Building Leading Teams

Executive Summary 

This paper aims to address a real world, contemporary business issue. In the analysis of the business issue, the primary focus will be how teams could be engaged efficiently to address the current business issue. Thus, this essay will look at an existing problem at Amazon, the world’s leading Internet Company by revenue. Therefore, the problem that will be analyzed will be building leading teams on Amazon. Team building has been used by numerous companies to improve performance as well as achieving a competitive advantage. Team building is a major problem at amazon because the company does not invest in building teams. An employee survey that was done indicated that the company had a meritocracy structure where there was poor management, poorly constructive group projects, lack of resources and training, consistent change of environment and only stronger employees were rewarded. All these aspects contributed to the high turnover rate within the company. The research concluded that the primary issue within the group was associated with team building. Thus, to address the various problems experienced by Amazon, it is recommended that the company should analyze individual conflicts within the teams to be able to distinguish behavioral patterns, predicting and being able to react more efficiently. Moreover, the team members need to express creativity through the use of Nominal Group Technique that maximizes creativity among the team members. Besides, new policies should be formed to improve team building within the organization, and finally, the workers should be motivated to reduce high turnover rate. With that being said, the paper will thus have these parts- introduction that will cover company overview, business scenario, how Amazon utilizes teams, what is operating well with the current use of teams, what is not functioning well with the current use of teams, recommendations, and a conclusion. 

Building Leading Teams 

Introduction 

Amazon is an American firm based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and is a cloud computing and electronic commerce company. The company provides online retail shopping services for its customers. It operates in three segments which include Amazon Web Services, North America, and International. Amazon Web Services offers global sales of storage, database, and computing. On the other hand, Services offered in the international segment include retail sales of various consumer products and subscriptions, primarily through international websites. Further, the North America segment provides services such as retail stores of customer products and subscriptions through multiple websites in North America such as www.amazon.ca. and www.amazon.com. Amazon has been faced with numerous challenges as far as team building is concerned. These problems have led to reduced performance within the organization, and all these aspects will be analyzed in the essay. 

Business Scenario 

Amazon’s motto for the last two decades has been “Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History.” The original HR policy was developed and implemented by Jack Welch in the last 20 th century which focuses on the consumer and only rewards employees based on their ability to produce. Over the years, the policy led to what became known as 'rank and yank’. This is caused when management isolates team members based on the individual performance. As a result, Amazon ranked as the second company with the lowest employee retention rate. This would later gain the attention of the media subsequently to employees within the company revealing working conditions and employee review policies that earned the company a one-star review among other companies. (Howland, 2017) In addition, this gained the attention of CEO Jeff Bezos who later wrote an open letter asking for current and former employees to provide review on their personal experience with working at Amazon. Many of the employee expressed their concerns over the meritocracy structure in which stronger employees were rewarded, the consistent change of environment, lack of resources and training, poor management, and poorly constructive group projects. Many employees felt as though they were pulling the weight of their teams and that managers lacked the ability to enforce operational workloads for employees that were reasonable. This ultimately has resulted in greater turnover rates and employees being burned out. (Streitfeld & Kantor, 2015) 

A recent article published by the New York Times Magazine outlines many of the issues that are arising as a result over what a company culture should consist of at Amazon. The main focus was surrounding human resources and their lack of ability to align the company mission with the strategic objection of the organization. One employee described their experience as “ a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter is heard” (Streitfeld &Kantor, 2015) The CEO once required new hires to sit in room and read the company policies that were provided in a handbook to insure the material was read by all future employees. This lead to a group of individuals forming a website called “FACE” which started off with a little over 20,000 hits and now has grown to 100,000 since launching. The group revealed that there are autonomous teams that are formed throughout the organization. Employees that stood up for themselves or reported abuse of power to human resources were eventually terminated. Some employees were offered severance package as a way for management to keep their silence. Other employees claimed that they felt as though they were a part of a company experiment of how far it can push white collared workers. The employees horror stories ranged from being denied medical days off for a miscarriage, personal crisis and recovery from cancer. (Streitfeld & Kantor, 2015) In addition, they believe that many companies are pushing their teams to be more productive while offering less pay. Other openly admitted to sabotaging other team members and tear apart other team member ideas. The group leaders of FACE wanted to use the website to get Amazon’s attention so that they can implement stronger human resource policies. (Kim, 2016) 

