Leading and Managing Change: Amazon's Strategic Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon's change management strategies, focusing on the white water metaphor, calm water metaphor, and Lewin's three-step change process. It examines how Amazon adapts to both planned and unplanned changes within its organizational structure and technological advancements. The report evaluates business strategies and external factors, such as demographic shifts, performance gaps, government regulations, and global economic conditions, which influence Amazon's approach to change. It highlights the shift from calm waters to white waters, emphasizing the importance of flexibility and adaptability in a dynamic business environment. The report also discusses how Amazon leverages change to enhance its performance and maintain its leading position in the e-commerce industry, emphasizing the company's ability to respond to market demands and maintain customer satisfaction. The study also incorporates an overview of the company's history and its evolution.

Leading and Managing Change
GROUP REPORT

INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1MainBody..........................................................................................................11.Explanationof'whitewatermetaphor'intheorganisationanditsevaluationonthebasisofplannedandunplannedapproachtochange............................12.Evaluationthatshowstheshiftfromcalmwaterstowhitewaterstookplace,consideringbusinessstrategiesandexternalfactorsthathaveimpactintobusiness..............................................................................................................43.Theoriesrelatedwiththemanagingandleadingchangeandtheirimplicationsinthehumanresourcedepartmentgivingproperadviseaboutstrategicapproachesavailableinhandlinhgthisshift.......................................6CONCLUSION......................................................................................................8REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION
Leading and managing change works as a systematic approach which is used by organisation to
deal with the modification in transformation and transition. The major purpose to implement
change management in the organisation is to formulate effective strategies to implement and
control in the organisation. Majority of the corporations implements the understanding and
leading change to help the employees for adopting changes in the organisation. This assignment
is written from the perspective of Amazon which is one of the leading E-commerce companies. It
is a Seattle based company which is considered to be one of the Big Four Tech Companies. To
implement this effectively in the organisation management focuses on employee's or people to
make effective changes at workplace. The study for this assignment shows the importance of
strategic and operational importance in organisation. Along with this it also highlights the critical
evaluation of management theory, strategies and tactical operations. In the last, organisational
development approaches will also be cover in this report.
There are more than 6,47,500 employees engaged in Amazon who are working to achieve
organisational goals and objectives (Forbes Media LLC, 2019). It was founded by Jeff Bezos in
the year 1995 when he startedthis business as an E-commerce platform where they sold books. In
Jeff’s vision Amazon would have become the biggest and the best online bookstore.
Further, in upcoming years Amazon start to expand their business by selling large range number
of products to customer's and enhancing their business size into different industry like cloud
computing, artificial intelligence etc. and Today Amazon is beyond Bezos’s first vision, is leader
on e-commerce and with lots of upcoming changes Amazon promise a lot.
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Main Body
1. Explanation of ‘white water metaphor’ in the organisation and its evaluation on the basis of
planned and unplanned approach.
According to Hayes (2014 n/a) ‘Change involves a number of events, decisions and actions that
are connected in some sort of sequence but differ in terms of degree’ and in the existing market
conditions it is mandatory for all organisation to manage effective changes in the functions and
operations. The activities related to modification leads the organisation to stay for longer period
in the competitive industry. Therefore, to implement effective changes into anorganisation ‘white
water metaphor’ and calm water metaphor are two methods that guide’s the management of
Amazon to achieve huge success in the industry (Al-Haddad and Kotnour, 2015).
Moreover, in the present scenario organisation gives priorities to the white metaphor because it
helps them to adopt regular changes that take place in the society. In the change management
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white metaphor introduces changes on a small level because they are unpredictable and complex
to manage.
Along with this it is for the management of Amazon to deal with various problems such as lack of
stability and predictability which are required by managers and organisation to survive in the
market for longer period. In the present scenario, it is mandatory for the Amazon to implement
essential changes in the organisation which are related with change management in organisation.
Therefore the changes which are to made should be effectively communicated to the target
audience. Along with that the time and the period need to be considered while implementing the
change. It results that employees are motivated through making changes which leads organisation
to achieve their goals effectively. This determines with the implementation of white metaphor it
is easy for Amazon to adopt changes on regular basis. This activity results it is easy for the
management to increase their market share by delegating the work and its possibilities to perform
the work within an accurate manner. As most of the customers attracts and demands those
products that are unique and imitable. Amazon is leading their business at the top position in
online industry. So, changes help the organisation to perform their work within appropriate
manner such as by adopting the innovative technology it is easy for organisation to enhance their
business performance. This changes help’s management to perform their operations and functions
in short intervals.
There are three types of change that can be identified into an organisation as in the figure below:
Figure: Three Types of Change
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Source: Robins and Coulter (2013)
The changes can be in the structure of the organisation, the technology which has been adopted
by the organisation or it can be in the mindset, exception, perception of the people.
