Table of Contents
Introduction
An organization is as strong as its leadership system. The leader paradigm of an institution communicates the direction and the nature of activities an organization will undertake. The functions of leaders are diverse as they stretch from the motivation of the employees to the creation of business policies that cater to the needs of the employees. Creation of an environment that employees feel cared for and appreciated by the leaders as per the nature of activities they do is an essential role of leaders (Penney, Kelloway & O’Keefe, 2015). The implication of leadership dictates the revenue and the value of an organization. Quality of goods and services provided by an institution are the product of the leadership paradigm adopted by an organization. Caring as a leadership need is critical in ensuring employees develop an inner drive to doing activities and do them to their level best. The following is a proposal on how to better the leadership of the organization through training of leaders on caring for the employees. The project proposal will entail a case study of Wal-Mart.
Current situation
Wal-Mart is one of the largest businesses in the United States. The story of Wal-Mart is that marked with the achievement of the American dream by the founder Sam Walton. The leadership of Wal-Mart has been blamed in the recent years for their lack of employee-centered policies. The employees have gone on strikes claiming that their working conditions and poor wages on their work. In 2017, the revenue generated by the organization was in its billions of dollars. The income of the year 2017 was approximated at 485.9 billion dollars. Wal-Mart employs more than 2.3 million employees worldwide, and the majority of the workforce is in the United States. The human resource and entire leadership of the company lack the necessary tools and characteristics of caring for the employees (Chiu et al., 2017). The margin of pay between the employee at the lowest level and the manager of a Wal-Mart branch is more than a thousand folds. Poor pay and working environment are a manifestation of the lack of care of the employees from the leadership of the organization.
Background on the current leadership program
There is no known leadership-training program aimed at improving the relationship between the Wal-Mart leadership and its employees. Due to the magnitude of the company, conduction of such programs is next to impossible, as the logistics would take a lot of time and resources. The closest program is entailed in the human resource management programs that continually reviews the working conditions of employees and create new strategies to solve the situation (Chiu et al., 2017). The creation and implementation of the programs of human resources take a top-down approach. The programs formulated in most cases do not add up to the expectations of the employees, and they end up not solving the challenges voiced.
The company hires and trains employees on a continuous process, but the company does not do the same for the leadership. Caring is a characteristic that needs to be cultivated through seminars, training, and leadership forums. The human resource programs aim at making the employees comfortable in the workplace, but they do not focus on improving the relationship between the employees and the leaders (Chiu et al., 2017). Caring is a concept that arises when people feel connected, loved and thought off in particular situations. The leadership system of Wal-Mart is centered on its decentralization of is functions to the stores. The primary features of the top leadership include the formulation of policies.
The disconnect between company and employees
The relationship between Wal-Mart as a company and its employees is flawed and dysfunctional at all levels. The nature of disconnect and discontent is manifested by the constant strikes and criticism of the leadership by employees, trade unions, and civil rights organization. The assumption of significant business that has significance revenue entails that the review of payment factor can only resolve motivation and conflicts between the employer and the employee is flawed (Northouse, 2018). Monetary compensation in the performance of task represents a powerful motivator of work. The feelings of the employees on how they are treated by the organization they are working for is as importance.
The working wages of Wal-Mart are one of the lowest in the United States. The situation coupled with the lack of care for the employees translates into an organization that does not take into consideration the welfare of their employees in all dimensions of employment. Research indicates that the turnover rates of workers in Wal-Mart are devastating and this is because the employees do not feel appreciated. The situation is the foundation of the constant need for the hiring of employees by the company and wastage of lots of resources in training of new employees. Factors that motivate employees to give the best of their abilities in the performance of activities are closely related to the emotional connection of the workforces to the organization and the leaders.
The founding father of Wal-Mart Sam Walton was a great leader as he ensured that the employees felt they were part of the more significant Wal-Mart enterprise. Leadership is a concept that dictates the direction people and organizations take (Houghton et al., 2015). Numerous researchers indicate that leader characteristics that are most important in the management of human resource include the creation of the sense of love and care to the workforce. Comprehension of the workforce needs is a first step to appreciating the work of employees. Striving to address the needs identified is a practical manifestation of the degree of care a leader has on the employees of an organization like Wal-Mart.
A manager of a store of Wal-Mart states that unresponsive leaders system that works to implement the top-down concepts is the sole reason for the constant lousy reputation Wal-Mart is getting recently. Poor communication channels make it hard for the plight of the employees to be recognized by the top leadership of the business enterprise (Northouse, 2018). The consistent wrong approach to the challenges facing the employees is one of the reasons for the leadership challenges. The leaders ignore the suggestions of the employees on how to improve the working environment that ultimately contribute to the more considerable success of the company.
Project plan
The proposal is a detail of the collective steps and stages of training that need to happen to the leadership of the enterprise. The people to be trained include the top leadership from the chief executive officer to the store assistant managers. The most important leaders that require drastic training are the human resource managers as they deal with the employees on a direct level. From the employees’ feedback, it is clear that poor communication and lack of store meetings where they can air their issues (Bolman & Deal, 2017). The training process will include; Education of leaders on the reason why leadership is essential in an organization for example Wal-Mart. Education is necessary as it opens the minds of the leaders into the needs of the employees and the strategies they can use to achieve the needs rose. Training on communication is paramount as it forms the essential tool for change in an organization. Communication of policies through the creation of a straightforward channel of feedback collection is as critical as it provides leaders with the unseen challenges of the employees.
Training on empathy is one of the leadership qualities that have proved useful in caring for the employees in an organization. Empathy allows leaders to put themselves in the shoes of the employees and the employees on those of the leaders thereby understanding the roles and the restrictions on each side in the process of leadership (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Empathy encourages caring for people as were get to understand their struggles and strive to help resolve the most basic of the needs (Jacobs, 2017). The correlation between leadership training and the success of an organization as directly related. Leadership training provides leaders with the opportunity to comprehend the trends in leadership and the requirement entailed in administration as per the shifting dynamics of the concept.
Budget
The budget for the training of the whole leadership structure will be distributed through three years of training. Due to the magnitude of the enterprise, the leadership training will take place in phases. The estimated cost of training one leader at the top position is 5,000 dollar, which will include the examination fees and simulation training of different scenarios in leaders. The senior leaders include the people who make decisions that affect every Wal-Mart store in the nation, for example, the chief executive officer, and the chief financial officer. The training of the store leadership including the managers, assistant managers and the head of departments like human resources will happen in the second phase. Training of the mentioned staff of one store will cost 10,000 US dollars. The training will involve simulation testing and examination in a different aspect of training.
In conclusion, leadership training is critical to ensure that the employees feel respected and cared for in matters work, environment, and wages. Quality of goods and services provided by an institution are the product of the leadership paradigm adopted by an organization. Caring as a leadership need is critical in ensuring employees develop an inner drive to doing activities and do them to their level best. Appreciation of employees does not entail the use of monetary value in its entirety but requires the close connection and gratitude between the leaders and the employees. Training on the art of motivation will help leaders effective conjure appropriate that will aim to motivate the employees through recognition even if monetary compensation is not involved. Such simple practices help the employees realize that the leadership of an organization, in this case, Wal-Mart cares, loves, and appreciates their input in the operations of the enterprise.
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