UMOD63-15-1 Essay: Leadership and Organizational Culture at Amazon

This essay analyzes Jeff Bezos' leadership style at Amazon, exploring its impact on the company's organizational culture and employee behavior. It delves into the application of various leadership theories, including behavioral, participative, and transformational leadership, to understand Bezos' approach. The essay examines the positive aspects, such as customer centricity and a culture of innovation, as well as the potential downsides, like the creation of a demanding work environment. The analysis draws on the provided case study, highlighting how Amazon's culture influences employee actions and decision-making processes. The essay concludes by summarizing the key findings, emphasizing the unique aspects of Bezos' leadership and its contribution to Amazon's success, while also acknowledging the potential challenges associated with his management style.

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 1
Leadership and Organizational Culture
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Professor’s Name
Course Name
City and State
Date

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 2
Introduction
The leadership of Jeff Bezos in Amazon.com has been seen as an effective way to lead
and manage a business by many. The position of the organization as the best online retailer in the
world, has made people admire the management and the leadership of the company. Also, over
the years the company has picked, and the current market evaluation shows that the company is
the second best in the world. Therefore, Jeff Bezos's leadership can be termed as
transformational leadership despite the few destructions that it causes to the employees (Meyer,
2017, n.p). Some employees find it a hostile working place while others view it as a place where
they can develop and grow their career. The fact that things are done differently from what the
people are used to do, does not necessarily make the leadership toxic but can be perceived as a
different style that builds up a unique culture of the business. Various theories have been adopted
by the organization to form the current leadership that is embedded in the organizational culture.
The first theory that Jeff Bezos use in his leadership is the behavioral theory. Under the
method, it assumes that leaders are not born, but they made. Additionally, it is clear from this
style of leadership that people can learn from the others and also develop specific behavior that
lead to success and operation of the firm (Landis et al, 2014, p. 97). Jeff Bezos recruitment
interview tells the candidates to forget all they have learned from the other firms for preparation
to learn new things. Also, a person is given a timeframe where they are assessed how much they
have learned and how they can help in achieving the firm's goal. The new employees are
supposed to be guided by the leadership principles of the company but not what they learnt in
their previous organization. It is an indication that Jeff Bezos believes in the behavioral theory
where he can mould the leaders in the organization to what he wants them to be without
necessary following what other may refer as a norm.

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 3
Participative leadership is traceable in the Amazon company where all the leaders are
engaged in discussions and challenge others ideas. Though the theory emphasizes much on
having a collaborative opinion or being less competitive during decision making, every leader at
Amazon is expected to challenge the colleagues (Northouse, 2018, p. 34). Also during the
decision making process, Jeff Bezos, the CEO, participates in the decision to challenge other
leaders and show them that they need to work extra hard. Participative leadership is witnessed in
the case where the manager leads their followers in the table of decision making and offer their
best opinion for the promotion of their employees. That shows that there is participation in
different units as they try to make their manager succeed in providing evidence on the decision
that helps them to get promoted.
Jeff Bezos also can be seen as a transformative leader through the use of the path-goal
theory. The theory suggests that a good leader set the path that the rest must follow and removes
the roadblocks or any hindrances in the way (Cote, 2017, p.28). Amazon is excellent since they
have a clear path which is their leadership principles. As mentioned in the case, the barriers to
accomplish the goal is thinking or applying the principles that one has learnt previously. So to fit
and work in Amazon, one needs to be guided by the principle provided in the organization. Also,
the theory also suggests that there are rewards along the path of success which is the case with
Amazon (Choi et al, 2014, p. 214). The newly recruited employees and rewarded and for their
mastery of the new principles. Besides, once a manager provides sufficient evidence in support
of a decision, the employees are rewarded through promotion.
Some of the transformational leadership theory that proves that the leadership style is of
importance and aim to achieve success is the Bass transformational theory. The method says that
people are motivated by the awareness of tasks that they are performing. All the employees are

