Chapter 11: Strategic Leadership

Walmart empowers their employees through the top-down perspective.  It starts at the top with corporate management specifying specific guidelines and roles.  They delegate responsibility and hold people accountable for the results.  They do not allow their employees to self-manage as all Walmart stores need to be managed the same way.

Walmart has developed specific policies to fulfill it's mission.

• 3 Basic Beliefs - (1) Respect the individual, (2) Service the customer, and (3) Strive for Excellence.
• Open Door Policy - A managers' door must be open to employees at all levels.
• Sundown Rule - Employees must answer customer, supplier, and employee questions on the same day it is received.
• Grass Roots Process - Executives must ask for ideas from sale employees and other low-level employees.
• 10-Foot Rule - Employees must make eye contact, greet, and offer help to any customer that comes within 10 feet of them. 
• Servant Leadership - Leaders must be able to provide service to the needs of their team (About.com, 2013).

 Walmart has developed principles to guide their employees ethical decision making.

• Always act with integrity.
• Lead with integrity, and expect others to work with integrity.
• Follow the law at all times.
• Be honest and fair.
• Reveal and report all information truthfully, without manipulation or misrepresentation.
• Work, actions, and relationships outside of your position with the company should be free of any conflicts of interest (discussed later in this guide).
• Respect and encourage diversity, and never discriminate against anyone.
• Ask your manager or the Global Ethics Office for help if you have questions about this Statement of Ethics, or if you face an ethical problem.
• Promptly report suspected violations of the Statement of Ethics.
• Cooperate with and maintain the private nature of any investigation of a possible ethics violation.
• When involved in an ethics investigation, you should reveal and report all information truthfully. You should present all the facts you are aware of without personal opinion, bias, or judgment (Walmart Ethics, 2013).

Walmart's Statement of Ethics includes:

• Workplace Integrity Issues - alcohol & drug abuse, harassment, inappropriate conduct, non-retaliation, non-discrimination, wage & hour, and conflicts of interests.
• Marketplace Integrity Issues - fair competition, intentional dishonesty, financial integrity, insider trading, and restrictive trade practices.
• Community Integrity Issues - anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, authority to work, environmental responsibility, health & safety, and protecting personal & business information (Walmart Statement of Ethics, 2013).

About.com, 2013.  Retrieved from http://www.retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/Wal-Mart-Mission-Statement.htm

Walmart Ethics, 2013.  Retrieved from http://ethics.walmartstores.com/StatementOfEthics/BasicBeliefs.aspx

Walmart Statement of Ethics, 2013. Retrieved from http://az301759.vo.msecnd.net/statementofethics/pdf/U.S_SOE.pdf