Amazon's Human Resource Management: Policies and Practices

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1SHRM ASSESSMENT OF AMAZON
SHRM Assessment 1: Individual Report
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2SHRM ASSESSMENT OF AMAZON
Executive Summary
The employee base and management of organisation are interlinked by the means of strategic
HRM. SHRM improved the performance of the organisation through effective utilisation of the
human resource of the organisation. The employees are guided and directed through
implementation of several HR practices like HCHRM, best fit and Ulrich model. The HR
decisions are prone to be effected by some of the external organisational factors such as labour
market and unionisation of workforce. Therefore, it is vital to control these factors and perform
all the HR functions in order to enable the perpetual succession of the organisation.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
1. Analysis of HR policies and practices within organisation selected...........................................4
2. Analysis of some external forces that may affect these HR strategic decisions within the
organisation......................................................................................................................................5
3. How the HR function is organised and how HR policies and practices are delivered................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Amazon is one of the principal e-commerce companies of the world and serving its customers
from 1994. It was found by Jeff Bezos, who currently is the richest person of the world. The
company was initially known as Cadabra.inc and mainly was indulged in bookselling. At
present, the company operates in various other sectors such as artificial intelligence, cloud
computing, film making etc. HRM has become an essential part of the strategic functioning of an
organisation. The workforce of Amazon comprises of 647,500 employees and operates on global
level. The following report will be discussing various aspects of the strategic HRM of Amazon
(Amazon.com, 2019). While elaborating the idea of strategic human resource management of
Amazon, various approaches and methodologies encompassed will also be discussed in the
report this will provide a better overview of the strategic management of Amazon.
1. Analysis of HR policies and practices within organisation selected
The stakeholders of Amazon are key people the company, and comprises of directors, managers,
employees of the company and its customers. According to Abolade (2012), HRM at Amazon
focuses on the welfare and comfort of its employees and offers the option of work from home.
However, the downside of HRM in Amazon is that many of the employees face bullying and
people responsible for bullying are not taken seriously by the management. Except the
complaints of bullying from some of the employees, there are no other negative factors involved
in strategic HRM in Amazon.
As opined by Thompson (2011), the employee base of Amazon consists of highly skilled
workforce and they are the major components responsible for the success and growth of the
company on national as well as on global level. The employee base of Amazon is controlled and
guided through practises such as high commitment human resource management practices, best-
fit approach, etc. According to Lamba and Choudhary (2013), high commitment HRM i.e.
HCHRM is also known as the best practices and it provides various kinds of facilities to the
employees at Amazon. In Amazon, employees are ensured of their job security that means there
is guarantee and safety of job of the employees, which helps them in performing without any
worry of their job. Another benefit of HCHRM is provision of work life balance through which,

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enough stability and time is provided to the employees for managing both their personal as well
as their professional life. Then, Latorre et al. (2016) has stated that equality at workplace is also
one of the feature of HCHRM by which, the employees are protected from any kind of
exploitation at workplace based on their cast, religion, gender or any other discrimination
criteria. Through exercising high commitment human resource management at Amazon, the
employees are provided chances to work in teams, which develop their decision-making and
teamwork skill and facilitate overall development of their personality. Employees who perform
in extraordinary manner and highly contribute in organisational operations are rewarded for their
commitment and dedication towards their job and organisation. According to Jamali et al.
(2015), this feature also boosts their motivation towards their job performance and in turn
enhances the work culture at Amazon.
Lo et al. (2015) noted that the recruitment process of Amazon is also conducted based on
principle of HCHRM. Procedures like selective recruitment or sophisticated selection is
practiced for recruiting the best employees for performing specific jobs at Amazon. Then, the
selected candidates are provided extensive learning through their enrolment in extensive
development and training programs. According to Noe et al. (2017), this is one of the significant
reasons for the high skilled and developed workforce of Amazon. Employees are involved in
various organisational activities and are provided opportunities for growth and development
through appraisal and opportunities for career development at Amazon. Along with HCHRM,
several other HRM practices like hard and soft HRM are also practiced at Amazon. In this way,
employees at Amazon are handled and guided through aligning with the strategic HR policies.
2. Analysis of some external forces that may affect these HR strategic decisions within the
organisation
According to Chiang et al. (2011), there are various external factors present in the business
surrounding of Amazon, which can affect the strategic decision regarding HR. these factors can
be legal factors, political factors as well as social and economic factors can have some effects on
HR decisions in Amazon. Labour markets in which Amazon is and the pattern of employment
followed at Amazon are also some of the factors, which affect the HR decision at Amazon.
According to Thompson (2011), around 75% of the organisations in UK face difficulties in their

