Leadership and Management Style of Jeff Bezos

Amazon is an American based electronic commerce and cloud computing company. Its headquarters is situated in Seattle, Washington and it was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Since then, organization has embraced itself as a giant player of the e-commerce industry. Amazon was initially operated from a garage and at that time, organization was only selling books. Later on, Jeff Bezos expanded their company’s product offering by introducing MP3, music CDs, and other items. Today, organization is selling millions of products and services in more than 188 countries across the globe. With regards to this, organization has acquired the title of largest Internet Retailer across the globe in terms of revenues and market capitalisation. In terms of total sales, organization stands on the second position after Alibaba Group. Apart from e-commerce industry, organization has entered into various other industries such as Kindle e-readers, Fire TV stick, online entertainment, etc. Company has recently entered into cloud computing and virtual assistant industry. Amazon introduced Alexa in November 2014 in smart speakers named Echo and Echo Dot. Apart from this, organization also sells certain low-end products under their own home based brand named AmazonBasics (Amazon Inc., 2018).

Jeff Bezos has always seen as a unique and creative leader and a manager. In its initial times of management and leadership, Jeff used to practice autocratic type of leadership and management style due to which organization faced numerous issues such as high labour turnover, less employee satisfaction, etc. Apart from this, Jeff used to take all decision on behalf of the organization by his own and this lead the organization towards negative sides several times. Later on, he realised that the major reason of regular failures of organization was his leadership and management style and the process followed by him to take decisions for the organization. Jeff Bezos is known as the most effective, unique as well as creative leader and a manager of this era and this has helped Amazon to expand their functionalities at global level. Organization believes in customer satisfaction and their vision is to “be the earth’s most customer centric company”. With regards to the organizational vision, appropriate customer centric approaches and frameworks have been adopted in order to enhance customer satiation. Along with the customer centric approaches, organizational values are providing best quality and services to their customers as this strategy is meant to be the most effective strategy in terms of retaining customers with the organization for a longer period of time along with attracting other customer segments (Blazek, 2016).

Mission and Values

Jeff has always believed that change is necessary to grow and prosper because with the effect of globalisation and tech-revolution, it has become necessary for every organization to be creative, customer oriented as well as innovative in order to sustain in the competitive and dynamic business environment. In relation to this, employees’ mind-set has been set as per the organizational requirements in order to avoid resistance towards change. Regular intervention of change has become the primary factor for Amazon in terms of attaining leading position in the global e-commerce industry along with setting up an effective brand image and brand loyalty amongst their customers (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).

Rationale of making assumptions is to attain positive outcomes along with enhancing organizational performance rapidly in terms of moving towards sustainable growth and overall development. With regards to the management of employees and enhancing their productivity, organization mainly focuses on implementing employees engagement activities in order to develop coordination amongst the employees as well as by providing them regular training for updating their skills. This ultimately enhances organizational performance. Along with this, it also helps the organization to move towards long term goals and objectives of attaining sustainable growth and overall development. Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos always believes in creativity and innovation and believes in taking his subordinates along with the organization (Oduh, et. al., 2018). In relation to this, organization regularly conducts training and development sessions in order to enhance their employees’ skills for the objective of boosting organizational productivity.

Apart from the regular training and development programs, along with the CEO whole organization believes in creativity and innovation and in order to think out of the box, organizational management provides all required resources to its employees. This strategy has helped organization to develop effective relationship with their employees which results in employee retention along with aligning employees’ vision with the organizational vision (Jeston, 2014). In terms of moulding employees’ skills towards organizational vision, Amazon has adopted change management with the objective of enhancing organizational performance along with aligning organizational functionalities as per trends of the business market (Kamatkar, et. al., 2018).

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is known as the most effective leader and manager of this era and in very short period of time, he has made him count in the top thirty richest men across the globe. In his success, innovation, creativity, his unique thinking and behavioural style and regular adaptation of change has played major role. Amazon has become tech-giant with the help of their unique and innovative strategies along with managing their employees’ in an appropriate manner. Managing employees is very crucial for every organization as it helps in accomplishing organizational tasks along with attaining positive outcomes. In relation to this, organization has make their employees efficient enough to deal with dynamic situations along with accepting change with the objective of enhancing organizational performance in order to acquire sustainable growth and overall development (Baker, 2015).

