Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Management in Amazon Inc.

This essay discusses the importance and effectiveness of leadership in addressing contemporary issues, focusing on Amazon as a case study. It examines organizational definitions, Mintzberg's theory, and the significance of organization management for resource utilization, cost regulation, and competitive advantage. The essay evaluates competing models like modernization theory and rational systems, analyzing power dynamics using French and Raven's forms of power. It also explores organizational learning practices through Senge's five disciplines, highlighting benefits like enhanced expertise, team effectiveness, and employee motivation. Finally, the application of organizational theories like Taylorism and administrative theory in Amazon is discussed, emphasizing the role of technology and departmental coordination in achieving organizational goals. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

Introduction
The aim of this assignment is to discuss about the importance and effectiveness of the
leadership in dealing with different contemporary issues. In the current business scenario, there
are number of strategic issues being faced by the business leaders and these issues are having the
requirement for effective management (Gerasimov & Gerasimov, 2015). In this assignment,
different models and theories will be used to understand the organizational elements and
recommended the alternatives for the leaders. This assignment will be done from the perspective
of Amazon and thus it will help Amazon to have an effective leadership approach in the long
term.
Definitions of Organization
Organization occurs when people work collectively to achieve any wanted end state
either object. It can occur through purposely planned action, spontaneous improvising, or some
combination of the two, although it continually depends upon coordinated attempt (Hatch, 2013).
Amazon is one of the top most online retailers in the world with having their presence in
majority of the countries and offering wide ranges of products services. However, due to their
global presence, they are also facing the diverse issues of managing the organizational affairs. In
accordance to their global operations, Amazon is also facing the issues of managing the huge
number of internal and external stakeholders. According to Mintzberg’s theory of organizational
structure, it can be concluded that the internal structure of Amazon can be aligned with different
terms. For example, Amazon can be termed as the machine organization with having high level
of bureaucracy. This is due to the reason that hierarchy is being maintained in the organization. It
should be noted that they are having subsidiary in different countries, which are controlled in
centralized manner. On the other hand, internal management of Amazon can also be termed as
divisional organization due to the reason that in the recent years, Amazon has diversified their
business in different sectors such as online streaming services (Langley et al., 2013). This is
causing having different line managers based on different divisions. Lastly, they can be termed
as innovative organization due to the reason that innovation is the key to the organizational
success for Amazon. It is the innovation which caused Amazon to change the entire retail
scenario by means of online services.

Importance of organization management
In the current business scenario, organization management is important due to the reason
that it will help in dealing with different issues effectively along with integrating the different
organizational elements in more functional way. One of the major importances is optimum
utilization of the resources. Organizations will be termed as economical only when the utilization
and return from the available resources is at the maximum level (Rice, 2013). Thus, with the help
of the effective process of organization management, Amazon will be able to utilize their
available resources properly by selecting the best alternative. Moreover, with the help of the
effective organization management, all the resources such as employees, finance and
infrastructural can be integrated properly. Thus, in the case of Amazon, they will be able to
better coordinate their elements and enhance the gross productivity.
Organization management is also important for Amazon due to the reason that it will help
in regulating the cost of operation for them. This is due to the reason that with the help of the
organization management, they will able to put the right elements in right place and ensure the
maximum return from the investments (Noe et al., 2017). Moreover, it should be noted that
Amazon is operating in a highly competitive business scenario and thus cost leadership is key to
their success. By reducing the cost of operation due to effective organization management,
Amazon will be able to gain competitive advantages in the market. Thus, it can be concluded that
initiation of the organization management is important for Amazon in terms of their competitive
advantages.
Competing models and theories
According to modernization theory, it is important for the contemporary business
organizations to align their market expansion strategy to that of the technological advancements.
This is due to the reason that in the current business scenario, technology plays an important role
for the business organizations to gain competitive advantages (Zupic & Cater, 2015). On the
other hand, it should also be noted that the current business organizations should have the
objectives of market expansion due to the reason that in the current era of globalization, it is
important for Amazon to expand their business across the world. Hence, it can be concluded that

