STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

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ELECTRONIC ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET
Course/Unit Information
Course Pearson BTEC Level 7 – Diploma / Extended Diploma in Strategic
Management & Leadership
Unit No. Unit 6
Unit Name Creative and Innovative Management
Schedule Name CIMONL2003B/CIMONL2003C
Instructor Information
Name Raman Subramanian/Bincy Kaluvila
Assignment Information
Full/ Part Assignment Full Assignment
Date Assignment Issued 15/03/2020
Date Assignment Due 11/04/2020
Student Information
(To be filled by the student prior submitting the assignment)
Name Mani Karan
Student ID ONL1002003B07
Email Karan.mani58@gmail.com
Your assignment should meet the following requirements.
Please confirm this by ticking the boxes before submitting your assignment
The first page is completely labeled with my name, instructor name and assignment
information.
I have completed and signed the declaration page.
The contents of my assignment have been submitted to Turnitin and I have downloaded the
report.
I have strictly followed Harvard Referencing Style and Citations.
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1STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
STUDENT DECLARATION
I hereby confirm that this assignment is my own work and not copied or plagiarized. It has not
previously been submitted as part of any assessment for this qualification. All the sources, from which
information has been obtained for this assignment, have been referenced as per Harvard Referencing
format. I further confirm that I have read and understood the Westford School of Management rules
and regulations about plagiarism and copying and agree to be bound by them.
Student Signature Date of Submission
Click or tap to enter a date.
Turnitin Screenshot Below:
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2STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Table of Contents
LO1: Importance of creative and innovative management in the organisation...............................5
1.1 Evaluation of the current innovative management process...................................................5
1.1.1 Empowering innovation in every level...........................................................................5
1.1.2 Embracing failures and facilitate learning......................................................................6
1.1.3 Innovative and systematic decision making...................................................................7
1.1.4 Focusing on organisational flexibility............................................................................7
1.1.5 Encouraging creativity....................................................................................................8
1.1.6 Future orientation in innovation.....................................................................................9
1.2 Lead others to embrace innovation and change...................................................................10
1.2.1 Effective leadership......................................................................................................10
1.2.2 Financial benefits..........................................................................................................10
1.2.3 Skill development.........................................................................................................11
1.2.4 Employee encouragement programs.............................................................................12
1.2.5 Open communication....................................................................................................12
LO2: Support creative and innovative management process for organisations............................13
2.1 Influence of mission and vision on creative and innovative management process.............13
2.1,1 Mission statement.........................................................................................................13
2.1.2 Vision statement...........................................................................................................15
2.2 Analytical tools to identify potential creative and innovative management ideas..............17
2.2.1 SWOT analysis.............................................................................................................17
2.2.2 Organisational structure................................................................................................20
2.2.3 Training and development............................................................................................21
2.2.4 Employee involvement.................................................................................................21
2.3 Risks and benefits of creative and innovative management ideas.......................................21
2.3.1 Potential benefits..........................................................................................................22
2.3.2 Potential risks................................................................................................................22
2.4 Change models to support implementation of creative and innovative ideas.....................24
2.4.1 McKinsey 7S model.....................................................................................................24
2.4.2 ADKAR model of change management.......................................................................27
LO3: Influence others to effect change in organisation.................................................................28
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3STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
3.1 Rationale to persuade stakeholders for creative and innovative management idea.............29
3.1.1. Stakeholder Overview.................................................................................................29
3.1.2. Stakeholder Analysis...................................................................................................29
3.2 Communicate a creative and innovative management idea to stakeholders........................32
3.2.1. Mode of communication with stakeholders of Amazon..............................................32
3.2.2. Important Aspects of Communication.........................................................................34
3.3 Establish key goals and priorities for creative and innovative management idea...............35
LO4: Plan to overcome barriers in creative and innovative management ideas............................37
4.1 Assess the barriers of implementing creative and innovative management idea................37
4.2 Strategic plan to overcome the barriers...............................................................................38
4.3 Explanation of the chosen plan............................................................................................40
4.4 Communication with the stakeholders.................................................................................41
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................42
Reference...................................................................................................................................44
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Executive summary
Amazon is one of the innovative and creative organisations across the world. The company
successfully maintains its innovativeness in product or service in order to focus on the major
principle of satisfying the needs of the customers. It is important to note that there are certain
risks that the organisation is facing in terms of uncertainty of the market, financial crunches and
aggressive organisational culture for continuous innovation and creativity. Therefore, the report
puts emphasis on the different change management models like McKinsey 7s Model and the
ADKAR model so that it will be effective to implement a change for Amazon to gain better plan
to overcome the barriers. Therefore, the research firstly defines and explores the innovation
process in Amazon and then finds out the risks. Finally, propose a change management model
that can help to meet the mission and vision of the company effectively.
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5STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
LO1: Importance of creative and innovative management in the organisation
1.1 Evaluation of the current innovative management process
The current discussion is going to discuss the innovative practices in Amazon. It is
important to note that the Amazon is very famous for its innovative management ideas. From the
report of Tucker (2018) it can be stated that there is a strong innovative culture in Amazon that
guides the management to encourage creativity and innovation in management process. The
official website of the company also corroborates the same fact that innovation and creativity are
the guiding principles of Amazon to serve better to the customers. The primary focus of the
organisation is in its customer satisfaction measures (blog.aboutamazon.com 2019). Therefore,
innovation and creativity in the management process is highly relevant and significant for the
company to implement the culture of innovation within workplace and ensure meeting the
satisfaction of the customers’ properly. Therefore, some creative and innovative steps have been
followed by Amazon in order to continue its innovative management process.
1.1.1 Empowering innovation in every level
Innovation is considered to be the driving factor for the success in business for Amazon.
The organisation encourages its employees to come up with new ideas. In fact, the employees are
also empowered to identify the problems and resolve it with new solutions. The purpose of
infusing innovation in every level of the business is to get high customer satisfaction. From the
research of Satell (2018) innovation and creativity in business practice are mostly manifested to
meet the needs and demands of the customers. It is definitely considered to be one of the crucial
part for the organisational sustainability and value creation. Companies that offer unique and
innovative experience to the customers, get enough competitive advantage in the market.
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6STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Customer obsession is identified as one of the guiding principles of Amazon. Therefore, the
company is highly interested to engage its customers through offering unique and innovative
experience. For this, it is pertinent to continue the innovation process and ideas in every level of
the workplace. In order to continue the innovation and creativity in every level of the
organisation, Amazon follows some process. For instance, once an employee of any level comes
up with a big idea, he or she has to write a working backwards plan that is known as PRFAQ
(blog.aboutamazon.com, 2019). It is a press release outlining the vision of the plan and the
customer benefits by it. Therefore, a well planned innovation and creativity framework has
already been existed in Amazon.
