Walmart Unethical Behavior

Ciara Vensel Principles of Management individual(a) Research Project Part VI 2/15/13 Wal-Mart, is mavin(a) of the biggest well know companies in the United States and in the realism since 1962 when founder Sam Walton created Wal-Mart. It has been the place where a lot of people normally do their fundping for the deplorable prices and variant of reapings. This is why it is so controversial Wal-Mart continues to grow even with the accusations of unethical strain practices.Wal-Mart has been accuse of hinge uponual diversity and unfair pay for employees, and destruction of grim townshipships, excessive amounts of corporate office staff through the government and how Wal-Mart is turning into a monopoly. With all of these allegations, Wal-Mart is politic one of the leading give notice sellers in the coun taste, and as a corporate office, they still stand tall and estate that they follow fair ethical values. Walton was an enterpriser with a vision that started his own s mart set and made into the leader of discount retailing alike(p) it is today.Walton borrowed some capital from his father-in-law and opened a variety store after serving as an Army captain in World War II. A filament of drugstores followed, Walton went into avocation with his brother and by 1960 the Waltons had 15 stores that were taking in $1. 4 million a twelvemonth. However, Walton concisely saw a new competitor arise, which was the discount store. The Walton brothers opened their starting date Wal-Mart in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Specializing in name brands at low prices, the chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang across country America.Waltons management style was popular with employees and assisted to spur growth. As the years 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 lowered through surface the company. Wal-Marts poor dig out practice consists of avoiding non-un ionizing of all employees, low wages, valuable benefit packages, and sexual discrimination. They avow on nutrimenting full time employees to minimum to avoid handing out benefit packages and yet they be making employees race full time hours.There is dozens of wage and hour suits against Wal-Mart accusing the company and its managers of various outlawed practices. Those included forcing employees to work unpaid off the clock, erasing hours from time cards, and preventing workers from taking luncheon and other breaks that were promised by the company or guaranteed by the state laws. In 2008 Wal-Mart announced that they have agreed to pay between $352 million and $640 million to settle 63 wage and hour lawsuits filed against the retailer in 42 different states.The lawsuits accused the company of cheating hourly workers by forcing them to work through breaks and not paying them for overtime. (Wal-Mart to Settle Suits over Pay, NYTimes. com. ) Full-time employees argon eligible fo r benefits, but the health insurance package is so expensive employees pay 35 sh ar which is almost double the national average. (Store Wars, pbs. org) Wal-Mart is in addition the leading employer of diversity and different cultures in the United States and the majority of this is men.More than 125,000 African Americans and more than than 74,000 Latinos work at Wal-Mart nationwide. Two Latinos sit on the gear up on of directors along with two women out of 15 board members. Only one woman serves as an executive officer of the company. Almost 2,000 women in 48 states yell that Wal-Mart discriminated against them for pay and promotions. The filings state women who say Wal-Mart systematically favors men for raises and promotions. (Wal-Mart finish up Discrimination Claims Filed by 2,000 Women, huffingtonpost. om) Wal-MartsLondon Kentucky Distribution Center denied jobs to pistillate applicantsfrom 1998 through February 2005. Duringthat time, Wal-Mart regularly hired male entry d irectapplicants for the store positions, but excluded female applicants who wereequally or better qualified. Wal-Mart regularly used sex stereotypes in plectrum entry- aim order fillerpositions. Hiring officials toldapplicants that order filling positions were not suitable for women, and thatthey hired principally 18 to 25 year old males for order filling positions.Excluding women from employment orexcluding them from certain positions because of gender violates Title VII ofthe Civil Rights Act of 1964. Wal-Mart ended paying $11. 7 million in back wages and compensatory damages to settle the sex discrimination lawsuit. (Wal-Mart to Pay More Than $11. 7 Million to Settle EEOC evoke Discrimination Suit, 2013) The amounts of unethical business practices that are evolving throughout the years regarding Wal-Mart real does amaze me how a business can be so mocking to their employees and still be the leading retailer in the world, and have millions of consumers.Wal-Marts employees f or the first time in Wal-Mart history went on strike in the fall of 2012. Wal-Mart workers across the countrycoordinateda Black Friday walkout in an effort to build awareness about the retailers low wages and poor working conditions. (CNN Host, Calls Out Wal-Mart Executive over pauperism Level Wages, 2013) Wal-Mart employs more people than any other company in the United States outside of the Federal government, yet the majority of its employees with children operate down the stairs the poverty line. (Store Wars, www. bs. org) There was an interview conducted on CNN by host