Understanding and Leading Change in Amazon ASSIGNMNET Unit 17: UNDERSTANDING AND LEAIDING CHANGE IN AMAZONE TASK1 Meaning and significance of the change in the business context

Unit 17 Understanding and Leading Change in Amazon
ASSIGNMNET
UNIT 17: UNDERSTANDING AND LEAIDING CHANGE IN AMAZONE
TASK1
Meaning and significance of the change in the business context
Change management in the business context is defined as the process of renewing the
structure, direction, capabilities of the organisation, in the light of the external and internal
business environment of the organisation. Some factors that drive varied kind of changes in
the environment of the organisation are the rapid pace of technological innovations, change in
the regulatory and legal factors, shifting social and demographic trends, changing
expectations of the stakeholders and others. In order to survive in long term, to achieve
success and to serve stakeholders efficiently, it is essential for the organisations to identify
the needs of future, impacts of the changes and addresses the same by amending the existing
strategies or by adopting the new strategies (Hayes, 2018).
Amazon and eBay
Comparison of mission and strategy
Amazon was founded in the year 1994 by Jeff Bezos. Amazon mission is "to be Earth's most
customer-centric company, where the consumers are enabled to discover anything they are
willing to purchase and to provide the consumers with less prices (Amazon, 2019). The
current corporate mission statement of eBay is “to be the favourite destination” in the world
for a unique selection of the products and discovering great value (eBay, 2019b). Thus, since
the inception of the company, the prime focus of the company Amazon is to be the chief
customer centric entity, while eBay has been recently renewed to be the world's favourite
destination for discovering great value and unique selection of products (eBay, 2019a).
The strategy considered by Amazon is acquiring a number of retailers worldwide and
expanded its business of operations, and even launched its own product lines such as Amazon
Prime, Kindle e-readers, Echo and Fire tablets but on the other hand the strategy considered
by eBay witnessed in first licensing deal with a third-party namely the Electronic Travel
Auction with the aim of selling plane tickets and other travel products using the Smart
Market Technology (Nagle and Müller, 2017).

Amazon
Structure and partnership
To manage change in the workplace, it is analysed that Amazon structure is Hierarchical in
which the activities are controlled by the senior management team. The senior management
consists of the two CEO's and three senior vice presidents and one worldwide controller.
These managers are responsible for different aspects of the company and they directly report
to the CEO of the company Jeff Bezos. The change is managed by considering the strategy,
which is named as "two Pizza rule" (Amazon, 2019).
In the context of this rule, the meetings are conducted in small teams which assist in boosting
the coordination and it results in managing the entire change. On the other hand, eBay
focused on business type multidivisional organisational structure in which the different
divisions are designed to manage the activities of the E-commerce sector. The company
implemented the organisational change by considering the different types of divisions such as
business type, geographical divisions, and functional units. It has also been observed that in
context to Amazon, Nike has entered into a partnership to sell the products on the Latter's
platform. But on the other hand, eBay partners are Stub Hub PayPal and Bill Me later (Neto,
Bloemhof and Corbett, 2016).
People and culture
Amazon focuses on offering benefits such as AWS training, medical plans, restricted stock
units and also discount vouchers to the employees so that they get motivated towards the
assigned activities. Also, the mission of the company is related to customer-centric approach
which maximizes the satisfaction level of the customers. The culture of Amazon is positive as
the company emphasises on leadership principles which help to boost innovation and also it
maintains the customer-centric. Whereas eBay also offers different benefits related to health
and wellness benefits, financial benefits and balancing work life. These benefits are given to
the employees that directly impact on the working pattern in the competitive advantage (D.
Banker, Mashruwala and Tripathy, 2014). eBay emphasises on maintaining the corporate
culture with the strategy of "resulted in oriented excellence". The culture of the company
promotes business effectiveness by emphasising on human resource development. The
corporate culture considers three characteristics which are excellence, results in orientation
and diversity.
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Marketing and customer relationship
Amazon focuses on the marketing strategy by maintaining a competitive advantage. To
differentiate the products, the company acquired different start-ups such as Junglee.com and
Zappos.com. It has been analysed that the company focused on different mediums such as
social media marketing, online advertising and also television advertising. The mission of the
company is to maintain customer relations and it is done by offering effective services such
as timely delivery and good quality of the products. On the other hand, eBay focuses on
marketing through the opening of the eBay stores and also they create customized discounts
and vouchers to boost the visibility of the inventory. The customer relationship strategies
considered by the company is automated services in which the customers are offered the
bidding and auction facilities to purchase the products at a low cost. The company also offer
discussion boards so that it could be easy for the customers to solve the query related to
products and services (Hui et al., 2016).
Technology
The technologies used by Amazon are many such as Amazon dash button, Amazon Fresh,
Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Prime Air, and Amazon fire phone. On the other hand, eBay
considers web technologies and Tech Blog. These technologies helped the company to attain
success in the highly competitive market (Wensley, 2016).
