Strategies in Management: The Case of Amazon

1.   Background of the case

Having been working at Amazon Inc. for the last two years, I have been able to learn and gain experience on how to work as an effective and good packer. I am so good at my work; I am considered one of the best packers in the organization. This has motivated me to work hard to improve myself, and this is what led me to join college, and I can state that I have successfully gained a BABA degree. To recognize my efforts for this, the management team at Amazon Inc. has promoted me to a manager in charge of a small plant that has about 100 employees. Ten of these 100 employees are the supervisors while the remaining 90 are packers who are responsible for sorting and parking all products before they are dispatched to their intended destinations. My job description in this new post will be to lead the entire team of 100 employees and ensure that the organization’s goals and objectives of ensuring that parcels are sorted, packed, and dispatched to the right address within the shortest time possible are attained. To attain these goals, I should be able to work with my team and lead them in the best possible way to ensure that we work as a team and corporate with each other as we try to attain our goals.

2. Introduction

Amazon.com, Inc.is an international multinational technology organization based in Seattle, Washington, the United States that focuses on cloud computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and digital streaming. Alongside business entities such as Google, Facebook, and Apple, Amazon is considered among the big four organizations operating in the information technology industry. The organization was founded in 1994, and it started to disrupt and change how the many operated sectors through the introduction of different technological innovations. The organization is the biggest e-commerce marketplace where people purchase products and services over the internet without having to go to an actual store make their purchases (Carroll, 2017). The organization plays a significant role in the provision of the cloud-computing platform as well as an AI assistant provider, and these segments of its operations have enabled the organization to be the largest e-commerce organizations by revenue. When Jeff Bezos started the organization in 1994, he wanted to open an online market place where people could purchase books. This business model was so successful the organization expanded its operations to start selling software, electronics, video games, apparel, food, furniture, jewelry, and toys. This business model thrived because of the organization’s strategy of efficiency that succeeded in utilizing technology to ensure that operation expenses where low while increasing its capabilities. This is what has enabled the organization to gain a competitive advantage over other players in the industry. Having been promoted to a manager, I intend to lead to my team using different leadership strategies to ensure that our plant operates efficiently to help the organization attain the overall objectives of being profitable while offering high quality services to our customers.

3. Planning 

In organizations, planning has become a vital management process whose main objective is to define goals for an organization future. Through the plan, an organization management team determines the mission that needs to be attained and allocate the resources required for the mission to be accomplished. Tools that help in proper planning may include a marketing plan or business plans (Carroll, 2017). There are four types of planning that all managers should utilize and they include operational planning, strategic planning, tactical planning, and contingency planning. All these planning strategies enable an organization manager to come up with elaborate plans that can help advance their organization objectives as well establish a fall back plan that can be used if things do not go as planned.

As the manager in our new plant, I believe it will be very prudent for me to come up with detailed plans that I should share with my team, and then we come up with ways of implementing each plan. I should start by developing an idea on where each employee should be expected to do and at what time (Kirwan, 2016). This is a very strategic move as each employee will know their job description and the objectives they are supposed to meet at all times. It will also be very prudent to come up with a plan on how resources should be allocated to ensure that all-important operations within the plant are undertaken in a timely and efficient manner. This would ensure that all customers get their products promptly.

4. Structure

All organizations need to have arrangements, as this is what helps employees and other stakeholders to understand how things operate in the organization. An organization structure helps define how different activities like coordination, task allocation, and supervision are directed at each player plays their role to ensure that the overall objectives of the organization are attained. These structures affect all actions within an organization, and it provides the foundation on which standard operating routines and procedures are based.

Having understood the importance of organization structure, I will come up with a structure that clearly defines the power and authority head by each player while giving all the 100 employees the power and independence to perform their work without any interference (Carroll, 2017). This can only be attained through the implementation of the hierarchical organization structure where lines of authority, rights, and duties of all employees, as well as communications channels,  are well defined. This structure will see me as the manager at the top while below me, there will be the ten supervisors. Below the ten supervisors will be other 90 employees. The lines of communications should also follow the same structure where if the 90 packers have any issue to raise with me, they should tell their supervisors who will, in turn, pass the information to me. I should also be using the same method to speak to all the 90 packers.

5. Staffing 

Staff members are the essential resources that an organization can have, as these are the people responsible for implementing all the plans of the company. For this reason, it is necessary for all leaders to ensure they have the right staff in place. In my capacity as the new manager in the plant, I would want to make sure that all the 100 employees are qualified and that they have the necessary skills and experience to accomplish all the tasks effectively and efficiently.

At Amazon Inc., it is a requirement for all employees to undergo an evaluation to determine if their skill set matches their job descriptions. I would use these reports to assess the skill levels of all employees then decide the next course of action. The first action would be to terminate the contract of any unskilled employee, and no amount of training would help in improving their skills. I would then organize some training programs for the remaining employees as this would help them understand how to do their jobs efficiently to guarantee that all our customers are satisfied with our products as well as our services.

After that has been attained, I will come up with empowerment and motivation incentives. By empowering and motivating the employees to work harder for the organization will help in increasing the output of each employee, and this will play a significant role in ensuring that the organization attains its bottom-line.

6. Leading 

In management, leadership is one of the critical factors that need to be present of an organization is to be successful in attaining its goals and objectives. Through excellent and sound leadership, an organization can come up with sound strategic plans, attract resources, and allocate these resources to ensure the plans are implemented efficiently to ensure that the set goals and objectives are obtained (Carroll, 2017). That is why I believe that as a manager at the new plant I should be a good leader with the ability to inspire and motivate my employees to be motivated and work as a team to ensure we accomplish our set mandate.

There are different types of leadership style, but I believe the best leadership style that will enable me to get the best out of my team is participatory leadership. This leadership style will require me to work with all my team members as a team as we try to come up with the best strategic moves we should make to ensure we accomplish our mandate in the plant. I should also be working with the team so that they can observe me as I work. This is known as leading from the front (Kirwan, 2016). This should not be hard for me because I have been working at Amazon for the last two years, and I have been voted as one of the best employees in the organization. I believe when my employees see me working hard, and alongside them, I will inspire them to work even harder.

7. Control

In management, power is defined as the systematic effort to ensure that standards are met all times. Through inspections, an organization would ensure that their clients get high quality goods and services at all times. This is one of the most critical aspects of management that I should take very seriously as a manager (Kirwan, 2016). I can attain this by having a quality control department where all the products are inspected before they are sent to the clients. This would ensure that no defective good would ever leave the plant and be sent to customers. 

8. Conclusion 

From the above discussion, it is clear that the challenge ahead will be tough, but I believe that my experience, as well as the education I have acquired, will enable me to perform my duties as the new manager effectively and that the plant will be successful in attaining its set goals and objectives.  

References

Carroll, A. (2017). Business & Society Ethics, Sustainability & Stakeholder Management. Mason, OH: Cengage LearningKirwan, C. (2016). Improving learning transfer: A guide to getting more out of what you put into your training. Routledge.