Strategic Human Resource Management Report - Amazon Case Study

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon's strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices. It begins by outlining current trends influencing HR strategy, such as cultural diversity and dynamic skill development, and explores both internal and external factors, including production targets, competitive pressures, and customer preferences. The report then delves into relevant HRM theories, including Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and Likert's participative decision-making theory, assessing their impact on employee motivation and retention within Amazon. Furthermore, it examines change management models, particularly Lewin's change model, in response to HR strategies. The analysis also covers the monitoring of HR outcomes and the role of effective HR management in achieving sustainable performance and organizational objectives. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations for Amazon's SHRM practices, emphasizing the importance of employee development, motivation, and adaptation to a dynamic business environment. The report is a contribution by a student and is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools.

Strategic Human Resource Management

Table of Content
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................5
LO1...........................................................................................................5
P1 The key current trends and developments influencing organization HR strategy...............................5
P2 External and internal factors influencing HR strategy and practice....................................................6
LO2...........................................................................................................8
P3 Theories and concepts related to strategic Human Resource management.........................................8
LO3...........................................................................................................9
P4 Change management models in response to HR strategies.................................................................9
LO4.........................................................................................................11
P5 Monitoring of HR outcomes.............................................................................................................11
P6 Effective HR management for sustainable performance and completion of organizational objectives
...............................................................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................14
REFERENCES.....................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Strategic Human resource management is one of the most important areas of
development and focus where management lays high vitality to bring strong performance
standards in reaching the set company production goals and outputs. Amazon is one of the
biggest innovative companies in world offering large pool of variety products and services to all
customers and clients around the globe. This report explains the key internal and external factors
which impacts HR strategies and practices in organizational context. It also evaluates theatrical
and practical knowledge in HR development at Amazon, the innovative change models
management aims to bring in structure operations. It also analyses contribution of management
and development for high growth factors in reaching the set goals and objectives. The report
gives productive detailed analysis on all HR factors which affects company decisions and
strategies for breakthrough performance in industry and in bringing high customer satisfaction
delivery services.
LO1
P1 The key current trends and developments influencing organization HR strategy
Amazon is one of the biggest company in world offering retail products and services to customers
around the world having strong presence in almost all countries. The multinational company is
determined to have strong skilled workforce for all internal functioning structure and external
promotional activities, where company operations are wide and the key parameters are extended to all
arenas. The current developments in influencing company HR strategies are:
Cultural Diversity in workforce: Amazon HR strategies have high focus on building strong
diverse workforce who are highly skilled with strong knowledge of all practical fields, key
arenas talent with strong interpersonal skills. The company focuses on hiring human resource
from all countries which enhances the diversity factor highly important for gaining competitive
edge in the industry. Amazon HR strategies are factored towards productive hiring of cultural
diverse working in the workplace where brainstorming sessions and group discussions enable
company to reach high quality performance standards (Al-Romeedy,2019).
High dynamic skills: Amazon company HR strategies are focused towards building high
dynamic working skills in employees where group leaders of all production departments and
marketing sectors have diverse knowledge to motivate and guide employees. The work ethics
and organization culture of company posses high dynamic working standards where employees
and management are focused on reaching company goals with high efficiency, and cost
effectiveness of resources. The high competitive environment of dynamic business world
demands companies to retain skilled employees in company for longer periods and provide them
with fundamental training sessions in regular periods.

