Ethics, Amazon, and Organizational Success: A Comprehensive Report

This report analyzes the ethical practices of Amazon, focusing on whether ethics should be the main priority of an organization. It begins with an introduction to academic and professional skills and the importance of ethical behavior in business. The main body includes a discussion on Amazon's ethical shortcomings, such as tax avoidance and poor employee treatment, and how these practices negatively impact its market image and workforce. The report argues that ethics should be a priority, highlighting benefits such as building customer confidence, creating a positive work environment, guiding ethical activities, and minimizing lawsuits. Recommendations are provided to promote ethics within the organization, including ethical leadership, clear communication of ethical expectations, rewards for ethical behavior, and ethical training sessions. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of ethics for systematic operations and overcoming business challenges. The report underscores that ethical practices are crucial for long-term organizational success.

Academic and
Professional Skills

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Discussion of whether ethics should be the main priority of an organisation.............................1
Recommendations to promote ethics within the organisation.....................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Academic and professional skills are the set of qualities that are required by all the
students to make sure that they are able to meet all their study related goals. It is very important
for all the students to acquire all the required skills so that they can work on all the projects that
are assigned to them while studying in university. It is essential for them to develop their abilities
as it can also help them to meet career objectives (Beavington, 2019). Present report is based
upon the analysis of case study so that it could be analysed that ethics should be main priority of
organisation. Case study which is selected for this report is related to Amazon and ethics. It is
one of the largest retailers around the world and it was founded by Jeff Bezos. This report covers
topics such as discussion of whether ethics should be the main priory of the entity or not. Apart
from this, recommendation to promote ethics within the enterprise.
MAIN BODY
Discussion of whether ethics should be the main priority of an organisation
Ethics are the moral principles that govern behaviour of an individuals while performing
an activity. It is very important for all the persons as well as the companies to follow ethical
practices so that a great working environment for the staff members could be created. With the
help of it, all the individuals can differentiate between the right and wrong things and decisions.
Amazon is one of the largest entities which are carrying out operational activities around the
world. CEO of it is Jeff Bezos is considered as one of the wealthiest men in the world. From the
case study it has been analysed that the organisation is not performing its operations in ethical
manner (Amazon case study, 2020). It is supporting tax avoidance and humiliating all its staff
members by increasing their working hours and providing a very low compensation for their
jobs. Due to all its unethical practices it market image is going down continuously. Apart from
this, the number of enemies of it are also increasing as it is not paying the right amount of tax for
the revenues that are generated by it in different countries. Tax avoidance is a not illegal but it is
considered unethical. Because of its unethical behaviour its business in various nation getting
affected and creating political criticism for it.
The working conditions in the country are dangerous because the number of ambulances
call out in last three years was 18 which is very high. The employees in the warehouses are
forced to work in long shifts so that the entity can reach to its targets. Due to this, they have to
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face injuries and health issues. The drivers who are working in Amazon also have to face similar
type of issues as they have to achieve reasonable delivery targets which are impossible to meet.
All these unethical practices of the organisation resulted in protests of workers against unfair
working conditions. It also affected business of Amazon as the staff members stopped to work
and the entity was not able to meet all its targets. The market image of the company was also
decreasing continuously because of its weak ethical practices (Dolata, 2017).
If Amazon would have focused upon ethical practices then it would have been very easy
for it to deal with all the negative situations that are leaving adverse impact upon its operational
activities. Ethics should be main priority of an entity because it can help to establish a positive
market image and carry out all the operational activities in systematic manner so that the long-
term goals could be accomplished. The importance of it for the organisation could be understood
with the help of following discussion:
 Build confidence of clients: It is one of the main reasons why ethics should be the main
priority of an organisation. Main objective of an entity will always be generating higher
profits and for this purpose customers are required to be satisfied which is possible by
boosting their confidence level. If Amazon will perform all the activities in ethical
manner then it will be very easy for it to deal with all the issues that are faced by it. It will
help it to establish a positive market image and inspire it to ignore the concept of tax
avoidance. It is required for it to pay appropriate tax to government of all the countries
where it has generated revenues as it can help it to perform future operations without any
governmental interruptions.
 Create positive working environment: For an organisation which is willing to enhance
employee engagement it is very important to create positive working environment. For
this purpose, it is very important to make sure that all the policies are formulate by
keeping ethics in mind. In Amazon if the managers will formulate the working hours
ethically then it can create a positive working environment for the staff members. It will
inspire them to work harder and remain engaged in their job. Apart from this, the
problem of protests which is faced by the organisation will also be resolved if the entity
will perform all it will make ethics the main priority of it (Galloway, 2017).
 Guide to perform all the activities in ethical manner: Ethics are the moral principles
which guide all the organisations to perform all the activities in ethical manner. It is very
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important for Amazon to make sure that it is focused with ethical practices as it can help
it to deal with all its problems such as bad market image, unsatisfied staff members etc. If
ethics will be first and main priority of it then it will result in smooth execution of all the
operations with higher productivity of employees. Apart from this, when all the
operational activities will be executed in ethical manner then it will also help to improve
the image in different countries which is bad because of tax avoidance (Hand, 2018).
