Importance and effectiveness of leadership in dealing with contemporary issues: A case study of Amazon

Introduction
The aim of this assignment is to discuss about the importance and effectiveness of the
leadership in dealing with different contemporary issues. In the current business scenario, there
are number of strategic issues being faced by the business leaders and these issues are having the
requirement for effective management (Gerasimov & Gerasimov, 2015). In this assignment,
different models and theories will be used to understand the organizational elements and
recommended the alternatives for the leaders. This assignment will be done from the perspective
of Amazon and thus it will help Amazon to have an effective leadership approach in the long
term.
Definitions of Organization
Organization occurs when people work collectively to achieve any wanted end state
either object. It can occur through purposely planned action, spontaneous improvising, or some
combination of the two, although it continually depends upon coordinated attempt (Hatch, 2013).
Amazon is one of the top most online retailers in the world with having their presence in
majority of the countries and offering wide ranges of products services. However, due to their
global presence, they are also facing the diverse issues of managing the organizational affairs. In
accordance to their global operations, Amazon is also facing the issues of managing the huge
number of internal and external stakeholders. According to Mintzberg’s theory of organizational
structure, it can be concluded that the internal structure of Amazon can be aligned with different
terms. For example, Amazon can be termed as the machine organization with having high level
of bureaucracy. This is due to the reason that hierarchy is being maintained in the organization. It
should be noted that they are having subsidiary in different countries, which are controlled in
centralized manner. On the other hand, internal management of Amazon can also be termed as
divisional organization due to the reason that in the recent years, Amazon has diversified their
business in different sectors such as online streaming services (Langley et al., 2013). This is
causing having different line managers based on different divisions. Lastly, they can be termed
as innovative organization due to the reason that innovation is the key to the organizational
success for Amazon. It is the innovation which caused Amazon to change the entire retail
scenario by means of online services.

Importance of organization management
In the current business scenario, organization management is important due to the reason
that it will help in dealing with different issues effectively along with integrating the different
organizational elements in more functional way. One of the major importances is optimum
utilization of the resources. Organizations will be termed as economical only when the utilization
and return from the available resources is at the maximum level (Rice, 2013). Thus, with the help
of the effective process of organization management, Amazon will be able to utilize their
available resources properly by selecting the best alternative. Moreover, with the help of the
effective organization management, all the resources such as employees, finance and
infrastructural can be integrated properly. Thus, in the case of Amazon, they will be able to
better coordinate their elements and enhance the gross productivity.
Organization management is also important for Amazon due to the reason that it will help
in regulating the cost of operation for them. This is due to the reason that with the help of the
organization management, they will able to put the right elements in right place and ensure the
maximum return from the investments (Noe et al., 2017). Moreover, it should be noted that
Amazon is operating in a highly competitive business scenario and thus cost leadership is key to
their success. By reducing the cost of operation due to effective organization management,
Amazon will be able to gain competitive advantages in the market. Thus, it can be concluded that
initiation of the organization management is important for Amazon in terms of their competitive
advantages.
Competing models and theories
According to modernization theory, it is important for the contemporary business
organizations to align their market expansion strategy to that of the technological advancements.
This is due to the reason that in the current business scenario, technology plays an important role
for the business organizations to gain competitive advantages (Zupic & Cater, 2015). On the
other hand, it should also be noted that the current business organizations should have the
objectives of market expansion due to the reason that in the current era of globalization, it is
important for Amazon to expand their business across the world. Hence, it can be concluded that

with the help of the modernization theory, Amazon will be able to align their technological
advancements to their diverse business presence across the world.
On the other hand, another major competing theory of organization is rational system.
This refers to the division of the organizational affairs in goal specification and formalization.
Specification of goals refers to the guidelines for completing the particular tasks in the given
time and resources (Baumgartner & Rauter, 2017). On the other hand, formalization of the
resources refers to the standardization of the organizational behavior. Thus, it can be concluded
that according to the rational organizational system, it is important for the contemporary business
organizations to design their organizational elements including resources and behavior to achieve
the goals. In the case of Amazon, it is important for them to coordinate and integrate their
organizational elements to achieve the given goals.
Evaluation of the organizational power
There are different types of power that can be practiced in the business management.
According to French and Raven’s forms of power, there are can be mainly six types of power
that can be practiced. The major one is the coercive power, which refers to the use of force and
in order to gain compliance. This is being practiced majorly by the autocratic leaders in their
decision making process (Pierro et al., 2013). The next form of power is reward power, which
refers to the positive sources of power by means of offering of financial benefits and other
incentives. This is the most popular in the current time with majority of the organizations are
following these. Legitimate power is the most common power, which is being gained by means
of selection or election. This is due to the fact that the power of authority that comes with a
certain position is known as legitimate power. The next form of power is referent power, which
refers to the influence of an individual over others. The more will be the intensity of influence
over others, the more will be the degree of referent power. The last form of power is expert
power, which comes with the knowledge and expertise automatically (Cernas Ortiz & Davis,
2016). Thus, it can be concluded that each of these forms of power can be practiced in terms of
different processes. In the case of Amazon, reward power is being majorly practiced, which is
further helping them to create positive impression among the internal stakeholders. Thus, the
degree of referent power is also more in the organization.

Evaluation of the learning practice
In the current time, organizational learning is one of the major processes that should be
followed in gaining competitive advantages. According to Senge’s five disciplines of learning
organizations, one of the major aspects is creating a shared vision. This refers to fact that the
business organizations should have common and universal vision that will be agreed by all their
internal stakeholders (Noruzy et al., 2013). Moreover, it should be noted that each of these vision
should be properly communicated to and from the upper and lower level of stakeholders. Thus,
the learning process will get enhanced among the stakeholders. This model also states about the
systems thinking, which refers to the concentration on the holistic organizational issues over the
individual issues. According to this approach, it should be noted that all the actions in the
organizations are interrelated with each other along with their consequences. Team learning is
another popular mode of organizational learning process predominantly being practiced by
Amazon. This refers to the process of coordinating as team members rather than competitors and
achieves the organizational objectives in collective manner. However, prior to the
implementation of these learning processes, it is important to determine the internal situations of
the organizations (Alegre & Chiva, 2013). This is due to the reason that based on preference and
expectations of the internal stakeholders, learning process should be initiated. For instance,
Amazon is working on team work learning process due to the fact that they are having diverse
sets of employees. Thus, with the help of team learning process, different ideas from different
employees are getting generated and they are being used for collective achievement of the
organizational objectives.
Benefits of organizational learning process
One of the major benefits of organizational learning process is enhancing the individual
expertise and mastery of the employees. This is due to the reason that in the current business
scenario, skills and expertise of the employees are important for the business organizations in
gaining competitive advantages. However, not all the employees are having same sets of skill
and expertise (Real, Roldan & Leal, 2014). Thus, with the help of the leaning process, the
personal mastery of the employees will get enhanced by means of collaborating with others and
getting the knowledge from them. In this case, the added skills of an individual can be