many touch points
from so many different people – it’s inevitable that there will be some errors built into any of
your tracking. In the past, we could get away with that because the only option for
customers was to go to the store – what the store had is what you could buy. With Amazon
and other online stores, with hundreds of millions of products available – customers now
have multiple alternative places where they can get the same product. So now, accepting
that an inventory is inaccurate and that there’s a potential substitution that might occur is no
longer good enough, because people have got more choices. With the omnichannel
journey, they’ve even got more choices on how they buy things online – they can buy online
and pick up in the store, buy online and have it delivered, buy online and have it delivered
where they could fit it into the rest of their day – like an Amazon locker. I don’t think it’s
about admitting defeat, I think it’s more about admitting reality – the dynamics of the
shopping environment today are putting focus on having to address that and fix it, because
that’s the only way I can start delivering the experience that today’s shopper wants

I think they’re always admitting that they’ve had an inventory problem, but that part of it was
in the evolution of omnichannel – when these big brick-and-mortar retailers started selling
online, they ran two independent businesses – they ran a brick-and-mortar business and
they ran an online business, and often the inventory wasn’t the same, or it was a subset of

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one or the other. With the multiple touch points that today’s consumer expects, the retailers
have merged these two businesses, to the point where they’re now saying, “Hey, everything
needs to be available Part of the problem was the old “garbage in, garbage out” issue – if
my raw data was poor, then the experience I’m delivering is equally poor. What retailers did
in the past was figured out workarounds – we’ve worked with some retailers who’ve built in
buffer stock into reality because they don’t trust reality. For example, if my store says I’ve
got three items in stock, maybe I’ll treat that as completely out of stock, because the
likelihood of me finding three items in today’s store is no guarantee, so rather than
disappoint the customer, I don’t take the order in the first place, even though I may have
some product in the store. Those workarounds result in lost sales, and it’s now about getting
the inventory accurate, and you don’t need the workaround, and you’ve improved the
experience. There are social concerns as well – for example, what are customers going to
think about a robot roaming around the store while they shop? Do retailers run the risk of
losing customers? We worked with a number of big retailers in the U.S. – one of them very
publicly, which is Walmart – and the customers are the people who within two weeks – four
weeks max – have accepted that the machine is moving around them. They usually have an
interaction that shows it’s completely safe, because it’s designed to stop when it sees them,
it’s designed to move around them, it blends into the background.

5: Provide your impression/opinion about the situation in the video. Balance your
answer between positive and negative impact of using robots as workers to replace
the human workers.

Robots were once known only for the manufacturing business but today they are very much
part of many workplaces. The future is even more promising for this wonder of artificial
intelligence. Imagine a robot doing some of the major tasks of managers like using data to
evaluate problems, making better decisions, monitoring team performance, and even setting
goals. Technology is playing a pivotal role in helping humans work more effectively. Since
automation has become an integral part of business operations, we can predict that robots
are soon going to replace many jobs that are today performed by humans. Now that the
corporate world is also on the cusp of entering the robotic age.
5.1 PROS

1. The first and the foremost advantage of having robots in workplaces is their cost. Robots
are much cheaper than humans and their cost is now decreasing.
2. It’s a fact that we cannot compare human abilities with robots, but robotic capabilities are
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now growing quickly. For example, if you run an essay writing service, you can use robots to
perform every kind of research related to any subject.
3. Because robots are more active and don’t get tired like humans, the collaboration
between humans and robots is reducing absenteeism. The pace of human cannot increase
hence robots are helping humans.
4. Robots are more precise than humans; they don’t tremble or shake as human hands.
Robots have smaller and versatile moving parts which help them in performing tasks with
more accuracy than humans.
5. There is no doubt that robots are significantly stronger and faster than humans.
6. Robots come in any shape and size, depending upon the need of the task.
7. Robots can work anywhere in any environmental condition whether it is space,
underwater, in extreme heat or wind etc. Robots can be used everywhere where human
safety is a huge concern.

5.2 CONS
1. Where robots are increasing the efficiency in many businesses, they are also increasing
the unemployment rate. Because of robots, human labor is no longer required in
many factories and manufacturing plants.
2. Robots can certainly handle their prescribed tasks, but they typically cannot handle
unexpected situations.
3. The ROI of your business may suffer if your operation relies on too many robots. They
have higher expenses than humans, so at the end of the day you may not always achieve
the desired ROI.
4. Robots may have AI, but they are certainly not as intelligent as humans. They can never
improve their jobs outside the pre-defined programming because they simply cannot think
for themselves.
5. Robots installed in workplaces still require manual labor attached to them. Training those
employees on how to work with the robots has a cost attached to it.
6. Robots have no sense of emotions or conscience. They lack empathy and this is one
major disadvantage of having an emotionless workplace.
7. Robots operate based on information fed to them through a chip. If one thing goes wrong
the entire company bears the loss.