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recruitment procedure. However, the recruitment and selection process at Amazon is carried out
based on HCHRM. According to Lamba and Choudhary (2013), this helps in effective HR
decision formation regarding selection process and helps in recruitment of highly skill employees
for Amazon.
The labour market in which Amazon operates has faced increased participation of female
workers. Many of the workers in the labour market of UK are observed to be working on
temporary basis. This creates heavy number of job vacancies in the organisation. In order to deal
with these kinds of labour conditions, Amazon offers bonus to their workers, who opt to quit jobs
in Amazon. Latorre et al. (2016) has stated that this approach helps in making the employees
stay at Amazon. However, Amazon also provides temporary jobs in various conditions such
internships. Apart from internship, Amazon also provides part-time jobs to many individuals. In
this way, there are varieties of occupational options offered at Amazon. In labour market of unite
kingdom, the rate of self-employment has reached to double amount. According to Wright and
McMahan (2011), due to this factor, the availability of skilled labour has become little bit scarce
in the labour market of UK. Therefore, Amazon outsources from many entities and agencies for
recruiting employees.
According to Jamali et al. (2015), Amazon recruits employees from many countries and from
various cultures. Due to this, the workforce of Amazon is diverse and cross-cultural. Due to this
factors, the decision making process becomes much easier, as the ideas of employees belonging
to different cultures provides more options to the HR personnel of Amazon. Lo et al. (2015) has
noted that in the recent time, many of the employees at Amazon demanded the formation of
union for them. On the other side, Amazon has always been against the formation of any kind of
union and thus has suppressed the formation of unions for its workforce. There are cases, when
employees have been fired from job for making efforts for formation of union. Many of the
workers at Amazon have complaint that they are made to work like machines. Due to this reason,
they have demanded unionisation at workplace. This is because at non-unionised workplace, all
the decision-making powers are left in the hands of the employer. However, the decisions are
still to be made regarding the unionisation of the workforce of Amazon. According to Mamman
and Al Kulaiby (2014), this conflict going on between the management and workers of Amazon
has created many problems amidst the decision-making process of HR. Along with demand of

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unionisation by the workers, all the other factors discussed above have also influenced the HR
decision making process at Amazon.
3. How the HR function is organised and how HR policies and practices are delivered.
According to Noe et al. (2017), the HR functions and roles have been very crucial for the
development and proper functioning of the organisation. In order to ensure that the roles and
functions of HR are associated with the HR policies and organisational policies, it is required to
properly organise the functions of HR in the organisation.
Ulrich’s model of HRM
The HR functions at Amazon are organised based on Ulrich’s model. This model was proposed
by D. Ulrich, who is said to be the guru and father of today’s human resource management
pattern. According to Wright and McMahan (2011), through organising the HR functions with
this model, the delivery of main objectives and accomplishment of the goals of Amazon are
ensured effectively.
As per the principles of this theory, there are four essential elements of HR at workplace of
Amazon. According to Tiwari and Saxena (2012), the first role if of HR business partner as per
which, the HR of Amazon advices and acts as a partner of business along with other managers
for making development in the business functioning. Then, the second role of HR managers as
per Ulrich’s model is of change agent. The HR at Amazon is responsible for bringing changes in
the business and organisation. Werner and DeSimone (2011) has noted that at the time of
expansion of business or while adopting the external; environmental changes, the HR at Amazon
are trained and are guided for accomplishing the objectives regarding the changes to be made in
the business and organisation structure. The third and fourth element are of administration expert
and employee advocate. According to Abolade (2012), as an administration expert in HR of
Amazon, the administration is controlled and aligned with various HR policies, employee
legislations, reward management policies and other such essential guidelines for the
organisation. On the other hand, as the employees advocate, the interest and requirements of the
employees are also taken care by HR manager of at Amazon. However, as stated by Keegan et
al. (2012), the last function of HR is not effectively fulfilled at Amazon.

