STUDY CASE PART 6

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

A goal of today operations managers is to find the right combination of technology and management to more efficiently produce goods and services. They use a radio-frequency identification (RFID), a tiny electronic tag on individual pieces of men’s clothing, including jeans and socks has been part of the technology automation. RFID tags can identify and track pallets or cases of goods and the move to individual items. The tag emit a weak radio signal that enables employees to know what sizes are missing on the shelf and what items are available in the stock room. Most retailer had used RFID only to track pallets or cases of goods, and the move to individual has raised concerns over potential invasions of privacy. Besides, information technology make just in time inventory management work seamlessly, but it has also transformed management in many other ways. An organization’s information technology (IT) contain of the software, hardware, database management, telecommunication and other technologies it uses to store data and make them available in the form of information for organizational decision making. In general, information technology has positive implication for the practice of management.

2.      How will the creation of a sustainability index help Walmart manage quality and performance?

The Sustainability Index is central to our ability to deliver sustainable products for our customers. The index helps retailers and their suppliers to improve the sustainability of the products customers love integrate sustainability into the business of buying and selling merchandise, reduce cost, improve product quality and create a more resilient supply chain, and strengthen customers’ trust in retailers and the brands we carry. Walmart using he sustainability index to collaborate up and down the supply chain on projects that improve index scores by addressing key hot spots, driving efficiency and reducing waste. Besides, regarding Walmart’s environmental footprint, more than 90% of the opportunity is in the supply chain. Walmart needs to think how to influence its partners and suppliers, even though it does not have authority over them. Oracle Right Now gave Walmart the flexibility, capacity and tools it needed to build a supplier engagement platform called WalmartSustainabilityHub.com. The Hub is a cloud-based system for Walmart to do relationship management with thousands of suppliers across different categories, from electronics to food. Walmart uses the Oracle right now platform to capture thousands of innovations happening across its supply chain on any given day. When Walmart is engaging at scale across thousands of suppliers and hundreds of products, it needs to provide access to its sustainability initiatives with only a few clicks for users. The Oracle Right Now platform has given Walmart the ability to provide information and tools in a simple way.

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

Walmart, managers set goal goals such as “double fleet fuel efficiency in ten years” and cut greenhouse gas emission by 20 percent in seven year” because he want to only focused to what the aim and their goals. What a manager’s are responsible is to get her team to achieve the organization’s goals. Four functions of a manager are to plan, organize, lead and control the team. Feedback control is a process that the manager uses to help her carry out those functions. This process gives the manager the necessary information to better execute her control function, allowing the team to meet the standards set by the manager’s plans. To be effective, managers should make feedback control be composed of four parts. What qualifies as good performance must be clearly established. The process must have a way to measure the performance of both the team and team members to determine if the process is meeting the project’s goals. The team’s performance must be compared to the set standards using the predetermined metrics. The manager must make the changes necessary to improve efficiency. Depending on what the results show, the manager may have to change the productive process as well as the control system. The changes to feedback control may be necessary so the manager can get better information to make more informed decisions.