Analysis of Motivational Strategies in Amazon for Effective Operations in Retail Industry

The report is based on the analysis of the ways by which motivation is able to affect the operations of the organization in retail industry. The company which has been considered for the analysis is Amazon, which is multinational retail based organization of American origin. The different strategies and approaches which are used by the company have been analysed in the report.

Running head: WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The report is based on the analysis of the ways by which motivation is able to affect the
operations of the organization in retail industry. The company which has been considered for
the analysis is Amazon, which is multinational retail based organization of American origin.
The different strategies and approaches which are used by the company have been analysed
in the report. The strategies are further analysed with the help of three major motivational
theories that include, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two factor theory and
Vroom’s expectancy theory. The analysis based on the theories have depicted that the
company has been able to operate in an effective manner by providing motivation to
employees. However, improvement is required in the operations of the company in the
industry.

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Table of Contents
Background of the organization.....................................................................................3
Management based practices and strategies...................................................................3
Analysis based on the application of relevant theories..................................................5
Recommendations..........................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................8

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Background of the organization
Amazon.com Inc. which is conducting its business operations in the market with the
name of Amazon, is an American multinational online retail based organization. The
company has its successful operations in the electronic commerce based industry. The
headquarter of the organization is mainly located in Seattle, Washington. The organization
was established by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994. The technology giant has acquired the
position of the biggest internet based retailer in the entire world with respect to the revenues
and the market capitalization rates (Amazon.com, 2018). The company had started its
operations in the industry as an online bookstore and later expanded its operations in many
different sectors. The different products and services that are now offered by the organization
in the market mainly include, software, electronics, furniture, apparel, toys, food and
jewellery. The company has also started manufacturing original products under their brand
which include, the Fire tablets, Fire TV, Kindle e-readers and Echo (Amazon.com, 2018).
The organization has depicted huge amounts of growth in the online retail industry
and has further been able to provide effective levels of competition to the physical retail
stores as well. Amazon has thereby been able to develop separate websites for different
countries like, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, China, Japan,
Australia, Mexico and India. The company maintains an employee base of Amazon consists
of 5,42,000 people all over the world. The employees have been able to form an effective part
of the operations and growth of Amazon in the online retail based industry (Amazon.com,
2018). The data of employees has been able to show that the company has been successful in
maintaining the human resources in an effective manner. The motivation based process that is
thereby used by the organization in order to manage the employee base will thereby be
analysed in the report.
Management based practices and strategies
Amazon has been able to show huge levels of growth in the online retail industry with
the help of its effective services and products and the services which are thereby offered by
the employees. The company has established a culture that is totally based on the innovation
in the retail based industry of different countries all over the world. The strategy or culture of
“purposeful Darwinism” which us based on the ways by which employees of the organization
are expected to stay for a longer time in the office and they also need to be available. The
value of great leadership is quite high in Amazon and ways by which the employees can be

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motivated. The culture that has been followed by Amazon is based on the policy of churn and
burn (Calk & Patrick, 2017).
The management always high expectations from the employees and their operations
as well. In the year 2015 the article which was published in The New York Times has been
able to depict that the work based culture of Amazon has been defined by the employees with
the help of the term “bruising”. The former employee of Amazon Books Marketing based
operations had stated that the employees in the organization are not quite happy. The
company has also been said to use different types of tactics in order to optimize the
performance of employees even by compromising with their wellbeing (Fernet et al., 2015).
The CEO of Amazon has spent huge amounts of time in the process of revolutionizing
and further inventing the e-commerce based activities. The different strategies that have been
implemented by the company have been based on the ways by which Amazon is able to
develop its leadership based position in the retail industry. Bezos has thereby been successful
in maintaining a huge employee base in its operations all over the world, in spite of issues
which have been faced related to dissatisfaction levels of the employees (Hauser, 2014).
The Amazon Web Services are thereby developed by the company in order to the
solve different issues of the customers in an effective manner. The CEO has always taken
risks in order to increase the revenues and profitability of the company in the online retail
industry. Bezos has thereby taken major steps in order to make the employees like they are a
part or the owners of the company (ZHANG, SONG & LIU, 2016). The stock options have
been used by the company while hiring the employees in order to make them feel like
important part of the operations (Hennessey, 2015).
The culture which has been developed by Bezos within the organization is also based
on the ways by which employees are provided with effective levels of freedom and
empowerment. The employee empowerment based activities of the organization have thereby
been able to play a major role in the ways by which the different decisions have been made.
However, the empowerment of employees is controlled in such a manner which can help in
avoiding bureaucracy (Shaw & Gupta, 2015). The employees in Amazon are retained in an
effective manner with the help of rewards that are provided to them by the management. The
employees receive a part of the stock of the organization in addition to the basic salary which
is received by them (Ke & Deng, 2018).

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The percentage of shares which are gained by the company continue to increase with
the increase in number of years the employees are a part of Amazon. The employees are able
to gain more from the organization if they stay for a longer amount of time in Amazon. The
high pressure based environment which has been developed by the company has however
been able to affect the ways by which employees are able to operate within Amazon. The
CEO of the company has high expectations from the employees and they are pressurized in a
huge manner in order to provide the best levels of services to the customers who are
considered to be an important part of the company (Kersh, 2015).
This is considered to be a major reason behind the strategy which has been
implemented by Amazon by increasing the rewards with the increase in the tenure of the
employees. The financial incentives which are provided to the employees are thereby totally
based on the ways by which the employees can be made to stay. The company has been able
to improve the retention based rates of the employees in an effective manner with the help of
pay scale and rewards which are provided to them. The high levels of attrition in the
organization is an important factor which is able to affect the operations of Amazon in the
retail industry (Khan & Baloch, 2017).
Analysis based on the application of relevant theories
The three motivation based theories which can be implemented in order to analyse the
strategies which have been implemented by Amazon are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,
Herzberg’s two factor theory and Vroom’s expectancy theory. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
is based five levels of needs which can be fulfilled with the help of strategies of the company.
The first level is based on the physiological needs that can be fulfilled with the help of the
pay scale which is designed by the company. The health care benefits that are provided by
Amazon is also able to fulfil the first level of needs (Kuntz, Connell & Näswall, 2017).
The second level of needs is based on the safety of the employees which is related to
the effective position which is provided to the employees with the help of pay packages and
other benefits provided to them. The third level of needs is based on the belonging and love
of the employees. Amazon has been able to create a belonging based culture in the
organization up to a considerable amount. The fourth level of needs is based on the self-
esteem of the employees that can be developed by the company. This level can be fulfilled
with the help of importance that is provided by the organization (MacDonald, Kelly &
Christen, 2014). The fifth level of needs is related to the self-actualisation which can affect

