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Understanding the Why behind the What
by Joe Troy, Jr.
Market Asset Protection Manager
Wal-Mart
When I accepted my position at Wal-Mart almost 5 years
ago as an Asset Protection Associate I never knew that
my moral compass and ethical code instilled in me by my
parents would be tested. After working in retail for
close to 10 years now I was always familiar with Loss
Prevention or Asset Protection but did not know the
extent to which they had an impact on the lives of
people decisions they made had on individuals. True,
individuals that find themselves sitting across my desk
have stolen, broken policy, the law and have displayed
actions that are detrimental to running a profitable
business that can continue to provide customers with the
prices they come to expect at a retailer that prides
itself on "saving people money so they can live better."
What they do not prepare you for is the why behind the
what.
I have the opportunity to talk to associates in an
interview format that allows the associate to explain
the why behind the what. I already know the when, the
how, the what, and the value of what I have on video.
When I sit down with someone it is important for me to
understand the why for a couple reasons:
1. It will determine what the next step will be.
2. If someone made a "mistake"
3. Do we have a training breakdown?
4. Control breakdowns that could have minimized the
opportunity for an associate to make the wrong decision.
5. The associates decision-making process - this to me
is the most important as it allows us to put corrective
actions in place to be able to help people make better
decisions.
From time to time I sit down with individuals that made
the wrong choice based on a lack of understanding of
benefits that are available to all associates. It is
important to remember and easy to forget that just
because someone makes a bad decision it does not make
him or her a bad person. Sometimes we are conditioned to
thinking that people do not deserve a chance to explain.
I do not agree with that. Therein lies an ethical
dilemma.
Understanding the why behind the what will sometimes
lead to an ethical dilemma and in this line of work it's
that understanding that dictates the decisions we make.
It also helps to understand why people make the
decisions that they do. It's easy to think that people
just steal because they want to, and it's easy sometimes
to get numb to it, but it's truly when you have an
understanding of people that you realize that the
dilemma was there for them too. They just made the wrong
choice. |