Human Resource Management Plan for Amazon: Performance Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon's Human Resource Management (HRM) plan. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the importance of HRM in the global business landscape, particularly focusing on performance management. The report then offers an organizational overview, including Amazon's mission, vision, and goals, followed by a strategic organizational analysis using SWOT and PESTLE frameworks. The SWOT analysis reveals Amazon's strengths (brand value, product innovation), weaknesses (tax evasion, employee treatment), opportunities (expanding physical stores), and threats (competitors, government regulations). The PESTLE analysis examines the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors influencing Amazon's operations. The report then delves into Amazon's existing HRM functions, including recruitment, performance assessment, and reward techniques. A critical analysis of the current HRM plan, focusing on recruitment policies and work culture, is provided, followed by recommendations for improvement. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and suggests strategies for enhancing Amazon's HRM practices.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMNET PLAN
Human Resource Management plan:
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
Human resource management system is increasingly becoming an important aspect in
the global business industry. It is the continuous process of determining the work quality of
the employees in an organisation which is directly proportional to the quality of services and
amenities that are extended to the employees which would altogether help them in improving
their performance. Therefore this report will specifically highlight on the performance
management aspect of Amazon, through its HRM plan which will also critically analyse the
positive and negative aspect of its HRM policies to assess how it is overall affecting the
performance of the employees. This will help the company to identity the existing
competency, skill and knowledge gap and take accurate measures for the same and finally
will focus on implementing new HRM strategies

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.....................................................................................................................4
Organizational Overview...........................................................................................4
Performing a strategic organisation Analysis:...........................................................5
Findings from SWOT Analysis:.............................................................................5
Finding from PESTLE Analysis:...........................................................................7
Identification and analysis of the existing HRM function of Amazon:.........................9
The HRM policies include:........................................................................................9
Recruitment and Selection Practices:.....................................................................9
Performance assessment and Reward Techniques:..................................................10
Critical analysis of the existing HRM plan and its challenges:...................................11
1) Critical evaluation of the recruitment policy:.................................................11
2) Work culture and Employee treatment:..........................................................11
Drawing up the HRM plan:..........................................................................................12
Conclusion:..................................................................................................................13
Recommendation:........................................................................................................14
Appendix:.....................................................................................................................15
References:...................................................................................................................17

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Introduction:
The term “human resource” was first coined by John R.Commons, who was a
pioneering economist in his book, “The Distribution of Wealth”, published in the year 1893
(Kopczuk, 2015). Human resource generally defines the overall potentials, capabilities, skills
and abilities that the individuals of an organisation possess which are in turn continuously
sharpened, updated and tailor-made to suit the needs of the dynamic global business
environment. However researchers indicate that it was in 19th century, that the organisations
finally understood the necessity of building their human resource departments and address the
internal and external business factors in an appropriate and strategic manner (Noe,et al.
2015). It was gradually after 19th century that the business organisation understood the
importance of maintaining a sound human resource department which in turn required a
strategic planning by the organizational heads. Hence this report will specifically highlight on
how the human resource department of Amazon functions and with a strategic performance
analysis of the employee, the organisation and the HRM department as a whole through
strategic analysis tool which includes SWOT and PESTLE and will finally concentrate on
building a strategic human resource management plan for the organization based on the
necessary finding

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Discussion:
Organizational Overview (Mission, Vision and Goals and challenges):
Amazon basically belongs to the e-commerce service industry which originally started
as an online market place for selling books but expanded by leaps and bounds. Established in
1994, Jeff Bezos the founder of this corporate giant believed that his company is guided by
four basic principles which are: “Customer obsession rather than focusing on competitors,
passion for invention, a strong commitment towards operational excellence and long-tem
thinking” (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015). This could computing giant eventually become the
largest American e-commerce company and today apart from selling books, electronics,
apparels, furniture food, toy and jewelleries it also owns a digital video streaming platform
named Amazon Prime and the overall success is unbeatable (Kristensen, et al. 2017).
One single vision which Amazon basically incorporates throughout its performance is
to become the most consumer-friendly company of the globe. The very corporate culture is
built towards increasing the brand value and treasuring its long-term relationship with its
valuable customers. Since its inception, the founder president Jeff Bezos followed the basic
policy- “Customer is the King”. Today the company has dozens of offices over 30 countries
around the globe ("Our global offices", 2020). While each of these offices has their own
unique design and identity Amazon altogether intends to build uniformed and positive work
culture across all its offices which would altogether inspire collaboration and innovation.
Now for concentrating on its internal and external business operation it is best to use
the SWOT and PESTLE analysis tool and determine the micro and macro elements involved
in its business operation.

