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Walmart: The Future is Sustainability
Renita A. Duncan
Ethics in Today’s Organizations
April 7, 2013
Ms. Deborah Mitchell
Southwestern College of Professional Studies
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Is Walmart Doing Enough to Become More Sustainable?
According to our text sustainability means “meeting the present needs without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (p. 103). This is a
definition they got from the UN world Commission. I believe Walmart is making great strides
towards being responsible enough to become more sustainable. One example of Walmart’s goals
towards future sustainability is really simple; they are reducing their energy consumption. One
way they are reducing energy is their “daylighting system, which allows them to dim the lights
during the daylight hours to cut energy use. The other way is to use what many homes use to cut
costs and save energy which is central air and cooling. This sounds very simple but many
companies have still not come to the conclusion that saving energy could also save costs and
support future environment efforts as well. Walmart’s goal to eliminate waste also supports their
sustainability effort I believe if they continue to hold their suppliers accountable as well they will
more than support the sustainability effort. Walmart ensures that their manufacturers are
certified for compliance with social and environmental standards (p. 329).
The goals that
Walmart expects for their suppliers will positively affect Walmart’s sustainability in the future.
With their efforts to provide green labeling with enough information for customers to make
informed decisions on products and their promotion of green jobs Walmart is definitely doing
enough to maintain their lead in being a sustainable brand.
Walmart Problems
Walmart has suffered a plethora of problems since its inception. The very existence of
Walmart store in an urban neighborhood could result in a law suit. They have for many years
suffered criticism because of the effect on the environment and use of land it takes to build a
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Walmart. We just talked about sustainability and this is one example of a paradox that Walmart
suffers because although they do support green initiatives their buildings often cause what our
text called “urban sprawl” (p. 333) which is bad for the infrastructure of a neighborhood. They
also have faced many issues of discrimination, from race to gender and have over many years
been fighting to diversify their company and now provide equal pay for positions held. Walmart
has often been the discussion of ethical behavior when it comes to immigration and fair work
practices. Many of the class actions suits, I feel should be directed towards bad local
management rather than Walmart at large. The same could be said for the immigration problems
which stem for their contractors having unethical hiring and salary practices. To me those
allegations should be held at the contractor’s expense rather than Walmart. I do however;
believe that Walmart could better influence its contractors so that they would (if going into
contract with Walmart) pay at least fair minimum wage salaries to their employees regardless of
their residence status and only those that are legally authorized to work. Walmart continues to
work on these the many other issues they face based on unethical decision not made by corporate
office, but by store managers throughout their sector.
Why Walmart Has Improved
I believe Walmart have made great efforts to improve its practices. They are looking
closely at their supplier relationships and their expectations have become standard to good
business practices. I think they continue to excel above many of their competitors because they
have vowed to do one thing that I think many companies struggle with, reduce waste. Reducing
waste means creating an ever evolving organization. Walmart has been able to remain so
successful because they are able to grow to meet the needs of the demand market. Walmart
meets the need of the market although many would say not necessarily the community in which
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they house themselves. They have had many issues in leadership and always found ways to
move forward towards a solution and more importantly ways to improve the process so it would
never happen again. As Walmart continues in its effort to become more sustainable, I believe
they will definitely continue to improve performance and meet every stakeholders demand for
social responsibility.
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References
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011). Business ethics: ethical decision making and
cases (9th ed.). Mason: Erin Joyner.