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Control Mechanisms of Walmart Corporation

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Submitted By Lacie17
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Control Mechanisms of Walmart Corporation Companies all across the world use control mechanisms to achieve and monitor the success of the organization. If a company has planned poorly the goals, objectives, or a disagreeing management, the likelihood of the company surviving for any length of time becomes slim and considered an out-of-control company. Managers today must control their people, inventories, quality, and costs, to mention just a few of their responsibilities (Bateman & Snell, 2009). The three broad strategies for achieving organizational controls consist of bureaucratic control, market control, and clan control (Bateman & Snell, 2009). When planning for these controls managers follow four steps for each: setting performance standards, measuring performance, comparing performance against the standards, and determining deviations, along with taking actions to correct problems and reinforce success. The paper will focus on the control mechanisms of Walmart Corporation and how the mechanisms compare and contrast from others, their effectiveness, positive and negative reactions, and how each affect the four functions of management.
Walmart Corporation Walmart serves more than 200 million customers and members throughout their 8,650 retail units between the companies 55 operating banners in 15 countries on a weekly basis (Walmart, 2010). With sales in 2010 of over $405 billion, employing more than Two million associates worldwide, and receiving the title of 2010s Most Admired Company by Fortune Magazine did not come overnight (Walmart, 2010). The company maintains a strict set of control mechanisms to operate as the world’s largest retailer; three of the mechanisms used fall under the headings of bureaucratic, market, and clan control.

Bureaucratic control Walmart has planned heavily to drive the bureaucratic control and set strong goals as

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