with the help of the modernization theory, Amazon will be able to align their technological
advancements to their diverse business presence across the world.
On the other hand, another major competing theory of organization is rational system.
This refers to the division of the organizational affairs in goal specification and formalization.
Specification of goals refers to the guidelines for completing the particular tasks in the given
time and resources (Baumgartner & Rauter, 2017). On the other hand, formalization of the
resources refers to the standardization of the organizational behavior. Thus, it can be concluded
that according to the rational organizational system, it is important for the contemporary business
organizations to design their organizational elements including resources and behavior to achieve
the goals. In the case of Amazon, it is important for them to coordinate and integrate their
organizational elements to achieve the given goals.
Evaluation of the organizational power
There are different types of power that can be practiced in the business management.
According to French and Raven’s forms of power, there are can be mainly six types of power
that can be practiced. The major one is the coercive power, which refers to the use of force and
in order to gain compliance. This is being practiced majorly by the autocratic leaders in their
decision making process (Pierro et al., 2013). The next form of power is reward power, which
refers to the positive sources of power by means of offering of financial benefits and other
incentives. This is the most popular in the current time with majority of the organizations are
following these. Legitimate power is the most common power, which is being gained by means
of selection or election. This is due to the fact that the power of authority that comes with a
certain position is known as legitimate power. The next form of power is referent power, which
refers to the influence of an individual over others. The more will be the intensity of influence
over others, the more will be the degree of referent power. The last form of power is expert
power, which comes with the knowledge and expertise automatically (Cernas Ortiz & Davis,
2016). Thus, it can be concluded that each of these forms of power can be practiced in terms of
different processes. In the case of Amazon, reward power is being majorly practiced, which is
further helping them to create positive impression among the internal stakeholders. Thus, the
degree of referent power is also more in the organization.

Evaluation of the learning practice
In the current time, organizational learning is one of the major processes that should be
followed in gaining competitive advantages. According to Senge’s five disciplines of learning
organizations, one of the major aspects is creating a shared vision. This refers to fact that the
business organizations should have common and universal vision that will be agreed by all their
internal stakeholders (Noruzy et al., 2013). Moreover, it should be noted that each of these vision
should be properly communicated to and from the upper and lower level of stakeholders. Thus,
the learning process will get enhanced among the stakeholders. This model also states about the
systems thinking, which refers to the concentration on the holistic organizational issues over the
individual issues. According to this approach, it should be noted that all the actions in the
organizations are interrelated with each other along with their consequences. Team learning is
another popular mode of organizational learning process predominantly being practiced by
Amazon. This refers to the process of coordinating as team members rather than competitors and
achieves the organizational objectives in collective manner. However, prior to the
implementation of these learning processes, it is important to determine the internal situations of
the organizations (Alegre & Chiva, 2013). This is due to the reason that based on preference and
expectations of the internal stakeholders, learning process should be initiated. For instance,
Amazon is working on team work learning process due to the fact that they are having diverse
sets of employees. Thus, with the help of team learning process, different ideas from different
employees are getting generated and they are being used for collective achievement of the
organizational objectives.
Benefits of organizational learning process
One of the major benefits of organizational learning process is enhancing the individual
expertise and mastery of the employees. This is due to the reason that in the current business
scenario, skills and expertise of the employees are important for the business organizations in
gaining competitive advantages. However, not all the employees are having same sets of skill
and expertise (Real, Roldan & Leal, 2014). Thus, with the help of the leaning process, the
personal mastery of the employees will get enhanced by means of collaborating with others and
getting the knowledge from them. In this case, the added skills of an individual can be

transferred to others as well and this will finally increase the effectiveness of the entire
organization. Another major benefit of initiating organizational learning process is increasing the
team effectiveness. This refers to the fact that the current approach of the corporate teams in the
organizations comprises of different employees from different cultures and social backgrounds.
Thus, with the help of organizational learning process, these employees will have the access to
the knowledge of others and contribute in the effectiveness and productivity of the team. With
the help of the organizational learning process, the motivation and satisfaction level of the
employees will also get enhanced (Li et al., 2014). This is due to the reason that if the employees
can have the access to different knowledge and expertise of others, then they will be more
effective in dealing with the major challenges. In this case, it should be noted that employees will
be more motivated when they will have the access to larger knowledge. In the case of Amazon,
initiation of the organizational learning process will help to get the maximum return out of the
available human resources. Moreover, it will also help them to be more competitive in terms of
their human resources.
Application of the organizational theory
There are number of organizational theories can be relevant for the business
organizations. Amazon being a global multinational is also following different approaches of
organizational theories. One of these is Taylorism or scientific management theory. This refers to
the improvement of the skills and efficiency of the employees with the help of the technologies
and majority of the organizational affairs are automated (Swift & Hwang, 2013). Thus, it helps in
enhancing the gross organizational productivity along with reducing the chance of human error.
Amazon is following this organization theory due to the reason that they are technology based
firm and majority of their jobs are being done by the automated assembly line. On the other
hand, each of the employees of Amazon is trained and is comfortable with the use of latest
technologies. Use of extensive technologies in the internal process of Amazon is one of the
major reasons for their success in the global scenario.
Another organization theory being followed by Amazon is administrative theory. This
refers to the concept of initiating different departments and the entire jobs are divided in different
departments. However, the end objectives of all the departments are same and they are

