Organisational Behaviour Report: Amazon - HNBS 312 - Semester 1

This report provides an in-depth analysis of organisational behaviour (OB) within Amazon, exploring the influence of its unique culture, politics, and power dynamics on employee behaviour. The report delves into key OB concepts, including motivation theories (content and process), motivational techniques, and their application within the company. It further examines effective and ineffective team characteristics, team development theories, and the practical application of OB philosophies in the context of Amazon's operations. The report reflects on the insights gained regarding Amazon's culture, emphasizing its boldness, customer centricity, and unique approach to business, alongside the significance of power and politics, and the importance of aligning motivational strategies with individual needs and organizational goals. The report also highlights the importance of open discussion, situational leadership, and clear objectives for effective teams. This report utilizes information available from the web to support its findings.

Organisational Behaviour

Table of Contents
Organisational Behaviour................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
1. Overview of organisation.........................................................................................................3
2. Analysis of culture, politics and power in Amazon and its impact on behaviour in
organisation..................................................................................................................................3
3. Theories of Motivation and Motivational Techniques.............................................................5
4. Reflection.................................................................................................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................7
1. Effective and Ineffective Team................................................................................................7
2. Team Development Theories and its Support to Cooperation.................................................8
3. Application of concept and philosophies of Organisation Behaviour.....................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
Fundamental Concepts of Organizational Behavior. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://iedunote.com/fundamental-concepts-of-organizational-behavior>..................................11
Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing model. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.businessballs.com/team-management/tuckman-forming-storming-norming-
performing-model/>.......................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Organisation Behaviour (OB) is study of ways in which people act within groups. In its
other form OB is the way in which people behave in organisation and within teams in
organisational context. This report includes discussion over various aspects of OB in context of
Amazon. Influence of culture politics and power in Amazon and how the company can motivate
individuals working in the organisation and how they can motivate those who are working in
teams. In second part of the report it has been discussed how people can cooperate with others.
Lastly, philosophies of organisation behaviour have been discussed in context of Amazon.
PART 1
1. Overview of organisation
Amazon is an American multinational technology company which was founded in 1994
and is headquartered at Seattle, Washington and Arlington, Virginia, United States. Industries in
which Amazon operates are Cloud computing, E-commerce, Artificial intelligence, Consumer
electronics, Digital distribution and Grocery stores. Amazon have employed around 750000
employees in the organisation which are headed and leaded by Jeff Bezos. Report which includes
discussion over organisation behaviour of Amazon in context of this culture of organisation
follows what is being said by senior management which is greatly impacted by its founder and
their perception. Commands are followed from senior management but individuals in the
organisation are free to innovate and company supports them to grow so that efficient employees
can contribute to fulfilling objectives of the Amazon.
2. Analysis of culture, politics and power in Amazon and its impact on behaviour in organisation
These are very important aspects of OB and behaviour in organisation is greatly impacted
by these factors (Ivolga and Booth, 2019). How these factors affect behaviour in Amazon is
being discussed here is as follows-
Culture- Culture of organisation is made up of underlying beliefs, values, assumption and
expectation, experience and philosophy of organisation which differentiate one organisation fro
others. Culture of Amazon is very effective and significant aspects of its culture which have led
to this level of success includes- its orientation for well being of its people. It have been stated by
company that leadership principle of Amazon empowers its employees to be owners and
innovators. This have also been stated company does this while maintaining its customer

centricity. There are various things in Amazon which differs it from others and its impact on
behaviour of its employees is that Amazon works with best employees who create something
new every day for its customers and which ultimately benefit Amazon (Butt and et.al., 2019).
This effective culture of Amazon have managed to take this to the heights at which company
stands presently.
Politics- organisational politics can be defined as influence of one individual on others.
Individual like to influence others so that they can get benefit from behaviour and acts of others.
In most of the cases this is considered to be negative but this is sometimes is positive as well. To
justify this it can be said that management influencing other people to effectively achieve
organisational objectives is not negative and which can be called undue. In context of Amazon
organisational politics the organisation is greatly influenced by its leader and founder Jeff Bezos.
Impact and thoughts of Jeff Bezos are very effective and he has avoided the concept and
philosophy of one size fits all. Another important influence of Bezos is in form that he
champions customer obsession over competitor obsession.
Power- Organisational power means to make others work according to choice and perception of
individual. This have a great impact on behaviour of people in the organisation as people have to
work according to direction and command given by those who have rights and can exercise
power in the organisation. In a centralized organisational structure most power is exercised by
top management and all the important decisions are taken by top management which are required
to followed by all the subordinates and people of the organisation. On the other hand in a
decentralized organisational structure which allows sharing of power from top management to
downwards in this people have power to control their subordinates and they are controlled by
their superiors. Amazon whose organisational structure is traditional structure of the organisation
which follows senior management's directives (Hunter, 2016). In this all the relevant
departments and individuals follow senior management. This makes positive impact on
behaviour of people. Negative aspect of this is that people who like to have power and they do
not have power according to their position in the organisation do not get motivated and
sometimes it also becomes difficult for people to follow other's direction.