Strategies for Employee Engagement, Creativity, and Innovation

Before discussing the assessment tool of the resistance to change transition in terms of Amazon, it is necessary to understand the nature of resistance. Resistance is not the stage of change or the result of the change, but in actual it is the element of the unresolved issue or the problem which is related to the behavior, actions, or words. There are number of researchers which believes resistance to change has become self-fulfilling prophecy, in which it is expected by the leaders that people will resist the change. Management of the resistance is the very first approach which clicks the mind of leaders and managers before launching the change. Very few changes are suggested by the mangers for prevent these changes, as they monitor the behavior of the employees towards the change and proceed to manage the things in accordance with that behavior (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2005). 

Managing the resistance is an expensive approach and also time consuming, and it further drains the natural change energy of the organization. Those changes which are managed from the resistance approach are best in comparison of those changes which reaches the finish line but fails to achieve the intend result of the organization.

Change is the process which is continuous in nature and it holds the patters which are predictable. Generally changes are different from the transition because it takes place outside the individual which means restructuring, new programs, work force expansion or downsizing. On the other hand, transition is something which is experienced by person internally which means confusion, uncertainty, loss, fear or anger (BBS, 2009).

It is not possible to under the resistance in change transition without understanding the readiness, as it is the concept of willingness of individuals to engage in behaviors, activities, and attitudes that mainly required making the transition. It mainly shows the movement of individuals through the process of change. As stated by the Douglas Smith, author of Taking Charge of Change, at the time when change is introduced, almost 60-80% of individuals are not ready for change or nor resistance to change. He further states that actions or inactions of the leaders determine the fact in which directions they go. Reediness is important in nature as it prevents the resistance, but it must be noted that lack of resistance does not mean readiness. It mainly focuses on the engagement of employees and further ensures the better use of the current resources. In other words, create competitive advantage for the organization, and make it resilient and adaptive to the business environment (Turner change, 2010.

Focus on Change Management

It can be said that, prevention of resistance mainly required the shift in the thinking, and managers need to focus on this approach only. Following assessment tools are used by Amazon in terms of assessing the resistance to change transition in their working environment-

First step involves the assessment of the affected individuals, which mainly includes the perception of change and also their level of change readiness. In other words, individual behavior is assessed in this by using the different tools such as feedback forms and by conducting the surveys.

In this context, behavior of the individuals at the time when change is introduced is assessed, which means, managers decide the future actions on the basis of the feedback from the employee. In terms of this following actions can be taken by the managers in the Amazon-

• Manger can use the structured change management approach from the beginning of the assessment process (Ghany, 2014).
• Senior leaders and top management must be engaged in the change, which means, they must be active and visible sponsors of the change.
• Managers must take the support from management which also includes the middle managers, frontline supervisors, etc.
• Communication must be take place with the employees about the change before taking their feedback, so that they are able to understand the requirement of change.

Second step involves the management of change from the perception and readiness of those employees is directly affected by the change. In other words, managers need to manage the change in terms of the perception of other individuals and not from their own perception about the change. Through this tool, managers can avoid the much resistance to change by applying the change management from the beginning. It is necessary for the managers to understand that resistance is the normal reaction of human beings at the time of change, and this resistance can be reduced by applying the good change management approach. It must be noted that, good change management is not only the tool for managing the resistance but it is also helpful in activating and engaging the employees in the change. It mainly includes the capturing and leveraging of the passion and also the positive emotion which is surrounded to change, because such emotions help in preventing the resistance from occurring. In other words, it is the power which is utilized as the structured change management from the starting of the project.

Third step involves the listening and reply to the feedback, which means, managers need to understand and listen the concerns of the individuals which are directly affected by the change. After listening and understanding the concerns of the individuals, management needs to respond to the feedback which is given by the employees in terms of change. It is the duty of the mangers to understand the concerns of individuals and suggested those ways through which these concerns can be resolved. In this context, managers can ask the questions from the individuals such as whether these changes are effective in nature and whether employees are feeling comfortable in adopting these changes. Managers can also take the suggestions from the employees to make these changes better and effective for the clients (Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2008).

