BUSM4555 Assignment 3 PDF

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this is my assignment 3, hope it helps but 100% not good enough for distinction...

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1.

Introduction

Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Amazon is currently the world’s largest online retailer as well as a cloud services provider. Originally selling books, now it is selling many different types of goods such as electronics and furniture as well as being a middleman for many retailers. As of 2020, Amazon currently has over 1.2 million employees which was a 62.66% increase from 2019. However, behind the huge success of Amazon and the excellent customer service provided by Amazon, Amazon has serious contemporary issues that need to be addressed.

Through this report. I will be addressing the issues and challenges that affect the well-being of employees. Furthermore, the report will discuss the different recommendations provided for Amazon to work towards managing the issues. The key issues addressed in this report are employees being micromanaged, the work environment of employees as well as the management team of Amazon. These 3 issues are correlated and will affect the company directly in the near future if not handled properly.

2.

Micromanagement

Micromanagement is when there is extremely close supervision by upper management which allows them to control an employee’s workload and the output that each employee is producing in a period. Employees that are micromanaged are often being observed very closely.

From multiple pieces of evidence of Amazon’s employees, one stated that they were being micromanaged while working in the warehouse. It was stated that employees had a scanner that they had to carry around to scan the items but it was found that each scanner had a tracking device in it to track the location of employees (Evans, 2019). Secondly, it was said that for each item that was scanned, the data will be sent to their managers in real-time with the software system created by Amazon called ADAPT (Evans, 2019). If an employee was unable to stay on track of their duties or fulfil the quota given, they will be terminated once there are more than 3 write-ups from their managers (Sainato, 2020). These evidences from employees have emphasised Amazon’s micromanagement in warehouses whereby employees are managed closely on their output.

Micromanagement is an issue for Amazon as it will significantly create a stressful work environment for employees as they are being tracked every minute of their day at work. Employees that are being micromanaged are often forced to do their duties at a fast pace without a break, due to the fear that they are unable to meet their quota and being terminated. With employees being tracked constantly, this can lead to reduced efficiency as well as productivity. Lastly, employees will question themselves on whether they have the ability to complete their tasks and whether they have the skills to complete the job well without getting terminated.

2.1.

Implications

With micromanagement still existing in Amazon itself, it can lead to multiple implications for the organisation. Firstly, employees will start to lose trust in the organisation as being micromanaged often means that organisations do not trust the employees to do the job well enough hence they have to be observed closely (Collins & Collins, 2002). Secondly, due to the loss of trust in the organisation, employees will start to leave the job in turn increasing the turnover rate. Employees will definitely want an organisation that is able to trust them and their skills instead of doubting them. With employees leaving the organisation, Amazon will have a higher turnover rate. A high turnover rate in employees will result in a decrease in productivity when there are higher demands from consumers. Lastly, employees can feel stressed from being micromanaged, they are given so little time to complete their quota and being observed every time. With the stress accumulated from work, employees may develop burnout as well as other mental health issues.

3.

Amazon’s Work Environment

The second issue of Amazon is the work environment that was created. Amazon has unreasonably high expectations for employees. Evidence from articles has stated that employees had to take pills to suppress the pain they suffered from working as their job often includes climbing high and low without taking a break to complete their tasks (Evans, 2019). In relation to the first point, they did not try to get help since it will take time and could result in them not meeting the quota set which could result in them being written up by management and being terminated.

Secondly, Amazon employees have a mandatory 12-hour work shift that they have to complete in a day (Spitznagel, 2019). The long working hours further reinstate the toxic work environment that Amazon has implemented. Thirdly, there are many work injuries that occurred in the warehouse. In relation to my first point of employees having to climb up and down without additional help to prevent getting terminated, employees have stated that they preferred to carry the heavy items by themselves since it requires time to get help (Evans, 2019). By doing these dangerous tasks, they are risking themselves which resulted in high work injuries in Amazon’s warehouse. It is noticeable that employees productivity was being compared to a robot’s productivity since they had to get things done fast and quick.

3.1.

Implications

With the long working hours that employees have in Amazon, they almost do not get any work-life balance from it. Furthermore, with the dangerous work environment that they have, they further risk their safety just to get their duties done to prevent themselves from getting terminated. Therefore, with a work environment like these Amazon’s employees have, employees are increasing the risk of developing mental health issues as well as physical health issues. This is because they are unable to get the adequate rest that they need during the day. They may feel burnout and stress from doing the same things every day with long working hours. With the increasing issues occurring in employees, this can lead to an increase of turnover rate in employees as employees would rather have a workplace that allows them to have work-life balance and a workplace that is safe for them. Lastly, with the increasing amount of injuries recorded in Amazon’s workplace, it can tarnish Amazon’s reputation as it can mean that Amazon does not take into consideration their employees’ health and wellbeing.

4.

