MGT302 Week 4 Assignment – Amazon.com Manager

Management for Organizations – MGT302

Amazon.com has a hierarchical structure. There are seven business segments, two CEOs and one CFO all of which report directly to the CEO, Jeff Bezos. The business segments include, information technology, human resources, software development, retail product management and merchandising, operations and customer service, finance and administration, and legal operations. There is a CEO of Worldwide consumers and Amazon web services (AWS) and finally a Senior Vice President & CFO (Dudovskiy, 2017). Similar to the NAVY Seals, Amazon has specific principals everyone follows all the way from the Executives to the front line; Customer Obsession, Ownership, Invent and Simplify, Are Right A lot, Hire and Develop the Best, Insist on the Highest Standards, Think Big, Bias for Action, Frugality, Learn and Be Curious, Earn Trust, Dive Deep, Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit, and Deliver Results (Rivet, 2017, pg. 8).

Planning

To ensure consistency and structure to the organization I would begin with a mission statement. A relevant mission statement that is inclusive, open to ideas, energizes and motivates employees to do a great job. I want employees to feel like they own part of the company they invest their time in. Comcast Regional President, Steve A. White, once said something about wanting a company with Owners not Renters and that’s exactly what I envision.

Having a great culture can make or break the enthusiasm and collaboration in an organization. I like the old saying “Work Hard, Play Hard”. I feel team builders keep interdepartmental relationships strong. Common HR issues are resolved between friends, in most cases, when co-workers trust each other. The more a team can get together and build relationships the more they trust they can talk through office disagreements. To build on the team aspect I would institute regular rewards and recognitions based on the goals we have as a unit and individuals. Being recognized in front of peers can be very motivating to both the person being recognized and their peers.

As part of the planning process I would hold a Manager Off-Site meeting quarterly to determine our next quarter goals, collaborate ideas and develop plans to implement the ideas, strategize about future events and assign action items. We would also discuss and develop a contingency plan for any possible changes in the next quarter and year.

Organizing

I believe Amazon.com has a very efficient organizational structure. They have incorporated specific strategies that the entire workforce is working toward. They foster an open idea organization that keeps them innovative and constantly changing for the needs of their consumers.

Amazon.com’s first principle is Customer Obsession because the companies number one focus is on begin a customer company. In 1999 Bezos said “Our vision at Amazon.com is to be the world’s most customer-centric company. We don’t view ourselves as a bookstore or a music store. We view ourselves as a customer store.” (Rivet, 2017, pg. 8). Amazon is known for reverse engineering products based on customer demand, that’s why the Kindle was created. Special projects are worked on in silos so the team can focus on their project without relying on others team’s ideas. The creativity is higher when they visual their concept from start to finish. They are allowed to fail and try again. This goes to show that Amazon.com has flexible job designs and listens to possible innovative ideas from it’s employees.

Staffing

In an organization of 100 employees a system for staffing will need to be implemented. Having a clear job design created for each position is the first step. Human resources and I would work closely to establish the different job descriptions needed. Human resources would control posting the open jobs on sites such as Indeed.com, Monster, com and LinkedIn jobs. We would hold regular job fairs, on-site if possible, and communicate the fairs at Colleges and High Schools near the locations positions are needed. Human resources would review applications and phone interview any candidates that meet standard criteria. Any applicant that passed the phone interview would move on to an in-person interview with the hiring supervisor. Supervisors would hire packers for their teams.

Promotions are a sign of success and should happen often. To ensure back fills for promoted employees happen quickly, human resources would keep a candidate bank, ranked based on how the applicant faired in the interview process. The candidate bank could be tapped when a position became available and needed to be filled quickly.

Leading

I’m a firm believer in leading by example and influence. In my organization I would use the transformational leadership style. The qualities I like in transformational leadership are serving as moral agents, generating trust, and develop leadership in others. According to The Five Functions of Management (2014) “Effective leaders display the traits and characteristics that guide people to achieve at higher levels.” (pg. 145). This mentality ties back to the owner’s vs renters, employees who feel valued are encouraged to take on leadership roles in certain situations and establishes a sense of ownership in the business.

Controls

To ensure the team stayed on track, goals that were set in the planning stage, would be reviewed regularly. First, we would need clear expectations about things like; being on time to meetings and work, communicating being tardy or out sick, communicating task issues that could delay a deadline, asking for help when needed, ideas are encouraged, trusting the team to have each other’s back, and doing our best at everything we do. During the planning phase we would have established specific goals for each team member. During the performance review, we would compare each employee results with their goals and the standards we set as a team. Employees who reach their goals would be rewarded and those that fail to reach their goal would require an in-depth conversation to uncover hurdles and how they can be overcome. If goals are consistently not met after working through hurdles the employee would be given a warning to show improvment. If that didn’t work they would be terminated. Termination would not be a surprise as my team and I would try to work through all hurdles and supply support for each team member to succeed.

Conclusion

Amazon.com has a sound structure and principals in place to be named The World’s Most Innovative Company of 2017, according to fastcompany.com (cite). I wouldn’t change anything but build on an already great structure with the five functions of management. Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading, and Controlling. Each of which are linked together like a chain, without one the chain would be broken and not effective. A strong plan must be established to use as a roadmap, having clearly defined job designs with the flexibility to be innovative, getting the right people in place for each role, keeping them motivated and marching to the same drum and finally keeping the team moving toward the goals, while shedding those holding them back.

References

Dubovskiy, J. (2017). Amazon.com Organizational Structure. Referenced from https://research-methodology.net/amazon-organizational-structure-2/

Rivet, D. J. (2017). Amazon’s Superior Innovation: A Study of Amazon’s corporate structure, CEO, and reasons behind why it has become the most innovative company in today’s market, Page

Robischon, N (2017). Why Amazon Is The World’s Most Innovative Company of 2017: Referenced from https://www.fastcompany.com/3067455/why-amazon-is-the-worlds-most-innovative-company-of-2017

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