OL215 Final Project - Profile of a successful company zappos and how they work PDF

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Profile of a successful company zappos and how they work...

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1 OL 215 Final Project: Zappos

OL 215 Final Project: Zappos Shawna Pratt Southern New Hampshire University

2 OL 215 Final Project: Zappos

Nick Swinmurn was looking for a pair boots back in 1999. When he visited stores, he never found what he was looking for. He saw that there was a gap between what customers needed and what online retail could give. Mr. Swinmurn launched ShoeSite.com to fix this problem, but the name soon changed to Zappos.com. Zappos is a service company at heart. (Zappos.com). They were one of the first online retailers to offer free next day shipping and free returns. They also have a 365-day return policy to give the customers time to contemplate their purchase. Zappos is a big advocate for customer service, and they operate from 10 core values. Deliver WOW Through Service, Embrace and Drive Change, Create Fun and A Little Weirdness, Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded, Pursue Growth and Learning, Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication, Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit, Do More with Less, Be Passionate and Determined, Be Humble (What we Live by). Zappos’ mission statement is to “provide the best customer service possible. Deliver WOW through service.” Their vision statement is “delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors.”. In 2014 Zappos restructured their old corporate ways and replaced it with a holacracy approach. In a holacracy environment workers are partners; job descriptions are roles; and partners are organized into circles (Sweeney, 2014). This management style is not common and is hard to adapt without necessary support. Holocracy is said to be more effective and reduce errors and inefficiencies (Sweeney, 2014).

3 OL 215 Final Project: Zappos

Zappos’ mission statement is to “provide the best customer service possible: deliver WOW through service.” The vision for the company says, “we aim to inspire the world by showing it is possible to simultaneously deliver happiness to customers, employees, vendors, shareholders, and the community in a long-term sustainable way.” (www.zappos.com/about). Their goal is not only to make the customers happy but their employees too. Holocracy is said to be more effective and reduce errors and inefficiencies. Holacracy focuses on people instead of their titles. Everyone is self-managed and can make decisions without having to make sure it is okay with a manager. When Zappos made everyone selfmanaged what they meant was that “you know exactly what you are responsible for and that you have the freedom to meet these expectations however you think is best.” (zapposinsights.com). This was important for Zappos to improve and live up to their mission statement for the employees to respond to the customers feedback and act quickly without having to gain approval from the management. In Business Insider’s “Here's what happened to Zappos' HR boss when the company got rid of managers and her job became obsolete” Hollie Delaney, HR Director, realized how rewarding it was to see her team make their own decisions and take charge. Ms. Delaney explained the system how they created “lead links” of functional teams named “circles” to keep direction and leadership. Individuals can choose how they were going to schedule their days and finish their work. This system empowers employees to be successful and encourages them to work as entrepreneurs. Tony Hsieh became Zappos CEO in 1999. He was to focus on the culture at Zappos. He had a difficult time convincing the board that to maximize the profits was to focus on the

4 OL 215 Final Project: Zappos

company culture. Mr. Hsieh took the company to over 1 billion in less than 10 years. He had five principles of management he led by. They were define core values, train your leaders, drive employee engagement, focus on Wowing the customers, and look for new business ideas everywhere (Paulise, 2020). When talking about defining core values he states that core values will develop naturally when you have a strong company culture. When training your leaders he says to make their primary role to provide resources to help and engage employees. To drive employment engagement Zappos make sure the employees know they are the most import asset. Zappos principles of management has ensured optimal performances. They know that when an employee believes in what they are doing it is going to reflect on their work. When it comes to decision making “Holacracy is the social technology that distributes decision making by using self-organized teams, called circles, to complete task” (Thomas, 2015) The teams use two types of meetings: governance and tactical. Governance gathers the work and tactical gets the work done. The employees are given the power to make decisions for what they are accountable for.

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References: https://www.zappos.com/about/what-we-live-by Sweeney,C. and Gosfield, J. “No Managers Required: How Zappos Ditched the Old Corporate Structure for Something New” January 2014 Holacracy & Self-Organization: About: Zappos Insights. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.zapposinsights.com/about/holacracy Feloni, R. (2016, February 12). Here is what happened to Zappos' HR boss when the company got rid of managers and her job became obsolete. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/zappos-hr-boss-hollie-delaney-talks-about-holacracy-2016-2 Paulise, Luciana, “Here Are 5 Leadership Lessons From Retiring Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh” Aug 31, 2020, Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lucianapaulise/2020/08/31/here-are5-leadership-lessons-from-retiring-zappos-ceo-tony-hsieh/?sh=32a7cb9438cc Thomas, R and Silverstone, Y. “Empowering employees at Zappos “2015, Retrieved from http://ueu5885.weblog.esaunggul.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/sites/6044/2018/10/materi-6CaseStudy.pdf...