Introduction
Amazon is one of the largest multinational companies that began its history by selling books online. Now, the corporation sells various kinds of goods, and the high tempo of work requires employees to devote themselves to ensuring excellent performance. The result is the principle that guides the company’s work, serving as the basis for constant increases in productivity and innovative development. Nevertheless, customer service represents the most significant business problem because it often causes employees to overwork, take night shifts, and experience burnout. Such a situation can also cause conflicts between managers and employees because the managers lay down high demands, and employees cannot cope with the pressure.
Internal Conflict
The team manager tends to compare employees at meetings. This can create a toxic environment because employees begin to become angry with each other and refer to those praised by the manager as “sycophants.” Although managers must encourage employees, they must communicate this in a way that does not disadvantage the rest of the employees (Dahlgaard-Park et al., 2018).
The manager often takes credit for the successful outcomes when the team completes a project. They can tell employees that all the ideas and solutions are theirs, although this is not entirely true. The manager never agrees with the employees and tries to convince them that they are always right. As a result, team morale declines because the manager’s behavioral patterns exhaust the team, as members must focus on resolving emerging conflicts.
Management Theories to Increase Organizational Effectiveness
The nature of Amazon’s work and the situation described above suggest using a combination of management theories to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Management’s primary task is to enhance the relationships between managers and employees, as well as within the team, while maintaining high performance rates (Dahlgaard-Park et al., 2018). The approaches of human relations theory (HRT), behavioral management theory (BMT), and contingency theory can help to develop a strategy to respond to existing challenges.
According to the BMT, every organization is not only a business entity but also a social system requiring employee collaboration. When planning a project, a manager should learn to understand and respect the needs of their team members to effectively coordinate their efforts. When organizing the team, the manager must ensure that each employee has an equally important role in the project. The HRT provides that the instinct for association and the manager’s behavioral pattern are crucial components of employee motivation (Dahlgaard-Park et al., 2018).
In addition, the manager is responsible for creating a friendly and cooperative atmosphere, which enables them to build informal relationships within the team (Dahlgaard-Park et al., 2018). The social component of work is vital for successful performance, and it also helps leaders by making employees feel valued and important. Moreover, they will respect the supervisor, who treats team members as equals.
Since controlling and planning are interdependent, managers need to be flexible. In this case, the principles of contingency theory may help. The organizational structure determines the working processes and influences the whole performance. Managerial and organizational effectiveness depend on the behavioral patterns of the manager and particular situations (Dahlgaard-Park et al., 2018). Therefore, the supervisor must find individual approaches to overcome challenges and solve conflicts. Ultimately, this may also help establish a reputation as a thoughtful and wise leader.
Corporate Culture and Employee Engagement
Amazon has developed a corporate culture that allows it to be one of the most effective companies in the world. The corporation has a system of small teams that enables employees to build friendly relationships with one another and be valuable contributors to the working process (Dahlgaard-Park et al., 2018). This results in their feeling of responsibility and desire to contribute to the company’s success. Moreover, employees are not afraid to make decisions in such a work setting, rather than waiting for their manager’s permission.
The culture of documenting offers and ideas, along with further discussion, also keeps employees engaged. However, not all corporate practices work well in reality. Considering the company’s all-or-nothing attitude, employees feel pressured and put in a great deal of effort to present themselves as ideal workers. Due to the enormous workload, the work-life balance is impossible at Amazon.
When an employee has family circumstances, this may lead managers and colleagues to believe that they are not fully committed to their duties. Coworkers may criticize such an employee, which can negatively impact social relationships and team cooperation (Dahlgaard-Park et al., 2018). In this way, the company does not recognize ordinary people among its employees. This pattern demotivates the workers and makes them feel disposable, which does not contribute to engagement.
Recommendations
Although Amazon has a presentable image, it should consider the relationships between managers and employees. The situation described earlier suggests the manager has traits of the Comparer, the Creditor, and the “Over” Talker (Loussararian, 2013). Such behavior can significantly impact corporate performance. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the communication culture in the teams.
Employees need to enjoy their managers’ interest to stay motivated and productive. Comparers always try to compare employees’ performance (Loussararian, 2013). Instead of spreading the culture of competition, it would be reasonable to introduce training in specific domains. This will demonstrate to the employees that the company values its workers and is ready to help them improve their skills, thus increasing productivity and commitment. Moreover, such an implementation will reduce interpersonal conflicts between team members.
There is a need to balance the importance of individual contribution and teamwork. Since Amazon accentuates individual performance, this may also cause competition between all coworkers. Creditors, or, in other words, managers who tend to credit employees’ achievements, seem to be threatened by the rival environment (Loussararian, 2013). Therefore, introducing an involve-the-manager culture would be helpful as the manager can see the time and effort spent on a project and feel uncomfortable about stealing achievements.
Working in a team where the manager tries to rule everything may be exhausting and demotivating. The “Over” Talkers usually persuade others because they believe they know the correct answers and solutions (Loussararian, 2013). The best way to overcome such behavior is to implement open employee feedback about the manager after each meeting. This practice can help managers listen to the employees and adequately react to team members’ disagreements.
Conclusion
Amazon is a company with a high profile and good performance. However, due to the competitive environment, it can face the challenges of inappropriate behavior and miscommunication between managers and employees. The corporation can improve the problems using the HRT, BMT, and contingency theory and consider the recommendations, such as employee training, the involve-the-manager approach, and an open feedback culture. These instruments will help maintain a healthy team environment and strengthen cooperative relationships between coworkers.
References
Dahlgaard-Park, S. M., Reyes, L., & Chen, C.-K. (2018). The evolution and convergence of total quality management theories. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 29(9-10), p. 1108-1128. Web.
Loussararian, E. (2013). When bosses go wild: Preventing employee morale knockouts.