Wal-Mart Restructures Management Positions

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is eliminating a layer of in-store management, part of efforts to simplify operations at the world’s largest retailer. The company will cut the role of zone manager and transfer the duties to other managers, Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg said. The change, affecting about 14,000 employees, is meant to reduce bureaucracy and put more power in the hands of people running Wal-Mart’s 4,500 U.S. stores. The company began notifying employees of the decision this month, Lundberg said. Until now, employees in zone-manager positions — generally about six workers per store — had responsibility over several departments. One of them, for instance, might oversee the pharmacy, health and beauty-product sections. In recent years, Wal-Mart has had zone managers in addition to individual department managers. Greg Foran, Wal-Mart’s U.S. chief executive officer, has been working to improve customer service at stores. “How stores serve customers in a simple, repeatable and sustainable way” was among the priorities he outlined in a recent meeting of U.S. executives, according to an internal document. “We’ve recently undertaken some important activities to simplify our organization and empower our stores, our associates in our stores to make decisions,” Foran told analysts on a conference call earlier this month. Other Jobs Former zone

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