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the individual potential of the employees of Amazon. The Maslow’s needs have been fulfilled
by Amazon with the help of its effective stock based options. The company has aimed at
making the employees feel that they own a part in the ownership. This has been able to play a
major role in the ways by which the employees are able to provide effective services to the
customers. The retention of employees was a major aim of the company that was fulfilled
with the help of this step that has been taken Amazon (Kian, Yusoff & Rajah, 2014).
Another motivation theory which needs to be applied in order to analyse the strategies
of Amazon is Herzberg’s Two factor theory. These two theories are based on the hygiene
factors and motivation factors. The hygiene factors that are considered for Amazon are based
on the salary, supervision, company policies. The pay based scales, supervision which is
made by the CEO and policies of Amazon are important hygiene factors that are fulfilled by
the company. The motivators on the other hand are those factors which include, the
advancement of the employees and the responsibility which is provided to them in the
organization. The company is thereby able to provide effective opportunities to the
employees in order to improve themselves in an effective manner (Natarajan & Palanissamy,
2015).
The third motivation based theory which is called the Vroom’s expectancy theory is
based on the expectations which the management has on the employees. The major
expectation which the CEO of Amazon has from the employees is based on the highest levels
of services that are provided to the customers. Vroom’s expectancy theory based activities of
the company are thereby considered to be highly effective in nature. The employees are able
to provide services to the customers in such a manner which has been able to create its
position in the online retail based industry (Pinder, 2014). The levels of expectancy of the
CEO of Amazon has always been quite high which is an important factor based on the
Vroom’s Expectancy theory. The company has thereby been able to meet the criteria which is
provided by Vroom’s expectancy based theory. This has been an important part of the ways
by which the employees have been able to fulfil the needs of employees in an effective
manner. Vroom’s expectancy theory is considered to be an important indicator of the ways by
which Amazon is able to operate in the retail industry. The preference that is provided by
Amazon to the customers can only be fulfilled with the help of effective services that are
offered by the employees.

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The analysis of the strategies of Amazon based on three motivation theories have
been able to prove that the company has motivated the employees in an effective manner.
However, some of the needs of the employees have not been fulfilled by the company. The
loyalty based levels are thereby not high in spite of the huge numbers of financial incentives
that have been provided by the company (Rodríguez-Aceves, Madero & Valerio-Ureña,
2018).
Recommendations
Amazon can be recommended to improve the work culture in order to improve the
loyalty levels effectively. The employees have worked quite hard in order to the provide
effective services to the customers. The attrition based rates of the company are thereby high
as well. The motivation levels of the employees can be increased further by improving the
organizational culture and providing effective benefits. The high pressure based environment
of the company can be modified in order to improve the culture and reduce the rates of
attrition. The financial incentives alone are thereby not able to retain the employees in the
organization. Motivation of different kinds is thereby important for the effective operations of
the company in the competitive retail industry. The company will thereby be able to retain its
effective employees with the help of proper motivational strategies and growth based
activities which can improve the work process of these employees.

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References
Amazon.com. (2018). About Amazon. Retrieved from https://www.aboutamazon.com/?
utm_source=gateway&utm_medium=footer
Calk, R., & Patrick, A. (2017). Millennials through the looking glass: Workplace motivating
factors. The Journal of Business Inquiry, 16(2), 131-139.
Fernet, C., Trépanier, S. G., Austin, S., Gagné, M., & Forest, J. (2015). Transformational
leadership and optimal functioning at work: On the mediating role of employees'
perceived job characteristics and motivation. Work & Stress, 29(1), 11-31.
Hauser, L. (2014). Work motivation in organizational behavior. Economics, Management
and Financial Markets, 9(4), 239.
Hennessey, B. A. (2015). Creative behavior, motivation, environment and culture: The
building of a systems model. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 49(3), 194-210.
Ke, J., & Deng, X. (2018). Family-Friendly Human Resource Practice, Organizational
Commitment, and Job Performance among Employees: The Mediating Role of
Workplace Spirituality. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 6(01),
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Kersh, N. (2015). Rethinking the learning space at work and beyond: The achievement of
agency across the boundaries of work-related spaces and environments. International
Review of Education, 61(6), 835-851.
Khan, I., & Baloch, Q. B. (2017). Performance Based Pay: A Moderator of Relationship
between Employee Workplace Behavior and Organization Productivity. Journal of
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Kuntz, J., Connell, P., & Näswall, K. (2017). Workplace resources and employee resilience:
the role of regulatory profiles. Career Development International, 22(4), 419-435.

9WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
MacDonald, P., Kelly, S., & Christen, S. (2014). A path model of workplace solidarity,
satisfaction, burnout, and motivation. International Journal of Business
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ZHANG, J., SONG, Y., & LIU, X. (2016). Undermining effect exists or not: Relationship
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