Organisation Culture and Management

The last issue that Amazon is facing is its Organisation Culture and management practices. This issue is contributed by the first 2 issues mentioned above - Micromanagement and Work environment. Firstly, Amazon uses a ‘rank and yank’ performance management system to terminate employees (Howland, 2016). This system is done by having managers rank employees and employees that are ranked lowest will be terminated every year. With this system in place, employees can feel that Amazon does not take their job seriously and is casually ranked by managers. They are not given another chance to improve on. Furthermore,

with this system in place, employees have to compete with their colleagues. This can lead to unhealthy competition among colleagues whereby they are competing with one another instead of helping each other.

Secondly, Amazon does not have a culture and management that cares for its employees. From an article, the employee has “pleaded” with management to have a lighter duty due to her pregnancy but was not given (Alford, 2020). Human resources in Amazon has denied her doctor’s note and was still tasked to do the tasks given which have resulted in her miscarriage. In some articles, it was stated that Amazon can take up to a few months to honour a doctor’s orders for lighter tasks and arrangements. Within a few months, it either put employees at risk of a miscarriage or leaving the job itself as well as getting terminated (Gurley, 2020). This has brought up Amazon’s insensitive management for caring for their employees’ wellbeing.

Lastly, due to the high turnover rate, Amazon has set up a policy that if they leave their job within a year of hire, they had to repay Amazon with a certain amount. This further reinstates that Amazon culture forces employees to stay in the company despite them wanting to leave.

4.1.

Implications

As employees are dissatisfied with the job at Amazon, they will most likely leave the company. Upon leaving, they may raise these issues on the internet which in turn tarnished the reputation of Amazon itself as the general public now sees Amazon as a company that does not care for its employees. Secondly, there will definitely be a high turnover rate as they are unsatisfied with the job and lose trust in Amazon as they do not care for the well being of the employees and merely treat employees as a means for earning money. Lastly, with such management and culture, employees can develop mental health issues as they feel like they are not good enough and could be very stressed by it.

5.

Risks

If these issues are not managed well, risks and implications for Amazon may increase as well. Employees that choose to take these issues up to social media may risk Amazon’s reputation. As seen from many articles on how employees are being treated, it has already affected the reputation of Amazon itself. Because of these issues, these will result in a poor organisational

image of Amazon itself, customers may choose to go for a competitor company to purchase their goods if they are supportive of the treatment of employees.

As employees start to lose trust and confidence in Amazon’s culture and management, they will tend to leave the job to find a better working environment that could meet their needs. This in turn results in a higher turnover rate in Amazon. With a higher turnover rate, Amazon may not be able to meet the demands of customers as they lack the manpower. With the lack of manpower, customers will hence be dissatisfied with their purchase from Amazon and may result in switching to another provider for their needs. This could also result in Amazon’s reputation of having customers first being tarnished as they did not live up to their values.

6.

Recommendations

Some recommendations that Amazon can implement to manage these issues is first, Amazon should work on changing some aspects of their organizational structure and culture. Amazon should have a new structure in the management of their employees, such as guiding them through their duties. Furthermore, they should also dispose of their rank and yank system to terminate employees, by disposing this system, employees are given the time and space to improve themselves and work for the best. Amazon should change their performance review system. Poor performers should not be dismissed immediately, instead, Amazon should give chances to them as well as communicate to them if they have any issues and to find out the reason behind the poor performance. When Amazon gives employees the chance to speak up, employees will feel safer with them and will trust the organisation.

Secondly, Amazon can consider rebranding their values to prioritise both employees and customers. This is because as Amazon currently places their customers first, they value their customers’ satisfaction first resulting in high expectations of employees. However, given all the commotion that happened when ex-employees spoke up against their treatment, Amazon can shift towards valuing their employees. Furthermore, in this new generation, the general public has strong opinions on supporting businesses that treat prioritise employees rights. When Amazon work on rebranding their values, customers will start seeing that they actually care for their employees instead of treating them as a means of making profits. Employees will also start trusting Amazon hence this could result in a lower turnover rate and higher satisfaction level among employees.

Lastly, Amazon should improve their working environment for employees. Working environments such as the safety of their staff, working hours as well as unrealistic expectations of employees should be changed for the better. By reducing the working hours, employees can have a work-life balance which in turn results in the decrease of health issues. Amazon should also reduce the unrealistic expectations that they have on employees such as scanning over 1000 products in a period which resulted in injuries as employees are afraid to waste time getting help for dangerous duties.

7.

Conclusion

Upon highlighting the three main issues that Amazon is currently facing, namely, Micromanagement, Work environment, Organisation culture and management. To improve their reputation, Amazon should work towards it to resolve these issues. By implementing the recommendations that I have provided, I am sure that Amazon is able to work toward becoming a better organisation for their employees and will improve their overall reputation with customers.

8.

References

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