Human Resource Management: The Case Study of Amazon
From the case study, it is evident that the culture of Amazon can be said to be a two-sided coin. The firm, on one hand, is very prosperous and empowers its staffs to perform great things. On the other hand, the corporation has a work culture that is to put it considerately, competitive and extremely demanding. The great thing regarding Amazon is that it does not hide anything. It is a very good place to work for young and aggressive people who aim to change the world. The system in Amazon is one where any person can anonymously call out other personnel for imagined or real offenses. Besides, the company’s structure is flat and senior staffs rub shoulders with other employees.
The company’s culture has various advantages and disadvantages. For the pros, the firm could be legitimately referred to as a disruptor and apparently even a world-changer. Consumers love shopping there and it is a pleasure being a small part of the corporation. Even low-level workers are offered some ownership, which they might not be accorded in other companies. Various places such as customer service as well as cord reveal this. The salary is mainly good, though with certain caveats. The firm enables the employees to learn a lot and it puts them through the ringer, which makes them emerge tougher for it. It gives staffs the opportunity of learning business, retail, and tech and supply chain. The workers are surrounded by smart individuals who challenge them to develop constantly. Furthermore, employees can bring their dogs to the office, they can dress casually.
Conversely, the company’s culture has several disadvantages and issues as a whole. First, there are unreasonably high expectations and standards. The report points out that the firm boosts an array of principles which are intentionally unreasoningly high. Although designed with the objective of creating top-tier ability, the unattainable pressures and anticipations workers think to achieve them could lead to considerable distress. Also, there is overly upfront leadership in the organization. The management style by Mr. Bezos is mainly subjective to the uncertain harsh personality which includes an “eagerness to tell others how to behave; an instinct for bluntness bordering on confrontation; and an overarching confidence in the power of metrics.”
Moreover, there is a creation of unhealthy competition amongst coworkers. In 1997, Mr. Bezos in a letter to the shareholders, he stated that “You can work long, hard or smart, but at Amazon, you can’t choose two out of three.” Critical to the culture of the firm is transparency concerning the high-achievers and low-achievers. Staffs are anticipated to and frequently extend their work time up to late evening hours and when emails are send they are followed by text messages after the midnight to ask for an immediate response. The report states that the employees are motivated to openly rip apart one another’s thoughts during conferences.
Further, the management is insensitive because personnel who suffered …
