Running Head: EXPLORING THE AMAZON WEEK 6 1

Team E
Exploring the Amazon Week 6
April 9, 2017
Keller University Online
Brett Gordon

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 EXPLORING THE AMAZON WEEK 6 2

Table of Contents
Organizational Concepts (MR) 3

Organizational Structure (LS) 4

Organizational Culture (KR) 5

Organization Culture Inventory Theory (DT) 6

Conclusion 7

References 9

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Organizational Concepts (MR)

The visual aspect to Amazon’s organizational concept is the logo, Amazon. It is intended to
signify that Amazon is willing to deliver everything to everyone, anywhere in the world. It took
me a minute or two to figure out that Jeff Bezos is implying that there are no limits to where
Amazon will deliver its products, not even the Amazon (Namin-Hedayati, 2013). To achieve this
concept Amazon is aligning existing business process to support customers and drive online
business. Organization concept defines how employees act as individual within the company
and how they interact as part of work groups. Bezos believes in the concept of self-reliance
which many thinks it comes from his upbringing
The concept of workplace spirituality draws on our previous discussions of values, ethics,
motivation and leadership (Robbins, 2014, p. 455). Amazon has a direct and direct impact on the
allocation of power with management. Basic concepts associated with the allocation of power
are delegation, job descriptions and specialization. Delegation means passing along to
subordinates the responsibility for certain activities. When possible such responsibility should
not exceed assigned authority. Specialization allows employees to do the work they are best
suited for but all employees should be made aware of their duties and responsibilities. These
concepts are hard to apply to some businesses because of the change in customer demands
resulting in overloading or under loading the people assigned to the related project.
Jeff Bezos observed at Amazon the need to start building different relationships with his
employees and asking them questions about their business goals and challenges rather than their
needs for traditional online sales services. Understanding the way that people and groups interact
in the workplace is important in being able to create positive organizational change. You need to
be able to identify types of organizational behavior in the workplace in order to monitor the way
in which your company functions. Amazon is committed to providing excellence to improve the
quality of living and drive sustainability and they care about people, professionalism and the
society. Amazon is dedicated to the winning spirit innovation and teamwork to sharpen customer
focus and commit to the highest standards of ethics and integrity. Organization concepts are
structured around a service led organization having the core mission; vision and values remain
the same. This concept defines Amazon and who they are.
Organizational Structure (LS)
The “Functional-Hierarchic” organization is commonly called the “Matrix” organization. Matrix
organizations are used to merge two types of “Departmentalization”, the organization is
concerned with arranging different activities or functions or departments in rows and columns to
reduce complexity of the organization. Amazon has a corporate functional hierarchy and the
significance of the hierarchy is the successfulness of the organization (Hierarchy Structure,
2017). At present, the company has about 51,300 employees around the world. The employees
are working in the corporate offices, customer service centers, software development centers and
the fulfillment centers. The company has a total of seven segments, which includes:
 Software Development
 Retail product and Management & Merchandising
 Information Technology
 Operations & Customer Service
 Finance & Administration
 Human Resources
 Legal Operations