1.1.2 Embracing failures and facilitate learning
The long term planning is also played significant role in creating and executing an
effective innovation and creative process in Amazon. It is important to note that the company is
highly interested in taking calculated risks for long term benefits and commences a number of
pilot testing. It does not mean that all those tests are successful. Many of them are scrapped or
failed. However, it is not a problem for Amazon because the company believes in the proverb of
“failures are the pillar of success”. Therefore, it becomes easier for the employees to think out-
of-the-box and implement it as a pilot testing. As a matter of fact, the embracing failure also
motivates the Amazon employees to think more creatively without bothering about the
execution. This flexible workplace culture definitely supplements the innovative and creative
management practices in Amazon. According to the research of Mejia (2018) it can be stated that
creative environment is a very important part for motivating the employees for innovative
thinking. Otherwise, it will never be possible for the workers to think freely if the risks and
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7STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
limitations are haunting in the back of the mind. Therefore, Amazon provides a psychological
assistance to the employees to think differently and make it a success.
1.1.3 Innovative and systematic decision making
In the decision making process also there are certain specification and techniques that
Amazon follows in order to balance it with the creative and innovative management practice. As
per the official website, it can be stated that the organisation follows two types of decision
making in terms of the one-way doors and the two-way doors. In other words, it can be stated
that the organisation mainly emphasizes on the reversible and irreversible decision making
process. Most of the innovative and creative programs in Amazon are associated with two-way
doors policy (blog.aboutamazon.com, 2019). It means if any of the experiment does not work
and fails to get the customer attention then the workforce is ready to change it and replaced with
something better. It is a genuine example of continuous improvement where the organisation is
strictly focus on innovation and creativity. It can be stated that the continuous changing practice
is highly effective for the business companies to ensure the success in business. At the same time
the continuous changing practice is also relevant in the context of facilitating creativity and
innovation in workplace. Through the continuous change process the organisation can design and
execute new ideas and it is pivotal for the organisation to shape its organisational culture
accordingly.
1.1.4 Focusing on organisational flexibility
As per the research of blog.aboutamazon.com (2019) it can be argued that flexibility in
workplace is a determining factors for creating an innovative and creative workforce. The
purpose of organisational flexibility is to develop the knowledge and skills of the employees by
providing them different assignments. Organisational flexibility can be defined as a practice
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8STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
where the organisation reshuffle its employees through different departments so that the
employees can gather more knowledge and ideas regarding the overall business operations. In
Amazon, an internal flexibility practice is prevalent where the managers are entitled to reshuffle
the positions of the employees and send them to different departments. It is obvious that the
employees are allocated to different department on the basis of their skills and knowledge.
Putting emphasis on the skill development s identified as another key aspect for maintain
creativity and innovation in workplace. Therefore, Amazon follows the leadership principle of
“hire and develop the best”. The official website of the company claimed that in 2018, more than
10,000 employees were shifted internally to different business departments. Therefore, it is
highly imperative and crucial for the organisation to continue the internal flexibility as a part of
facilitating continuous improvement and innovation.
1.1.5 Encouraging creativity
The innovative organisational culture cannot be developed without the moral and
psychological support from the senior management. Tucker (2018) opined that it is the
responsibility of the senior management to push and motivate the employees to enrich their
intellect and use it for the betterment of the business. Companies that are completely depend on
its innovation and creativity are always concerned about the richness of the workforce and its
out-of-the-box thought process. In addition to this, proper infrastructure is also required to
facilitate the creative and innovative thought process. According to the research of Pisano (2019)
by encouraging creativity business companies provides some relation to its employees so that
they can get the space to think and implement it for better innovation. In Amazon also the same
kind of approach has been used where the management provides an expression lab, a workshop
where the employees can implement their innovative ideas and engage them with innovation. It
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9STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
also renders a personal space for the employees to nourish their minds and stay focused to think
properly. Moreover, the Amazon Symphony Orchestra is also created as a recreational program
for the employees where they can participate and clear the minds and burn out all the frustrations
and tensions.
1.1.6 Future orientation in innovation
It is evident that Amazon is very much aware of its potential and its future business
success. The support and creativity of the employees lead the organisation for a successful
business orientation through not only earning high profitability but also develop the society to a
great extent so that it will be beneficial for the organisation to enhance its sustainability practice.
Customer retention and satisfaction is also a part of the future orientation of Amazon. In this
regard, the organisation puts a great deal of emphasis over its innovation and at the same time
ensures the next generation business practice that is identified as one of the major characteristic
features of Amazon. Helping the children and the young adults is considered to be a major
program that Amazon follows (Tucker 2018). The purpose of the program is to prepare the next
generation for advanced innovation in science and technology. The Amazon Future Engineer
program is one of such big initiative where the future generation can learn and envisioned in a
more creative manner so that the future will be better and suitable for everyone. The program
provides scholarships to more than 10 million youngsters to pursue their academic career all the
way through college. It is a very inspiring and noble act that Amazon introduces and contributes
to the future development in the society.
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1.2 Lead others to embrace innovation and change
1.2.1 Effective leadership
Leadership in Amazon is the most effective driving factors to encourage the employees to
go for more creativity and innovation. It can be stated that the leadership style of the CEO of
Amazon Jeff Bezos is very promising and inspiring that attracts most of the employees
genuinely. The leadership style of Jeff Bezos is basically based on the charismatic leadership
style. As per the leadership characteristics of Jeff Bezos, it can be argued that the charismatic
leadership style is entitled to provide eloquent communication, persuasion and a positive impact
of the personality that drives the workforce to a great extent. According to Shamir and Howell
(2018) the charismatic leaders are highly skilled in communication. Their speeches are very
persuasive and inspiring that the audience can easily be moved and follow the leaders blindly. In
case of amazon as well, the charismatic leadership style of Jeff Bezos leads the entire workforce
to follow and maintain creativity and innovation in business. Moreover, Sy, Horton and Riggio
(2018) advocated that the charismatic leaders are very compassionate and followers are
compelled to incline towards believes and visions of the charismatic leaders. They start believing
in the same way as the leader directs them to think. In case of Amazon also the personality and
presence of Jeff Bezos is so graceful that no one can overlook his presence. Therefore, the
leadership ability of Jeff Bezos is considered to be the most effective tool to embrace innovation
and change.