For example looking deep into Amazon, from beginning’s to the company that’s stands today
leading the e-commerce business worldwide speaking, there were modification into structure as
they started selling books and nowadays are an‘everything online store’, in their 24 years
journey they had to adapt to everything and with everything, technology, culture to keep the step
with customers demands and comply to their satisfaction, because is an environment generally
unstable and unpredictable as the world evolves so fast the demands are changing day by day.
According to Lewin, successful change can be planned and requires three steps like in the
figurbelow:
Figure: The Three-Step Change Process
Source: Robbins and Coulter (2013)
In this change the calm water metaphor identifies and works as process for the change that is
related with this tree different stages:
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 Unfreezing stage- In this stage the organisation prepares their employees to adapt the
change by unfreezing i.e., making them understand the requirement of moving from
comfort zone to transformed situation. The people are made aware of the importance of
such change and motivated to accept the new ways of doing things.
 Changing stage- In this stage actual implementation is done by accepting the new ways of
doing things. This can be with the help of effective planning, encouraging the employees
to accept the change with the help of effective communication.
 Refreezing stage- At this stage the people become comfortable with the change. This is
the ultimate stage of the introducing the change in which the people work with new ways,
accept it as part of their job and carry on. In this the process of change is refreezed.
This change process works as traditional approach for Amazon in which unfreezing stage helps
the management to deal with existing changes in their operations such as removing the process
(Alavi and Gill, 2017). The second stage for this process relates with alteration in the current
process. Amazon is operating their business at global level. So, it is mandatory for management
to respond on environmental actions rather than react. Amazon make changes when they are
mandatory to enhance their work performance. It governs management helps individuals to adopt
a new process, so it is for them to become familiar with the current issue in order to learn the new
methods and process for their operations. The last stage stands for refreezing stage this
determines the new changes which are implement by organisation are permanent and works as
the regular process for the functions of a business.
In the present scenario most of the organisation are performing their work at global level.
Therefore, to deal the changes management need to focus on all aspect. So, it is mandatory for
organisation to make plans in order to approach the changes withinan effective manner. But the
external market conditions of the organisation are unpredictable. Moreover, by making and
adopting effective changes it is easy for management to boost their performance with effective
manner. Like Amazon adopts all its changes with the help Lewin model for change. This waya
better performance is achieved by management through improving productivity of employees. It
governs that it is difficult for the company to perform the work with constant basis.
Hence, it is mandatory for organisation to make changes by implementing the approaches with
more efficiency.
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In the accelerated changing business environment, it is mandatory for large organisation such as
Amazon to learn about those factors which helps them to adopt changes in a flexible way.
Planned and unplanned approaches are two methods which helps organisation to make an
effective change(Bloxham, Ehrich and Iyer, 2015). Such as planned approach helps organisation
to make changes through formulating various needs which leads the management to enhance
business performance for the internal department of organisation, it determines to implement
modification inside the firm, while planned approach is most appropriate methods which helps
organisation to enhance business performance. Whereas, to deal with the external factors like
technology rapid evolution, competition with other online stores and non-online companies,
imitation of business model and products that can diminuate the market share and company
name , cybercrime – is dangerous as put’s in danger company integrityand it’s costumers . It is
difficult for organisation to predict all of them so unplanned changes is one of the best
approaches which leads the business houses to implement changes in appropriate manner.
Addressing the external factors, Amazon needs to continuously diversify the business and in this
way will reinforce against trades risks and as well needs to expand market share and strengthen
his global operations alongside competition and shared planned challenges.
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Plannedinternalchange-Tomakechangeswiththeplannedactionscanworkasastrategicmovefortheorganisation.Itrefersthattherearevariousfunctionsneedtobeimprovedasitleadsmanagementtoperformbydevelopingnewframeworkinorganisation.InthecontextofAmazon,theyareperformingtheiroperationsatlargelevelsothemanagementmakechangesintheorganisationalstructureanditssize.Theseactivitiesleadmanagementtoenhancetheirbusinessperformancebymakingchangesintheservicesandproductsoforganisationbyimplementingafairamountrelatedwithpreplanning,effectivecoordinationandresourcedistributiontomeetwiththeneedsofchangesintheorganisation(Braveman,2016).Administrativesystemisimplementedbytheorganisationbyenhancingadministrationaccuracyandefficiency.ThisresultsthemostcompetitiveadvantageisachievedbyAmazonsuchastoimprovetheimageoftheorganisationinthemarket.Ontheotherside,italsohelpsorganisationtomanagethebusinessactivitiesfromtoptodownapproach.Previousidentifiedthatworkistomanageincentralizedandformalworkbecauseithelpstoachievethegreatersuccessbyimplementingchangesinorganisationtocompletetheworkinaneffectiveway.Externalchangeworksasasystemthatleadsmanagementtoperformtheworkbymotivatingthepeopletocompletetheirworkwithapositivefactor.Technologicalinnovationisoneofthebestexamplesthathelpsorganisationtobecomealargepartbydesigningandmanufacturingtheprocesstoincreasetheoperationsandfunctionsoforganisation.Thisgovernsthatmanagementisabletobringinnovationintheirworkduetowhichitistodelegatetheworkasaautomatedprocess.Advancementincommunicationandinformationprocessing-Inthepresentscenario,therearevarioustaskneedtobemanagedbyworkthroughwhichitiseasyformanagementtotransferallessentialinformationwithitssubordinates.Fibreopticswires,networkingandwirelessconnectivityaresomeofthemajorfactorthatleadsorganisationtocompletetheirworkinminimumtimeperiod(DawsonandAndriopoulos,2014).Itgovernsthatalloftheabovementionfactorsleadstheorganisationtoperformtheirworkwithhighefficiencyandeffectiveness.Themainaimtodealwiththesechangesistoperformbyprovidingeasiestandconvenientsolutiontobusinessanditspeople.Therefore,itresultsinimprovingtheefficiencyoforganisationatabroaderleveltoenhancetheproductivityoforganisationaloperationsandfunctions.

