Evaluating Jeff Bezos' Leadership at Amazon Using Leadership Theories

This essay provides a critical evaluation of Jeff Bezos' leadership style, the founder and CEO of Amazon, through the lens of various leadership theories. It explores Trait and Behaviour Theories, discussing how Bezos implements traits like drive and integrity while also considering behavioral aspects. Situational and Contingency Theories are examined to assess Bezos' adaptability in different contexts. The analysis extends to Transformational and Transactional Leadership, highlighting Bezos' emphasis on empowerment and vision. Distributed Leadership is considered, focusing on shared accountability and responsibility within Amazon. Finally, Ethical Leadership and Critical Leadership perspectives are discussed, evaluating Bezos' ethical conduct and decision-making. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective leadership styles in enhancing customer base and employee retention, suggesting that Bezos should implement leadership approaches that foster long-term organizational success.

Critical evaluation the leadership of Jeff
Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Theories of Leadership....................................................................................................................3
Trait and Behaviour Theor..........................................................................................................3
Situational and Contingency Theory...........................................................................................4
Transformational and Transactional Leadership.........................................................................5
Distributed Leadership................................................................................................................6
Ethical Leadership and Critical Leadership Perspective.............................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is an activity of influencing and providing guidance to someone in order to
provide them right direction so that they can achieve their vision. The great leaders have few
leadership skills that helps in making business successful such as self development, tea,
development, ethical practice, strategic thinking and innovation (Alkhatib and Arnout, 2019).
Leaders plays an important role in improving the performance and efficiency of employees due
to which they give productive outcomes while working in Company. The project is based on case
study of Jeff Bezos in which critical evaluation of different leadership theories is determined.
Theories of Leadership
Trait and Behaviour Theor
Trait Theory of Leadership is to identify different personality characteristics and traits
of leaders which can make them successful in variety of situation. According to this theory every
leaders have personality and characteristics that makes them different and support their ability to
mobilise other people towards shared goals. The successful leaders have unique abilities, skills
and personality traits which are different form other people. There are six traits that differentiate
leaders from non leaders thy are drive, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self confidence,
intelligence and Job relevant knowledge (Petrova, 2016). Jeff Bezos implements trait theory due
to which the leader of Amazon gives high efforts in achieving the task and goals. By
understanding the concept of trait theory, Jeff Bezos can select, develop and provide training to
their leaders. One of the benefit for implementing this theory is that it is a naturally pleasing
theory which gives detailed understanding and knowledge of the leader element in Leadership
process. Through this theory Jeff Bezos can also identify the strength and weakness of potential
leaders. But trait theory also have some disadvantages which must be assessed while
implementing this theory as it is a complex process and also there is a disagreement on which
traits is important for an effective leader.
Behaviour theory is another theory of leadership in which the behaviour of leaders are
being focused and it is also known as style theory. By implementing this theory Jeff Bezos can
focus on the actions of leaders and also know how they act while working in Organisation. The
theory has many advantages, leaders of Amazon can learn new things and also they can decide
what actions they must implement in order to become the great leader. Through implementing

his theory, Bezos can encourage their employees that they are capable to become great leader.
There are different types of behavioural leadership theories such as people oriented leaders,
dictatorial leaders, task oriented leaders, sound leaders, participative leaders and many other
(Mills and McKimm, 2016). The advantage which can be gained by implementing behaviour
theory leadership in Amazon business is that it helps in promoting the value of leadership styles
by focusing on employees and collaboration. It helps in promoting team development and
participative decision making by supporting staff needs and aligning it with group objectives.
There are also disadvantage of behaviour theory as it is a learned process which takes time and
money and it is not always successful.
Situational and Contingency Theory
Situational leadership is also a leadership theory which determine that there is no
leadership style which is suitable and best. This theory depicts that the most effective leaders are
someone that who has an ability to change their style according to the different situation and
nature of task. The Situational leadership theory is not depend on skills of leaders as it is based
on the abilities of leaders to adjust the requirement of Organisation and team inn order to become
better leader. Jeff Bezos must implement this theory in order to gain more profit and increase the
productivity of business (Mayfield, Mayfield and Walker, 2020). Bezos must use one of the
leadership behavioural style according to the situation they are telling, selling, participating and
delegating. In telling, leaders have to focus on team by keeping close supervision and guidance
so that they can make effective decision and communicate it in effective manner. Selling
leadership style is used when employees are unmotivated to achieve of perform any task.
Participating is also a leadership style which can be sued by Bezos when team members are
competent in achieving the particular task but don't have any willingness to complete it.
Delegating is another leadership style which can be used by Jeff Bezos in order to provide its
leaders little guidance so that they can perform in effective and efficient manner. If Jeff Bezos
implements situational leadership style they have to evaluate team and adjust their way of
leading so that they can collectively meet the particular needs of Organisation and team. There is
an advantage of situational leadership, it is a comfortable leadership theory for leaders who know
how to use and implement in effective manner. But it also have cons as it cause confusion within
Company because situational leaders change their approach in order to address employees needs.