1.2.2 Financial benefits
Financial benefits is also considered to be one of the pertinent aspect for motivating the
employees and satisfied their needs. The article of Garcia (2018) corroborated the fact that
financial rewards and benefits have a great impact over the satisfaction level of the employees
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and it generates motivation to work hard and earn more. Therefore, in case of Amazon also the
employees are highly satisfied with their salaries and devoted to their work highly. There are
several monetary benefits that the management provides to the employee in terms of incentives
or other reward opportunities. The financial benefits are also associated with influencing the
employees to accept any change in the organisational process. Ezzat, Le Masson and Weil (2017)
articulated that financial benefits helps the business organisations to retain its skilled employees
and in return the continuous change in business can be done effectively. As a matter of fact,
Amazon also provides a hike in salary from 5% in the first yea to 20% at the end of the
completion of 4 years. For a technology driven company like Amazon, employees are considered
to be the asset for the organisation and the organisation is highly focused on its continuous
creative and innovative practice by convincing and influencing the employees with lucrative
financial benefits and rewards.
1.2.3 Skill development
It is important to note that many companies are willing to engage employees in skill
development programs so that they are able to develop their skills as per the requirement. It also
generates a positive motive from the end of the organisation as the companies are highly focused
on the quality of product and service. The skill development program definitely pushes the
employees to bring more efficacy into the operations and bring sustainability to the
organisational development. In respect to this, it can be stated that Amazon follows the same line
of skill development program with the intention to prepare its workforce for more innovation and
creativity (Chen and Hou 2016). In Amazon, the employees can get the chance to go back to
school and learn the required skills that are much needed in workplace. For encouraging the
employees, Amazon initiates the Amazon Career Choice program where the employees can get
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$12,000 for tuition fees and textbooks to earn certificate or certain degree that is highly required
for the occupation (aboutamazon.com 2020). Most of those skill development practice is based
on the advanced technology learning like robotics, machine tool technologies, computer aided
designs and so on. As a result of that the process subsequently compels the employees to engage
in the creative and innovative management practices.
1.2.4 Employee encouragement programs
Apart from the monetary benefits and skill development program there are also a certain
measures that Amazon follows as a part of employee engagement program. The purpose of the
employee engagement program is to make the employees relaxed so that they are able to focus
on their job properly. The research of Vermeir et al. (2018) confirmed the fact that the employee
encouragement programs have great deal of impact over the productivity of the organisation. For
maintaining a creative and innovative workplace and inspire the employees to perform skilfully
there should be a number of important measures like social recreation, gathering, playing games
and all which are not related to their jobs (Ouedraogo, Ouakouak and Salem 2019). Therefore, a
refreshment for the employees can burn out their stresses and they will able to focus on it
properly. The employee encouragement program of Amazon helps the employees to stay focus
on the innovation and creativity measure and ensure the success of the organisation extensively.
1.2.5 Open communication
In Amazon, the senior management is always maintained a transparent and open
communication with the employees. It fosters a good relationship between the senior
management and the employees (Akinola et al. 2019). As a result of that a positive workplace
environment can be developed where the employees can understand the needs and expectations
of the organisation for them. It is very pertinent for the business organisations to maintain a clear
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and direct communication practice with the employees so that the aims and objectives of the
organisation are clearly shared with them (Thompson 2018). It boosts the organisational
performance a lot and prepare the employees to act in any scenario. The creativity and innovative
practice is the core value of Amazon. With the help of transparent and direct communication the
employees are also let informed about it and they are prepared to achieve the organisational
objectives to a great extent.
LO2: Support creative and innovative management process for organisations
2.1 Influence of mission and vision on creative and innovative management process
Amazon is considered to be the largest online retailer across the world. The success of the
organisation intricately linked with its mission and vision strategies. As per the research of
Gazzaroli, Gozzoli and Sánchez-Gardey (2019) the mission and vision statement of an
organisation represent the outline of its purpose in the world market and the blueprint of
strategies that the organisation follows in order to create a brand value. In fact, Cropley and
Oppert (2018) stated that the mission and vision statement of an organisation helps to provide
direction to the business organisations so that it will bolster its future.
2.1,1 Mission statement
The mission statement of Amazon is that the organisation is focused on customers and
meet their demands with high end innovation in lowest valuable price. The corporate mission
statement of Amazon delivers its high focus on the consumer needs and demands. Moreover, the
affordability of the products is also played a very significant role in the mission statement of
Amazon. The company is very famous for its innovation and creativity. Therefore, it is the
primary motive of the organisation to offer high end technology driven products and services to
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14STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
the customers but with minimal pricing. There are three important aspects that can be derived
through the mission statement of the organisation.
The first aspect is associated with the customer orientation. It is very important for
Amazon to lead the organisation towards more customer orientation. In other words, it can be
stated that the focus of the organisation is vested on the customer satisfaction and meeting the
customer needs extensively. Both the products and services are played significantly in this
respect. As world’s largest online retailer Amazon tries to provide different ranges of product so
that the customers can get all the products whatever they want. Based on this understanding, it
can be argued that a clear customer orientated business practice has been followed by Amazon
and the company is very much concerned about the quality of the products and the innovation in
product manufacturing and service delivery so that it will encourage the customers to visit and
buy products again (Thiruvenkadam and Kumar 2018).
On the other hand, the low pricing strategy is also a crucial aspect for Amazon to gain the
trust of the customers and maintain good relation with the customers. It is important to note that
the organisation is very much aware of the global consumer trends and does not engage into the
competition battle. Rather Amazon tries to focus on the needs and expectation of the customers.
The low pricing strategy is a clear outcome of such benefit where the purpose of the business
corporate is to not only facilitate an extensive customer base but also increase the base by
attracting new customers as well (Kandampully, Bilgihan and Zhang 2016).
Innovation in product and service is also a significant characteristics of Amazon as the
organisation intends to provide best services to the consumers by providing cutting edge
technologies in service. It meets the interests of both the customers and the organisation as well.
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15STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
From the customers’ perspective, the technology driven services meets their demand with little
room for error. Even in product, the unique features of the Amazon products make the customers
highly interested to purchase. On the other hand, from the business orientation it can be stated
that the organisation is willing to provide advanced technologies in both products and services
for showing its allegiance to the society (Hatum 2017). It is a contribution from Amazon’s end
for the society to provide cutting edge and innovative technologies and becomes a part of the
future progress of the society.