Perceptions influence a view of change
It has been examined that there are many situations in which the employees resist the
changes. So, it is one of the perceptions of the employees that influence a view of change. In
Amazon also the employee resists the changes that are implemented by the management. One
of the best examples is of Amazon when they entered in Poland. At that time, they focused on
attracting cheap labour and strict union laws are maintained. At that time the employee
resisted about the set policies and stated that: "Stop treating us like dogs".
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(Pluto Press, 2019)
So, this is one of the best examples that stated that the perceptions impact the change and in
Amazon has impacted in a negative way (Pluto press, 2019).
P2: Internal and external drivers of change how?
There are different methods that are related with internal and external change drivers that
impact leadership, team and individual behaviour in Amazon. Kubler Ross Grief Model is the
theory which highlights the process of change.
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(Source: Psycom, 2019).
Internal and external driver of change
It has been observed that internal and external driver of change is related with
communication, positive culture and high level of competition. These are the drivers that
directly impacts people, teams and leadership.
Psychological impact of change on people
Communication
The internal driver of change in Amazon is related to communication which impacted the
customers and the employees of the company. Jeff Bezos offers equal opportunity to the
employees to share their views and opinions with the management. It has also boosted the
strategy of innovation in relation to the change in the workplace (S, NEWS,2019). The
psychological impact of change on the people is positive, as the company offers an equal
chance to the employees to share their thoughts with the management. The change which is
considered by the company is related to introducing the different segments apart from the
bookstore. In this the company considered acceptance stage in which the new plans are
implemented in the workplace.
Internal driver of change: Positive culture
Also, the working environment is one of the internal driver that impacted leadership, team
and behaviour of the individual in Amazon. It has been examined that management focuses
on maintaining a positive culture by offering rewards and training to the employees. Through
positive working environment, the employees in the workplace accepted the changes
implemented by the management. By enhancing the motivation level of the employees, the
company tries to boost the motivation level of the employees (Rothaermel, 2015). The
positive culture has also boosted the motivation level of the employees which impacted the
routine activities of the company. According to the Kubler Ross Grief Model, Anger stage is
considered so that frustration and irritation of the employees can be reduced.
External drivers: High level of competition
The external driver of change is also related to high competition level which is present in the
market. It has been seen that there are many competitors of Amazon such as Flip kart and
eBay. So, at the time of implementing the change, the company focused on the strategies
related to offering discounts and also quick delivery to the customers so that sales can be
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enhanced and also as it impacts the behaviour of the team and individuals in the workplace.
To reduce the competition level, the effect is also on the leadership as Jeff Bezos has to think
twice before taking a decision in the highly competitive business environment. Also, there are
positive and negative effects of change on the individuals, team and also on the company.
Also, at the time of offering rewards and by considering the external factor which is
competition level it has been seen that the burden of the employees is enhanced (Pandit and
Poojari, 2014). According to the Kubler Ross Grief Model, acceptance stage is considered in
which the new plans will be considered.
Positive and negative effects of change on individual, teams and organization
Individuals
The change considered by the company in relation to communication, it has been seen that it
positively impacted the relation with the customers. The company focused on the Denial
stage according to Kubler Ross Grief Model, as it helps to resolve the confusion of the
customers. Also, positive culture maintained by the company boosted the confidence level of
the employees towards their work. But high level of competition enhanced the confusion of
the customers in reference to the services offered in the market (Amazon, 2019). NEGATIVE
IMPACT: The negative impact can be on employee performance because due to high level of
competition the stress will be enhanced among employees. Due to this there might be unable
to manage their work life balance.
Team
In the workplace, the management focuses on maintaining an open line of communication
with the employees which helps the leaders to give accurate directions to its employees. The
company maintained the change by considering the internal driver which is communication.
Through effective communication, the mindset of the employees has been changed and the
positive mindset has been created towards the assigned activities. Positive culture also
enhances the efficiency of the employees and they can now easily share their views and
opinions. NEGATIVE IMPACT: It can be observed that the change in the communication
can affect the morale of the employees. When leaders offer chance to every employee to
share their views then the issue related to discrimination takes place. So, this can be same
applied in this case as it can enhance the feeling of discrimination among the team members
(Pandit and Poojari, 2014).
Leadership
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It is analysed that through effective communication, Jeff Bezos also implemented the change
by gathering innovative ideas from the employees (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015). It is
analysed that through effective communication channel the positive impact has been seen on
the innovative ideas. By offering open line communication, it is now easy for the employees
to share their views and opinions. Positive culture helped the Jeff Bezos to boost the
motivation level of the employees. But due to high level of competition, Jeff has to maintain
strict rules and policies on the employees so that they can work with dedication (Amazon,
2019). NEGATIVE IMPACT: The negative impact in relation to this can be related to high
level of competition. The burden on the leaders will be enhanced as due to high competition
pressure they have to be more focused towards effective strategies.
P3 Measures to minimize the negative impacts of change on the organizational behavior
The negative impact of change can be related to employee morale, productivity, distribution,
and behaviour and brand image. It is important to consider the different measures so that
negative impact of the change can be reduced.
