Leadership

Organizing Function

Nicholas Lomas

MGT/330

January 9, 2011

Peter Stein

Wal-Mart and the Organizing Function of Management

Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer (Mui, 2008). As the world’s largest retailer the company has stores, employees, inventory, distribution channels, and various other assets throughout the world. The use of various resources by a company, whether large or small, is one of the most important decisions a business must make and it is one of the most complicated decisions a business must make, even if it is a very small business. The complexity of these decisions only increases when a business becomes as large as Wal-Mart. To manage the large number of assets and resources the company has it must rely on its management to effectively complete its organizing function. The organizing function of management is described as the process through which managers synchronize and employ an organization’s human, physical, and financial resources (Organizing Function of Management, 2009).

The organizing function is vitally important in all organizations. Any mistakes mangers make in this area of business will impact all areas of a business because they may cause excessive costs, lost productivity, lost business, and many other problems. When managers of an organization as large as Wal-Mart perform their organizing function they must not only ensure that they obtain all resources the company needs and that they effectively employ those resources, but they must also ensure that the resources appropriately support all areas of the company’s business. When resources are distributed throughout the globe, as they are in Wal-Mart’s case, the function increases in difficulty. This means that management must carefully complete the organizing function and work to ensure its decisions have both effective and efficient results (McNamara, 2009).

Wal-Mart is a retailer that has over 1,200 retail stores throughout the world that sell millions...