Strategies to provide proper training: Amazon highly focuses on development platforms of
employees and management teams where training sessions are given in form of brainstorming,
combined group discussions among other employees and leaders. The employees are determined
to reach company goals and high productivity in their functional operations by delivering strong
customers services, through innovative marketing strategies and advertising campaigns in all
diversified business sectors.
High demand of bringing innovation in employees capabilities in all innovation business
standards:Amazon HR strategies are focused towards bringing innovation in employees
capabilities by providing various career enhancement opportunities. Professionally they are
given various project accomplishments where the high talented enhancement skills by leaders
motive their morale positively. Amazon believes in cultivating strong collective working
standards where all teams are collaboratively working with each other, as employees are directly
close to customers and the services they serve. The company HR management is focused in
building creative driven employees are passionate in their work and have rapid dynamic working
skills to work.
Associate leaders in future: Amazon maintains strong benchmarks in training their employees
and introducing new innovation technologies and programmers of learning for making them
future associate leaders in future. The company gives platforms to employees in all teams to
constructively build their working horizons and grow their internal productive strengths. Brand
has high goodwill among customers all around world due to strong customer satisfaction services
offered by employees in stores, websites where high class quality delivery of all products by
employees develop their potentiality levels.
P2 External and internal factors influencing HR strategy and practice
There are several internal and external factors which influence HR strategies and practice
formulations for reaching high competitive goals in company production levels. Internal
expansion and diversification of business sector services highly impacts recruitment decisions of
skilled employees in company for gaining cost effective working knowledge. The company has
been productively developing arenas of business in multiple sectors in new untapped countries
with horizons of innovative expansion. The key internal structure of company influencing HR
strategies and practices are as follows (Farndale,Mayrhofer and Brewster,2019).
Internal factors:
 High production targets: Cost effective usage of resources by technically advanced
skilled employees help Company to be highly productive, Amazon functions are
diversified into many sectors of goods and services where employees highly focus in
delivering high quality products and strong customer satisfaction services. HR
department strategies are highly relevant to provide advanced working standards to all

employees where modern machinery equipments develop their potentialities, motivate
them and also maintain strong percentage of retention.
 High retention factor: Internal management functions focus on keeping employees with
strong talents and dynamic working ethics retained in company for longer periods, it
enhances the brand image on global level. Amazon HR strategies focus on keeping
employees motivated by providing them development platforms and opportunities to
showcase their ideas and views in group discussions and brainstorming sessions. The
company practices strong ethical HR strategies where employees feedback and
grievances are highly valued and they can directly contact with management teams and
leaders for work related issues (Armstrong and Taylor,2020).
 SWOT Theory: Internal factors of micro environment in company imply strength and
opportunities factors enhancement where employees are given training by HR department
professionals to enhance their skills.
External factors affecting HR strategies and practices
 High competitive industry: Amazon faces tough completion in industry where there are
various new companies and brands emerging in dynamic business world with high
innovative technology products and high customer focused delivery. The company
focuses on gaining recruitment of highly skilled employees in various departments who
have creative minds, experience of working in various MNCs and marketing filed
practical knowledge. The external forces of completion impacts Amazon Hr strategies to
build high competitive workforce, who have developed mind-set, strong research
knowledge of all productive areas. By selecting talented employees in company the barnd
image is enhanced on global level and the parameters of high potential learning synergy
is brought in company
 Dynamic preferences of customers: Another vital external force affecting HR strategies
and practices at Amazon are the dynamic preferences of customers for innovation and
high quality standards in products and services. Company has aims to reach the goodwill
standards set among people worldwide, which implies recruiting young creative minded
employees who have strong interpersonal skills and capabilities to produce cost effective
outputs. Amazon leaders in all departments give practical training to all employees for
working in dynamic conditions, bringing out high productive target outputs within time
and bring competitive benchmarks in comparison to other brands and industries.
 Pestle Theory: The high dynamic macro environment implies enhancement in growth
factors for employees to bring innovation and high quality performance delivery as the
external factors are competitive towards industry. Employees in Amazon are highly
trained to bring strong quality products in company for gaining high potential market
share outputs.