 Minimise the potential low suits: Unethical practices some times may create the
possibility of law suits against the organisation which may leave adverse impacts upon
functionality of business. In order to deal with all such types of issues it is very important
for enterprises such as Amazon to make ethics the main priority. It can help to minimise
the possibility of law suits which may take place in future for the business (Wolf, 2020).
In order to make sure that all the operations are performed in ethical manner it is very
important for all the organisations to make sure that ethics are focused by them and the decisions
that are formed future are focused with ethics. As Amazon is facing various types of issues
because of its unethical practices so it is essential for it to make ethics its main priority. It can
help it to respond to all the issues in systematic manner by finding appropriate solution for it.
One of the main problems which is faced by Amazon is its higher focus upon tax avoidance due
to which most of the countries have become enemy of it. Another problem is related to the
working conditions for the workers. They have to work in long shifts and the compensation
which is providing to them also very low. Due to this unethical behaviour the ambulance call out
in warehouses is very high. The staff members are getting injured and facing health issues. If
amazon will pay attention towards ethical practices then it will be very easy for it to perform all
the operational activities in ethical manner and deal with all the issues properly. If the
management will not be able to pay attention towards ethics then it will be very difficult to meet
all the future goals and objectives. By following all the ethical principles amazon will be able to
establish a positive market image in the markets of different countries where its image is bad
because of tax avoidance. When ethics will be the main priority of the organisation then it will
help to formulate effective policies regarding working practices which will motivate the staff
members to perform all their jobs in systematic manner (Ibiricu and van der Made, 2020). By
following all the ethics, the managers will also be able to understand the issues that are faced by
workers because of long working shifts. It will guide them to formulate strategies which are
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highly focused with employee’s health and wellbeing. Apart from this, ethical practices will also
help the entity to reduce the possibility protests because when ethics will be focused then staff
will not be forced to work for long shifts. Additionally, with proper focus of ethics in decisions
making the policies that will be formed for compensation of employees will also be appropriate.
All the workers will get right wage according to their workings. The above discussion shows that
it is very important for all the organisations to make ethics their main priority as it can provide
solution for all the critical issues of the business. It can also help to respond all the problems that
are taking place because of the unethical practices.
Recommendations to promote ethics within the organisation
It is very important for all the entities to promote ethics within the organisation. Main
reasons of it is that it helps to deal with all the issues that are leaving negative impacts upon
functionality of business. As Amazon is facing various issues so it is essential for it to make sure
that it promotes ethics at workplace. Some of the recommendations that could be focused by it
are as follows:
 The managers who are working in Amazon should follow ethics by themselves and them
become a role model for all the other staff members. It will help them to get inspired and
perform all the operations in ethical manner. All the workers look at the senior manager
to understand the acceptable behaviour within the organisation. So, if the managers will
follow ethics then they will be able to promote ethics at workplace (Michalak, Rysavy
and Dawes, 2019).
 The top-level executives of Amazon are recommended to communicate ethical
expectations with all the workers. It will motivate the staff members to work ethically as
the senior authority is communicating with them regarding the ethics. It will be the best
way which could be focused by Amazon to promote ethics within the enterprise.
 Offering rewards to the staff members who are perfuming all their jobs in ethical manner
will also be an effective way to promote ethics at workplace. If the senior managers of
Amazon will provide rewards to the workers for their ethical behaviour then it will
inspire other employees to follow ethics.
 Ethical training sessions could also be conducted by Amazon it will help to aware all the
staff members about the ethical practices and inspire them to follow ethical practices so
that they can perform all the jobs with ethics (Nadeem and Al-Imamy, 2020).
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All the above described recommendations could be focused by Amazon to deal with all
the problems that are faced by it because of its unethical practices. Apart from this, it will also
help to establish a positive market image of the organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that ethics and ethical practices are
very important for all the organisations to carry out all the operations in systematic manner.
While planning to perform all the activities in ethical way it is essential for all the companies to
be aware of the reason for which ethics should be made main priority. These reasons could be
ignorance of potential law suits, creating positive working environment for staff, building
confidence of customers and carrying out operations ethically. While trying to deal with all the
negative situations which are taking place because of unethical practices some specific
recommendations could be focused by entities. These are playing a role model, conducting
ethical training sessions and rewards.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Beavington, L., 2019. Ecopoetics of the Amazon. Poetic Inquiry as Social Justice and Political
Response, p.47.
Dolata, U., 2017. Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration-
competition-innovation strategies (No. 2017-01). SOI Discussion Paper.
Galloway, S., 2017. The four: the hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
Random House.
Hand, D. J., 2018. Aspects of data ethics in a changing world: Where are we now?. Big data.
6(3). pp.176-190.
Ibiricu, B. and van der Made, M.L., 2020. Ethics by design: a code of ethics for the digital
age. Records Management Journal.
Michalak, R., Rysavy, M. D. and Dawes, T. A., 2019. Amazon. com vs. EBSCO’s GOBI Library
Solutions: Evaluating New and Used Book Vendors While Building a Diverse
Collection. Technical Services Quarterly. 36(1). pp.18-43.
Nadeem, W. and Al-Imamy, S., 2020. Do ethics drive value co-creation on digital sharing
economy platforms?. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 55. p.102095.
Wolf, C. T., 2020. AI Ethics and Customer Care: Some Considerations from the Case of
“Intelligent Sales”. In Proceedings of 18th European Conference on Computer-
Supported Cooperative Work. European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies
(EUSSET).
Online
Amazon case study. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/amazoncom-inc>
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