Strategic Human Resource Management: A Case Study of Amazon

Running head: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF
AMAZON
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STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT1
Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................2
Overview of the business activities of Amazon............................................................3
Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)......................................................4
Emerging trends in Human Resource Management (HRM)........................................5
Technology as an emerging trend............................................................................6
HRM issues faced by Amazon.....................................................................................7
HRM practices adopted by Amazon in response to the issues....................................8
Human Resource Planning and Alignment...............................................................9
Job Analysis and Design.........................................................................................10
Recruitment.............................................................................................................11
Retention of employees..........................................................................................12
Performance Management.....................................................................................13
Training and Development......................................................................................14
Employee Engagement...........................................................................................14
Impact of HRM practices on the achievement of Strategic Objectives......................15
Conclusion..................................................................................................................16
References.................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
As opined by Cascio (2015), the field of human resource management (HRM)
is a constantly evolving one and had undergone a significant amount of change over
the last few decades because of the integration of the new emerging trends within its
framework. Noe et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that the resultant effect of this is
that the HRM teams of the modern-day business enterprises rather than being
relegated to the background of the enterprises are playing an ever-important role
within the enterprises. More importantly, it had been seen that the HRM teams of the
different business enterprises through the effective usage of the process of strategic
human resource management (SHRM) align the individual objectives or the goals of
the employees with that of the goals or the objectives itself (Bailey et al. 2018). This
in turn ensures that the business enterprises are being able to effectively attain the
business objectives that they have formulated for the entire enterprise itself. On the
score of these aspects, it can be said that the HRM teams of the different business
enterprises have become a pivotal part of the enterprises and greatly facilitate the
growth or the development of the concerned enterprises.
Stewart and Brown (2019) argue that the change that had taken place within
the construct of HRM becomes apparent when an analysis of the different job roles
that the HR professionals are performing within the spectrum of the different
business enterprises is being taken into account. In this regard, it needs to be said
that unlike the traditional times when the HRM teams or the HR professionals were
required to perform the job role of recruitment only in the present times it is seen that
they are not only playing an integral role in the effective management of the workers
but also help the business enterprises to achieve their business objectives as well.
The resultant effect of this is that the HR professionals are required to perform a

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plethora of activities like performance management, job design, HRM planning, offer
training, help in the career development of the individuals and others within the
spectrum of the contemporary (Delery and Roumpi 2017). More importantly, the HR
professionals are required to take into account the different emerging trends within
the field of HRM and also the business world for the effective designing of these
practices or activities. The purpose of this report is to undertake a critical analysis of
the HRM practices of the enterprise Amazon.
Overview of the business activities of Amazon
Amazon or Amazon.com, Inc. founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and
headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is an American multinational business
enterprise which specialises in offering e-commerce services, cloud computing
services, financial services, artificial intelligence, digital streaming and other similar
services to the customers from all over the world (Amazon.com 2019). In this regard,
it needs to be said that although the concerned enterprise started its journey from a
small room yet presently it is operational in more than 181 different nations of the
world from all over the globe (Cnbc.com 2019). More importantly, it had been seen
that the e-retail or e-commerce services offered by the enterprise under discussion
which offers the opportunity to the customers to buy groceries, books, furniture,
electronic products and others had been greatly appreciated by the customers over
the years (Amazon.com 2019). Furthermore, it is seen that in response to the
success attained by it with regards to its e-retail services, the concerned enterprise
had also launched its digital streaming services which is called by the name of
“Amazon Prime” (Nytimes.com 2019).
The annual revenue generated by the concerned enterprise for the year 2018
was more than US$232.887 billion there making it the largest “internet company of

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the world” in terms of profitability (Amazon.com 2019). As a matter of fact, Amazon
forms a part of the “Big Four” technological enterprise (the largest technology-based
enterprises of the world) which includes Facebook, Apple and Google. More
importantly, the enterprise under discussion here is the second largest employer in
the USA and for the year 2018 it offered employment to more than 647,500
individuals (Amazon.com 2019). In this regard, it needs to be said that the large
workforce that the concerned enterprise boasts of had been hired by the enterprise
so as to help it to achieve its business objective. The business objective of the
enterprise Amazon is “To be Earth's most customer-centric company, where
customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and
endeavours to offer its customers the lowest possible prices” (Amazon.com 2019).
Thus, the employees are required to offer services to the clients or customers to
ensure that they are satisfied which in turn will lead to repeat sales and thereby
enhance the profitability of the enterprise.
Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)
Hollenbeck and Jamieson (2015) have articulated the viewpoint that the
construct of SHRM is one of the most important recent trends within the mould of the
modern-day business world and it is seen that the majority of the business
enterprises are trying to take the help of this construct because of the benefits
offered by it. As opined by DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst (2016), the construct of
SHRM can be defined as the process through which the business enterprises try to
align their strategic goals or objectives with those of the human resources or human
capital that their enterprise boasts of. On the other hand, Martin et al. (2016) have
noted that the major objectives of the business enterprises behind the usage of the
process of SHRM are to foster innovation, improve the motivation level of the

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employees, enhance their job satisfaction, productivity and others and thereby help
the enterprises to effectively improve their productivity. More importantly, it had been
seen that one of the most important benefits offered by the construct of SHRM is the
fact that it helps the business enterprises to achieve or attain their business
objectives or goals that they have formulated (Brewster 2017). However, at the same
time it needs to be said that the different business enterprises in order to effective
use the concept of SHRM needs to ensure the fact that the HRM team of the
enterprise is working in close conjunction or association with the management team
of the enterprise so as to understand the needs of the human resources, offer them
the right kind of training and thereby help the enterprise to attain its goals or
objectives (Collings, Wood and Szamosi 2018). The resultant effect of this is that the
enterprises taking the help of the process of SHRM are required to understand the
fact that the workers are not just resources rather they are the assets of the
enterprises and for the effective utilisation of this asset they need to undertake
effective planning (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley 2016).
Emerging trends in Human Resource Management (HRM)
Sánchez, Marín and Morales (2015) are of the viewpoint that the field of HRM
just like the business world itself had experienced different changes over the years
and even in the present times it is seen that different kinds of new trends are
emerging which as a matter of fact had forced the HR professionals to amend the
HR practices that they had been used to following. As discussed by Brewster, Chung
and Sparrow (2016), some of the most important emerging trends noticed within the
spectrum of the contemporary HRM are the technological changes, extensive usage
of data analytics, focus on the retention of the employees, integration of the concept
of work-life balance, focus on health-care benefits and others. However, at the same