2.1.2 Vision statement
The vision statement of Amazon is also resonated the same manner by focusing on the
global reach of its products and services by following a customer centric approach and wide
range of product lines. The vision statement of the organisation states that Amazon is liked to be
the most customer centric company with a range of innovative products and quality services that
can help to meet the needs of the customers. Therefore, the vision statement of the organisation
provides enough insights into the motive of Amazon to get a global reach, involve the customers
with high end technologies in products and services and offer wider range of products to the
customers (Sharif 2017).
Based on this understanding, it can be stated that innovation and creativity are part and
parcel of the organisational culture of Amazon. The organisation is very much concerned and
very meticulous about its innovation and productivity. The vision statement of the organisation
provides a long term goal of the organisation to contribute to the society. The vision statement of
the organisation reflects that Amazon is willing to strengthen the society by providing them
cutting edge technologies in product and services. As a result of that people will get in touch
with the future experience by using the next generation technologies.
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Furthermore, it can be stated that Amazon aims to deliver high customer satisfaction.
Therefore, using the technology in service is also considered to be one of the leading aspects on
which Amazon must work on. It can be pointed out that there are two purposes that Amazon is
willing to serve by providing next generation service experience. One is associated with meeting
the needs and expectation of the customers and another links with the increasing global reach of
the organisation (Nguyen 2018). From that point of view, it can easily be stated that the
organisation is very interested in lining the aims and objectives of the company with the market
trends and demands. This approach is identified as one of the important driving forces for
Amazon to gain competitive advantage in the market. Therefore, innovation and creativity plays
a significant role in the organisational development context where it can provide a competitive
advantage for Amazon to continue its success in business in the long run.
However, the organisation is also interested in expanding its global reach. As far as the
research of Fetrati and Nielsen (2018) is concerned, it can be stated that offering unique product
and service is not enough for a multinational company to grow its business overwhelmingly in
the overseas market. It requires deep understanding of the market trends and an initiative to push
the customers to purchase products of the organisation. In this regard, innovation and creativity
in Amazon play significantly where the customers are getting convinced to buy Amazon
products because of its high quality and uniqueness. The use of next generation technology is
one of the major contributors that help the organisation to attract many customers as it can.
Therefore, the vision statement clearly projects the need and importance of creativity and
innovation within Amazon and the way Amazon envisioned its creativity and innovativeness for
future benefits.
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17STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
2.2 Analytical tools to identify potential creative and innovative management ideas
There are several relevant tools that can identify the potential creativity and innovative
management ideas in Amazon. For instance, the SWOT analysis is the most relevant approach
that can help to figure out the situation of creativity and innovation practice in Amazon. Apart
from that the organisational structure, training and development and the employee involvement
are also being discussed in order to get a perception regarding the creative and innovative
management ideas in business of Amazon.
2.2.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths
Strong brans presence of Amazon is identified as one of the best advantage for the
organisation in the competitive market. As the largest online retail platform, people can
get almost everything in Amazon. The quality of product and swift service delivery
practice of Amazon create enough trust building among the customers. People are highly
aware of the customer care services of Amazon and the apt delivery network that help to
build up a good relationship between the organisation and the customers.
The company is also focusing on diversifying its business in order to get strategic
competitiveness in the international market. The expansion of business through
diversification depends on the creativity and the innovation of Amazon. The organisation
is highly focused on its creative and innovative practices and it becomes a very effective
approach for the organisation to choose the right approach of delivering a better and
unique offering by relying on the creative and innovative approach. The creativity of the
company leads to develop a number of unique products of Amazon such as Amazon
Alexa, Amazon Fire stick and Amazon Prime for live streaming of movies. Therefore, the
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creativity and innovation is imbued in the organisational culture to a great extent and
helps to expand the business of Amazon significantly.
The skills of the employees is also considered to be another advantage for Amazon to
gain competitive edge in the market. For instance, Amazon is always looking for creative
workforce and the organisational culture is also set accordingly so that the employees can
share their unique ideas and bring competitive edge for the organisation in the
international market by providing unique products and quality services to the customers
Weaknesses
Lack of creativity in the business model makes Amazon vulnerable to the competitive
market. From the research of Grimm and Brandert (2016) it can be stated that the
organisation does not follow any unique business model and the existing business model
of Amazon is highly imitable. As a result of that there is high chances for the rival
business companies to imitate the existing business model of Amazon and increase the
competitiveness in business.
From the innovation and creativity perspective, Amazon is very tolerant about product
failure but intolerant about the product incompetence. Sometimes there are some
incompetency that the company is facing in order to put extensive focus on the creativity
and innovation. For instance, the Amazon Fire Phones are facing severe challenges in the
mobile phone markets due to its incompetency within the operation. It creates a damage
to the image of the organisation.
Limited brick and mortar presence is also considered to be a major weakness for Amazon
to attract more customers. Many customers are interested to buy products physically but
the limitation of Amazon makes it unavailable for the customers to practice physical
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buying rather than online shopping. For Amazon also the situation is not so very amusing
as it fails to maximise rate of customers.
Opportunities
There are still a number of opportunities left for Amazon to expand its business and lead
the retail market successfully. First of all the physical presence of Amazon in the retail
business can lead to a great blow to the rival companies as Amazon has more products
that the rival physical retail stores.
The company must improve its technology to a great extent in order to stop counterfeit
sales. There are number of times that the customers are facing problems with counterfeit
sales and it damages the image of Amazon to a great extent. Direct interaction with the
suppliers and double checking the product before delivery can be a great measure for
Amazon to build up trusts among the customers. Moreover, it can be stated that the
organisation put a great deal of emphasis over the quality of product. However, focusing
on effective delivery practice can also be a great opportunity for Amazon to lead the
market.
A backward integration practice can be followed by Amazon in terms of expanding
business with in-house brands can also be a better approach for the company to use the
opportunities wisely and render future success in business.
Threats
High competitiveness in the international retail market creates enormous challenge for
Amazon to expand its business. The imitable business model of Amazon creates leverage
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for the rival companies to use the same approach and earns high profitability. Therefore,
it will costs enough for Amazon for its future sustainability.
Cybercrime is also considered to be a great threat for online retail business. From the
research of Cromwell and Amabile (2017) it can be stated that many of the customers are
not willing to purchase products through online stores due to the threat and fear of
cybercrime. In response to this, Amazon has limited security measures that are not
enough to secure the details of the consumers. Henceforth, it will be a great threat for
Amazon to continue its business success in future.
Extensive focus on the employees and their creativity creates a challenge for the
employees to culture their innovative ideas without any interference. Timed bathroom
breaks and continuous surveillance on the employees make them nervous and disoriented.