LO2
P3 Theories and concepts related to strategic Human Resource management
There are various theories and concepts of HRM which impacts employees working
conditions, their motivational factors and their overall retention in company for long term tenure.
A detailed analysis of innovative human resource theories which elaborately explains various
parameters of motivation and growth in their performance at Amazon are as follows:
Herzberg motivation-hygine theory: The Herzberg two factor principles theory implies job
satisfaction among employees are influenced by motivator factors and hygiene factors which explains the
parameters needed for companies to develop innovative skills among employees. Amazon Company by
focusing on these key elements which are highly important for strong percentage of retention in
employees develop strong competitive workforce.
 Motivator factors: The achievements and completion of responsibility should be
encouraged by leaders and managers in company by recognition and giving them
personal growth and advancement platforms to showcase their skills. Job satisfaction
factors are enhanced when employees are motivated and determined in company.
Amazon brand image is built on world level when the workforce is strong and
competitive with high retention power in them and creativity factor is built.
 Hygiene factors: Working conditions, ethical considerations and the quality of
supervision by leaders and managers along with the wages and salaries distributed by HR
professionals positively impact their job satisfaction. Amazon must aim to maintain
strong hygiene factors among all employees in workforce by bringing innovation in
technology for production departments of all products.
Likert’s participative decision making theory: This is one of the most innovative theory where
analysis shows organization behavior and management are strong factors which impact
employees performance, their tenure in company and the enrichment in production targets. The
theory has 4 segments which categorizes behavior of employees and leaders in company and
how Amazon as one of the biggest brand can reach competitive benchmarks.
 Exploitative (Authoritative)- This factor of theory explains that leader uses authoritative
nature, and imposes fear among employees to bring high performance results and as a
motivator factor. This does not have long term impact on employees as it leads to
negativity among employees, leaders become inefficient in bringing optimum cost
effective resource usage in form of outputs.
 Benevolent (Authoritative)- This factor of theory explains that leader uses rewards and
extrinsic factors to enhance employee motivational levels, but ,management and leaders
are not responsible for cultivating the nature of team work. It does not have long term
impact on employees performance as intrinsic factors of motivation are lacking due to
unsupportive nature of leaders and lack of interpersonal skills among team members
(Graha and Ratnawati,2019).

 Consultative Theory- This factor of theory explains leader and managers in team
members have consultative nature where they hear employee’s feedback, grievances and
work related issues. Leaders are supportive towards training and development platforms
towards employees and there is high focus on motivating them with intrinsic values and
extrinsic factors both. Amazon HR managers can build competitive workforce through
consultative elements of theory where the leaders establish strong communication with
employees and the productivity can reach high levels of growth and profitability margins.
 Participative Theory- This factor of theory explains that by increasing the participative
nature of employees in company through brainstorming sessions and enabling group
discussions, employees built responsible nature towards work. Amazon Company can
enhance its brand image globally by motivating employees to take initiatives in bringing
innovative ideas and creativity injection in company.
LO3
P4 Change management models in response to HR strategies
The various change management models in business enable companies and leaders to
implement new changes in form of technology standards or machinery equipments, which is
highly vital for gaining competitive edge benchmarks in industry.
Lewin’s change model
The Lewin’s change model is one of the most innovative business model which explains
the various steps Amazon can implement for bringing change in working operations for higher
efficiency levels. It has 3 functional steps which explains the need for change, vital forces which
harness positive impacts of new changes and the final locking of all plotted areas for high
performance targets in company production levels (Greene,2019).
 Unfreezing: This step brings importance of new change in working platforms and the
machinery required for high production targets in front of top management, and HR forces
of company. Amazon for introducing new technology in production function and bringing
high qualitative changes in machinery equipments, have to motivate employees and leaders
in company for their initiatives to accept the positive changes. The company can conduct
surveys and campaigns among production departments of products, to harness the
percentage of people evaluation which needs to be given training.
 Freezing: This step of change model initializes the process of implementing new productive
changes with high innovation and encouraging management of company, to harness the new
changes with strong parameters for long term profitability. Amazon HR and other top
management teams can conduct brainstorming sessions along with training, development
activities to implement the new changes effectively. Leaders must remind employees the
importance of change and the various factors which will motivate them with guidance how

