Analysing Leadership and Management Styles in Amazon Organisation

This report provides an analysis of leadership and management styles within an organization, focusing on the effectiveness of the CEO's approach using theoretical models. It assesses the organization's structure and culture, examining the CEO's role in shaping them to achieve high performance. The report also explains the entrepreneurial strategy and corporate governance policies implemented by the CEO to enhance organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, it explores the effects of power, influence, and conflict resolution in managing change, along with various motivation strategies used and their influence on employee performance. The analysis considers factors such as salaries, wages, and company policies, highlighting the importance of leadership in achieving organizational goals and fostering a positive working environment.

ORGANISATIONAL
THEORY AND
PRACTICE

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Question (A).................................................................................................................................1
Analyse and comment on the effectiveness of the managerial / leadership style of the CEO
using suitable theoretical models.................................................................................................1
Question (B).................................................................................................................................2
Assess the current structure and culture of the organisation and comment on whether the CEO
has any role and impact in creating and enforcing them to achieve high performance...............2
Question (C).................................................................................................................................3
Explain the Entrepreneurial Strategy and Corporate Governance policies followed by the CEO
of that organisation to enhance the organisational effectiveness and performance.....................3
Question (D).................................................................................................................................4
Question (E).................................................................................................................................5
Question (F).................................................................................................................................7
Question (G).................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is an art of inspiring and motivating others to achieve a collective target with
adequate guidance. It plays an important role in the success of a company and help with it's
growth by forming a proper structure in the respective organisation. Leadership has a high
importance in increasing the productivity of the employees and influences their behaviour.
For this report Amazon has been taken into consideration, the management style of it's CEO will
be analysed with the impact on the organisation. Amazon is an American company that has a
global presence on a large scale and deals in e-commerce, artificial intelligence, cloud computing
and digital streaming(Abrham, O.A., 2019). It employees more than 1.5 million employees
which is a huge number and generates hundreds of billion dollars in revenue every year.
Question (A)
Analyse and comment on the effectiveness of the managerial / leadership style of the CEO using
suitable theoretical models.
Leadership can be explained as an influential relationship between the follower and the leader
that is used to direct and help organisation to achieve it's goals(Al Khajeh, E.H., 2018).
Leadership is a whole process and not just a step or an act, it creates a long lasting vision that
goes beyond goals.
There are various types of leadership styles used in organisations around the world and they are
as follows:
 Autocratic leadership style: This is the strictest leadership style, where the leader takes
all decision for the organisation(Wen, T.B. And et.al, 2019). It has proven to be effective
a lot of time when there is an urgency and the routine is tight.
 Bureaucratic leadership style: It has been proven to be very effective in healthcare and
safety environments. It is also one of the strictest leadership styles, where rules and
regulations are imposed and required to be followed.

 Charismatic leadership style: This style consists of a leader whose presence is
motivating and generates charisma in the working environment. In this style the positive
attitude of the leader helps the team to achieve it's goals and is mostly required on high
energy working fields.
 Democratic leadership style: In this style the leader's welcome participation of their
subordinates in the decision making process and is helpful in creative environments
where quick decision is not needed.
 Transactional leadership style: This is the type of style where rewards are given to the
deserving employees to motivate them and others to give their best, discouraging them
from unsatisfactory performances(Alblooshi, M., Shamsuzzaman, M. and Haridy, S.,
2020). This type of style is suitable to employees who value rewards and are motivated
by them.
 Transformational leadership style: This style is similar to charismatic leadership style,
where leaders use their motivational and inspirational approach to engage employees to
give their best. This style is more effective than charismatic leadership style and also
build more confidence in the work place as leaders are open to take risks when it comes
to trying something new.
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon uses one of these leadership styles and it is the transformational
one, as he keeps looking for new innovational ways to run amazon and is a leader who always
uses his creativity to deliver the best products and services through Amazon around the
world(Gandolfi, F. and Stone, S., 2018). Due to this leadership style the respective company has
been able to grow and expand at this level. This leadership style focuses on directing the
organisation towards the long term goals and strongly communicating with the customers and it's
employees.
Question (B)
Assess the current structure and culture of the organisation and comment on whether the CEO
has any role and impact in creating and enforcing them to achieve high performance.
Amazon currently has an hierarchical structure due to it's huge size and consists of 3
CEOs and 3 senior vice presidents. The company consists of function based groups with separate
geographic divisions, as the company has it's operations around the globe with top down control

