Organisational Behaviour Assignment: Case Analysis of Amazon
Question
Task:
Organisational Behaviour Assignment Detail:
Discuss an organisational issue relevant to Organisational Behaviour in any organisation you are familiar with. You may use your current or previous workplace or any organisation you have researched on. Provide a creative solution to address the organisational issue and justify the effectiveness of your solution. Be able o link at least 2 organisation behavioural theories/models.
Your essay should include at least four peer reviewed journal articles in addition to any textbook references.
Answer
Introduction
The purpose of this essay presented in the organisational behaviour assignment is to focus on an organizational issue associated with the organizational behaviour of Amazon. The scope of this essay is limited to providing a creative solution that can assist Amazon in dealing with the organizational issue and justifying the effectiveness of such solution.
Amazon is a multinational technology company from America which was founded in the year 1994 by Jeff Bezos. The company is involved in e- commerce, digital streaming, cloud computing and artificial intelligence and is also recognized as one of the Big Four tech companies. Amazon suffers from the organizational issue of high turnover of employees as the average tenure of a full-time amazon employee is roughly estimated to be one year. Due to this, the company is required to hire thousands of employees on an annual basis in order to cover the losses arising out of the high turnover rate.
Discussion and Analysis of the Organizational Behaviour Issue
High turnover rate is one of the biggest organisational issues faced by the companies. High turnover rate of an organization implies that the employees of such company are having a shorter average tenure as compared to those of other companies operating in the industry. Taking the case of Amazon into consideration, it is found that the average tenure of the employees of other tech companies like Apple, Facebook and Google is roughly about two years and therefore, it is a serious issue for Amazon which needs to be resolved on priority basis (Dimitrov, 2018).
Lack of Professional Development Opportunities - One of the main causes of the high turnover rate in Amazon is the lack of availability of the professional development opportunities for the employees. It is found that the management system and supervisors of the company do not respond appropriately to the work-related issues experienced by the employees and do not help them to resolve such issues (Jognson, 2018). Therefore, the newcomers in the company are unable to fulfil their need for competence as a result of lack of proper directions. This ultimately increases the employee turnover rate of Amazon (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015).
Negligence Towards the Employees- The analysis further provides that the customer obsession of Amazon has become another cause of high turnover of the employees. This is because in order to provide great services and fast shipping option to the customers, Amazon requires its employees to work for longer hours. The company is negligent towards the employees and even fires those who are unable to perform as per the expectations of the company. This increases the employee turnover rate of the company.
Poor HR Practices Adopted in the Company- One of the major reason for increased employee turnover in Amazon is the adoption of poor HR practices in the company. The retention strategy of the company is poor and the timing policy is further contributing towards the high turnover of employees. The analysis provided that the company also has a poor reputation in terms of diversity. The company is recognized to be a male dominated organization which, in turn, has become a barrier for the career of females in the company. Therefore, they leave the organisation due to lack of recognition in the company (McDonald, 2019).
This organizational issue can be linked with the job dissatisfaction concept of organizational behaviour. Job satisfaction can be defined as the degree to which the employees feel satisfied and content with their jobs. The high turnover of the employees in Amazon is the result of lack of job satisfaction among the employees. They are dissatisfied due to lack of job stability, opportunities for career growth and lack of work-life balance due to inappropriate timing policy. As a result they are less loyal towards the company and end up leaving the organization for a better opportunity (Fayyazi & Aslani, 2015).
This can also be linked with the Vroom’s expectancy theory which provides the behaviour of the individuals is the result of conscious choices among the options with the main objective of minimizing the pain and maximizing pleasure. Therefore, it can be identified that the employees of Amazon are hopping towards other jobs as they are making efforts for minimizing their pains and maximizing pleasure by grabbing a position in an organization that offers better salary and other perks (Barba- Sánchez & Atienza- Sahuquillo, 2017).
Strategies for Addressing the Organizational Behaviour Issue
The organizational issue faced by Amazon can be addressed with the help of the below mentioned strategies:
Employee Engagement and Job involvement- It is the degree to which the employees are committed towards the organisation feel passionate and put efforts into the work performed by them. Bottom up approach can be adopted by the management of Amazon in order to make the employees feel that the company is concerned towards the issues faced by the employees. Also, as a part of employee engagement, the company should understand the learning styles and preferences of the employees and should encourage the practice of sharing ideas as they are a part of the organization. As a part of job involvement, Amazon can form problem solving teams and task forces for the employees which will perform the function of resolving the issues being faced by the employees while working in the organization (Puni, Agyemang & Asamoah, 2016).