After the analysis of various aspects, it is analysed that white metaphor is one of the crucial
aspects which helps organisation to perform their work in accurate manner. Effective methods
which are used by management of Amazon are mention as follow:
 Change in demographic composition- The number of women in market functions and
operations is increasing with a rapid speed. It determines whether the organisation is
private or public women are contributing to perform the work which results in increasing
the efficiency for organisation (Fragouli and Ibidapo, 2015). It works as the unplanned
internal change which results in increasing the organisational performance and the
economic conditions of country.
https://www.geekwire.com/2014/amazon-releases-diversity-numbers/
 Performance gap- Performance gaps are associated with in an organisation either by
increasing the profits margins for a firm and the decrease in the number of sales of their
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products and services. The main reason to undertake this factor is to improve the strategy
for organisation because it works as an internal department of organisation.
 Government regulation- Various laws and regulations are imposed by the government
which affects the business of the organisations. This increases the control of the
government on the companies which then affects the decision making of the company.
Such regulations are high in case of e-commerce organisation with the aim to protect the
interest of the customers.
 Global economic conditions- The global economy directly or indirectly impacts the
business due to which performance and productivity of organisation get affected. Due to
globalisation the company faces stiff competition such as when Amazon enters in new
country then they have to compete with domestic companies. Along with this various
factors such as different political situation, finance availability etc. affects the change and
its implementation.
2. Evaluation that shows the shift from calm waters to white waters generates by considering
Business strategies and external factors
Successful changes are planned in the organisation through analysing various factor such as
external which are related with management and its policy (Gupta, 2011). This determines it is
important for organisation to deal with various changes by which organisation changes its policy
and regulations for performing their work with a positive approach. Change structure in the
organisation relates with different factors by which management is able to perform their work
through considering various task such as to enhance their business performance and to improve
the quality of their work possibilities and probability is high in context of white water. This refers
modification in management such as authority, relationship, coordination and many more are
designed by organisation to achieve organisational goals and objectives. It is possible if
management is able to perform their work by considering all variables of organisation with a
positive factor (Jones and Harris, 2014). So, it works as one of the major benefits for Amazon
through which management is able to enhance their work probability by considering all positive
factors for a business firm. It results with this structural component it is easy for top authorities
for implementing improvement process in organisation.
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Traditional approach- Calm water process is the traditional approach which is used by
organisation to complete the process of change in organisation. This refers that there is
various task need to be performed by management for increasing awareness among the
employee's about the benefits of the changes in their work. This theory also impacted by
external factors such as government and market environment. Along with this it is
essential for formulating different factors through which organisation makes changes
through formulating changes in top down and bottom approach. The adaptability requires
to complete the work is related with extensive commitment it refers that management is
able to boost their performance by performing their activities on daily basis (Lawrence,
2015). As the constant efforts or improvements helps the organisation to make changes in
their performance by defining their performance and its results with a positive manner.
Along, with this adaptability requires by organisation need to make commitment which
works as a positive factor such as by providing training and development to the co-
workers of organisation.
Cost saving- Whenever the changes are implemented in the Amazon, there is risk among
the factors by which productivity and costing of the organisation is impacted. Along with
this theory relates with organisation and its factors are achieved by management to
overcome from the competitive parity and competitive advantage. It determines that the
major risk relates with the factors of cost, money and profits of organisation. Therefore, it
is important for the management to deal with effective factors that leads the management
to boost their sales by reducing the efficiency of organisation (Painter and Clark, 2015).
So it is essential for management to implement white-water process so better results will
be achieved by the organisation through performing and managing the work on daily
basis. The changes is implemented which results to identifies there are various goals that
leads them to save the cost by considering various evaluation to make efforts and its
results with the efficient and monitoring their business factors to make their task as a part
for the business. This determines better results will be achieved by management through
improving work capabilities by implementing the process of white-water as it helps to
evaluate various factors which are related with evaluating organizational structure.
Corporate relationship changes not only improve the performance of Amazon but it also
helps the organisation also improves the business ideas through completing and
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