Amazon has also built themselves on a principal of rules and a daily language that has been taught by executives. This included “hire and develop the best” “Employees are exhibit ownership” “bias for action” and “disagree and commit”. (Streitfeld & Kantor, 2015) A former human resource director stated that only winners move up in the company “Losers leave or are fired in annual culling’s of the staff”- “purposeful Darwinism”. (Streitfeld & Kantor, 2015) This has led to a negative mentality among employees to go along or be singled out by other team members. 

The employee search engine glassdoor.com offered similar employee blogs on the company issues with negative feedback with the current human resource policies stating “ training and retention are not the company biggest focus” ( Glass-door, 2017) Supportive information provided by previous employees for the large turnover rates include, team relationships and moral, manager relationship, lack of personal development and low salary. The CEO has agreed that the current boarding process and human resources lack of ability to reinvent team training has caused many of the issues surrounding the poor relationship between employees and management. (Howland, 2017) 

How Teams Are Currently Being Used by Organizations 

One factor stands out when looking deeper into teams within organizations, size. For each team there is a right size, and it’s almost always smaller than you can imagine. The “two pizza rule” for strategy and development for teams is used by Jeff Bezos of Amazon. The “two pizza rule” simply means that if it takes more than two pizzas to feed a team, than it is likely that the team is too big. (Karlgaard, R., 2013) This rule was introduced with Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the 70’s. The surface reason, which is most often mentioned for using the two-pizza rule keep teams agile and fast. This works because having less than a dozen people on a team allows each member to be more empathetic and open with each other. 

When working in small groups, it is far easier to come to someone’s aid. It’s like being in the military with a 12-person team and having a solider risk his or her life to protect a fellow solider. This principle works the same for small groups in business, too. It’s easier to stay up all night working as a marketing representative to sharpen another team member’s presentation. (Karlgaard, R., 2013) Unfortunately, teams tend to fall apart when the number of people start to increase. You may care for the members, but it is not on the top of your list and the unity becomes a daunting challenge. This reason is why SAP’s co-CEO Jim Snabe decided to break its 20,000-employee software development team into small units of 8 to 12 people. Fred Smith, FedEx’s founder had a three-story building for his 300,000-employee global powerhouse. In these cases, scale is a good thing but is can be harmful to the teams focus. Great leaders keep their teams small and agile (Karlgaard,R., 2013) 

Amazon created the Kaizen program, where their employees can participate in small teams to identify waste and streamline processes. The “Kaizen” program is named from the Japanese term that means “change for the better.” In 2014, over 2,300 associates participated in 725 Kaizen projects. One example, Las Vegas, Nevada Amazon team fulfillment center streamlined the customer returns process. This helped improve productivity 34%, eliminating an excessive walk distance by 128,000 feet per day and reducing work in process by 496% (Gonzalez, A., 2016) 

Amazon also tested a new formula for techie employment: teams that are made up of part-timers averaging 30 hours a week. The organization created this initiative because the traditional 40-hour work week “many not be a one size fits all model,” according to a post on Eventbrite.com. The teams comprise of information technology specialists in the human resources department and they work Monday through Thursday form 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the remaining 14 hours are distributed as flex work throughout the rest of the week (Gonzalez, A., 2016). Although Amazon has part-time employees in highly specialized jobs, the new initiative allows the entire team to organize around the same core part-time schedule (Gonzalez, A., 2016). 

This move would allow for more teams to be devoted to the clock with a way of working with better suited personal needs to staffers. In addition, benefits for part-timers would be the same as full-time employees. Working together with a team should underpin how you and your organization operate. Involving the people throughout the team in roles, will ensure that as a group everyone will succeed. Getting people on board with the team allows for motivation. (Farrington, J., 2008) Their views will enhance everything: methods, standards, processes and overall effectiveness. 