Assumptions

It must be noted that, if feedback is collected from the employees then such feedback must be collected and read by the management, because these answers and reactions of the employees can be very effective in making the changes in the plan and implementation of the plan must be done accordingly. It is necessary for the managers to understand that two employees cannot give same reaction on the change, and managers need to plan accordingly because similar tool does not work with both the employees. There are number of reasons of resistance, and managers need to evaluate the right reasons on which respond are given.

Interactive dialogues and the effective conversation are the last but not the least tool through which assessment can be conducted by the management of amazon. Mangers before implement the change, must community that change to those who are affected by these changes. Effective communication with the employees is very important because it is not possible for the employees to adopt these changes without understanding the change. Through this tool, managers can avoid the much resistance to change by understanding the reasons of resistance from the beginning. It can be said that, prevention of resistance mainly required the shift in the thinking, and this is only possible with the communication (Steinburg, 1992).

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is counted in the list of top business moguls across the global business industry. His values and passion towards his dream helped him to attain success in his career and in the path towards success; he has faced sundry challenges and issues which took him towards failure but his strong belief on his dream of selling everything over internet inspired him to move towards his dream facing obstacles in positive manner. His positive attitude, motivational skills and unique leadership style has helped him to make the workplace environment of Amazon effective, safe as well as secure for his employees. His values, morals, traits and skills have made him inspirational character for his subordinates (Rivet, 2017).

Every business entity is required to follow up with the change management with the objective of enhancing organizational performance along with attaining desired goals and objectives. In relation to this, organization has adopted change management as their priority to sustain in the dynamic business environment. Adaptation of change management is easy but regular intervention of change in the business process affects the whole organizational functionalities. In consideration to this, the major factor which is required to be focused is resistance from employees towards change because they are the people who actually perform the tasks as planned by the top level management in order to attain desired goals and objectives (Love, et. al., 2014). For managing resistance towards change from the employees, organization has adopted sundry effective strategies in relevance to moulding employees’ vision as per the organizational vision. With the effect to this, organization has made their employees’ capable enough to accept regular changes in the business processes. This has helped the organization to constantly move towards growth and expansion, ultimately, organization functions in more than 188 countries across the globe and offers international shopping also in few countries where it is not yet present (Offermann & Coats, 2018).

Assessment

Organizational regular implementation of change management has been a major factor for organizational success and with regards to the management of resistance towards change; organization has involved their employees in the process of adaptation of change. This has not only build confidence amongst the employees for organization but it has also made them believe that they are crucial part of the organization. In order to analyse the resistance towards change, organisational managers use feedbacks, surveys and one-to-one session techniques. These techniques help the organization to make their employees sufficient enough to build appropriate brand image in the global market along with the objective of enhancing its efficiency. Thus, the tools used by the organizational managers have become the primary factor in relation with making employees according to the organizational requirements (Carnall, 2018).

In order to facilitate change management in the business in an appropriate manner, organization requires adopting appropriate steps in order to determine the requirement of change along with determining the strategies through which the requirements could be fulfilled. In relation to this, following strategies could be adopted in relation with facilitating change management at workplace:

It is necessary to determine the requirement of change, it is necessary to show confidence over the adaptation of change in relation to the attainment of positive outcomes. Along with this, assumptions made for the implementation of change needs to be given priority through which relatable positive goals could be accomplished (Hayes, 2018). In relation to this, it is also necessary for the organization to determine the list of stakeholders who all will be affected with the implementation of change in order to adopt appropriate strategies along with gaining positive outcomes.

After analysing the list of stakeholders who all will be affected with the implementation of change, it is important to determine the most appropriate strategy in order to attain desired goals and objectives. It is necessary to implement an appropriate strategy through which every stakeholder’s issues could be resolved along with the attainment of desired goals of the organization. Strategies are being adopted for the objective of reducing gap between the organizational requirements and current business performance. Thus, it is necessary to focus on implementation of change management strategies which could fulfil organizational requirements (Cameron & Green, 2015).