it will affect their learning capabilities for future growth accomplishments (Widyanty,
Daito, Riyanto and Nusraningrum,2020).
 Refreezing: This step of change model is the final reinforcement stage which focuses on
stability factor and solidifying the new state of change in company. Lewis explains the
vitality of this factor can be illustrated on various parameters where it is essential that there
is thorough acceptance of new changes in company. People should not look back to old
working standards which can impact the new decisions negatively, this will enable to build
constructive workforce who are committed and responsible towards new changes. Amazon
by refereeing factor check the overall performance of company in implementing new
changes, and the key areas which are impacted for long term profit margins and revenue
goals.
 Benefits- Through this model of Change Company can efficiently implement the new
changes with long term sustainable impacts and the process steps will enable Amazon to
deliver advance researched methods for long term profits.
 Potential Drawbacks- However, the limitations are huge capital investment by company
management, which can also negatively impact availability of resources for further usage in
production. Through the change model there can be resistance from some employees and
leaders where production can be impacted negatively, legally there may be obstructions
which may affect long term stability decisions (Hasan,Islam and Chowdhury, 2020).
Kotter’s change model
The Kotters change model is one of the most innovative business model where company top
management can constructively build new platforms and parameters of working standards in
functioning levels for long term profitability goals.
The steps include
 Establishing state of emergency
 Creating a guiding coalition
 Develop a vision and strategy
 Communicate the change vision
 Empower broad based action
 Generate short term wins
 Consolidate gains to produce more changes
 Anchor them in working force
Amazon brand can bring revolutionary change in working platforms through these steps
where every factor elaborately explains the vital importance of innovation, scientific
breakthrough knowledge behind and how it can be implemented in company. The long term
potentialities of employees are built through empowerment, consolidation of goals and ideas,
generating the visionary production. It enhances overall performance levels in company and

brings large scale cost effectiveness in resources which will highly benefit their production
records, targets completion and high revenue profitability goals (Szierbowski-Seibel,Wach and
Kabst,2019).
Benefits- The high benefits of Kotters change model in context of Amazon company
performance are management can evaluate the implementation of various changes brought in
workforce due to new innovation through technology up gradation, machinery expansion. This
model will effectively harness long term positive impacts on company revenue scale and firm
position in industry among other competitors.
Potential drawbacks- The drawbacks of this model are that the capital investment is large and
also it becomes difficult for management to regulate checks of all steps implementation within
the procedures. There may be obstructions by employees in company and other leaders of
marketing or production teams which may demotivate their performance, and also their stability
factors.
LO4
P5 Monitoring of HR outcomes
The various functions and regulations operated by HR department can be monitored
through various steps where the operational efficiency can be evaluated for further processing,
high functional units in company and maintaining strong competitive workforce. Employees
work ethics and the standards with which they regulate production functions can be checked, for
cost effective usage of resources and high profitable targets completion.
 STEP 1-Evaluate the current scenarios of HR departments, Amazon by analyzing various
new parameters which are focused by other companies and brands for gaining
competitive workforce can make influential changes vital in present functional levels.
 STEP2- Gather data through research analysis and fragmentation of the new changes
which can be implemented by HR executives for gaining strong competitive work
platforms and enhanced customer satisfaction services (Mariappanadar,2019).
 STEP 3-Separate the basics from company strategic needs, which implements company
HR department should be dynamically active through technology standards and
competetive forces which will develop the parameters variably.
 STEP 4-Consider team of all departments as employees are the real face of brand
goodwill, Amazon by asking employees feedbacks and grievances can make necessary
steps important for high sustainable workforce.
 STEP 5- Human resource department must be an important business partner with top
management for impacting Amazon corporate company goals, the new changes brought
within department working standards will positively influence long term competency
levels.
 STEP 6- Make changes highly important for gaining competitive edge benchmarks,
Amazon HR department can outsource the vital inputs for higher productivity levels and
the financial funds can be highly innovative to bring large input changes.
Organizational situations