complementing each other in gaining the desired results (Wei & Guo, 2014). In the case of
Amazon, departments are getting increased with diversification of their business. For instance,
online streaming business of Amazon is operating different to the retail business. Each of these
activities of Amazon is being headed by different managers along with having specific sets of
employees with required skills and expertise.
Evaluation of operation of equality of opportunity policy
Equality in operation is important for the business organizations to gain competitive
advantages and ethical approaches. This is due to the reason that the current business
environment is much depended on the diversity of the employees and majority of the
organizations are leveraging on the advantages of the diversity (Lozano, 2014). According to the
feminist theory of Cahn and Carbone, feminism is directly related to that of the economic
inequality. This is due to the reason that with the increased level of women representation in the
workplace, diversity will get increased. In addition, it is also being stated that with the increase
in the women representation in the top level of the organizations, the preferences for the women
in the lower level will also get increased (Chiva, Ghauri & Alegre, 2014). Thus, the gender
diversity for the organization will get increased. On the other hand, it should also be noted that
without the proper and equal representation of the women in the workplace, the authority and
wealth will not get expanded rather it will be limited.
In the case of Amazon, there are number of opportunities that can be gained from the
initiation of the equality approach in the management. One of the major opportunities will be the
equal representation of all the internal stakeholders in the decision making process. This is due to
the reason that the more will be the equal representation of the stakeholders in the decision
making process, the more will be their motivation and involvement towards the workplace
practices (Wu & Chen, 2014).
Evaluation of the concept of co-creation
There are number of benefits that can be gained by initiating the concept of co-creation
for the business. Co-creation refers to the process of involving the external stakeholders also in

the delivering process in order to have the better product knowledge. On the other hand, Co-
creation also refers to the involvement of the customers in the production process by adding their
feedbacks (Chaswick & Raver, 2015). According to the concept of Co-creation being stated by
Prahalad and Ramaswamy, it can help the business organizations in gaining their revenue as well
as penetrating well in the target market. This is due to the reason that with the help of the co-
creation, the feedback and preference pattern of the customers will be considered and the end
products will have more value proposition for them. Customization process can also be offered
to the end customers in order to have better co-creation (Antal, 2014). Amazon delivers the
concept of co-creation by means of offering huge varieties of products from where different
customers will select their requirements. Moreover, in the case of the online streaming business
of Amazon, customers are having the options for choosing huge array of shows based on
different criterions. This is helping Amazon to cater to different customer segments based on
different taste and preference patterns. On the other hand, it should also be noted that with the
help of the co-creation concept, satisfaction level of the customers can also be retained due to the
reason that the expectations of them will be met effectively with the help of co-creation.
Recommendations
There are number of factors being identified from the perspectives of Amazon in this
essay. It is recommended that the leadership in Amazon should enhance the effectiveness of their
organizational learning process. This is due to the reason that currently, the learning process in
Amazon is limited in specific facilities and within those particular employees. However, it is not
effective if compared to the global scenario due to the reason that Amazon is having their
facilities across the world and it is important for them to have the learning process beyond a
single facility. This will only help them to have the holistic advantages from the learning
process. In this case, it is also recommended that employees of Amazon from different locations
should also have the access to come together in sharing their views and knowledge. This will
also be beneficial in mitigating the cultural gaps between the different employees.
On the other hand, it is also recommended that Amazon should follow the neo classical
theory of management. This is due to the reason that currently, the impact of the human is not
given proper concentration and technologies are being more relied. However, in the sector where

Amazon is operating, human actions are giving greater impact that should be considered. Thus,
with the help of the neo classical theory of management, the organization will be considered as a
social system and human actions will be given more focus. The more will be the focus on the
human actions, the more will be the involvement level of the employees in the workplace.
Moreover, the service delivery process will also get enhanced with the effective consideration of
the human actions. With the effective and ideal coordination between the technology and human
actions, the end service delivery process for Amazon will be efficient in meeting the expectations
of the customers.
It is also recommended to the leaders of Amazon that apart from the reward power,
expert power should also be focused on. This is due to the reason that with the expert power of
the leaders, the effectiveness of the lower level employees will get increased. In addition, expert
power of the leaders will also help in sharing their added knowledge with others, which will in
turn enhance the referent power.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that there are number of elements in terms of management
being identified in this assignment from the perspective of Amazon. Different theories of
organizational management such as power, gender equality and management theories are being
used to evaluate the potential benefits of these elements. It is identified that for the multinationals
such as Amazon, it is important to have the effective approach of organization management.
There are number of benefits that will be gained by them and these benefits are identified in this
essay. However, on the other hand, it should also be noted that in number of areas, Amazon is
trailing behind and these areas should be improved. These identified areas are learning process,
management approach and power control. A few recommended steps and strategies are discussed
in this essay, which will further help in mitigating these issues.

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