Where a robot saves times, on the other hand it can also result in a lag. It is, after all, a
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machine so you cannot expect too much from them. If a robot malfunctions, you need extra
time to fix it, which would require reprogramming.
If ultimately robots would do all the work, and the humans will just sit and monitor them,
health hazards will increase rapidly. Obesity will be on top of the list.
So, there are advantages, but there are disadvantages as well. It is the twenty first century
and we cannot work without machines.
Humans are still considered far more efficient than robots when it comes to decision making
powers, handling difficult situations, brainstorming, and generally bringing a sense of
emotion and empathy into a workplace.
The utilization of robots will bring more technological advancements and profit to
certain industries. However, according to the research, the most advanced robots will have
the collective intelligence and wisdom of a lobotomized mentally challenged cockroach!
What can you expect out of a robot who has such a small level of intelligence? Till the time
the robots are unable to reach the level of human intelligence or to rationalize the
situation, humans will still have a vital role in every workplace! Besides, you cannot rule out
the significant role of humans in a business. After all, no machine can replace the  human
factor ‘real employees’ bring into a workplace.

5.3 Why Robots Will Not Take Over Human Jobs

We live in amazing times. Driverless cars, drones delivering packages and chatbots taking
our fast food orders. In fact, this entire “thing” of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) is now
being called the next industrial revolution. And it does not come without a lot of fear about a
large workforce losing its jobs and means of making a living.
When the first industrial revolution hit, factories and mass production drew workers to the
cities in droves. Manufacturing put individual craftsmen out of business. Consumers could
get products cheaper and faster and that was a good thing. Yes, some workers were
obviously displaced. But along with the “revolution,” new jobs were created, and, over time,
employment reached high levels. Of course, technology will eliminate many jobs it has
always done so. And predictions about those job losses range from a few million to over a
billion, as a recent MIT study revealed. Why this variance? Because no one can predict
accurately exactly all the jobs that robots and AI will assume from humans over the next few
decades. We just don’t know where the technology will take us. China is a prime example.
Automation, through robotics and AI, has moved China to a major economic force in the
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global economy. Because of its focus on automation and new technology,
China now exports far more than it imports, and as a result, is having a huge impact on the
global supply chain. Smaller countries with less to invest are seeing some negative
consequences and they will suffer from the inability to compete. On the other hand, they can
take a lesson from countries like India that have moved into areas of technology that are in
high demand. There are jobs the key is the right training of people to work within an
environment of robotics and AI.

5.4 Humans create and humans’ control

Robots and AI have been created by humans – they are tools that we can use when we give
the right instructions. The point is that humans and technology must work together, humans
in control and the technology providing what it is programmed to provide. The idea that
technology will replace the need for creative thinking, problem-solving, leadership, teamwork
and initiative is rather silly right now. The idea that humans can leverage technology to
provide a better world for all of us is not silly, however. It’s fascinating.
Consider this: One of the industries that have seen the greatest disruption of robotics and AI
has been medicine.

5.5 Finding your place in a robotic world

Robots and AI will certainly replace jobs boring, dangerous, and dirty ones mostly. Consider
coal mining for example. How many people still want to go down into a mineshaft and dig
out coal? How many want to subject themselves to black lung disease and a host of other
health problems from that job? Therefore, coal mining towns are dying out. Young people in
these towns are moving on to the brighter job prospects. And technology is taking over
what’s left of the mining industry. Green energy is taking over, and with it, a host of new,
clean jobs and careers. It’s the march of civilization that will never cease.

6: How do you think the situation in the video can impact/help improve the society?

Based on Walmart executives said they are skeptical that happened, because the Auto-C is
designed to stop if someone interferes with its work. But Tanner insists Freddy dutifully
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stuck to the job at hand. “Someone had to pull [the sleeping man] off,” he said. Freddy “was
going to swing toward groceries, just cleaning away. “Over the past 50 years, Walmart has
recast the fabric of American life, jostling mom-and-pop shops, reshaping small towns and
transforming how millions work and shop. But the superstore titan’s latest gamble is an
entirely new kind of disruption the biggest real-world experiment yet for how workers,
customers and robots will interact. The nation’s largest private employer has unleashed an
army of robots into more than 1,500 of its jumbo stores, with thousands of automated shelf-
scanners, box-unloaders, artificial-intelligence cameras and other machines doing the jobs
once left to human employees The swarm is already remaking how the retailer’s more than
1 million U.S. “associates” go about their daily work. Given the chain’s ubiquity across the
country, the local Walmart store also is likely to become the first-place millions of Americans
meet a real-life, working robot.
Walmart executives have promised the all-hours robot workhorses will let employees endure
less drudgery and enjoy “more satisfying jobs,” while also ensuring shoppers see cleaner
stores, fuller shelves and faster checkouts. But the rise of the machines has had an
unexpected side effect: Their jobs, some workers said, have never felt more robotic. By
incentivizing hyper-efficiency, the machines have deprived the employees of tasks they
used to find enjoyable. Some also feel like their most important assignment now is to train
and babysit their often-inscrutable robot colleagues. Customers, too, have found coexisting
with machines to be confusing, if not alarming. Some shoppers have been spooked, for
example, by the Auto-S scanner, which stands six feet tall and quietly creeps down the
aisles, searching for out-of-place items by sweeping shelves with a beam of light. Other
shoppers, store workers said, have made a game of kicking the things.

