Postby Sieg Reyu » 30 Mar 2014, 21:04
Here is the problem with working at Wal-mart, it's a big case of "Too Many Chefs Spoil The Broth." I work as a Department Manage over Toys and Sporting Goods. Above me, there is a Zone Manager, who manages two Department Managers. Abover her, is an Assistant Manager, who manages two ZMs. Abover her, is One of our two Co-Manager, which three years later, is still not a position I fully understand, because above them is the Store Manager. The Store Manager is then in turn managed by the Market Supervisor, ad infinitum.
So the Market Manager comes in, says for a few things to get done that seems reasonable to her, and it trickles down, to the bottom. The Store Manger has some stuff, it trickles down, so on and so forth, and before long you've got a hefty To-Do list. And since they're only concerned with what they assigned you, they get mad when that one thing didn't get done, so they chew out the person below them, and it finally makes it's way to you, by which point the severity has grown exponentially. Now it makes sense to do what they ask for you to do first, but a lot of time it's piddly crap. Stuff that takes a lot of time and effort for very little impact. Meanwhile, you've got top-priority things that have to get done first, as dictated by company policy, namely helping customers, doing paperwork, price changes, etc.
So you make the right choice, even though it's going to mean possibly getting in trouble because the farther the ladder of command reaches the looser of a grip they have on reality, and the more they value their expectations.
But there is good news, my store just got a new Store Manager, and he seems really nice. First thing he did was go on a hiring spree so that we could finally get proper coverage. He took all of use DMs and had a "Airing of Grievances" meeting so that he could find out what problems he needed to fix without it coming back to bite us. I haven't seen any results from it yet, but it was only a week ago. But if it was anything to go by, my ZM might not be around much longer, or at least not in the same position. People who aren't even in her ares were complaining about her. If that happens, it'll be a huge weight off of my shoulders. And we have a new CEO, which means there is a chance that things will improve.
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