Determining measurements is necessary as it defines the culture of organization and adaptation of change management strategies should be one after analysing relevant changes. Apart from this, performance standards and the benchmarks also needs to be considered while making assumptions for implementation of relevant strategies for facilitating change (Doppelt, 2017).

Nature of Resistance to Change

Communication is one of the primary factors which help the organization to reach towards its desired goals. This is essential in terms of making effective relations between employer and employees as well as it removes barriers between the organizational top level management and employees through which information could be shared in an appropriate manner along with the objective of making an effective and better workplace environment. Issues faced by the employees could also be analysed easily with the help of effective communication channels and in relation to this, it is necessary for the organization to regularly update their channels of communication (Van der Voet, 2014).

The process for measuring change should always be same with similar benchmarks and the standards so that the effectiveness of the process could be identified along with the help of making organization enough to deal with the challenges as well as to sustain in the global e-commerce industry for longer period of time. Amazon’s vision is to “be the earth’s most customer centric company” and in relation to this, it is necessary for the organization to adopt steps at regular intervals due to constant changes in the trends, customer preferences and taste, and various other factors (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).

Change management act as an effective strategy for attaining growth and relatable objectives. With the help of change management, organizations could easily make their functionalities efficient enough to cope up with the dynamic business environment as well as to boost organizational performance. Apart from this, opportunities for the organization who regular update its processes are much high in comparison to the organizations who does not believes in adaptation of change. In this scenario, Amazon is one of the largest e-commerce based company and they regularly update its processes through which desired goals could easily be accomplished. Amazon believes in customer satisfaction and to maintain the customer centric brand image of the organization, it is necessary to adopt appropriate measures for maintaining the quality of the products and services along with deterring target audiences’ demands and wants so that the desired goals could be attained (Elmes & Barry, 2017).

In the regular updating of organizational processes, leaders and managers both play vital role because these are people who regularly interacts with the employees and analyse their requirements in terms of business process and the impact of external business environmental factors over organizational policies. Apart from this, there are numerous other factors which are related to the organizational performance and these factors are required to be analysed by the leaders and managers. In relation to this, Jeff Bezos is considered as an effective leader with futuristic approach. He regularly determines the demand of their target audience and the trend followed in the market. In relevance to his research and the future conditions of the business market, he introduces products. This is the main attribute through which organization could easily sustain in the competitive business environment. This leads Amazon towards regular introduction of new and innovative products and services through which target and potential customer segments’ interest could be retained within the organization along with coping up with the future changes (Bradley, 2016).

Strategies for Managing Resistance to Change

In relation to the change management, Amazon has recently entered into virtual industry with their brand product Alexa. It is a virtual assistant capable enough to help their users in doing various personal stuff like making to-do-list, helping users to maintain their daily schedule, play songs, videos, making calls, providing traffic and weather updates, etc. Alexa has been introduced in the 38 countries till February 2018 and by the end of this year, it will be introduced in some other countries also. Apart from this, some other innovative steps taken by Amazon are entering into online entertainment industry; cloud computing and web service industry, etc. (Pugh, 2016).

It has been analysed that change management is a collective term for all approaches to prepare and support individuals, organizations, teams in terms of making organizational change. Change management is influenced mainly with the technology evolution, crisis, change in consumer taste and preferences, change in the policies by government, change in the market conditions and there are various other factors which lead to the adaptation and implementation of change at workplace. In this report, change management and management of employees have been discussed in relation to the functionalities of Amazon. The report has concluded that Amazon is a company which regularly update their policies and the processes along with adaptation of change whenever it is required for improving organizational performance. In relation with the adaptation of change, primary challenge arises as resistance towards change by employees because it directly affects their productivity and sometimes, it also leads to decrease their importance. In relation to this, number of strategies and processes has been discussed in order to develop clear understanding amongst the employees and the management towards adaptation of change. Strategies for change management, impact of change management over future trends and evaluation of organizational functionalities have been discussed in the report.

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