It is currently operating in 15 countries and has 8500 stores under 55 different names. The compass winning strategy or mantra for success is “selling branded products at low price with good service to its customers”. Our Vision We envision a future in which our company treats us, the Associates of Walter, with respect and dignity. We envision a world receive great service and value, and Walter and Associates share all of these goals. Our Mission Walter works to ensure that every Associate, regardless of his or her title, age, race, or sex, is respected at Walter.
We Join together to offer strength and support in addressing the challenges that arise in our stores and our company everyday. B) Organization Structure Page 2 Walter follows a Divisional Organization Structure at the top level and a matrix organizational structure at the store level. Divisional Organization Structure. When a company expands to supply goods or services to a variety of customers, offers a variety of different products or are engaged in business in several different markets, the company could adopt a divisional organizational structure.
A divisional Truckee groups its divisions according to the specific demands of products, markets or customers. Unlike the functional organizational structure, where the different organizational functions of the company conduct activities satisfying all customers, markets and products, the divisional structure focuses on a higher degree of specialization within a specific division, so that each division is given the resources, and autonomy, to swiftly react to changes in their specific business environment.
Therefore, each division often has all the necessary resources and functions within it o satisfy the demands put on the division The benefit of this organizational structure is that companies are able to specialize its activities into self-reliant divisions, each capable of satisfying e. G. Customer demands and changes within the business environment. Divisional Structure has 3 different categories Page 3 Product Structure Product structure groups workers together based upon specific goods produced by the company.
An example of this would be a company that produces three different products, “product a”, “product b”, and “product c”. This company would have a separate division for each product. Market Structure Market structure groups workers together based upon specific markets in which the corporation sells. Geographical Structure Organization is grouped in such a way that employees located in one geographic location are grouped together to make one division. Matrix Structure A matrix structure is one that assigns specialists from different functional departments to work on one or more projects.
In an organization there may be different projects going on at once. Each specific project is assigned a project manager and he has the duty of allocating all the resources needed to accomplish the project. In a matrix structure those resources include the different functions of the company such as operations, accounting, sales, marketing, engineering, and human resources. Basically the project manager has to gather successfully. In this structure there are two managers, the project manager and the department or functional manager.
C) Type of Leadership Page 4 Walter has been successful because the leaders at Walter have always been able to infuse the energy, motivation and method required to run a big company. Good leadership has been the most important thing in taking the company to new heights. The aspects of the leadership clearly seen at Walter such as ethical leadership and strategic leadership. Ethical leadership Ethical leadership means leading in such a manner that dignity and rights of others are respected.
Leaders at Walter lay a lot of emphasis on employee satisfaction and Sam Walton firmly believed in the fact that happy employees lead to happy customers. Though there have been some allegations against Walter in this regard, lately the leaders have taken the issue head on and have started various employee engagement programs. Creation of the President’s Global Council of Women Leaders is one such initiative taken by Mike Duke. Also, lot of autonomy is provided to various associates and they are encouraged to speak their mind.
As a result, lot of good ideas flow and it all finally results in superior performance. Lee Scott was instrumental in taking up the environmental issues and health benefits for the employees. This improved the company’s image and shed off some negative publicity that was generated Strategic leadership Strategic leadership is defined as “the ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility and empower others to create strategic change as necessary. ” (Hit, 2002, up 11). Good strategy has always been the success factor behind the performance of the company.
Strategy to become cost leaders and expand at the right time was instrumental in making the company what it is today. The leaders were not averse to admit defeat and roll back the strategies that did not work. Leaders at Walter design strategy and shape the future of the company. Walter is opening the expanding markets to keep the growth momentum going. It is also opening new stores in US and increasing its footprint in the urban areas Charismatic Leadership This form of leadership is most commonly identified with the founder, Sam Walton.
Lousier and ACH (2009, up 337) explain this concept by mentioning the abilities of a charismatic leader to: – strong personal attraction from followers – articulate a compelling and evocative vision – enhance followers self conception. Sam Walton had all these qualities and these were responsible for the establishment and expansion of Walter. He instilled the confidence, ownership and customer service. Page 5 D) Other Issues Why what type of organizational structure you choose matters.
What type of organizational structure you choose matters because it’s the skeleton of your Geographically larger companies will obviously feel an affinity for the divisional structure, while smaller companies will like the functional structure. There are, of course, small companies who use a divisional structure and large companies who use the functional structure. Much of this has to do with what works in any given place. Give careful thought to which type of structure will work best in your business. It can make all the difference in the world between success and failure.
E) Conclusion The objective of this paper is that organizational structure that works best for any particular company is very important. Using the wrong structure can result in poor communication, poor product development, poor customer service, or other business problems. Any of these things can be threat to a company and could result in lost revenue or even complete failure of the company. Leadership are important too because leader make a commitment to his or her vision, to the organization, and to he members of the organization.