which allows it to dominate the market and expand it's market share. At the top there is a senior
management team which reports directly to Jeff Bezos, the CEO of the company. A hierarchical
structure is suitable for a massive organisation like Amazon, in this type of structure the way of
communication is formal and it flows from top to bottom, each level has its own responsibilities
and control. The number of stages or levels in the management and organisation grow with it's
expansion with direct lines of authority and clear understanding of responsibilities and roles of
employees(Ramanadham, V.V. ed., 2019). Amazon follows the task culture which focuses on
getting the work done its responsibility is given to individuals and teams that are empowered to
make their contribution. The job titles are given less importance and more value is given to
abilities of solving problems with contribution each employee makes. Amazon generated sense
of belonging in the mind of employees with an idea of valuing contribution coming from any
employee irrespective of their designation and motivating them to do more. Team work is a very
big part of this culture, so it's important to get the right people together and then handing them
the right tasks. In this culture people with more experience lead and are given high importance in
the organisation with examples of influential people given in the organisation. Task culture helps
an organisation to keep up with the competition arising in the market, as it is capable enough to
adapt with the quick changes occurring in the external environment. Amazon has been capable of
establishing the effective culture in the organisation since day one with the help of the CEO Jeff
Bezos(Raziq and et.al., 2020). Jeff has helped the company to sustain it's sense of urgency
approach, with that the hunger to continuously attract the customers and providing them with
value has been the top objective. This helps the company to work on feedbacks at a very high
pace and even experiment with the top trends in marketplace. Bezos claimed to have invested
great amount of efforts in cultivating high standard atmosphere in the organisation by giving
examples of what quality is top notch.
Question (C)
Explain the Entrepreneurial Strategy and Corporate Governance policies followed by the CEO of
that organisation to enhance the organisational effectiveness and performance.
Amazon is known to use cost leadership entrepreneurial strategy, which focuses on
cutting cost to the extreme. Most of the time cost leadership is seen in connection to inferior
quality goods and services but that is not true. Brands like Amazon have offered high quality

goods and services at lower operating cost than it's rivals which has given huge boost to it's
expansion and growth(Choudhury, B. and Petrin, M., 2018). Cost leadership focuses on having
the lowest cost of operation in an industry, this is mostly done by producing or giving services on
a large scale or in bulk to attain this strategy. There is a difference in the original cost of a
product or a service and the price it is offered to the customer. Cost leadership should not be
confused with price leadership but cost leadership eventually helps to attain price leadership as
companies gain advantage in profit earning when they are able to produce and give services at a
cheaper cost(Routledge.Khan and et.al., 2019). Hence, providing products and services at a
lower price than competitors in the market. Cost leadership helped Amazon to capture market
share with this strategy, as globally majority of the customers are price sensitive which gave
Amazon an opportunity to expand worldwide.
Amazon governance policies include focusing on customer base relentlessly, making bold
decisions related to long-term investing, rather than short-term which is due to the fact that
innovation is getting more ahead with the coming time and it is important to focus on future,
focusing on cash during a situation where there is a choice between maximizing cash flows value
of present and appearance of GAAP optimization, focusing on hiring high calibre and versatile
employees while retaining other talented employees, weighing the compensation of employees to
significant stock ownership instead of cash, working hard to spend in a wise manner and
maintain the lean culture of the organisation, reinforcing the culture of cost-conciousness
understanding the importance of funds of the organisation.
Question (D)
Examine the effects of power, influence and conflict resolution at the chosen company by the
CEO in managing change.
Organisational change can be seen as revolutionary as it brings visionary setup to reality, many
view it as an upgrade to how an organisation functions or its operations are conducted. Change is
necessary as the market in today's tome is ever changing and new trends keep coming and going
which is why it's important for any organisation to be flexible enough to deal with the
marketplace(Hekkala, R., Stein, M.K. and Sarker, S., 2022). Power can be referred as the
capacity to influence other's beliefs, action and attitudes. It is a very useful to tool to affect the
working environment of an organisation, at Amazon there are two types of power that are used in