This can be linked with the big five personality trait model which specifies the five traits of personality i.e. extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness. The above strategy will affect all these five traits of the employees working with Amazon and will reduce their stress level, improve performance, enhance leadership, increase adaptability and result in higher satisfaction from job (Judge, & Zapata, 2015).
Career Development Opportunities- The company should increase the career development opportunities currently being offered to the employees. Regular training and development programs should be organized in order to enhance the level of knowledge and understanding regarding the work to be performed by them. Also, regular promotions and salary hikes should be offered in order to increase their motivation level. Rotation of role can also play a great role in career development as they will get to learn new skills for performing a new role. Amazon should also encourage the employees to work smarter and maximize their efficiency. For this, flexible policies should be designed that are focused towards enhancing their work life balance. Job rotation is an organizational behaviour concept which will help the employees by increasing the exposure to all verticals of a company. It will not only enhance the work experience of the employees but will also train them and increase their level of job satisfaction (Asfaw, Argaw, & Bayissa, 2015).
Reinforcement through Rewards- Rewards play a major role for the reinforcement of the behaviour of the employees in Amazon. It is one of the best form of motivating the employees to stay in the enterprise. The analysis provides that rewards bring positive feelings in the individual which, in turn, enhances their ability to work harder. In this context, reward can play an important role for the employees to keep working for Amazon for a longer period of time. Also, rewards will improve the productivity of the employees and will make them happier and increase their trust towards the company. The rewards can be offered in either monetary or non- monetary form. The non- monetary reward such as recognition for the work done can help in reducing the turnover of female employees (Ajayi, 2019).
This can further be linked to the organizational justice model which deals with the perceptions of the employees regarding fairness in the workplace. The adoption of this model will facilitate distributive justice, interactional justice and procedural justice in Amazon. Distributive justice will enhance the perception of the female employee regarding fairness of outcomes in the company. Procedural justice will enhance the viewpoint regarding processes that lead towards these outcomes. Moreover, interactional justice will provide assurance that the female employees are also treated with respect and dignity in Amazon (Demir, 2015).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that high employee turnover is the major issue being faced by Amazon which requires the adoption of certain strategies for its resolution. High turnover of employees in the company implies that the average tenure of employees in Amazon is low as compared to its competitor companies. It is found that the average tenure of an employee in Amazon is around one year which is very low. The analysis provided that lack of availability of professional development opportunities, negligence towards the employees and poor HR practices are some of the main causes behind high employee turnover. However, the company can adopt strategies relating to employee engagement and job involvement, career development opportunities and reinforcement through rewards for addressing this organizational issue.
References
Ajayi, M. O. (2019). Employee Performance Among Selected Tertiary Institutions: Evidence from Intrinsic Reward System. Journal of Economics and sustainable development, 10(4), 117-122.
Asfaw, A. M., Argaw, M. D., & Bayissa, L. (2015). The impact of training and development on employee performance and effectiveness: A case study of District Five Administration Office, Bole Sub-City, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 3(04), 188.
Barba-Sánchez, V., & Atienza-Sahuquillo, C. (2017). Entrepreneurial motivation and self-employment: evidence from expectancy theory. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 13(4), 1097-1115.
Demir, K. (2015). The effect of organizational justice and perceived organizational support on organizational citizenship behaviors: The mediating role of organizational identification. Organisational behaviour assignmentEurasian Journal of Educational Research, 15(60), 131-148.
Dimitrov, N. (2018). Why Amazon’s Attrition is Higher than Attrition at Other Tech Companies. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@amazonbound/why-amazons-attrition-is-higher-than-attrition-at-other-tech-companies-b0de9cb2c4fe
Fayyazi, M., & Aslani, F. (2015). The impact of work-life balance on employees’ job satisfaction and turnover intention; the moderating role of continuance commitment. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 51, 33-41.
Jognson, T. (2018). The Real Problem With Tech Professionals: High Turnover. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2018/06/29/the-real-problem-with-tech-professionals-high-turnover/#2f386aca4201
Judge, T. A., & Zapata, C. P. (2015). The person–situation debate revisited: Effect of situation strength and trait activation on the validity of the Big Five personality traits in predicting job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1149-1179.
Kantor, J., & Streitfeld, D. (2015). Inside Amazon: Wrestling big ideas in a bruising workplace. The New York Times, 15, Q1.
McDonald, C. (2019). Amazon makes plans to increase diversity in its UK business. Retrieved from https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252459127/Amazon-makes-plans-to-increase-diversity-in-its-UK-business
Puni, A., Agyemang, C. B., & Asamoah, E. S. (2016). Leadership styles, employee turnover intentions and counterproductive work behaviours. International Journal of innovative research and development, 5(1), 1-7.
