Chapter 3
September 8, 2010
1. What public relations options did Walmart have in response to the Roehm suit?
Walmart had multiple options at their disposal. The first was to settle with Roehm and not respond with the counter-lawsuit that involved company policy and not involved Womack. This would have kept things clean and quiet, but would’ve cost Walmart some dollars. Another option was to simply talk to Roehm before going public with the company policy allogations. Tell her that, unless she wants the info to go public, she should drop the lawsuit and quietly resolve matters outside of court. A third option was the counter-lawsuit involving Womack’ and her violation of company policy.
2. How would you assess Walmart’s response to the suit of its former employee?
I would assess that Walmart responded to the suit, while maybe not well-mannered, but an effective way. Walmart has a precedent with it’s employees and when they do not follow the guidelines there are consequences. They also proved that if you want to play with the big boys, bring a bigger bat.
3. What is the downside to the Walmart response? What is the upside?
I think it’s obvious that the downside was all of the negative news and press coverage they were getting. Like the quoted attorney said, “Usually these matters are quietly resolved.” Walmart proved why. The upside is that Walmart showed that they care about the employee atmosphere and turned the negative energy toward Roehm.
4. Critics suggest that Walmart’s action will “poison” the atmosphere for hiring future executives. Do you agree? Why or why not?
I don’t think that Walmart’s action will “poison” the atmosphere for hiring future executives. If executives worried about something when trying to get hired, then they should follow company policy. Plain and simple. It’s only going to poison it with people who will have something to hide. In that case they shouldn’t be hired in the first place. \
5. What would you recommend Walmart do now, relative to the Roehm court case?
I would recommend that Walmart make their interview and hiring process more thorough. Also I would suggest they quickly donate a generous sum to a large charity. Get some good PR out there after all of this negativity.
Chris Fader Public Relations 
I think your answer to number 4 is totally off. If I was looking for a job as an executive, Walmart would not be one of my possible choices. After the way they handled this situation, I would be afraid they would look for things from my past to make me personally look bad. Why would anyone want to take the chance of having their dirty laundry aired for the whole world to see. Walmart is a large company and can have a major influence on if an executive can find another successful job. The risk seems to great for anyone looking for a secure job.
Ryan,
I agree that there is now a risk associated with being hired by Walmart and there may be people who wouldn’t even consider working for them. But I still don’t think they would have any trouble hiring people for executive positions. Walmart is a major company that has the largest slice of their market over their competitors and if their reputation hasn’t already been affected by their child sweat shop scandal or their notorious treatment of regular employees, I don’t think anything will.