1.) Training
It has been observed that the due to lack of training, the employees are not able to
focus on the changes. So, to minimize the negative impacts it is essential to consider
right techniques of training. The employees should be given training in a proper
manner as it could help in boosting the skills related to change.
 Positive impact: By giving training, the employees can adopt the changes and
can manage their work accordingly.
 NEGATIVE IMPACT: The negative impact can be related with the increase
in the expendit1ure of the company at the time of giving training to the
employees.
2.) Incentives/ pay
Incentive is also one of the factors related to it in which if more pay is given to some
employees then it can demotivated the other employees. Therefore, to minimize the
negative impact it is important for the management to offer equal pay and incentive to
the employees so that it could be easy for them to manage the change in the
workplace (Carkhuff, 2017).
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 POSITIVE IMPACT: It will boost the motivation and morale of the
employees towards their assigned work.
 NEGATIVE IMPACT: The negative impact can be related with un-biasness
that can take place in the workplace.
3.) Communication
It is examined that lack of communication can negatively impact the change process
of the company. At the time of changes, there are many queries and doubts that arise
in the mind of the employees. It is important for the management to minimize the
issue related to lack of communication so that it would be easy for the employees to
share their views and opinions (Habermas, 2015).
 POSITIVE IMPACT: By sharing views and opinion, the employees can easily
accept the changes and also it will help to boost the confidence level towards
the activities of the company.
 NEGATIVE IMPACT: By having proper flow of communication, the negative
impact can be related with maintaining the security of the confidential
information.
4.) Distribution
It is necessary to reduce the negative impact of change by maintaining proper channel
of distribution channel. It has been analyzed that if there is proper channel of
distribution, the products or the services will be delivered on time. It will also help to
boost the productivity of the employees (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015).
 POSITIVE IMPACT: the products and services will be provided to the
customers on time which will at last boost the customer service.
 NEGATIVE IMPACT: by maintain proper channel of communication the cost
of the operation can be enhanced of the company as they have to hire more
employees to maintain effective channel of communication.
5.) Brand image after change
The negative impact can also be seen on the brand image of the company, so to
maintain it the focus should be given on setting the policies and procedures as it
would assist in making the process simple for the process (Lepper and Greene, 2015).
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 POSITIVE IMPACT: The employees will give their best towards the activities
if they know about the set policies and this will directly boost the sale of the
company products.
 NEGATIVE IMPACT: This will enhance resistance among the employees if
they work in set policies and procedures.
Motivation
Due to change, the negative impact can also be seen on the level of motivation of the
employees. To boost the motivation level, it is essential to focus on satisfying their
basic need so that they can give their best towards the assigned work (Wlodkowski
and Ginsberg, 2017).
 POSITIVE IMPACT: Motivated employees will give their best towards the
work and it will help to attain positive outcome.
 NEGATIVE IMPACT: Motivation can also enhance over confidence among
the employees which can negatively impact the working pattern of the
employees.
Measures Amazon taken to reduce the negative impact of change
Social media marketing
To reduce the negative impact of change, it is examined that Amazon considered social
media marketing so that it could be easy to reduce the competition level prevailing in the
market. From social media, the company considered the competitive advantage and enhanced
the market share on the global platform. It is one of the best strategies which are considered
by the company to reduce the negative impact related to a high level of competition that
exists in the market (Price, 2016).
Distribution strategy
Also to maintain the positive culture of the company, the company considered the distribution
strategy in which they considered "Under the tent strategy" which used the existing vendor
warehouse for consumer packaged products and they focused on offering the products on
time to the customers. This has maintained the network of the company and boosted the sales
of the company. By enhancing the sale, the chance of earning more profits has also been
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enhanced by the motivation of the employees towards the assigned activities. Through the
strategy considered by the company, it could be seen that self-confidence level of the
employees has been boosted which resulted in generating new and innovative ideas from the
employees (Price, 2016).
AWS training and certification program
Also, to reduce the negative impact of change the company considered AWS training and
certification program in which the main aim of the company is to boost the cloud skills of the
employees so that it could be easy to transform the business. AWS training and certification
help to boost and validate the cloud skills of the employees which positively impact on the
overall performance of the employees in their work. Also, in this digital and classroom
training is given so that the motivation level of the employees can be boosted and it could be
easy for the employees (Amazon, 2019).
Brand equity
To reduce the impact of the external driver related to competition it has been seen that the
company focused on maintaining the brand equity in relation to the marketing strategy. It has
been examined that Amazon focused on spending the huge amount on advertising and
promotion which has made the brand stronger and also boosted the brand equity. It has been
stated by the company that for them "brand is like a reputation" and they can earn it by
promoting the products and also by making the customers satisfied by offering quality
products in the highly competitive market (Rollins and Calabrese, 2016).
Therefore, it can be stated that these are the strategies or the measures considered by the
company so that it could be easy to reduce the negative impact of the change in the
workplace. Through these strategies, the company focused on boosting the motivation and
working structure of the employees in the workplace.
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