3. Theories of Motivation and Motivational Techniques
Motivation is a factor that encourage someone to perform so that they can achieve what
they desire and want in their personal and professional life. In context with organisational
motivation factors that influence and encourage individuals to perform and perform effectively is
known as motivation (Saracho, 2019). Researchers have developed many theories of motivation
mostly these are divided in two types content theories and process theories of motivation.
Content Theories
These theories are also known as need theories and concentrate on the factor 'What motivates'
individuals. Important content theories are
 Maslow's hierarchy of needs
 ERG theory of Alderfer
 McClellands Need for achievement, affiliation and power
 Herzberg's two factor theory
These theories focus that organisation can motivate individuals by fulfilling their needs. For
example if individual is financially secure than what next that comes in their needs will be social
needs (Ansoglenang, Thompson and Awugah, 2019). Individuals will like to get associated with
other people and strengthen their social relationships.
Process Theories
Content Theory which states what motivates individual process theories states how individuals
can be motivated. Main theories under this category are-
Equity Theory
Expectancy Theory
The Porter-Lawler Model
These theories are
based on individual and value they give to what they will be gettinmg in return for their efforts.
Though content theories are widely used to motivate people in the organisation but this theories
also work in coordination with content theories (Saracho, 2019). For example, employees of
Amazon are given monetary rewards for their exceptional performance and their job related
achievements but if an employee who wants to be appreciated by his employer and sees that as
more good than the monetary reward achieved by that employee will be of no meaning and
employee will not be motivated to perform like that in future.

Techniques of Motivation
 Link rewards with performance.
 Positive and healthy work environment.
 Job role clarity.
 Set challenging tasks and objectives.
4. Reflection
From above discussion what insights I have gained are related to Amazon and its culture.
There are various things in culture of Amazon which make different from all other organisation
and which have made Amazon world leader. Boldness, Customer Centricity and Peculiarity are
characteristics of culture of Amazon. Amazon encourage boldness in its employees and which
have led Amazon to pioneer in many fields. Amazon also encourage its employees to take risk
which is a key factor behind success of every organisation. Risk taking later results in innovation
and which contribute to success of the organisation. Customer centricity not just Amazon but
every organisation in world which is succeeding and increasing its profit is working on the
philosophy of customer centricity. Customer centricity which refers to solve problems of
customers and working ad making things on the behalf of customers. Employees are encouraged
to undertake practices which can help companies to increase its customer base. In relation with
its customer centricity another fact that come into light and which is significant is that Amazon
keep its customers above competitors and is obsessed from customers rather than its competitors.
Peculiarity refers to something different from conventions. Amazon encourage its employees to
challenge conventional ways of doing business and view themselves and their work different
from peculiar business practices. This insights were followed by knowledge of organisational
culture, power and politics these factors are very important and have most significant impact on
behaviour of individual in organisation. For example if an organisation is centralized than people
of the organisation will do only that which have been told to them by top management and will
not take any initiative and would keep themselves away from creativity and innovation. On the
other hand if organisation allows employees to take risk and give employees adequate authority
than employees will work creatively and innovation will be a result of that. This will be
beneficial for organisations only. Power-politics which both includes that influencing actions and

behaviour of others. If both thee things are practised in a form that it influence behaviour and
actions of other people in organisation for benefit of organisation and for benefit of individuals
too. Using power and politics for benefit of individuals and for selfish motives is completely
wrong and in Amazon which is influenced mainly by philosophy and values of its founder
manage to avoid undue use of power and politics. Motivation and theories of motivation have
also been included in this report, motivation is known as factor which encourage and instigate a
person to work as work is seen as factor which can fulfil their desires. Theories of motivation
have been divided in two types which are content theories and process theories.
Here it is recommanded that for most effective results of motivational practices company
should have a mix of both type of theories. Company should consider individual difference and
give employees what they desire and value and not what company have to offer them.
Power and politics in the organisation should definitely be used by the company and should
ensure that company is doing for the benefit of Amazon and for the people who are working in
the Amazon.
PART 2
1. Effective and Ineffective Team
Teams are crucial part of an organisation and teams which are effective can only achieve
goals efficiently on time and in cost friendly manner. There are various basis on which an
effective team can be differentiated from an ineffective team. These differences are as follows-
Discussion- Teams when are effective considers to have open discussion and those which are
ineffective do not practice such things. There are various benefits of open discussion like it
attracts more idea and allow all the team members to come up with their point of view and
solution according to that (Scott, 2018). This improves efficiency of work and ineffective teams
that is why do not achieve their objectives as all the team members are concerned that team
should do what they think is right.
Leadership- Leadership in a team which is effective is situational leadership and leaders are
open to hear everyone and take their decision after consulting with the team members.
Ineffective teams often have leaders who are more concerned about their position and power
rather than about completion of task and achievement of objectives. Leadership is very important

