Problems Facing Amazon Company and Proposed Solutions - Case Study Example

Amazon Case Study Name Institution Course Date Introduction Leadership plays an important role in ensuring employee motivation and engagement and shaping organizational culture. According to Northhouse (2010), companies are influenced by the leader’s ability to develop strategies necessary to lead the employees and move the business forward. Amazon is faced with a number of challenges that have affected its ability to boost its competitive environment. Employees are considered the most important resources in any company and therefore companies need to motivate its employees in order to attain profitability and performance (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). This paper will discuss the problems facing Amazon in accordance to the given case study. It will highlight the necessary steps that the company can take to solve the challenges and the strategies required to accomplish the proposed solution. Problems facing Amazon Company One challenge facing Amazon is poor working conditions for the employees. Amazon has stressful working environment and many employees have complained about the condition they are in when working in the company (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015). The leader encourages workers to tear each other apart in meetings and when sharing ideas. They lack work flexibility since they may even receive emails during the night when spending time with their families. The company has focussed too much on the customers and neglected the needs of the employees (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015). Due to poor working conditions, the company has high turnover rate as some workers leave or are fired during the yearly retrenchment process. When employees are sick, they are often edged out instead of being given time to recover (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015). According to stakeholder theory, companies should focus on satisfying all the stakeholders from the customers, community, government, employees and shareholders. The theory argues that an organization that manages its relationship with all the stakeholders will survive longer and perform better (Fredrick, Bernard and Barbara, 2011). The challenge with Amazon is that it has neglected the needs of the employees which can affect its operation in the long run. Another challenge facing Amazon is poor leadership style. According to Coleman and MacNicol (2015), leadership plays a major role in ensuring that employees have the drive to perform exceptionally. Poor leadership style result to employee disengagement. Bezos can be considered a transactional leader. He is a micromanager who has set rigorous standards for his employees and is often uninterested in other people’s opinions (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015). Transactional leaders often influence the subordinates since it is in the best interest for them to do whatever the lead wants. Although this leadership is effective in achieving operational goals, it results to high turnover rate and lack of employee motivation. Jeff Bezo has rejected many of the management approaches used by other companies and has designed his own which the employees regard as an intricate machine propelling and forcing them to achieve ever-expanding ambitions (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015). There have been series of incidences where employees could be seen crying due to the condition they pass through in their workplace. Employees have reported that Bezos often rebukes them, crush their ideas in meetings and is highly opinionated. He never loses a chance to inform the workers that he is the CEO of the company (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015). Develops a solution to the issues or problems To solve the challenge of the employees, Amazon should work at motivating its employees. Motivation involves engaging individuals and positively influencing their performance in the roles they occupy (Fredrick, Bernard and Barbara, 2011). According to Herzberg’s two-factor theory, there are some factors that can satisfy the employees while there are others that prevent dissatisfaction. The theory has classified the factors into hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors involve the factors that avoid dissatisfactions of the employees (Fredrick, Bernard and Barbara, 2011). They include competitive pay and salary structure, fringe benefits, safe, clean and hygienic working conditions, company polices such as flexible working environment, and job security. On the other hand, motivational factors results in positive satisfaction and motivate the employees for an enhanced performance. Motivational factors include meaningfulness of the work, responsibility and involvement, promotional opportunities, sense of achievement and recognition (Fredrick, Bernard and Barbara, 2011). Unfortunately, Amazon lacks the ability to motivate its employees and have instituted factors that result in their dissatisfaction. Therefore, one way the company can motivate its employees is by increasing job satisfaction. This can be done through caring for the needs of the workers. Employees who feel that the management cares for them often have higher levels of commitment and have greater involvement (Austen and Zacny, 2015). Bezos should improve the working conditions of its employees by offering flexible working hours. The leader can also reward and support the workers for the work they do and give them a platform where they can air out their ideas and opinions. Consistent support and praise from the leaders can boost employees’ confidence and performance (Austen and Zacny, 2015). In addition, Amazon should create a positive relationship between the management and the subordinates (Austen and Zacny, 2015). Effective communication between the management and the workforce can reduce its problems. Research suggests that open communication channel allow better information sharing and engagement (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). With positive relationship, employees can easily take part in decision making which will benefit them as they can work in coordination with the management in achieving organizational objective. To maximize the ability of the workforce and to reduce employee turnover, Amazon should focus on developing programs to enable the employees handle workplace stress (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Prior to Herzberg’s work, employee motivation was thought to result from factors such as pay. Most companies have advocated for high pay as a means of enhancing job satisfaction and performance (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Amazon is among the company that have competitive pay structure. Nevertheless, this has proven to be inadequate in satisfying its employees. Therefore, Amazon should complement the pay with improving the conditions of the workforce. Strategies to accomplish the proposed solution According to Bezrukova et al. (2012), employees are not only motivated by money, but by how organizations run their activities. In order to motivate the employees, Amazon should transform its organization culture. Organizational culture defines who work is conducted in a company and how employees interact with each other. It involves the beliefs and values that govern the operating style of a given business (Bezrukova et al., 2012). Effective corporate culture has the ability to bind employees together and offer clear direction for the organisation. Poor corporate culture may result to employee disengagement. Corporate culture is linked to employee’s motivating factors. It plays a major role in creating and maintaining the motivation level in the workplace. It is only when there is a clear tie between motivation and organizational culture that employees can be effective in their jobs (Emery and Oertel, 2006). Strong organisational culture has the ability to enhance the productivity and performance of the employees. It has the capabilities of enhancing self-confidence and commitment, improves employee ethical behaviour and reduces stress (Emery and Oertel, 2006). Strong organizational culture is characterized by positive working environment that supports the needs of the employees which raises employee morale and commitment. It can also enhance employees’ success and assists them improves the cooperation and coordination within a team. Amazon lacks a culture that takes into consideration the conditions of the employees (Emery and Oertel, 2006). Therefore, to motivate employees, Amazon should work on enhancing its culture. Amazon can also motivate the employees by changing its leadership style. The current leadership style degrades the employees and affects their performance. Employees are often stressed and lack the ability to express their opinions without feeling judged (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015). The company should implement leadership styles that can motivate and encourage the staff; and inspire people to achieve goals. All managers in the organization should undergo training and development to enhance their emotional intelligence that would give them the ability to motivate the employees (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). With the pressing problems and growing pains that employees undergo, it will be a good idea for the managers in Amazon to undergo training program to help them develop strategies that can give the company a competitive edge and attract, motivate and retain employees who would take part in achieve the organizational goals (Northouse, 2010). Conclusion Amazon has a number of challenges that affect the performance of the organization. For instance, the company has a stressful working environment for the employees. Workers are encouraged to tear each other apart in meetings and are not given an opportunity to contribute in decision making. The leadership in the company has contributed to this condition. Bezos acts as a micromanager and is often uninterested in other people’s opinion. He endeavours to extract the most from the employees which often affects their commitment. In order to solve these challenges, Amazon should work on motivating its employees. This can be done through improving the working environment, offering flexible working hours, developing open communication and supporting the needs of the employees. These changes are only possible if Amazon transform its organisational culture. 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Kantor, J., and Streitfeld, D 2015, Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace, Business Day, New York Times. Northouse, P. G 2010, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications. Read More