Leadership and Diversity: Strategies for Amazon's Workforce

This presentation examines leadership strategies for managing a diverse workforce, using Amazon as a case study. It begins by outlining the challenges of a diverse workforce, such as communication barriers and cultural differences. The presentation then details Amazon's diversity practices, including programs like AWE, Amazon Warriors, and others, designed to promote inclusion. It identifies the skills leaders need to succeed in a diverse environment, such as creating an inclusive environment, incorporating training, and overcoming bias. The presentation includes a personal leadership evaluation, assessing the presenter's strengths and weaknesses in managing diversity. Finally, it discusses how effective leadership in a diverse workplace can drive customer satisfaction, increase profits, and improve productivity. The presentation emphasizes the importance of communication, equality, and training to foster a positive and productive work environment. The assignment is available on Desklib, a platform providing AI-based study tools and resources for students.

DIVERSITY IN EMPLOYEE
CULTURE

CHALLENGES OF A DIVERSE
WORKFORCE
• Coping up with the cultural differences amongst the employees
of various backgrounds
• Aligning the mindset of the members with the goals of the
organization
• Huge gap in communication as language is a barrier in diverse
workforce (Garcia and Alexander)
• Implementation of the processes from the various creative
designs of diverse employees
• Secluding biasness and managing the training program with
success

COMPANY OVERVIEW- AMAZON
• The largest organization of electric commerce throughout the
world
• Based in America, it has its headquarters in Seattle, Washington
• The founder of the organization is Jeff Bezos and the year of
foundation is 1994
• Popular as the largest online retailer of America, it started its
online services in 1995 (Diversity And Inclusion)
• The company was originally an ‘online bookstore’ but now it sells
a variety of products like games, foods, jewelries, clothes and
many more

DIVERSITY PRACTICES AT
AMAZON
• AWE- Amazon Women in Engineering, a program for the female technical
experts to contribute in the organization
• Amazon Warriors- Recruits military talents who have served their
country’s military programs
• AmazonPWD- A diversity program to recruit the physically disabled
people who still have the talent to serve the organization
• ASIANS@AMAZON- A program to recruit people from diverse
background throughout the Asian countries
• Black Employee Network- To overcome racism and recruit more
employees with black skin color

LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR A DIVERSE
WORKFORCE
• Creating an all-inclusive environment by engaging all types of
employees in the workplace
• Incorporating training facilities to make the employees aware
about diversity and its positive outcomes
• Overcoming biasness and avoid conflicts between diverse
employees in an unbiased manner (Markova and Svetlana)
• Guiding the employees to adapt a common language for open
and transparent communication

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP
EVALUATION
The leadership skills that I possess to manage diversity at the
workplace are:
• Generating free communication amongst the employees to
exchange thoughtful ideas
• Engaging all the employees to shift from design to
implementation process
• Removing gender diversity by treating men and women
equally
• Influencing the employees to incorporate a positive attitude
towards diversity

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP
EVALUATION
The leadership skills that I lack in managing a diverse
workforce are:
• Overcoming the communication barrier due to the
difference in mother tongue
• Reducing the work pressure and maintaining work-life
balance due to inefficiency in assessing the capability of
the employees
• Resolving conflict situations at ease without generating
biasness and removing favoritism concept

MAXIMIZING STRENGTH & IMPROVING
WEAKNESS
• Improve communication within the employees by adapting one
single language for effective and transparent discussion
• Recruit equal number of men and women to promote equality in the
work sphere
• Conduct training programs to convince the employees against
racism, biasness and promote the positives of diverse workplace
• Deal the conflict situations from a neutral perspective to seclude
favoritism or biasness

LEADERSHIP SKILL TAKEAWAY FOR PROFIT
• A successful leadership in a diverse workplace can engage all the
employees in productive work with unique solutions.
• This helps to gain customer satisfaction leading to an increase in the
customer base.
• The organization thus can incorporate more profits from the existing
as well as the new customers.

LEADERSHIP SKILL TAKEAWAY FOR
EXPENSES
• An effective leader in a diverse workplace will focus on establishing
proper inter-communication amongst the employees.
• Hence, the leader needs to arrange for training programs that will
rise the expenses for the organization.
• However, the expenses on training is an investment that will
produce effective results by increase in productivity of the
organization (Kaushik, Christine and Diana).

LEADERSHIP SKILL TAKEAWAY FOR
PRODUCTIVITY
• In a diverse workplace a successful leader should be able to involve
the members in the organization and deal them without favoritism.
• A positive influence of the leader will help to increase the production
of the organization and motivate the employees in working together.
• An effective leader can influence the employees to exchange
innovative ideas and put them in process to enhance production.

REFERENCES
"DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION". US ABOUT AMAZON, 2020,
HTTPS://WWW.ABOUTAMAZON.COM/WORKING-AT-AMAZON/DIVERSITY-AND- INCLUSION.
GARCIA, NIDA H., AND ALEXANDER S. ACOSTA. "FROM LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTION TO
LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTION: PROVERSIFIED LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND ABILITIES OF
PHILIPPINE SCHOOLS OVERSEAS (PSO’S) ADMINISTRATORS." (2017).
KAUSHIK, VIBHA, CHRISTINE A. WALSH, AND DIANA HAEFELE. "SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF
IMMIGRANTS WITHIN THE LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE WORKPLACE: A SYSTEMATIC
REVIEW." REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 1.1 (2016): 15-25.
MARKOVA, MARIYA, AND SVETLANA TODOROVA. "A MODEL OF SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES FOR
MODERN LEADERS AND MANAGERS IN ENABLING MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP PROCESS IN
ORGANIZATIONS." INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, COMMERCE AND
MANAGEMENT 2.12 (2017): 64-94.