Walmart Inc.: Social Media Solutions Implementation Plan Social Media Solutions Implementation Plan: Walmart Inc.

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, faces a number of productivity issues that if not resolved could affect the company's ability to compete in future. Two of these have to do with worker relations and failure to adjust the company's business model to reflect customers' needs. This text presents a plan detailing how social media technologies could be used to resolve these issues.

Social Media Solutions Implementation Plan

In week 3, I identified two productivity issues facing Walmart Inc., and proposed a number of social media solutions to help address the same. This week, I am focused on developing an implementation plan for the proposed solutions. I will outline the specific strategies that the organization needs to use in implementing the proposed solutions, as well as the cost, timeline, and training needs of such implementation. I will also outline strategies for communicating the changes to stakeholders, evaluating the success/failure of the project, and managing stakeholder resistance.

Before embarking on the main discussion, it would be prudent to provide a brief review of the identified problems and proposed solutions.

i) Walmart's Productivity Problems and Proposed Social Media Solutions

Poor Worker Relations

Walmart has, in recent years, come under serious criticism for its large number of violations regarding wages and work hours for its associates. The company has, and continues to face a large number of lawsuits regarding managers tapering with employees' wage and time records, and forcing them to skip lunch and work breaks, and work off the clock (Brunn, 2006). Lawsuits such as these have an adverse effect on employees' productivity, and the company's overall profitability.

There are also serious concerns related to unfair compensation/reward schemes. For instance, despite making up approximately 67% of the total associate population, women make up less than 10% of the company's top management (Ferrell et al., 2009). An internal study by a Walmart executive showed that a majority of associates, particularly women, are dissatisfied with the company's reward/compensation systems (Ferrell et al., 2009).

Unionization is another key concern at Walmart -- the company reportedly spends a considerable amount of time and resources on ensuring that its associates do not unionize (Ferrell et al., 2009). There have been reports, for instance, of managers sabotaging unionization attempts, and even intimidating pro-union associates (Ferrell et al., 2009). Incidences such as these breed poor relations between the organization and its associates, and adversely affect the latter's productivity.

A number of social media solutions were proposed to help address the identified worker relations issues. These include the introduction of in-house employee blogs, the introduction of in-house wikis, and the initiation of intranet and online discussion groups.

Employee blogs: these provide ample platforms for employees to present their views, exchange ideas, advance conversations, and promote their learning and successes (Haneberg, 2012). Employees could give their views on what they think the company's compensation/reward system ought to entail, and what they would love to see the organization do to make them feel supported and appreciated. Other employees could comment on the information presented in these blog posts, and the information provided therein could then be used to design effective reward/compensation systems in line with associates' expectations (Haneberg, 2012).

Wikis: these allow employees to share their ideas with management and coworkers. Moreover, they help to build healthy and positive relations among employees as they allow anyone at the company to annotate or edit a page with their suggestions (Keyes, 2013). Employees give contributions regardless of job title. This places managers and employees on level ground, and could help nurture healthy work relations between managers and associates.

Intranets and discussion groups: these provide platforms for employees to understand why the organization does what it does. The company's human resource manager could post information on why the company refuses to unionize its associates. Online discussions could then be held to make employees understand the organization's point-of-view and to also devise ways of ensuring that employee welfare is maintained even in the absence of union activity. If employees and the organization are able to reach common ground through such discussions, negative publicity resulting from unionization issues will no longer be a serious concern.

Disconnect between Product Offerings and Customer Needs in Foreign Markets

Wal-Mart had been forced to pull out of some key foreign markets as a result of failing to adjust its business model to fit the needs and expectations of customers in those markets. The most publicized of these are the pull-outs from Germany, China,...

Studies have shown that the company's withdrawal from the South Korean market was occasioned by its failure to understand local customers' shopping preferences (Gandolfi & Stratch, 2009). For instance, South Koreans are known to prefer fresh foods, and as such Wal-Mart's strategy of focusing on dry goods, clothing, and electronics did not appeal to the local market. Moreover, South Koreans expected eye-catching, aesthetically-pleasing displays, yet Walmart provided the western-like box encounter that it uses in the U.S. and Europe (Gandolfi & Stratch, 2009). This failure to understand local markets' expectations and preferences arises from the company's failure to communicate effectively with locals in these foreign markets before venturing in the same.
Walmart could use social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to interact with people in diverse cultures and understand their needs and preferences before venturing into foreign markets. A good strategy is to adapt social media to reflect the language of the market being eyed. The company could run multiple regional pages on both sites to allow users from different geographical regions to communicate in their own languages. This will help to increase user engagement, and will allow for better collaboration between the organization and users from the potential market. Moreover, it will eliminate the ideology that the organization values its home country's language more than that of the foreign market (ethnocentrism).

ii) Implementation Strategy

Proposed technology description

Cost -- the overall cost of the project will depend on whether the new system is a completely standalone system, or whether it requires some sort of interface with existing systems. The existing server system will need to be upgraded to allow for the efficient functioning of the newly-introduced technologies. For instance, new interface systems will need to be introduced to allow for enterprise-wide collaboration, and support the new system. Besides costs associated with system upgrade, there are also costs associated with system support and maintenance, all of which fall under technology-related costs.

Training costs will also be incurred because with these technologies, the organization puts content-development capabilities, which were traditionally in the hands of IT staff, into the hands of all employees. Employees will need to be trained on the use of the new technologies, as well as on how to make positive use of the newly-introduced media to ensure that hierarchical structures and employee relations are not damaged. The organization will, however, need to first identify its employees' training needs to identify what they already know about the proposed technologies, and what benefits they expect to derive from the use of the same. This will be crucial in ensuring that the implemented technologies align effectively with the needs of employees, and that there is minimal resistance to change. Further costs will be incurred in hiring personnel from different cultures and languages to join the social media communications team.

Additional costs could be incurred in the purchase of relevant equipment, including smart phones and tablets to aid employees in the shift towards the newly-introduced social media technologies. The organization could, however, minimize this cost by implementing the 'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) strategy, which allows employees to carry their own smart phones, tablets, and other communication devices to work. Those without such devices could be aided to obtain the same through pay back programs that allow the organization to purchase personal devices for employees and have the cost of the same deducted from their pay over time. This will ensure that all associates benefit from the new technologies, without the organization spending a huge amount of resources in equipment purchases.

Benefits and Drawbacks to Employees -- the proposed social media technologies will bring about a number of benefits to employees. First, they provide platforms for employees to speedily and conveniently share knowledge, information, and internal expertise. Employees are able to share knowledge and ideas with their managers and colleagues through online discussions. This gives them an opportunity to play an active role in the organization's knowledge base and decision-making processes. The second benefit to employees is increased opportunities for collaboration. Wikis deliver value by helping colleagues work better with each other, sharing knowledge, expertise, and ideas on how to achieve shared objectives, regardless of geographical location. A third benefit to employees is stronger relations with their managers and supervisors. As mentioned elsewhere in this text, wikis allow employees to give contributions regardless of job title. This places managers and employees on level ground, and could help nurture healthy work relations between managers and associates. Moreover, employees are deemed to increase their cultural sensitivity and awareness levels by interacting with the different regional pages on…