the suitable manner, position power and personal power. Position power refers to the power that
comes with a rank or title, at Amazon it is a formal power that gives the respected managers
ability to reward the employees to enhance their performances and grants the managers ability to
also punish employees for non compliance.
Personal power is based on an employee's skills and other attributes, it is a informal type of
power which is used at Amazon to motivate and inspire employees. Personal power is seen in
relation to the character, skills and the image of the respective employee which inspire other
employees to be so(Vos and et.al., 2021). Politics involves making a common decision for a
team or group of employees, which means to apply a uniform decision in the same manner to all
the members in a group. Politics is the practice of power and resources distribution among the
given community of an organisation or a company. At amazon politics is used to sell ideas
behind the scenes, increase productivity and increase power. With the help of politics targets are
achieved and protect a person's influence and his/her self interest and helps the managers and
leaders to understand what employees desire or fears. In an organisation conflicts can arise when
different employees have different opinions, interests and are not ready to compromise, these
conflicts should be sorted at soon as possible. Conflicts cause differences between employees
and disturb the working environment of an organisation, it is wise to find a solution to them to
avoid negativity in the working environment. Conflict management at Amazon helps to
strengthen the bond between the employees which eliminates unnecessary problems and finding
an alternative to them. Conflicts management at Amazon also helps in making employees feel
positive about the organisation as they feel there are people who care about their well-being in an
organisation.
Question (E)
Explain the various types of motivation strategies used at your chosen company and their
influence on employees’ performance.
Salaries and wages: -
Amazon uses various motivation factors to enhance it's employees performance, one of the most
important of it is employees salary and wages which is great at amazon(Murnieks and et.al.,
2020), according to surveys done majority of the employees were satisfied with the
compensation that the company offered.

Administrative and company policies: -
The administrative and company policies are clear enough and very fair, Amazon also offers it's
employees work from home facilities and flexible working hours.
Working conditions: -
As it one of the largest companies around the world the tangible working environment is clean,
hygienic and very safe to work.
Job security: -
With proper job security, which is one of the biggest concern in employees mind while joining a
job, Amazon provides it's employees with a sense of relief.
Recognition: -
Amazon recruits capable employees and trains them to achieve high level of work, when these
employees do great work, they are recognised for their work and given great importance.
Given part in decision making: -
Employees feel motivated to do more of this work as they are well respected in the organisation
and generate a sense of belonging when asked to give suggestions in the decision making
process, irrespective of their position or post in the company.
Promotional opportunities: -
If employees do great work they are given promotional opportunities on yearly basis, their good
work does not go unnoticed.
Responsibilities: -
The employees at Amazon are given great opportunities to increase their capabilities, as
employees are given different set of tasks and responsibilities to handle which overall improves
their qualities.
Meaningful work: -
Work at the company is meaningful and interesting which challenges the employees creativity
and encourages them to have more innovative approach.
Psychological needs: -
Amazon takes care of it's employees psychological needs which are seen in relation to the basic
needs which include food, shelter, sufficient rest, clothing and more.
Safety needs: -