They cannot focus on their job properly due to immense intervention of the senior
management.
2.2.2 Organisational structure
The organisational culture of Amazon is very straight forward where the company is
willing to provide immense focus on the continuous improving of creativity and innovation.
From the report of Yohn (2018) it can be stated that the practice is associated with the brand-
culture fusion where the ultimate agenda of the organisation is stick to one objective. In case of
Amazon, the focus is set on offering high customer satisfaction and needs so that it can be useful
to gain competitive edge in the market. Nevertheless, a practice of ‘purposeful Darwinism’ is
existed in Amazon where the employees have to prove their skills and creativity in every steps.
Some of them are failed to meet the high standards and metrics set by the management.
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21STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
2.2.3 Training and development
Training and development is part and parcel of the organisational culture in Amazon. The
company emphasises on the development of the employees and develop their skills and abilities
to a great extent so that it will meet the expectation of the organisation. However, there are
limited in-house training for the employees. They have to learn from universities and other
academic institutions. It is a problem to generate better training facilities aligned with the
organisational objectives (Amabile and Pratt 2016). Therefore, the training and development of
the employees is very personal and it can be a threat for Amazon to retain skilled employees.
2.2.4 Employee involvement
There are several measures that Amazon follows in order to involve the employees within
the organisation. For instance, encouraging creativity and innovative ideas of the employees are
always welcomed in Amazon. Moreover, the employees can get breaks and entertainments so
that they can relax. However, there is limited initiatives taken by the Amazon management to
provide work-life balance for the employees. As a result of that often the employees feel
frustrated and under heavy pressure. It can culminate the quality of doing business for Amazon
as the employees may feel demotivated and humane treatment from the management.
2.3 Risks and benefits of creative and innovative management ideas
There are some potential risks and benefits that Amazon can get in course of delivering a
better and effective organisational practice. The risks and benefits are intensely associated with
the creative and innovative practices that are prevalent in Amazon.
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2.3.1 Potential benefits
It is significant to state that the innovative and creative measures that the Amazon
management is followed is definitely meet the aims and objectives in business where the
role of the organisation is to not only increase the productivity but also reduces costs of
operation. As a result of that it becomes easier for Amazon to focus on the low pricing
strategy and get maximum number of customers.
The quality of the products and services is also become increased due to the
implementation of creativity and innovation in management. The employees are
innovative and skilled enough to develop effective product and service that can convince
the customers to visit again and again.
A brand image is also associated with the creative and innovative practice that Amazon
maintains. Lahlou and Beaudouin (2016) opined that the creativity and innovation are
determinants to offer unique experience. It is highly relevant and pragmatic in the
competitive market as the customers will get to know the unique services that the
particular company is provided (Nguyen and Hipsher 2018). Therefore, it is very relevant
for Amazon to gain a unique brand image in the competitive retail market and easily
expand business for future benefits.
2.3.2 Potential risks
Financial constraints are the major challenges for any business organisation while
practising innovation and creativity. One of the major reason is the uncertainty in success
of the innovation (Leopoldino¹, González and Júnior 2016). Therefore, stakeholders are
often sceptical about the innovation that the organisation is going to develop. For
Amazon also the same problem is facing in terms of its financial backup. There were
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23STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
number of innovative steps that the organisation had been taken but failure in the projects
like Fire Phone or Amazon Kindle creates some financial risks for the organisation.
Uncertainty in commercial returns is also identified as a major risks that the business
companies are feared for. Mostly the researches are speculative and there is no guarantee
for the organisations to earn profits and benefits in future (Meinel et al. 2017). It is
always depended on the success of the innovation. Therefore, in Amazon also the same
problem arises. Moreover, timescale in business is also identified as a great problem for
the business organisations. It can be stated that more time consuming innovation can be
overtaken by competitors. Therefore, the time consuming innovations are also identified
as serious threat for Amazon to compete in the market.
Coordination among the employees is also a serious threat for Amazon to facilitate
successful innovation and creativity in business. All the employees in Amazon are
innovative and creative so they are very keen to share their vision in every innovation
project (Sözbilir 2018). However, it will be a problem to initiate the actual project
because all the project members are tried to share their insights rather than completing the
project as soon as possible. Therefore, a coordination gap between the employees is
occurred.
The leadership support also has a determining impact over the innovation and creativity
practice (Sung et al. 2020). In case of Amazon, the senior leadership is very intolerant
regarding incompetent innovation such as Fire Mobile or Amazon Kindle. As a result of
that it becomes very problematic for the employees to continue implementing their
innovative ideas with the fear of the future of the innovation.
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24STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
2.4 Change models to support implementation of creative and innovative ideas
There are number of change management approaches that can be relevant in this regard.
However, the most effective change management process for Amazon can be McKinsey 7s
model and ADKAR model. Both the models are highly effective in carrying out proper change
process in an organisation. The importance and relevance of both the change management
models will be discussed in this section with its link to the relevance in the context of Amazon’s
creative and innovative ideas.
2.4.1 McKinsey 7S model
Image 1: McKinsey 7s Model
(Created by the author)
The McKinsey 7S model offers ways and methods of creating effective change in the
organisation and facilitate a deep insights into the hard and soft elements of the organisation that
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are considered to be the key drivers of change (Cox, Pinfield and Rutter 2018). All the elements
used in the McKinsey 7S model are particularly helps the organisation to proceed towards a
positive transition by addressing the required steps and measures that are used in the model (Guo
and Gong 2018). McKinsey 7S model provides seven steps for the organisations to continue the
change process and enhance ability to the organisational practice. The steps are as follows,
Strategy
Strategy is associated with the goals and objectives of the organisation to initiate the
change management process and extract the rationale to introduce the change. It is the
fundamental step of initiating the change because before the initiation of the change management
process it is very important for the organisation to figure out the needs of the change and
objectives that should be met to complete the change successfully (Shaqrah 2018).
Structure
It represents the process or the plan through which the organisation is going to start the
change. The structure phase is very critical for the business organisations as it formulates the
plan on the basis of the rationale of the change and the mentioned objectives (Gökdeniz, Kartal
and Kömürcü 2017).
System
System phase incorporates the action of the change management process. It connotes the
day-to-day plan of the organisation to pave the way for a better change in the organisational
process. As a matter of fact, the system also projects the timeline and the required resources that
are needed for the change.
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26STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Shared values
Shared value is associated with the value of the organisation and the individual interests
of the employees. The shared value stage can be identified as the first step towards incorporating
the employees into the change management process. In fact, it is also essential for the shared
Value practice to harness the individual interests of the employees with the organisation’s
objectives.
