Case Study:
A Performance Success Story
Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, was America’s richest person, a
multibillionaire, when he died, and he was beloved by all who knew him.
He showed up for work on Saturdays because his employees did. He
remembered employees’ birthdays and anniversaries because they were
important to him. He had donuts on the dock to talk about problems and
possums because he enjoyed it. He drove an old truck.
Sam Walton’s
prescription for success, as detailed in
Sam Walton: Made in America, My
Story,
has three key elements: statesmanship, entrepreneurship, and
innovation. Walton wrote that success comes only through building a
team, only after hard work, and only by breaking old rules.
Statesmanship-share
the rewards. “If you treat people as your partners, they
will perform beyond your wildest dreams.” (In the effort to treat others as
partners, Sam’s reading of people wasn‘t always 100 percent. Once he
attempted to thank big-city investors by taking them camping on the banks of
Sugar Creek. A coyote started howling and a hoot owl hooted. Half the Back–
East investors stayed up all night around the campfire because they couldn’t
sleep.)
Entrepreneurship-commit
to your business. “I think I overcame every single
one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work.”
(Hard work and risk have a price, as revealed by Sam’s youngest child, Alice,
when she once confided to a friend, “I don‘t know what we are going to do. My
daddy owes so much money, and he won’t quit opening stores.“)
Innovation-be
creative. “If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good
chance you can find your niche by going in a new direction. I guess in all of
my years, what I heard more than anything else was: a town of less than 50,000
can’t support a decent store.” (Of course, some say this strategy stemmed from
Sam’s wife, Helen, who insisted on raising the Walton family in a town with
fewer than 10,000 people.)51
Sam Walton grew Walmart from a single store in Bentonville, Arkansas,
to a company big enough to equal the 23rd largest economy in the world. He
achieved this by sharing the rewards, committing to his business, and being
creative. Sam Walton personified statesmanship, entrepreneurship, and
innovation.
Objective:
This case shows how Sam Walton developed a mega–box organization
using three specific leader principles: sharing the rewards with his
associates; committing his actions to the business; and using creative
techniques to build the empire.
A Performance Success Story
Summary:
Sam Walton used the following principles to grow Walmart: 1)
Statesmanship – ask others for their improvement ideas, use effective
human relations techniques, and involve the associates in solving business
problems; 2) Entrepreneurship – exhibiting good work habits, displaying a
high level of self-confidence, and being a risk-taker; and 3) Innovation –
keeping an open mind, using a questioning attitude, and search for new
business ideas and opportunities.
Discussion Questions:
1.
Describe a successful leader you know.
2.
How does this leader demonstrate statesmanship, entrepreneurship, and
innovation?
Teaching Points:
✓ Define Leader for them as a person who influences the ideas and actions of
their followers.
✓ Effective leaders align their people with the proper resources by getting the
facts, creating a vision, motivating the team, and empowering her/his
followers.
✓ Remind the students that an entity’s (unit, team, division, department,
region, organization, etc.) vision is initiated by the leader. pp. 55 – 71.
✓ Leaders develop a code of values and ethics and live by them. pp. 88 – 141.
✓ As a leader of a unit, you will set the “benchmark” for other units to
emulate. pp. 476 – 477.
A Performance Success Story
✓ Discuss the various types of leaders, and in doing so, identify your personal
style:
o Caring Leader, pp. 9, 498 – 500
o Situational Leader, p. 37
o Teaching Leader, p. 3
o Team Building Leader, pp. 237 – 240
o Visionary Leader, pp. 58 – 59
o Charismatic Leader, pp. 23 – 25, 28
o Participative Leader, pp. 4, 47 – 48,150 – 152, 175
o Servant Leader, pp. 145 – 149, 170
o Transactional Leader, p. 25
o Transformational, pp. 23 – 25
NOTE: We tend to be Eclectic Leaders who use whatever style(s)
best fits the situation, circumstance, and people involved.
Related AOL 6 Text Information to Support Your Class Discussion:
o Discuss the benefits of a leader, such as Sam Walton, who created a code of
values for Walmart and Sam’s and lived by them. pp. 105- 106, 110 – 113.
o What aspects of team-building was Sam Walton using when he referred to
his employees as “associates?” pp. 237 – 247.
o Explore the benefits and risks of being an “entrepreneurial leader” such as
Sam Walton. pp. 466 – 468.
NOTE: We routinely research the subject of our specific case assignment to
determine changes in vision, mission, leadership team, new product development,
financials, current national/global news events, etc., prior to the class discussion.
An example of this is found in the Introduction section preceding our suggestions
for using Case Analyses in your class. We have used Hewlett-Packard as a sample
for all the cases since this form of organizational information is fluid and possibly
time sensitive.