The working environment at amazon is safe and provides it's employees from theft, violent with
other securities like financial securities, health securities and emotional well-being.
Love and belonging needs: -
These needs are very close to employees and mean to them, these needs include family bond,
friendships, romantic relationships which are taken care by the company.
Esteem needs: -
Amazon takes care of the working culture in the firm since day one and does huge efforts in
maintaining it, the employees at Amazon are a given respect and recognition for their work
which boosts their self-confidence and self-esteem which motivates employees and their morale.
Self-actualization needs: -
At Amazon the employees are challenged by new tasks and opportunities which fulfils their self-
actualization needs as these tasks offer opportunities to evolve, grow and improve on the basis of
capabilities.
Question (F)
Use appropriate corporate examples and literature to justify your research.
Adidas uses different leadership styles in different aspects of the organisation, it uses autocratic
leadership style for those employees that are unproductive, as CEO Herbert Hainer desires
employees in the organisation that are productive, so the unproductive ones are
dismissed(Kuipers, J.A.M., 2018.). Whereas Beurocratic style is adopted in Adidas, as it follows
the ideals of the CEO, so it is concerned about employees that are hard working. Adidas has
matrix design structure and groups the employees according to a product or function. The
working environment is very flexible and there can be be more than two bosses for the
employees as they work according to the projects.
Apple had autocratic leadership style under late Steve Jobs to manage business operations of
wide range, those days everything used to be controlled by him and through him, the leadership
style was very ambitious and charismatic(Zaripov and et.al., 2020). In the present Apple has
democratic leadership style which is due to the willingness of the present CEO Tim Cook, who
has a quite working style which gives the product development team greater autonomy which
decreases the participation in a direct manner of the CEO Tim Cook in new product

development(Vlăduțescu, Ș., 2019). Apple has a hierarchical organizational structure which has
different characteristics and notable divisions. Apple currently has a power culture with a little
bit of task culture at various places in the organisation which consists of collaboration in decision
making at various times.
Question (G)
Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations (strategies) would you
make to increase organisational performance?
To increase organisational performance Amazon should focus on some of these factors which
are as follows:
 Care about employees well-being: - Some employees reported that Amazon uses tactics
to get the best performances out of them at an expense of their well-being which should
be avoided in the organisation, human capital is the most important resource for any
organisation and their mental and physical well-being should be the top priority at
Amazon, even though Amazon is known to provide additional benefits to it's employees
being one of the biggest organisation in the world, this particular factor should be also
given attention.
 Strategy: - A more successful strategy is needed in Amazon which consists switching the
core values of the organisation to efficiency and effectiveness. The more the organisation
becomes known for effectiveness by its employees and the marketplace, the more these
values will be involved in every goal. This effectiveness should clarify and simplify the
objectives for the company and align the objectives across the department at strategic
level.
 Communication: - Every firm or organisation must have effective communication in
order to conduct its operations, irrespective of its size. Every thing happening in the
organisation happens through the exchange of messages in it, Amazon needs more
transparent mode of communication that helps to avoid unnecessary miss happenings that
cause delay in completion of tasks and excuses. Recently it was witnessed that many
employees were receiving less wages than they were guaranteed which was caused due to
the error in technological softwares. One of the employee had to wait one and a half year
to get this issue resolved which is due to the communication gaps in the system, all these
should be avoided, as amazon is one of the biggest global firm.

 Performances and metrics: - HR department in any organisation plays a huge role in
finding the best talents that could work in their firm and add value to the organisation.
However employees skills and capabilities are not everything, leaders are required all the
time to keep track of their subordinates performances to keep them on the right track.
Amazon needs performance measurement systems to review and track employee's
productivity at all times, so that leaders can easily access the data of each employee's
performance.
CONCLUSION
Amazon being the world's biggest e-commerce company has a transformational leadership style
which paves a way for innovation and offers room for creativity delivering the best products and
services. Amazon currently has an hierarchical structure due to it's huge size and consists of 3
CEOs and 3 senior vice presidents. A hierarchical structure is suitable for a massive organisation
like Amazon, in this type of structure the way of communication is formal and it flows from top
to bottom, each level has its own responsibilities and control. Amazon follows the task culture
which focuses on getting the work done, its responsibility is given to individuals and teams that
are empowered to make their contribution. It generates sense of belonging in the mind of
employees with an idea of valuing contribution coming from any employee irrespective of their
designation and motivating them to do more. To improve Amazon needs to care more about their
employees well being as human capital is the most important factor for any organisation and
need employee performance measurement systems to keep track of their work on regular basis.
A more successful strategy is needed in Amazon which consists switching the core values of the
organisation to efficiency and effectiveness.

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