Contingency Theory of leadership depicts that the effectiveness of leaders are
contingent they cannot be an effective leader in one circumstances and ineffective leaders at
other situation. There are various factors that can affect the effectiveness of leaders in Amazon it
could be size of team, expected delivery date and scope of project. There are various leaders in
Amazon which perform their duties but they respond to these factors in different way (Anderson,
Ford and Hamilton, 2017). By implementing Contingency theory Bezos can lead their team well
and also the managers and supervisor can adapt leadership style according to the different
situation and circumstances. The benefit of using this leadership style is that it has no particular
leadership style which is perfect so they can define the leadership according to their way and set
their on rules and regulation. The theory also have some disadvantages as it doesn't have any
standard definition of effective leadership so leaders have no examples to learn from.
Transformational and Transactional Leadership
Transformational leadership is a style that brings positive changes in leaders and
Organisation. The transformational leaders are the person who are energetic, passionate and
enthusiastic towards their work. They focus on helping employees and also provide guidance to
their followers so that they can follow right career path. Bezos must use transformational
leadership style as it put emphasis on empowerment, vision and support to inspire employees
towards change and action (Stough, 2019). Transformational leadership theory determines the
few characteristics of influential leader they are intellectual stimulation, individualised
consideration, inspirational motivation and idealised influence. Jeff Bezos is a transformational
leader as he jumps from finance world and brought fresh perspective to e-commerce in different
industry. There are various advantages of Transformational leadership as it helps in keeping
company honest, open and ethical. The transformational leaders of Amazon can focus on
authenticity, values and transparency. Sometimes it can be risky to implement this leadership
theory in Amazon as leaders have to put more emphasis on using their charisma in order to
become the role mode of their employees. So, transformational leaders have power to take their
employees to new heights but they might face problem and can head into opposite direction.
Transactional leadership is another theory of leadership which focuses on role of
Organisation, group performance and supervision. Jeff Bezos implement this style must focus on
specific task and also give rewards and punishment in order to motivate their employees. By
implementing transactional leadership theory, Bezos has to focus on results, measure success and

conforms the existing structure of Company according to the system of penalties and rewards.
The leaders focus for maintaining routine by managing employee’s performance and facilitating
group performance. One of the benefit of transactional leadership which can be gained by Jeff
Bezos is that it can provide unambiguous structure for systems requiring repetitive task and also
the reward and penalties are clearly defines to employees so that they can perform accordingly
(Fiddy, 2015). But it also has some cons which must be assessed such as it doesn't reward
personal initiate and the creativity is limited as the objectives and goals are clearly stated.
Distributed Leadership
Distributive leadership style is another leadership theory in which the leadership
accountability and responsibility are shared by the leaders who have calibre and relevant
expertise rather than giving to someone who are not capable. The theory focuses on developing
learning centred leaders in order to improve their quality and performance. Jeff Bezos must
implement distributive leadership style as it creates an impact on traditional hierarchical
leadership models (Alefari and Salonitis, 2018). There are five strategies for distributive
leadership they are rotate leadership responsibilities, hire well, don't micromanage, allow
opportunities and make success. In order to implement distributive theory, Bezos have to
generate more opportunities for the employees so that they can increase the productivity and
growth of Amazon. There are various benefits which can be gained by Jeff Bezos by
implementing this theory such as it gives more options to company in order to make effective
decision and also retain elements of traditional chain of command. The Other advantage of
distributive leadership is that it shares the bigger picture with everyone and also allow employees
to take ownership with their work. But there are some disadvantage which can be faced by Jeff
Bezos while implementing this theory as the leaders have to maintain accountability due to
which they might face difficulty. Distributive leadership style also slows down the decision
making process of Company due to which the leaders can feel powerless and can't make
effective decision on accurate time. For implementing distributive leadership, the leaders must
have specified experience so that they can help their team in effective way.
Ethical Leadership and Critical Leadership Perspective
Ethical leadership is also a theories of leadership in which leaders demonstrate and
promote their conduct through interpersonal relations and personal actions. The ethical
leadership is related to few concepts such as honesty, charisma, fairness, trust and consideration.

It helps in promoting employee engagement, enhance brand reputation and increase productivity
of business. The leadership is based on ethical behaviour so that the leaders can do right thing.
Jeff Bezos is also an ethical leader as he promotes and demonstrates the behaviour that respects
the right of employees within value based boundaries (Hansman, 2016). Few characteristics
which is in Jeff Bezos as an ethical leader is that he has respect for others, transparency, focuses
on team building, encourage initiate, takes value driven decision and don't tolerate for ethical
violations. BY implementing ethical leadership style, Bezos creates healthier workplace and also
develop a culture of accountability. The disadvantage of ethical leadership style is that it requires
comprehensive support to be effective and also depends on Bezos ability to influence other
people.
Critical leadership is also a theory of leadership that focuses on how leaders can make
their own decision and make their employees influence to follow the instructions. The leadership
style is strict in nature and also applied on situation which is critical in nature and must be
fulfilled on immediate basis (Van Wingerden Goto and Burstein, 2017). Jeff Bezos must
implement Critical leadership theory as it helps in improving customer experience and increases
the profitability of business. The leader must encourage their employees to achieve the target on
particular time period and also communicate with them on regular basis.
Jeff Bezos must implement transformational leadership style as it helps in providing
guidance to employees so that they can follow right career path and also put emphasis on
achieving vision and objectives of Business (Ospina and et. al., 2020).
CONCLUSION
It is being concluded from the above information that Jeff Bezos must implement the
effective leadership style that can helps in improving the customer base and influence employees
to stay in Organisation for long run. There are various theories of leadership which can help
Bezos to encourage their team and accomplish the task in effective manner. Jeff Bezos must
identify the leader who have an ability to encourage and motivate their employees so that they
can contribute their bet efforts in achieving the business goals and increase the growth of
Amazon.

REFERENCES
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