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There are several advantages and disadvantages of a matrix organization, some advantages are
good communication while using a matrix structure and lines of authority are slow to change.
One disadvantage is the matrix structure can create confusion for new employees because of
them not knowing the entire structure.
Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways; first, it provides the
foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest and secondly, it determines
which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent
their views shape the organization’s actions (Kreitner, 2012). While the Amazon campus appears
like those of some tech giants — with its dog-friendly offices, work force that skews young and
male, on-site farmers’ market and upbeat posters — the company is considered a place apart
(Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015).
Organizational Culture (KR)
Different companies have different organizational cultures. Organizational cultures are defined as
the system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other
organizations. Organizational culture can be determined by many different characteristics;
innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team
orientation, aggressiveness and stability. Each of these characteristics can be ranked low to high
to determine where a company falls (Robbins, 2014, p. 465).
According to an article from Market Place, Amazon prides themselves on having a tough
organizational culture, meaning their standards are set very high. Jeff Bezos has created a
culture where he has the best of the best employees. Amazon’s culture separates from other
companies like them in several ways. Amazon is one of the largest retailers in the world because
Jeff Bezos invented a way of getting the most of every employee (Hill, 2015). Bezos allows all
staff to have a great deal of responsibility. Bezos feels that if they are good enough to work for
him they are good enough to contribute the maximum amount of skill (Hill, 2015). Some
employees find Bezos too harsh in this sense, but expecting the best at all cost under all
circumstances has made Amazon the successful company it is today.
Bezos has created a very innovative and competitive culture at Amazon. Bezos has done
this by looking for employees who fit the characteristics he has set for Amazon. Bezos rates very
high on all the determinants of culture. Bezos is aggressive and if he or his team has an idea they
see to it that the outcome results in a great product. This culture has proven much success for
Bezos and Amazon as a whole.
Organization Culture Inventory Theory (DT)
Forecasting Amazon’s organizational culture should not be very difficult for researchers after
performing a little investigation. Jeff Bezos is widely known for running an organization, which
consistently pushes their employees and invites risk (Meyer, 2017). This analysis pushes
Amazon’s style into the aggressive/defensive style category. In this category the company’s
culture can be examined in three different areas; Competition, Opposition and Power.
Jeff Bezos definitely promotes a competitive culture around the offices at Amazon. Employees
are constantly working to prove one another wrong, which Bezos believes, helps bring the best
ideas to light. He considers heads banging together in meetings to be very productive.
Additionally employees are expected to work long hours and own the issues at Amazon just as
much as he does every day. Bezos promotes a culture where employees are expected to reply to
late emails as well and receive text messages if they are not replied to in a timely manner
(Streitfeld & Kantor, 2015).

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 EXPLORING THE AMAZON WEEK 6 5

Employees at Amazon consistently work through opposition from each other and their CEO.
Bezos once held a meeting to discuss why customers buying personal lubricants were receiving
emails after the sale to promote similar products (Stone, 2013. p. 58). Bezos encountered a
significant amount of opposition from his team inside the meeting. Bezos was furious about the
loss of trust with their customers. Yet in the end, Bezos compromised and allowed the marketing
team to just remove health and beauty products from the successful program.
The organizational culture style of Power can be witnessed at Amazon as well. The CEO also
frequently points out his position at the top of the company and has been heard asking if they
would like for him to show his CEO certificate so they will stop challenging him (Stone, 2013. p.
62). However, he desires this confrontation and showing of power to make sure the best idea
wins. It can be difficult to understand at times how a leader so bold and hostile can lead the
world’s most profitable online retailer. His employees have to see greatness to follow him one
would think.
Conclusion
A company as successful as Amazon must have great leadership and organizational culture. How
could they survive these past 20 years without proper direction and guidance? One thought could
be the employees who did not excel in the organization feel slighted and desire to
undermine the company’s success by creating false narratives in the news media. Amazon’s
customer reaction can affect trust positively or negatively. Jeff Bezos responded to some of these
accusations in a statement, “a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter
heard. Bezos continued, “I don’t think any company adopting the approach portrayed could
survive, much less thrive, in today’s highly competitive tech hiring market.” (Streitfeld &
Kantor, 2015).

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References
Hierarchy Structure. (2017). Amazon Corporate Hierarchy. Retrieved from

http://www.hierarchystructure.com/amazon-corporate-hierarchy/

Hill, A. (2015). Introducing Crash Course Economics. Retrieved from

https://www.marketplace.org/2015/10/19/economy/introducing-crash-course-economics

Kreitner, R. (2012). Principles of Management. Thomson South-Western; International Ed. Of 12 th

Kantor, J. & Streitfeld, D. (2015). Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace.
Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-
a-bruising-
Meyer, P. (2017). Amazon.com Inc.’s Organizational Culture Characteristics (An Analysis).
Retrieved from
http://panmore.com/amazon-com-inc-organizational-culture-characteristics-analysis
Namin-Hedayati, F. (2013). Leadership Qualities of Jeff Bezos. Retrieved from
http://www.centerforworklife.com/leadership-qualities-jeff-bezos/
Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A. (2014). Organizational Behavior, 16th Edition. [Bookshelf Online].
Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781323080283
Streitfeld, D., Kantor, J. (2015). Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace.
The New York Times Online. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-
a-bruising-workplace.html
Streitfeld, D., Kantor, J. (2015). Jeff Bezos and Amazon Employees Join Debate Over Its
Culture. The New York Times Online. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/technology/amazon-bezos-workplace-
management-practices.html
Stone, B. (2013). The Secrets Of Bezos. Bloomberg Businessweek, (4350), 58-76.

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