Navigating Walmarts Foreign Expansion: Optimizing Leadership Strategies

Walmart Analysis for Leadership Final Paper Name Institutional Affiliation Course name Instructor’s name Assignment due date Walmart Analysis for Leadership Final Paper Preparing Walmart to Operate in a Foreign Market Companies expanding into foreign markets should consider the business culture of the target nation and how it affects the consumers’ and employees’ expectations from the business. Walmart operates primarily in North America in the United States and in Canada. The business culture for both markets is primarily the same with the needs of the stakeholders do not differ in these markets. While considering foreign growth, however, the organization must consider the leadership model that best matches the target market. Leadership styles determine the communication style that leaders use and the process of decision0making in the organization. One of the challenges that company leaders face is the means to achieve change in the organization while maintaining optimum performance. Managing change affects how companies cope with threats and take advantage of new opportunities and the approach differs depending on the culture. The leadership model analysis aims at determining the best choice for leadership styles in a foreign market expansion for Walmart. The company would have to accommodate the culture of the employees and the consumers from the country and will affect the behavior and the activities of the leaders. Walmart could employ the authoritarian leadership model during its expansion to new markets as the primary style for employee and managers’ interactions. This leadership model defines a style where the leaders spell clearly the long-term goals of the organization and the expectations that they have for their employees. In an authoritarian leadership model, the responsibility of making decisions lies with the leaders and there is minimum involvement of the employees who may be affected by the decisions that the managers make (Yao et al., 2022). Such leadership is important when the goal of the organization it to adjust to rapid changes in the business environment and accommodate change in the firm. The authoritarian leader provides clear communication to the subordinates and they are expected to provide accurate and comprehensive reports of their participation in organizational change. Each individual in the organization knows and adheres to the ranks of leadership and follows the regulations of the managers in the organization. Organizations where authoritarian leadership is established follow specific guidelines on the organizational structure of the company. The reporting is strict and is appropriate where the workers require strict guidelines and direction on how to perform their duties. Additionally, the managers want to ensure that the sharing of responsibilities is strict and that the employees understand their responsibilities in the organization (Obi et al., 2022). Consequently, it is important that the employees follow the guidelines to avoid failures within the organization and ensure that they align their actions with those of the team. Decision-making takes a significantly shorter time in authoritative leadership since there is minimal consultation between the leaders and their subordinate. It is expected that the managers have full knowledge of the goals of the organization and the expectations of the stakeholders of the company (Pizzolitto et al., 2022). Therefore, the employees are expected to perform to their level best with the resources available and the instructions of their managers in their team. There is strict sharing of responsibilities between the employees and the managers with limited overlapping duties among individuals in the firm. Despite the leadership model increasing efficiency where employees work under direct supervision of their bosses, it limits the contribution of the workers in decision-making. The most essential limitation for authoritative leadership is the assumption that there should be distinct differences among the roles of the employees and their managers. Consequently, the team members have no opportunity to contribute to the performance of the group even when they have ideas on ways to meet the company’s goals. The manages make decisions solely on the information they have about the team’s abilities without considering insights from the team members. This is an important limitation particularly when working with people from a foreign country and culture (Du et al., 2020). The team members may have important insights on how they would want the te