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Role of line managers in delivery of HRM
The line managers at Amazon are also one of the key people responsible for the proper HRM in
the organisation. According to Shipton et al. (2016), these line managers are responsible for
making the HR manager aware of the detail of their respective line or department. These detail
help the HR manager is carrying out various operations such as recruitment and selection. If
there is vacancy in any of the department of Amazon, then the line manager informs the HR
manager and he initiates recruitment procedure for recruiting suitable candidates for the
vacancies. Line managers along with HR manager facilitated effective provision to the
employees at Amazon. Besides, line managers ensure that all the HR policies are obeyed in their
departments. However, according to Gill and Meyer (2011), it becomes challenging for line
managers to contribute in HRM of Amazon as it increase their workload, disturbs their work-life
equilibrium and also creates conflict sometimes. Other challenges faced by line managers in
HRM are that they lack qualities like delegation of power, effective interpersonal skills and are
unable to handle job pressure.
Recommendations
Strategic human resource management is a key to success of the organisation as it directs all the
workforce and human resource of the organisation towards the goals and objectives of the
organisation. HRM in Amazon is required to be more employee and workers oriented. It is
recommended that the workforce at Amazon should be provided the right of having a union as it
will provide them the feeling liberty and they will be able to work more effectively. It is also
recommended that the HR manager along with the line managers of Amazon should carry out
job analysis and identify the requirement of training for the employees of the organisation.
Another recommendation for HRM in Amazon is that the issue of bullying at workplace should
be eliminated and the HR practices should be more aligned to concepts and theories like
HCHRM and Ulrich HR model. This will enhance the HRM at Amazon and will helps the
company in attaining its goals more prosperously.

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Conclusion
HRM is an essential and integral part of the proper business functioning of Amazon. However,
strategic HRM at Amazon should be more employees oriented. The workforce of Amazon can be
enhanced through application of theories like HCHRM. This will ensure the assurance of the
employees towards the growth and development of the organisation. After considering all the
factors stated above, it can be concluded that the HRM at Amazon is effective but it is more of
organisation oriented HRM. Therefore, HR managers along with other management personnel
are required to upgrade their HRM through working on this factor and following the
recommendations provided.

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References
Abolade, D.A., 2012. Impact of Unionisation and Non-Unionisation of Workers on
Organisational Efficiency in Work Organisations in Southwestern Nigeria. Economic Insights-
Trends & Challenges, 64(3).
Amazon.com. (2019). Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers,
Books, DVDs & more. [online] Available at: https://www.amazon.com/ [Accessed 15 May
2019].
Chiang, H.H., Han, T.S. and Chuang, J.S., 2011. The relationship between high-commitment
HRM and knowledge-sharing behavior and its mediators. International Journal of
Manpower, 32(5/6), pp.604-622.
Gill, C. and Meyer, D., 2011. The role and impact of HRM policy. International Journal of
Organizational Analysis, 19(1), pp.5-28.
Jamali, D.R., El Dirani, A.M. and Harwood, I.A., 2015. Exploring human resource management
roles in corporate social responsibility: the CSR‐HRM co‐creation model. Business Ethics: A
European Review, 24(2), pp.125-143.
Keegan, A., Huemann, M. and Turner, J.R., 2012. Beyond the line: exploring the HRM
responsibilities of line managers, project managers and the HRM department in four project-
oriented companies in the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and the USA. The International Journal
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Lamba, S. and Choudhary, N., 2013. Impact of HRM practices on organizational commitment of
employees. International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, 2(4), pp.407-423.
Latorre, F., Guest, D., Ramos, J. and Gracia, F.J., 2016. High commitment HR practices, the
employment relationship and job performance: A test of a mediation model. European
Management Journal, 34(4), pp.328-337.
Lo, K., Macky, K. and Pio, E., 2015. The HR competency requirements for strategic and
functional HR practitioners. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(18),
pp.2308-2328.

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Mamman, A. and Al Kulaiby, K.Z., 2014. Is Ulrich's model useful in understanding HR
practitioners' roles in non-western developing countries? An exploratory investigation across
private and public sector organizations in the Sultanate Kingdom of Oman. The International
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Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource management:
Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Shipton, H., Sanders, K., Atkinson, C. and Frenkel, S., 2016. Sense‐giving in health care: the
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Thompson, P., 2011. The trouble with HRM. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(4),
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Tiwari, P. and Saxena, K., 2012. Human resource management practices: A comprehensive
review. Pakistan business review, 9(2), pp.669-705.
Werner, J.M. and DeSimone, R.L., 2011. Human resource development. Cengage Learning.
Wright, P.M. and McMahan, G.C., 2011. Exploring human capital: putting ‘human’back into
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104.