hum Costello with Wal-Marts Vice President of Communications David Tovar regarding the Black Friday walkout, when Tovar is confronted about these restriction practices he is unsure of his answers. Currently in the United States, the poverty train is $cl00 for a yearly income and a Wal-Mart employee is making an average of $15350, Costello is arguing this level of income with Tovar because he claims that the y provide 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 bullocky middle-class lifestyle? Tovars response is, Were working hard every day to provide more opportunities for associates. (CNN Confronts Walmart Spokesperson Over Retailers petty(a) Wages, ugly workings Conditions ThinkProgress, 2013) Costello abruptly argues, But if a lot of them are making $15,000 a year, you cant proceed a ardent middle-class lifestyle on that (CNN Confronts Walmart Spokesperson Over Retailers Low Wages, shortsighted Working Conditions ThinkProgress, 2013) Tovar in any case tries to justify the average wage of a Wal-Mart employee by not giving a straight answer and showing how to help their employees by stating, Our average rate is about $12. 40 an hour for a full time associate. We also offer comprehensive benefit packages as low as $17 a pay period, which is very cheap and we also pay qu arterly bonuses, which is something that not a lot of retailers do. In addition, we know that they appreciate that. They also get a 10 percent discount card.So you have to factor in all of those things when youre look for how were helping associates. (CNN Confronts Walmart Spokesperson Over Retailers Low Wages, Poor Working Conditions ThinkProgress, 2013) In reality, he is just working his way slightly stating the evident that employees are getting paid low wages for todays economy. Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke has an average income of$18. 1 million it would take more than 700 employees salaries to cope with his total compensation package. Not only does Wal-Mart treat employees unfairly, but also it is unethical to the communities it develops in.It is certainly true that Wal-Mart has a tendency to crush competitors. The more successful Wal-Mart is, the more there testament be bankruptcies of smaller businesses. fit in to the National Bureau of Economic research its been proven that Wal-Mart has unseemly effects on small town stores. They did a study on Wal-Mart store in Arkansas the employment results indicated that a Wal-Mart store spread reduces small town retail employment by about 150 workers, meaning that for each one Wal-Mart worker replaces 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 anaesthetic cranch Markets, 2013) I myself come from a small town with a population of less than a 1000 people we are mainly a tourist town because we are located right future(a) to Mille Lacs Lake, which means we are only seasonally making a win. Whenever it is sportfishing season in our area is where we have the most profitable seasons.Coming from a small town, I know that it is very hard to keep small businesses going Wal-Mart thrives o n making new substantiations 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 utter Wal-Mart has taken over some umpteen rural areas and they pay their employees at such low wages that Wal-Mart is increase in corporate position through the government and are becoming a monopoly. A monopoly is a situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given 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 super Wal-Marts there profit is immensely growing to outrageous amounts. (Corporate Power, Wal-Mart and the Undermining of the Democratic Process Dollars gumption, http//dollarsandsense. org) With all the contestation surrounding Wal-Mart the corporate office still claims that they are an ethical company that favors their employees. There website has a statement 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 simply something that is corrupt within their company 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 consider it our responsibility to make a positi ve 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 shake up volunteer efforts of Wal-Mart associates, we are passionate about helping people live better. One community at a time. (Wal-Mart Corporate Our Story, http//corporate. walmart. com/ourstory/) Companies like this that bear these major ethical issues are the ones that can spot the issues and correct them in the beginning they become a problem. In the case of Wal-Mart, it failed to acknowledge these potential 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 stop 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 allow its faults to overcome any obstacles to obtain success. Bibliography Peled, M. (n. d. ). PBS Store-Wars The Story. PBS Public beam Service, Retrieved January 18th 2013, from http//www. pbs. org/itvs/storewars/story. html Greenhouse, S. 2008, December 23) Wal-Mart to Settle Suits over Pay NYtimes. com, the unsanded York Times, Breaking News, World News Multimedia, Retrieved January 18th 2013, from http//www. nytimes. com/2008/12/24/business/24walmart. html? _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 Speed Press. CNN Confronts Walmart Spokesperson 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 shake 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 Million To Settle EEOC Sex Discrimination Suit. (n. d. ). EEOC Home Page. Retrieve d 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