Style
Style is resembled with the practice of degree of change that is required for the entire
change process. It is also pertinent for the organisation to measure its degree of change so that
the monitoring and controlling of the change can be done perfectly.
Staff
The staffs are compelled to participate in the change management process. In this stage,
they are directed to play their roles properly and perform as per the requirement. Therefore, the
staff stage is focused on the performance of the employees and their responsibility to attain the
objectives incurred by the change management practice.
Skills
The responsibility of the skill stage is to check the competency of the employees and
their ability to continue the change management process and get success accordingly. It is very
essential for the success of the change management plan and process because the efficacy of the
change management plan relies on the competencies of the employees.
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27STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
2.4.2 ADKAR model of change management
Table 1: ADKAR model of change
(Created by the author)
The ADKAR model is a goal oriented change management model that includes different
management team to act on a particular change (Goyal and Patwardhan 2018). The process sets
number of goals that the organisation and requires and working on it so that the change
management initiative will be a success. The ADKAR models practice a cumulative and
collaborative sequence of performing a better corporate practice so that it will be effective to get
the proper result that is expected (Dana, Mukaj and Vishkurti 2016). Therefore, an orderly
fashion of action with sustainable approach is associated with the ADKAR model and the gaps
and drawbacks in the organisational system are going to identified and resolve in course of the
change management practice (Da Veiga 2018). As a matter of fact, Bejinariu et al. (2017)
pointed out that the ADKAR model is highly pertinent in the context of developing and
A Awarenss for need of change
D Desire to support and participate in the process
K Knowdge for change
A Ability to implement
R Reinforcement to sustain the change
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procuring better organisational process where the role of the organisation is to not only deliver a
transition within the organisation but also measure the abilities of the employees to meet the
goals. In fact, a diagnostic practice is resembled with the ADKAR model so that the employees
can get a chance to improve their skills and abilities effectively.
LO3: Influence others to effect change in organisation
Creativity and innovation is the central idea of surviving the stiff competition in the present
business scenario. An organisation cannot function without its stakeholders. The stakeholders are
the people who get affected by the functions of organisation. There can be different level of
influences and interests associated with a stakeholders. According to Brulhart, Gherra and Quelin
(2019), a company that want to incorporate any kind of changes in their functions need to think
of the stakeholders’ interest first. The impact of the changes on different stakeholders need to be
evaluated by the company. Amazon is no exception in this case as they give a great importance
to their people. Managing the stakeholders and persuading them for the change can be a great
challenge. The power and interest of the stakeholders are different in an organisation context.
This is why, Amazon has to identify their stakeholders effectively. Identifying the stakeholders
will lead to the medium and type of communication and information sharing regarding any
change. An overview of the stakeholders can be effective to understand their role and influence.
3.1 Rationale to persuade stakeholders for creative and innovative management idea
3.1.1. Stakeholder Overview
The groups of people who are interested in a business venture and are influenced by the
functions of the business are called the stakeholders. In the business venture need to be careful of
stakeholders involvement in their decisions making (Verbrugge et al. 2017). Amazon designs its
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29STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
values and mission keeping with the interest of the stakeholders. The stakeholder framework can
be effective in identifying the internal and external stakeholders of a business.
Internal Stakeholders of Amazon: internal stakeholders are the one who are directly
related to the organisation and are affected by the business operations of a company. In
the case of Amazon, the internal stakeholders are investors, employees, managers,
owners.
External Stakeholders of Amazon: The external stakeholders are the people who are not
directly related to the organisation or a part of it, but are affected by the changes in the
organisation (De Gooyert et al. 2017). For Amazon, the external stakeholders are
distributors, suppliers, government, creditors, customers and the community.
3.1.2. Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis is important to understand the power and interest relationship of the
stakeholders. The stakeholders are interactively related. The challenge is that the interests of one
stakeholder most of the time conflicts with another. For example, Amazon gives huge
importance to their customers. The interest of customers is to buy the highest quality product in
the lowest price possible. One the other hand, the other important internal stakeholder are the
investors of the company (Proctor 2018). The investors in Amazon would try to get the highest
profit by increasing the cost of their products. This is the pace of conflict that the organisation
needs to take care of. The company has to adopt a process in which the interest of both party is
fulfilled or balanced. The stakeholder power of the owners are greater than the employees, but
their interest in the company activities is not lesser than the owners. A power interest matrix for
the company would be instrumental in management process.
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30STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
High Power, high Interest
(Key players)
Investors
owners
Managers
High Power, Low Interest
(Keep Satisfied)
Government
Customers
Low Power, high interest
(Keep informed)
Employees
Suppliers
Change managers
Legal team
Low power, Low interest
(Minimum Effort)
Distributors
Shareholders
Technical support teams
Training managers
Table 1: Stakeholder matrix
(Source: Created by author)
The stakeholders need to be manage because of their conflicts in interests. The
stakeholders’ matrix gives an idea what kind of management information and medium need to be
used for the stakeholders of different level. The matrix has the four parts according to the power
and interests of the defined stakeholders. The key players are the investors, mangers, owners of
the company. Government is another string part of the stakeholders’ matrix that influences the
functions and decision making of the company immensely.
The main reason of persuading the stakeholders is to make the change effective. It is not
possible for Amazon to progress in his business without their stakeholders. The creative ideas
that would be produced in the organisation needs to have the financial, political and
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manufacturing resources. As opined by Ninan, Mahalingam and Clegg (2019), this resources can
be provided by the stakeholders only if the stakeholders are not informed of the changes in the
management, they will not be ready to invest their resources in the organisations. Amazon can
think of implementing a change in their operations and distribution. But the change will need
financial support that can only be provided by the investors and the owners if the organisation.
Again, this management change need to be operated and implemented by the help of the
workforce in the organisation. Another stakeholders, suppliers and the distributors would be
helpful in supplying the required inventories or instruments to the company. Customers are given
main preference in Amazon’s work culture, hence their interest need to be associated with the
changing goals of the company. Therefore, all the changes that the company tries to implement
are reacted to the interests of its stakeholders. Hence, the company has to keep their stakeholders
informed and persuade them for the innovative ideas. Their collective persuasion is necessary for
the idea to success.
Again, the senior managers need to understand the barriers that might come to their
innovative process. The stakeholder analysis will help in identifying the barriers and take
preventive measures against it. The managers will also include various technological and
innovative measures to reduce the barriers. Amazon need to communicate with their stakeholders
about the changes so that they can participate in the change process and fulfil the innovative
missions together.
