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176 Part One Organizations, Managemient, and the Networked Enterprise INTERACTIVE SESSION: MANAGEMENT FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING AT WAL-MART: GOOD OR BAD FOR EMPLOYEES? With nearly 1.4 million workers domestically, Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the ance again for an evening crowd. However, for a United States. Wal-Mart is also the nation's number hour stores and has also run into trouble pseviously one retailer in terms of sales, registering nearly $379 for its labor practices, the transition to a computerbillion in sales revenue for the fiscal ycar ending ized scheduling system has resulted in controversy. Jamuary 31, 2008. Wal-Mart achleved its lofty status For Wal-Mart, using Kronos translates to improved through a combination of low prices and low productivity and customer satisfaction. Management operational costs, enabled by a superb continuous reported a 12-percent gain in labor productivity in inventory replenishment system. the quarter ending January 31,2008. Now Wal-Mart is trying to lower costs further by: For Wal-Mart employees, known to the company as changing its methods for scheduling the work shifts . associates, the change may decrease the stability of of its employees, In early 2007, Wal-Mart revealed their jobs and, possibly, create financial hantship. that it was adopting a computerized schedaling The schedaling generated by Kronos can be unpre: system, a move that has been roundly criticized by: dictable requiring associates to be more tlexible with workers' rights advocates for the impact it may have. their work hours. Stores may ask them to be on call in on employees' lives. case of a rush, or to go heme during a siow spell. Traditionally, scheduling employee shifts at big: Irregular hours, and inconsistent paychecks, make it. box stores such as Wal-Mart was the domain of store more difficult for employees to organize their lives. managers who arranged schedules mantally. from scheduling bahysitters to paying bills Aleres They based their decisions in part on current stote from the system may also enable store managers to promotions as well as on weekly sales data from the avoid paying overtime or full-time wages by cutting previous year. Typically, the process required a foll back the hours of assaciates who arr approaching the day of effort for a store managen. Multiply that labor thresholds that cause cxtra benefits zo kick in. intensity by the number of stores in a chain and you Associates are almost always people who noed all the have an expensive task with results that are. work they can get. marginally beneficial to the company. According to Paul Blank of the Web site By using a computerized scheduling system, such WakeUpWalMartcom, which is supported by the as the system from Kronos that Wal-Mart adopted; a United Food and Commercial Workers union, "What retail enterprise can prodice work schedules for the computer is trying to optimize is the most number every store in its chain in a matter of hours, of part-time and least number of full-time workgts at. Meanwhile, store managers can devote their time to lower labor costs, with no regand for the effogt that it, running their individual stores more effectively: has on workers' lives. Sarah clark, speaking on behali The Kronos scheduling system tracks individual of Wal-Man, insists the system's goal is simply to store sales, transactions, units sold, and customer. improve customer service by shottening chieckout traftic. The system logs these metrics over 15-minute. lines and berter meeting the needs of shoppers increments for seven weeks at a time, and then To assist in the deployment of its computerized measures them against the same data from the scheduling system in all of its stores, Wal-Mart previous year. It can also integrate data such as the requests that its associates sabmit "personal availabitnumber of in store customers at cercain hours or the ity* forms. Language on the form instructs associates average time required to sell a televiston set or that "Limiting your personal availability may restrict unload a truck and predict the number of workers the number of hours you are schediuled " Anecdotal needed at any given hour. evidence suggests that some workers have indeed A typical result of this type of scheduling might seen their hours cut and their shifts bounced around. call for a sparse staff early in the day, a significant Experienced associates with high pay rates have increase for the midday rush, scaling back toward expressed concern that the system enables managers the end of the afternoon, and then fortifying the staff to pressure them into quitting. If they are unwilling Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 177 to work nights and weekends, managers have a justification for replacing them with new workers In the meantime, Wal-Mart is once again at the who will make much less per hour. Sarah Clark_ forefront of technology trends in its industry. denies that the system is used in this . Aaylor Stores, Limited Brands, Gap, WilliamsCritics of the system Sonoma, and GameStop have all installed similar Act of 1914, which states, "The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce? Sourees: Vanessa O'Connell, Retailers Reprogram Workers in No legal battles over computerized scheduling Maher, "Wal-Mart Seeks New Flexibility in Worker Shifts," The Wall appear imminent, so interpreting whether Wal-Mart's Street Joumal, January 3, 2007; www.kronos.com, accessed July 15, strategy equals treating its labor force as a commod- 2008; Bob Evans, 'Wal-Mart's Latest 'Orwellian' Technology Move. ity will have to wait. Get Over It," Information Week, April 6, 2007 and "More Opinions on Wal-Mart's Flexible Scheduling." Information Week, April 17, 2007. CASE STUDY QUESTIONS MIS IN ACTION 1. What is the ethical dilemma facing Wal-Mart in Visit the Web site at www. WakeUpWalMart.com and this case? Do Wal-Mart's associates also face an then answer the following questions: ethical dilemma? If so, what is it? 2. What ethical principles apply to this case? How do 1. What are this group's major points of contention they apply? with Wal-Mart? 3. What are the potential effects of computerized 2. How well does the Web site serve their cause? scheduling on employee morale? What are the Does the site help their cause or hurt it? consequences of these effects for Wal-Mart? 3. What other approach could the organization take to bring about change? Using Wal-Mart's Web site and Google for research, answer the following questions