6.1 So, what is the harm in working with a robot-sidekick that is helpful sometimes
and a headache otherwise?
In March, Boston University and MIT economists Pascual Restrepo and Daron
Acemoglu argued that many of today’s automation efforts were not designed to boost
productivity but to replace it, by swapping out humans for cheaper machines. That could
make workers’ lives worse, they said, “if these new technologies are not great but just ‘so-so
good enough to be adopted but not that much more productive than the people they pushed
out. For Tanner, the employee at the Marietta supercenter, the rise of automation has made
major changes to how he works. Formerly a department manager in the toys section, he
now says he has to pick up the slack of a hugely trimmed staff: After the Fast Unloader was
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brought in, he said, the store cut the number of workers it had unloading trucks and saddled
him with many more hours of putting away freight.
The monotony in the store has increased a ton since we’ve gotten these robots. It’s insane,
he said. But he blames the managers, not the robots, for how decisions in his store get
made. He said Freddy, the self-driving floor scrubber, is “basically just another employee.

7: Conclusion

1) Human resource management is the strategic and coherent approach to the management
of an organization’s most valued assets – the people working there who individually and
collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives and of the business (Armstrong,
M., 2006). In other words, human resource management is a type of work to deal with
employees and solve employees’ problems. Therefore, human resource is a complicate
department, as well as there is several issues which happened among employees, such as
recruitment, selection and so on. Nowadays, employee retention becomes the one of the
most significant issues in the organizations, and managers are striving to keep the excellent
employees for organizations.
2) Wal-Mart’s employee retention strategies are completely, and its logistic thinking is
outstanding in the retailing industry. That is why Wal-Mart can achieve the mission – save
money, live better, and maintain the leader in the industry. However, from my point of view,
although the Wal-Mart’s employee retention strategies were more advanced than other
competitors, they did not organize well, and showed that the employee retention systems
were complicate as well as in a mess.

3) In the step of ‘Getting Good People’, Wal-Mart chose the face to face to collect data and
found the key talent. However, interview cannot provide enough evidence to decide the key
talent. It is suggested that some selection tests should be done by candidates because the
results are able to reflect to the abilities of people, such as intelligence test. For example,
P&G has the intelligence test before the interview in order to collect statistics from the
person. The intelligence test can help P&G choose capable person to interview easily.
Then, monetary and non-monetary systems are attractive in the step of ‘Keeping Good
People’ at Wal-Mart, especially the profit sharing and stock sharing plan is the model that
companies imitate, and this step can be perfect and hard to fault. Furthermore, the
distinctive ideas should be appreciated by the culture of Wal-Mart, but now the issue is how
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Wal-Mart should generate the culture to the next generation.

4) Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) are like AGVs in that they use sensor technology to
deliver inventory around the warehouse. However, unlike AGVs, autonomous mobile robots
don’t require a set track or preset route between locations. AMRs understand their
environment using computers, onboard sensors and maps. These small and nimble robots
could identify the information on each package and sort it precisely. AMRs can move
throughout the warehouse because they create their own routes based on the operation
needed. They also reroute when necessary and avoid obstacles in their environment. These
robots offer efficiency, accuracy and security during the sorting process.

5) Robotics also improve safety for workers. They take over the dangerous jobs that put
your workers at risk. Now that robots can work side-by-side with humans, the robots can
take the dangerous parts of the job and workers take over the rest, such as getting inventory
from heights or carrying heavy loads. In addition to warehouse safety, workers (and
companies) benefit from an increase in morale as the mundane and dangerous jobs are
taken off their plate. Many workers have a reduction in anxiety and stress when robots take
over the routine and risky parts of their job. Instead, they concentrate on the more creative
and collaborative portions

8: References

Chuang, M. L., Donegan, J. J., Ganon, M. W., & Wei, K. (2011). Walmart and Carrefour
experiences in China. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 18(4), 443-
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463.
Koca-Helvaci, Z. C. (2015). Walmart and its employee relations: Organizational stance-
taking and legitimacy. On the Horizon, 23(4), 374-386.
Meeks, M., & Chen, R. J. (2011). Can Walmart integrate values with value? Journal of
Sustainable Development, 4(5), 62.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Retail Trade: NAICS 44-45.
U.S. Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration – The Retail Services
Industry in the United States.
U.S. Department of Labor (2008). Fact Sheet #6: The Retail Industry Under the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA).
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/human-resource-management-strategies-
for-walmart-management-essay.php
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/21/walmart-workers-invited-special-
guest-crash-companys-annual-meeting-bernie-sanders/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_42
https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/retail-hospitality/survey-retailers-say-inventory-
problems-could-be-solved-with-robotics/

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