3.2 Communicate a creative and innovative management idea to stakeholders
The transfer of meaningful data through the stakeholder chain is necessary for keeping the
stakeholders unformed of what is happening in the organisational context. The stakeholders need
to get regular updates and information of the operations of the company. According to Lawrence
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32STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
(2017), most of the time the responsibility of communicating the change in the management or
any other aspects of organisation lies on the CEO of the company. The head of the organisation
is the one who communicates the information of the change through the resources. There is a
challenging task as the person in charge of communicating the change need to be well informed
and confident. The stakeholders’ communication medium need to be chosen effectively so that
maximum numbers of stakeholders can get the profit of the changes. The strategic changes in an
organisation management are done for the better execution of functions. Amazon executives can
have multiple mediums to communicate their ideas through their resources and stakeholders.
3.2.1. Mode of communication with stakeholders of Amazon
The communication mode depends on the nature of the stakeholders and their
participation if the process of innovation. Amazon have internal and external stakeholders and
the communication mode would be different for each and every one. Amazon usually uses
corporate communications, circle meetings, newsletters and public relations for communication
their changes with the stakeholders. The following discussions shows the different medium of
communication and the types of stakeholders using them-
Internal stakeholder Communication
The internal stakeholder of Amazon are the company investors, employees, managers and
the owners. In order to communicate the information to the investors, the top management can
arrange the circle meetings with them. They can also use the corporate communication medium
like e-mail or official conference calls to present the data in front of them (Lauff et al. 2020). On
the other hand, the employees are the integral part of the organisation and they are easy to reach
as they are directly working with Amazon regularly. Amazon has an international business
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33STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
ventures and their employees are working wold wide. Therefore, the suggestion for
communicating the change with the employees would be official emails. This will ensure that the
information is equally distributed. The company can also try to have group conference calls with
the team heads of branch office of Amazon so that they can further channel the information to
the other employees (Henisz 2017). The company owner is the one who can initiate all the
communication process. The CEO of Amazon would be responsible to initiate the channelization
and distribution of the information of the change in every level of the organisation.
External Stakeholder Communication
Most important external stakeholder of Amazon are the customers. Along with them the
suppliers, distributors, government and community people play an important role on the
organisation. Amazon can thing of public relation to communicate with the customers and
community. This is the medium through which the company can arrange short meetings with the
promotional events in places to inform the customers of the change their company is going to
implement. In the opinion of Wandebori, Steenhuis and Groen (2018), detailed information of
the change can be communicated to the community people through the same public relations
channels. The government is another strong stakeholders whose policies impacts the operations
of the company. Hence, the government need to be kept informed of the changes that the
company is going to implement. The communication medium for government and Amazon
Company could be the business report (Faber and Oortwijn 2018). Business reports are the
details of the company operations, measures, mission and objectives along with the plans. An
informative and insightful business report can be a strong communicative medium for nay
stakeholders of Amazon.
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For the suppliers and the distributors, amazon can try the face to face meeting. The top
managers of individual units can arrange a meeting with individual or group of investors so that
they can communicate important information with them. The short coming of this process is that
this is quite time consuming (Elmustapha, Hoppe and Bressers 2018). Hence the suppliers can
also be informed through the newsletters about the change. The newsletters are the medium of
one-way communication and do not include the feedback of the receiver most of the time. This
communication medium can be effective for the internal stakeholders of Amazon as they have a
strong intranet connections in their work culture.
3.2.2. Important Aspects of Communication
In the communication process, receiving the feedback is important for the
communicator. All the queries of the employees or any other stakeholders need to be met by the
CEO or the communicator. This is why, the CEO need to be well-informed of the change process
and its execution process as well. According to Mahalingam and Ninan (2019), the
communication needs to be done by using the important facts. The presentation power of the
communicator need to be on point. Amazon CEO need to have sufficient information of the
change they are trying to communicate. The CEO need to be ready to face the questions related
to the change. The demonstration of the change model is another thing that will influence the
success of the change in management in the company (Brennan and Merkl-Davies 2018).
Through efficient demonstration of the facts, the communicators helps the stakeholders to
understand the innovative changes more effectively. The mangers or the CEO need to ensure that
the demonstration is understandable and realistic (Park and Park 2016). They need to keep it
simple and present it with confidence. For the stakeholders of high power and interest, the
company should rely on statistical data presentation. This can be an effective medium for
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35STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
demonstrating. Amazon executives can also prepare some FAQs to address the query of the
stakeholders.
3.3 Establish key goals and priorities for creative and innovative management idea
Initiating the innovative changes in the management would not be effective if the priorities and
the goals are not set accordingly. Amazon is a huge name and operates a business that is
massive. Hence the company needs to take care of the aspects of what they need to prioritize and
what they will not. Before investing in any idea, the company need to adjust their goals in the
change. The company need to gather information of the operations that are already active in the
company. In the next stage, the company need to access what is the relevancy of the change to be
incorporated in process. Amazon top management need to decide the most effective
implementation ideas that would contribute in the success of the innovative changes (Allen
2016). The implementation need to be aligned with the goals and priorities in every stage. The
outcome of the innovative change in management can be negative if the implementation is not
done effectively. This is the reason that creativity and innovation need to be implemented in
phases.
Amazon need to adopt various strategies in their operations and then decide according to
the results, which one is the most apt. The first thing that need to be considered in these phases
are the financial resources (Kleine, Langenbach and Zhurakhovska 2016). There is no doubt in
the fact that no organisation can achieve their goals without financial supports. For the
innovative measures investors need to be contacted and the financial resources need to be wisely
distributed. Innovation should be implemented when necessary. But the organisation must also
think that they would be able to provide it with financial support or not. This is why, the flow of
funds need to be monitored carefully in the implementing process (Baker and Hernandez 2017).
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36STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
The sections that need special financial assistance need to be marked by the managers of the
company. There can be instance in the company, where the Amazon might think of investing in a
process of management change, but the evaluation of the priorities and funding would not permit
it towards the positive results. In that case, the organisation need to stop that venture and try to
have an alternative idea. The stakeholders also need to be notified of this and then the company
can try to convince for further financial supports from them. The informed stakeholders will not
complain of misuse of the funds as they have been passed the information of extended budgets
for the targeted changes.
