Wal-Mart stirs a lot of emotions from many people. People either love or hate the store and its influence has significantly impacted global retailing. Wal-Mart’s very simple strategy of Everyday Low Prices drives every single decision at Wal-Mart. As a result, payroll expenses are always monitored and evaluated, especially with close to 1.5 million employees worldwide. Therefore, there are huge financial benefits for Wal-Mart to cut every corner they can when it can reduce the cost structure of its business model. Examples such as “off-the-clock work” are not only present at Wal-Mart but could also be considered an industry-wide issue. In any setting in which a time clock records the number of hours worked by an employee, there is always the opportunity to abuse the system. While an innocent request such as “can you tidy up that shelf before you leave” may not have any cost impact, Wal-Mart appears at times to abuse the loyalty of its employees by asking them to work long after they have clocked out. Health benefits are another area where Wal-Mart has been able to minimize its cost structure for the employees. Placing hurdles for eligibility and having a high level of deductibles allows Wal-Mart to block some of its employees from signing up for health coverage while others only accept minimum coverage.

The issue of sexual discrimination has been a major stumbling block for Wal-Mart as it moves to be a global presence. It could be hypothesized that the “good old boy” culture established by Sam Wilton in rural Arkansas did not condemn managers who perceived that female employees should not be able to have a career at Wal-Mart. The recent legal class action lawsuits may have given Wal-Mart the impetus it needed to change its corporate culture.

Again, based on its “good old boy culture”, Wal-Mart has never looked favorably on unions. They believe that only Wal-Mart knows what is best for their employees. Wal-Mart is still actively involved in stopping unions from being formed for its workers in the United States. Of course, the ironic twist is that when Wal-Mart started in China, the Chinese government made it a requirement that every employee is unionized.

The net result is that Wal-Mart has always walked a fine line between ethical and unethical behavior when it examines the relationships between the treatment of employees and reducing costs.

1. Are the ethical issues Wal-Mart faces really any different from other large retailers?

2. Wal-Mart officials have stated that they don’t feel women are interested in management positions at the company. Do you agree or disagree?

3. Wal-Mart is continually criticized for its health-care policy. Is this really an ethical issue? Why or why not?

4. Should Wal-Mart be concerned about the unionization of stores since allowing unionization of workers in China?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 No Ethical issues exist in stores all around the World including the famous chain WalMart Therefore classifying ethical issues in WalMart and other ... View the full answer