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 4
tasked to concentrate on the customers and make sure that they solve the problem of accessibility
to their stores. Therefore, they need to be ahead of competitors. This leads them to be on course
every time they are on duty. Minimizing the complaints from the customers also motivates them
to improve on their tasks and give the best that they can (Naranjo-Valencia et al., 2016, p.23).
Additionally, the CEO makes sure that the email is open to the public to pass complains, so
employees and other managers make sure that they are competent and up to their tasks to avoid
explaining their failure.
Despite a lot of criticism from some people on the hostile working conditions in Amazon,
there is always the best that come out of the leadership that makes them the best online retailers
(Meyer, 2017, n.p) .In support of the administration in Amazon as transformative, Jeff
incorporation of different theories portrays him as all rounded person and a person who can
quickly adopt change. Theory suggests the character of a leader since Jeff can incorporate
several approaches proves that he has a wide range of characteristics that work best for the
organization (Latham, 2014, p.13). Additionally, a single theory may not work in all times due to
the diverse needs in the competitive world, that keep pushing the employee to do more and to
have more than one idea in the solution of problems to keep them a step ahead in the industry.
From the analysis of the case and the Amazon.com, it clearly does not have overachievers
as they believe that there is always a room to do more. In summary, the culture does not create
room for over achievers and try to challenge other employees from other organization into new
and unstructured way of working. For instance, what other companies take as norm or way of
doing things is not tolerated in the organization. The organizational culture of Amazon.com
influence employees' behavior where they are ready and willing to challenge the idea before they
come into conclusion. This makes it better to give ideas or to give undoubtedly the reason why

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 5
an approach should be accepted and implemented. Additionally, the culture does not employ a
single theory of leadership. Several theories like transformational, behavioral and participative
theory have been employed to ensure that the executive and the employees give their best. Also,
the culture helps to solve problems with brighter ideas that go beyond traditional limits and
conventions (Hussain, 2016, p.144). The culture together with the leadership style helps in
realizing the new opportunity and exploring the available information to fill the gap in their
operations. The idea of peculiarity is also common where people are expected to think outside
the traditional conventions and take the risk to come up with more updated ideas that cannot only
solve the problem but which can be sustainable.
Amazon.com tries to create a different environment to enable thinking and exploring
different ideas that seem unfamiliar to other organizations. The leadership of Jeff Bezos is
unique and has helped the organization perform excellently and stand to be the best online
retailer. On the other side, the destructive part of the leadership can be scary to the new
employees or those people who have never been in such a command. Additionally, when people
are stressed and less free, they may be reluctant and exhausted to make better decisions
(Northouse, 2017, p.34). Amazon Company is ever in search of new competent employees, and
the level of turnover can work to their disadvantage since people will be cautious why the rest
are leaving. Engagement in discussion during the decision-making process, it becomes time-
consuming before they come into conclusion. Also, due to the harsh comments during the
meeting, the people with the best idea may shy away from giving their contribution. In such a
case, the best decision may be left out, and the adoption of other designs may not have a lasting
problem-solving ability (Christian, 2017, p.33). In spite of the cons and the weakness posed by
Jeff's leadership, there is a positive side of customer centricity that makes the customer trust their

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 6
services. Also the employees’ nature and the way of working is in the organizational culture that
directs people on what need to be done. The leadership can be viewed as the one that gives the
uniqueness in their culture that contribute to the best of the company.

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 7
Reference List
Meyer P. 2017. Amazon.com Inc.’s Organizational Culture Characteristics (An Analysis).
Landis, E.A., Hill, D. and Harvey, M.R., 2014. A synthesis of leadership theories and
styles. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), p.97.
Latham, J. R. 2014. Leadership for quality and innovation: Challenges, theories, and a
framework for future research. Quality Management Journal, 21(1), 11-15. Northouse, P.G.,
2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Cote, R. (2017). A Comparison of Leadership Theories in an Organizational
Environment. International Journal of Business Administration, 8(5), 28.
Naranjo-Valencia, J.C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D. and Sanz-Valle, R., 2016. Studying the links
between organizational culture, innovation, and performance in Spanish
companies. RevistaLatinoamericana de Psicología, 48(1), pp.30-41.
Northouse, P.G., 2017. Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage Publications.
Hussain, A.N., 2016. Advertising and Promotion and Its Impact on the Increase in Sales of
Private Companies (A Field Study in the Amazon Company). International Journal of
Research, 3(8), pp.147-152.
Choi, S., Jang, I., Park, S. and Lee, H., 2014. Effects of organizational culture, self-leadership
and empowerment on job satisfaction and turnover intention in general hospital nurses. Journal
of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration, 20(2), pp.206-214.
Christian, J., Merian-Strasse, P. and Felfe, J., 2017. Dual Commitment in the Organization:
Effects of the Interplay of Team and Organizational Commitment on Employee Citizenship
Behavior, Efficacy Beliefs, and Turnover Intentions.