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Performing a strategic organisation Analysis:
Findings from SWOT Analysis:
As the very logo of the brand suggest Amazon does justify the notion of being the A
to Z solution for its customers holding a very strong brand evaluation and a brand value over
$125 Billion ("Amazon sales, Amazon revenue and Amazon annual profits", 2020).
Obviously this has not been a one day affair for the brand. Amazon has build its expertise
around its product innovation for instance its amazingly equipped launch pad with a Aura
Smart Sleep system, which can tracking and monitor the sleep patterns of an individual and
wake him up at the most appropriate time with light and soft music. Besides its product
innovation Amazon has managed its operational costs which maximises economies of scale
with no physical retail store maintenance cost, alongside showcasing the largest merchandise
selection which according to the company reports in 2018 Amazon had sold more than 562.3
million products in its Amazon.com Marketplace. This is not all the company is strongly
believes in the notion of go global and act local which in turn helps Amazon partner with
varied domestic e-commerce competitors. One of the most successful domestic campaign that
Amazon planned was the “Aur Dikhao” campaign to encourage its customers to search more
and more products online. Moreover the brand has secured its market place by flexibly
operating across 3 different businesses which includes its Amazon Marketplace Amazon Web
Services (AWS) and the very recently launched Amazon Prime, hence altogether it is bound
to generate massive profit. Another significant strength of this company is its superior
logistics and distribution operation. However the company also has a high imitable business
operational model which in turn makes it quite vulnerable to its competitors functioning in
the same digital world. Few businesses which are giving a tough competition to Amazon
includes Barnes& Noble, ebay, Netflix, Oyester, Hulu etc. Moreover product flops and
failures like the Fire Phone’s launch in the US, or the low repose of the Kindle Fire device

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does cause a great financial hindrance to the company. Again one of the greatest weakness or
even threat which came up was the fact that Amazon was evading tax in Japan, UK and US
which no doubt was a great corporate wound on the existing image of the company. It is also
recognised to have a rigorous and too rigid employee treatment terms which often turns the
workplace toxic for the employees and affect their performance. Another major blow on
Amazon’s reputation was when in 2010 it was found selling the book The Paedophile’s
Guide to Love & Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct”, leading to major controversies
where public decided to boycott the brand. Adding to the increasing number of government
regulation for instance Amazon is not allowed to ship its product in Cuba , Iran, North Korea,
Sudan which might be the reason of the increasing number of cybercrimes in this digital
space altogether no doubt adds a great threat to the operational strategy of the firm.
Considering the above identifies strengths weakness and threats there are no doubt
certain core market opportunity as well for Amazon to look into which firstly includes
expanding its physical stores to help strength its presence in the market against its
competitors, another major opportunity rather initiative which Amazon must look into is
improving its organisational policies to help the staffs perform better. Amazon can also focus
on backward integration which in turn would mean an increase in its in-house production like
Amazon basics which will not only ensure more amount of products for the consumers but
will definitely help in improving profit margins.
Amazon.com Inc does operate on a global platform hence it has to consider the
external or the macro environmental factors to strategies its market operation. Hence a
PESTLE Analysis of the organisation would definitely help in better assessing these
elements.

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Finding from PESTLE Analysis:
Amazon quite quickly as accelerated its position and become the leader in the e-commerce
industry. However behind these successful ventures there are host of other external factors
which have either being a positive support for the organization’s growth or a negative factor
coming as a challenge for which Amazon does equip itself to face it successfully. Hence the
factors include:
Core dependency on the political stability of the developed countries like U.S.A and
European countries where the firm operates. Amazon conducts its business overseas hence
abiding by all the necessary legal as well as political regulation is a must. Amazon no doubt
is strongly reliant over the government support for the very existence of its business operation
which in turn makes it a greater compulsion for the company to abide by the laws of taxation
and as well as take a greater concern about the cyber security bill. Even the economic
climate for Amazon seems to be quite in favour as retail luckily is one such sector which is
expanding enormously across the globe. However which equally suggests that varied other
brands belonging to the same sector is bound to increase the competition for Amazon, which
is exactly where Amazon needs to concentrate. Another major criticism that Amazon is
facing in terms of its economic operation is how the firm is significantly reducing job
opportunities and inclining towards technology which are the areas that the company must
look into. Analysing the socio cultural factors and its impact on the business of Amazon it
can regarded that the increased disparity between the income and wealth of developed and
developing countries is no doubt a hindrance in the business operation of Amazon. Yet the
increasing amount of disposable income with an increase in consumerism among the
population hints that there is no doubt favourable growth opportunities for the e-commerce
and IT services. Moreover Amazon’s customer dedicated services like quick and free delivery
for its Prime membership subscribers, amazing offer and festive discounts altogether makes it

