Controlling

1. Does Walmart’s use of automation and information technology eliminate the need for workers and managers? Explain.

Automation is the use of control systems and information technology that used to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provided human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly decrease the need for human sensor and mental requirements as well.

For the Walmart’s, it is a goal of every operation managers where they finds the right combination of technology and management to most efficiently produce goods and services. Walmart use the Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), a tiny electronic tag on individual pieces clothing’s including women’s and men’s wear, jeans, underwear and even a socks has been part of the technology automation. The tag can track the inventory shipments from manufacturers’ warehouse to Walmart’s store. This automated end –to-end system kept products flowing to Walmart’s shelves at the right time, and in quantities suited to customer demand. Besides that, the tags emit a weak radio signal thet enable employees to know what sizes are missing on the shelf and what items are available in the store room. Most retailers used RFID only to track pallets or cases of goods, and the move to individual items has raised concerns over potential invasions of privacy.

Besides RFID, Walmart’s also used Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) that replaced paper-based purchase orders and invoices. All the inventory, sales and information about the company are store in the database. Its help the Walmart’s store all the data easily and keep it without any problems and make them available in the form of information or organizational decision making. This EDI also helping reduce need of human works that in charge in keeping the data information and directly reduce the use of paper-based information’s. In general, information technology has positive implications for the practice of management in Walmart’s.

The development of computer-based information system in Walmart’s presents the alternatives to the traditional vertical organizational hierarchy in existence since the 1970s. Walmart employs tactics ranging from buying in bulk to optimizing the number of stores served by a single distribution centre in addition to achieve its superior efficiency. In 1980s, Sam Walton made an unprecedented move where he purchase a satellite communications system and established electronic linkages with suppliers using Retail Link, the company sales and inventory database. By providing managers with high quality, timely, relevant and relatively complete information, management information systems has reduced the need for tall management hierarchy. Horizontal information flows are now viable, supplanting the flow of information from one department up through management layers and then back down to another department in the company. In the end, automation help Walmart’s reduced and eliminate the need for workers and managers in their organizations.

2. How will the creation of a Sustainability Index help Walmart manage quality and performance?

The Sustainability Index is central to Walmart ability to deliver sustainable products to their customers. It is launched in 2009 where the Walmart’s collaborate with The Sustainability Consortium (TSC). The Sustainability Index help Walmart’s retailers and their suppliers improved the sustainability of the products that the customers love, integrate sustainability into the business of buying and selling merchandise, reducing the cost, improve the products quality and create more resilient supply chain and lastly strengthen their customers’ trust in retailers with the brands that Walmart carry on.

The Index is enabling Walmart to deliver powerful tools to more buyers and suppliers in more markets. Walmart using these tools to collaborate up and down the supply chain on projects that improve index scores by addressing key hot spots, driving efficiency and reducing waste. It’s also help Walmart to sell products that offer measurable benefits to the natural environments.

The manager of Walmart can improve their quality and performance using the index in coordinating their workers towards emergency response, operational to solve the surrounding issues and challenges, and also improving their value chain. They also pioneering the Sustainability Index to measure the greenness of every item sold in store. Walmart’s want to achieve their objective related to greenness by providing a label for their every product, allowing their customers to evaluate green benefits in the same way they evaluate nutrition benefits through food labelling. The sustainability product produces a massive cost reduction and making Walmart more competitive, providing a lower price to customer and there a synergy between the profits, people and the planet.

3. Why do Walmart managers set goals such as “double fleet fuel efficiency in ten years” and “cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in seven years”? Explain how managers would use the feedback control model to reach those goals.

The Walmart managers set goals such as “double fleet fuel efficiency in ten years” and “cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in seven years” because they want to be a pro-environment company that offers products with greenness and to save the planets. These goals are set due to the many Mother Nature disaster occurred because of the green house effects.

To reach the goals, the managers’ start planning to use the 100 percent renewable energy, eliminate all the waste to landfills and offer the products that offer measurable benefits to the natural environment. They also set the target in the sustainability by purchasing the wind and solar energy system, design sustainable buildings, mapping ultra-efficient driving routes and recycling all plastic waste through a Super Sandwich bailing process.

Moreover, to help the customer’s go-green, Walmart R&D team are pioneering a Sustainability Index to measure the greenness of every item sold in the store. The feedback control models help the Walmart collect the feedback from their customers about their green project and the data used to improved their performance to reach the goals.