Training the employees to adopt the change is another phase of implementation. The
employees are the internal stakeholders of Amazon and they are well-informed of the company
mission and visions, but, there can be creative changes which would require other kind of
expertise from the workforce (Elmustapha, Hoppe and Bressers 2018). Hence, the company must
support them with training to improve their performance in the change management. The funds
for this training session need to be included in the implementation planning so that the top
management would know of the fund allocation.
Amazon might think of evaluating the creative and innovative measures through different
tools in a specific time interval. Implementation is not complete without the review and
evaluation plans, therefore, the company need to have a review plan for their changes in their
implementation plan (Rubin and Abramson 2018). The evaluation would be based on the goals
and priorities the company is trying to achieve through the innovative measures in the
management process.
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LO4: Plan to overcome barriers in creative and innovative management ideas
4.1 Assess the barriers of implementing creative and innovative management idea
There are numbers of potential barriers that can jeopardise the creative and innovative
management practice in Amazon. The barriers are as follows,
Lack of uniformity in creation is the most important barrier for Amazon to continue its
creativity and innovative organisational culture. All the innovation are very much process
oriented and there is no control from the management’s end to control and manage the
innovation and guide the employees towards the right innovative practice.
Absence of collective creativity practice is another barrier or challenge for Amazon
because the employees are very much self-oriented and inward looking. An innovation
practice must have the benefit to carry out a large scale development. it means the entire
organisation must focus on the creativity and innovation practice. However, in case of
Amazon, department wise innovation fails to have impact over the other departments.
Lack of shared vision and strategy is a great challenge for Amazon as the organisation is
aggressively competitive despite it claims to meet the satisfaction level of the customers
only. The innovation and creative measures are purposefully focused on gaining
competitive edge in the market. As a result of that a contradiction has been seen in the
real objective of the organisation and the shared mission and vision. It becomes very
confusing for the employees to follow the different objectives and emphasize on
creativity and innovation.
Deficiency in systematic innovation process in Amazon can be seen vividly. There is no
systematic innovation process in terms of generating a positive response to the customers.
The organisation is highly focused on its creativity and innovation without having a
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38STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
systematic innovation process aligned with the demands and expectation of the
customers.
Financial constraints to facilitate innovation is another considering barrier for Amazon.
The employees are well aware of the fact that any incompetency in the product can lead
to a problem to convince the senior management. The management is very intolerant
about incompetent innovation. The uncertainty of innovation does not have any place in
Amazon. Therefore, the employees feel pressure to execute their innovative ideas and
getting frustrated easily.
4.2 Strategic plan to overcome the barriers
The proposed strategic plan can be helpful for Amazon to maintain its effective creativity
and innovation process in business. The strategic plan depends on a five layer steps that can
incorporate all the barriers and formulate a collaborative solution which will be helpful for
Amazon to mitigate the barriers and challenges effectively.
Need Analysis
Resource
competency
Implementation
Monitoring and
control
Completion
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39STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Table 2: Strategic plan for creativity and innovation in management of Amazon
(Created by the author)
The strategic plan at first focuses on the rationale for the innovation. It will be generated
from the market analysis and by evaluating the customers’ demands. Then the focus will be
vested on the resource competency. It is important to note that both the human resources and
financial resources are played a major role in the understanding the feasibility and viability of the
innovation. After that the implementation process will be started and it is followed by a
monitoring and control from the supervisor in order to check whether the implementation is
working properly or not. The final stage is the completion of the project and meet the expectation
positively.
4.3 Explanation of the chosen plan
The chosen plan emphasizes on the efficacy of the communication between the senior
management and the employees. It is important to note that lack of uniformity and collective
innovation practices are the major barrier for Amazon to carry out an effective innovation and
creativity in management ideas. The organisation needs to understand the demands and
expectations of the customers as the customer satisfaction is considered to the core principle of
Amazon. Therefore, the chosen strategic plan facilitates a five layered steps that can help the
organisation to unite the individual aspirations of the employees with the shared values of the
organisation. From this point of view, the strategic plan at first emphasises on the need
recognition process where the responsibility of the organisation is to initiate a market analysis
and find out the trends and expectation of the customers. Based on this review, an innovative
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idea will be designed. The process will help Amazon to set an extensive measure and guide the
employees to use their innovative ideas on the customer needs.
After designing the innovative plan, it is important to figure out the competency of the
resources so that the innovation can be implemented. In this regard, both the ability and skill of
the workforce and the financial approval from the management are required. The skills and
abilities of he human resource will guide the organisation to create a creative and innovative
product or service that are strictly relate to the demands of the customers. On the other hand, the
financial resources will play a major role in terms of funding the innovation and make it
successful.
Then the implementation will be start by setting up the goals and objectives of the
implementation and also provide a timeline for completing the innovation. It is important to note
that a close monitoring and controlling practice will be attached with the implementation process
with the purpose the investigate the progress and find out any potential gaps that can create
problem for the implementation. Based on this initiatives, the last phase will be the conclusion of
the innovation and it will be ready to launch in the market.
4.4 Communication with the stakeholders
Stakeholders Message Mode of
communication
Schedule Expectation
Employees Use innovation
and creativity in an
effective way
Emails, meetings
and trainings
Weekly The innovation
will be completed
within the given
deadline
Shareholders Estimated Cost analysis, Monthly The shareholders
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41STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
expenses of the
project
budget reporting,
meetings
will understand the
importance of the
innovation and
invest
Senior
management and
business partners
Progress update
and the potential
risks that can be
faced
Meeting,
Progress report
Quarterly The senior
management and
business partners
will shed light on
the progress and
guide towards
success
Government Regulatory polies
and requirements
Press meetings Half yearly The government
will get to know
all the measures
are taken under the
government
instructions and
regulations
Customers Product or service
details,
Benefits and
pricing
Feedbacks, survey
and online reviews
Quarterly The customers will
be interested and
share their
valuable
comments for the
benefit of the
innovation
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Conclusion
The research primarily focuses on the efficacy of the innovation and creativity practice
prevalent Amazon. The organisation highly emphasises on its innovative practice as a part of
providing best solutions to the customers. The mission and vision of the organisation also
support the innovation and creativity within the organisation. The effective leadership practice
further supplements the practice of innovation and creativity. However, the research also
provides information regarding the key barriers and challenges that Amazon is facing in terms of
financial crunches, aggressive stress on innovation and the organisational culture. Therefore,
mitigation strategies has been proposed through the change management plans of McKinsey
model and ADKAR model. In fact, the report also discusses the mode of communication and
stakeholders’ integration into the change management plan. Therefore, it can be concluded that
the report elucidates both the advantages and risk factors that organisations might face in course
of effective business practice.
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43STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
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