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the first choice of the online customers. Considering the technological factor it is very much
necessary to understand that Amazon is a technological company hence these factors are no
doubt an integral element in effecting its performance. Amazon is one such company which
is always ready to experiment with its technology and innovation. Hence in 2017 it did take
up a new initiative which was the drone delivery system. Again Amazon uses its digital
technology to its utmost ability by sending mails to every customer, staying connected, offers
24-hours live cat support system and most importantly believes in making the most of every
situation. Now discussing about the legal environment Amazon does have strong opportunity
to increase its online selling due to the increased product regulation norms. In addition to
this the changing import and export regulations also creates favourable business opportunity
for the company. Most significantly Amazon has immense opportunity in terms of
strengthening its corporate image through responsible market operations and bête addressing
environment protection regulations. Such significant efforts can help the firm gain a
competitive edge over its other competitors and can ensure better regulatory compliance with
the existing operational laws. Now finally concentrating the environmental factors, through
Amazon is an online business brand yet its activities are bound to influence the natural
environment. Hence in such a scenario it must take equal concern in raising necessary
awareness regarding environmental safety and must comply with the sustainable ways of
conducting business. A significant improvement in the Amzon.com Inc’s corporate social
responsibility strategy will be a great step in enhancing its image as well as have a positive
environmental impact
This analysis finally highlights the major areas where Amazon.com Inc can concentrate and
significantly build its business in future. However the main aspect of this report is to
highlight of the human resource management operation of the firm and how the human

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resource management plan can be strengthened taking into consideration the available
opportunities and threats for this industry.
Identification and analysis of the existing HRM function of Amazon:
The human resource management system of Amazon takes 360 degree approach
which extends from screening of candidates to their recruitment and training, then takes into
account training of the existing staffs and their performance appraisal techniques of the
existing employees and overall ensures its market operation and relations with the target
customers.
The HRM policies include:
Recruitment and Selection Practices:
Amazon has no doubt set its standards quite high when it comes to recruitment and selection
practices. The hiring philosophy of the company does not allow its HR to have a casual
attitude towards the new recruitments made which in turn makes the interviews for the
candidates screening hours long. Amazon is best known for its dual policy of recruiting
which includes internal and external recruitment. External recruitment makes the company
screen the best talents out of the lot with the help of the human resource team where as
internal recruitment strategy of the firm ensures that the employees who have performed
extremely well take up more significant roles and responsibilities. Another very innovative
feature of the recruitment and selection practice of Amazon is its “bar-raiser” programme,
where the existing employees who have shown excellence in their performance take up the
role of candidate evaluators. Bar –raisers interview candidates for hours for ensuring better
screening, hence if a candidate is rejected by a bar-raiser even if he or she has applied for a
different position or department on comparison to the bar raiser they are straightaway
eliminated. Another significant element of this HR practices the CEO Jeff Bezos perspective

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of giving the candidates a anti-hiring pitch. This is basically his idea of telling all the
candidates that it is not really easy to work in his organisation. The primary reason to resort
to such an activity is to see which candidates are still willing to take up the challenge and also
ensures transparency in Amazon’s operation. The whole selection and training process can be
summarized in the founder’s belief and notion to “interview 50 people and not hire them,
rather than hiring wrong person” ("Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising
Workplace", 2020) .
Another significant aspect of the training and development process is
Amazon’s amazing career choice programs. These are short industry specific training where
the employees are encouraged to join in and 95% of their tuition fess is borne by the
company. This helps in boosting the career graphs of the employees making them updated for
the specific needs of the global job market ().
Performance assessment and Reward Techniques:
Amazon largely believes in assessing real-time feedback rather than going by the age
old practice of annual performance review. Hence the HR Leaders of the organisation has
come up with their “White Paper Process”. This is purely intended towards helping
employees identify their own strengthens and potential as well as develop an overall
disciplined thinking process. This policy expects every employee to write whatever new idea
they have concerning a project. The ideas need to be expressed systematically and
judiciously. There must be enough clarity in the presentation of views as once the document
is prepared the team members are expected to sit together, read and discuss on the idea
presented. Each member is open to share, add or suggest changes. According to Beth Galetti.
Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Human Resource, this very policy has shown
incredible results in the process of launching varied new products for Amazon (Noe, et al.

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2015). Another crucial aspect of this policy is it is not just meant for launching new products
but has a fair share in Amazon’s pay increase or the promotion process.
Critical analysis of the existing HRM plan and its challenges:
1) Critical evaluation of the recruitment policy:
No doubt on the fact that Amazon does apply a very strict policy when it comes to
recruitment screening of candidates before recruiting them. However the company is often
criticised on the terms and measures its takes when it comes to addressing gender and racial
balance as the company has greatly failed in giving opportunities to women and most
essentially does not look into the existing racial imbalance in its recruitment strategies as the
majority of the employees are whites and often the employees are seen complaining that other
races such as African, Asians and Arabs are not treatment equally in the organisation when
Amazon proclaims itself as an international corporation.
2) Work culture and Employee treatment:
Amazon as it identifies itself to be the most customer-centric brand often faces the
backlash of its employees for the very same reason. This customer-obsession and company’s
never-ending commitment to serve its customers sometimes goes over the top for the
employees who feel that they are not much valued by the company. Though there is no out
and loud proof of this growing dissatisfaction among employees but going by the survey
reports of PayScale in the year 2013, Amazon is noted to be the company with least
employee retention rate among many other companies who come under the Fortune 500 list
(Spicer, 2020). The tooth-and-claw competition and to remain on top often creates a toxic
work environment for the employees in the longer run. Moreover the policy of self reviewing
one’s own value is creating another major problem which often goes unnoticed by the
managerial heads, popularly known as the “rank and yank system