 HR managers at Amazon can regulate the functioning levels of new employees joined in
workforce by seeing the various parameters they have worked towards, how much clients
are satisfied with the services of the new employees. Feedbacks and data can be gathered
as an evaluative method for gaining deep knowledge on employees’ knowledge
paradigms and the number of new clients increased or decreased under employee. The
monitoring steps will help HR executives to check weither employees are skilled enough
to work under dynamic functions and what are the future arenas of company success.
 HR executives and managers can evaluate employees’ performance by giving them
operational projects where their potentialities of working under pressure can be judged,
collective team working abilities can be evaluated with the interpersonal skills. Team
working ethics and the decision taking power of employees can be monitored, which will
determine how employees can gain practical field knowledge (Mukhtаrovа,Chernov and
Manapova,2019).
 Benefits for higher sustainable performance growth- The HR manger by practicing
monitoring practices and evaluating employee’s performance on various periods
determine their potential enhancement parameter. Amazon by maintain strong records of
employees performance delivery and giving them ethical working conditions and
opportunities to showcase their skill, ideas motivate their role and commitment towards
company. The overall brand goodwill is increased and the profitability margins and reach
of company goals is dynamically enhanced. Productivity factors of resources utilized in
outputs are strongly increased with strong goodwill factor among consumers and
worldwide competition among other companies.
 Potential Drawbacks- The potential drawbacks for monitoring performance factors for
company can be that often it becomes difficult to evaluate employee’s performance in
various departments. Amazon has diverse functioning units of marketing, production,
advertising and promotional functions where employees are segregated on various levels.
Technology implementation for data evaluation is costly investment for company and
also employee’s resistance is also major factor of potential drawback which can affect
monitoring of HR functions (Pham,2020).
P6 Effective HR management for sustainable performance and completion of organizational
objectives
Amazon company by effective HR management functions highly contribute towards
sustainable performance and organizational objectives which will highly improve functioning of
employees, the output production units and the overall goodwill of brand. The company values
the human resources as high potential area in company as they are directly connected with
customers on website networks and shopping portals. It focuses on building innovation in their
operations and monitoring functions of leaders through which company can strongly build their
goals, objectives enhanced and diversify into various sectors of business share for reaching new
segments of customers all over world.

 Hr functions must innovatively invest more towards hiring skilled employees who are
competitively skilled, strong experience of working in practical fields and recruiting them
with detailed analysis on their functional skills. The company must maintain strong training
sessions, development platforms and brainstorming sessions to keep employees motivated in
company performance. Amazon by recruiting diverse workforce can complete company set
objectives with strong profitability and high revenue margins along with goodwill among
customers (Shujahat,Akhtar, and Sumbal,2020).
 HR effective management can be implemented with conducting surveys and feedbacks of
employees working conditions at Amazon, through which management can bring relevant
changes in leadership models and organizational behavior models. Leaders by providing
innovative supervision to employees for gaining high efficiency levels in employees
working standards make them future ready, to work under dynamic situation.
 Path Goal leadership is one of the most innovative leadership theory and constructive model
which can be implemented by Amazon leaders towards employees in all departments. The
theory explains hoe establishing strong understanding within employees and leaders can
help company to gain high profitability levels and company goals completion. Amazon
leaders must direct employees to be effective enough with diverse practical working skills
and develop creative horizons of mind for high functional unit’s performance.
 Amazon can reach high productivity and completion of set targets within time frames by
efficiently building employees working ethics, maintaining their training sessions regularly
and providing them with recognitions and awards. The brand goodwill is enhanced with
strong dynamic workforces who are highly retained in company for longer periods. Amazon
company has high potential in the market share as customers have huge expectations from
the brand image and quality of products and services it deliver (Srimannarayana,2020).
CONCLUSION
This report can be concluded with explanation that strategic human resource management
is a highly important area where management of companies give strong focus for maintain strong
workforce. The employees and leaders of company re the real brand value as they are directly in
contact with customers through delivery services and feedbacks services. This report concludes
how Amazon as one of the most innovative company in world focuses on strong workforce with
diverse skilled knowledge and practical experience. It also concludes the various change models
necessary for long term profitability in completion of goals and how the benefits can be applied
in context of employees growth (Stewart and Brown,2019).This report also concludes how
effective human resource management and leadership ahs strong role in company for gaining
strong competitive edge in industry. It also evaluates importance of monitoring the HR functions
with data collection for Amazon and the various benefits, potential drawbacks the steps can
cause on company long term stability. The file concludes how Amazon has been successful in

building high talented workforce in company, the diverse skills employees have and how they
are able to bring productive change in goodwill among customers.

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