and this type of leadership which is why enable team to perform effectively which make the
whole team effective (Raches and et.al., 2019). When leaders are more concerned about their
position they lose respect in followers mind which is important factor of effective leader.
Clarity of Objectives- Objectives are clear in effective teams and members are well known to
their roles and individual objectives on the other hand there is no clarity of objectives causing
ambiguity of individual roles and objectives.
Teams in Amazon are effective which is visible through their success and other important
factor is that Amazon is very concerned about its employees and their effectiveness and
innovation which Amazon do have is also a result of its effective teams and their efficient
performance.
2. Team Development Theories and its Support to Cooperation
Tuckman's Five Stages team development model-
Forming-
In Amazon this stage of team development in this stage members of the team try to explore each
other and understand each other's expectation.
Storming-
In this stage of the team development in Amazon individuals try to compete for status and
position in the team. Individuals' assert their role in the team and understand behaviour of others.
This stage includes interpersonal conflicts (Salazar and et.al., 2019). Members try to resolve
conflicts which are related to working with each other.
Norming-
In this stage members of the team in Amazon start working in cohesive manner. In this stage
members have cooperation of each other. Conflicts end here and members develop group norms
and consensus for achievement of team objectives.
Performing-
This stage involves performance of tasks for achievement of objectives which have been set by
Amazon. The relationship pattern improves coordination and conflicts are easy to solve.
Members trust each other and extend their full cooperation to each other for achievement of team
goals.
Adjourning-

This stage bring team of Amazon to an end (Birdie and Jain, 2017). This end is caused by
fulfilment of objectives for which team have been formed.
Kormanski & Mozenter (1987) Stages of Team Development-
Stages that have been included in this model of team development are-
 Awareness
 Conflict
 Cooperation, this stage support cooperation among team members in Amazon.
 Productivity, this stage also supports cooperation and team members and productivity of
Amazon is also result of Cooperation among team members.
 Separation.
3. Application of concept and philosophies of Organisation Behaviour
Concepts that are included in OB and which are part of study of organisation behaviour
and how they affect teams and team activity are as follows-
Individual Difference- As stated by Amazon that they avoid culture of one size fits all. This
suggest that they are well aware of this philosophy that all individuals are different from each
other and all individuals even want to known different from each other. This is well known that
needs and desires of all are different and that is why all people needs to be treated differently.
This theory have been applied at Amazon and which requires that all team members are assigned
tasks and roles according to their ability and according to their interest. This will contribute to
productivity of the organisation and which will ultimately increase profit of Amazon.
Desire for Involvement- This concept of OB states that individuals who are working in an
organisation have desire that they are involved in the process of decision making. This allows
then to open their ideas and suggestion that can add value to the organisation and its practices.
This is also considered as hunger for a chance to tell others what they know and this also fulfils
desire of people about being known for their intelligence. Team working is a effective manner in
Amazon through which individuals can fulfil their this desire. This also encourage sharing of
ideas which can improve practices and performance of profitability of the organisation.

CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that multinational technology
company Amazon have successfully managed its culture so that company can have best possible
outcomes and power and politics of the organisation have also been used in the same way. This
discussion have been followed by motivation and its theories these theories of motivation are
divided in two types which are content theories and process theories. Content theories of
motivation are used widely to motivate employees of the organisation but in present business
scenario process theories are also equally important. Team dynamics and its effect in effective
and ineffective teams have also been included in this report.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ansoglenang, G., Thompson, J.D. and Awugah, S.A., 2019. Mapping out the Theories of
Motivation: Lessons for Administrators in Public Institutions. Arts Social Sci J.
10(444). p.2.
Birdie, A.K. and Jain, M., 2017. Organizational behavior and virtual work: Concepts and
analytical approaches. Apple Academic Press.
Butt, M. R and et.al., 2019. Organisational politics and task performance: the intervening role of
affective organisational commitment in a public sector organisation. Middle East
Journal of Management. 6(2). pp.170-185.
Hunter, F., 2016. The Transformative Power of Organisational Sagas. In Global and local
internationalization. (pp. 43-46). Brill Sense.
Ivolga, M. and Booth, S., 2019. Beyond the figures of organisational culture surveys.
Raches, C.M and et.al., 2019. Characteristics of Effective Teams. Handbook of Interdisciplinary
Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder, p.173.
Salazar, M.R and et.al., 2019. Leader integrative capabilities: a catalyst for effective
interdisciplinary teams. In Strategies for Team Science Success. (pp. 313-328).
Springer, Cham.
Saracho, O.N., 2019. MOTIVATION THEORIES, THEORISTS, AND THEORETICAL
CONCEPTIONS. Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Motivation in Early
Childhood Education, p.21.
Scott, A., 2018. Creating Effective Teams: An Analysis. Available at SSRN 3480862.
Online
Fundamental Concepts of Organizational Behavior. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://iedunote.com/fundamental-concepts-of-organizational-behavior>.
Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing model. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.businessballs.com/team-management/tuckman-forming-storming-
norming-performing-model/>.