There are determinants for high performing teams, the Four Cs must be understood and managed for teams to achieve great performance. Context, composition, competencies and change management skills (Dyer, W. Gibb; Dyer, H. Jeffrey & Dyer, G. William (2013).: 

Context for the Team: This refers to the organizational environment in which a team should work. Establishing measurable team performance goals that are clear and compelling and ensuring that the team members understand that having effective teamwork is critical to meeting goals. 

Composition of the Team: This concerns the skills and attitudes of the team members. Establishing processes to select individuals for teams that are both skilled and motivated. Cutting individuals who lack skills or motivation and ensuring that the team is the right size, not too large or too small to complete a task. 

Competencies of the Team: Single members have independent competencies, but they are embedded in the team’s formal and informal processes. Effective communications, including giving and receiving feedback. Building trust and commitment to the team and goals and making effective decisions. 

Chang Management Skills of the Team: Adapting to new conditions to be effective of a period. Establishing team-building processes that will result in the regular evaluation of team context, composition, and competencies with the objective of initiating needed changes to achieve goals. 

Success is important to people as well as the organization. The development of the team is something that cannot be ignored, and the responsibility lies on the team (Farrington, J., 2008). Making sure people have the right knowledge, skills and attitudes to do their jobs makes for an effective team. 

What is working well? 

Amazon employees, like many tech employees, receive options to purchase a certain number of shares in the company in addition to their base salaries. Most companies dole those options out in relatively equivalent portions over the first four years of an individual's employment. Amazon does not, meaning employees who exit the company after a year or two leave a larger chunk of options on the table. To take advantage of the compensation package they're offered when accepting a job at Amazon, employees must stay at the company for three full years or more. And if they don't, they should succumb to the reportedly high-pressure work environment. 

Amazon ratings by employees in the area of compensation, benefits and career opportunities are notably higher than the average for all companies. Glassdoor Website published an article with interviews that can be helpful interpreting from an inside view of what Amazon is doing well. 

“ Small teams, interesting, innovative projects, very smart people. Doesn’t feel like a cutthroat environment like you see at some competitive companies.” Amazon Program Manager I (Seattle, WA) 

“ Many opportunities to grow and to show what you’re made of. There are many resources to work, and you have the opportunity to work with extremely talented people.” – Amazon Software Development Engineer I (Vancouver, BC) 

“ There are plenty of opportunities to move ahead at Amazon, you just have to work hard and show continual growth. This is not a company for people that are comfortable in going nowhere, which is a reason they max out the pay scale after several years for each tier.” – Amazon Process Assistant (Tracy, CA) 

“ Company leadership leads, and leads well. Very intelligent colleagues make for a challenging and educational environment. Flexibility in hours and schedule. Freedom to invent, create, and innovate.” – Amazon Vendor Manager (Seattle, WA) 

“ There is lots of opportunity to advance internally and change career paths if you ever want to. Generally, feel a sense of accomplishment as an owner of a team of people.” – Amazon Area Operations Manager (Seattle, WA) 

What is not working well with the current situation? 

Amazon.com ranks only second among Fortune 500 companies with the highest employee turnover rates. With most new hires quitting after just 9-and-a-half months. A high employee turnover rate isn’t always because the company isn’t a good one to work for. The main reason for this high employee turnover might be the fact that Amazon has a policy of hiring temp contract workers who are let go after 11 months to save on benefits like medical coverage and paid vacation days; another reason is the punishing corporate environment Amazon as like, working long hours, disparaging bosses, high stress, and no time or space to recover. Amazon hasn't invested as much in building teams or improving employees working conditions as they do with their traditional stock structuring. 

According to the article published at the Glassdoor Website regarding what Amazon is doing about employees, teams and company high turnover rates, some interviews with employees and former employees may clarify in first person what Amazon is not doing well. 

“ Amazon is not a caring environment. It’s all about performance. Know this before you join and take the signing bonus. It is just the way it is. If this doesn’t matter to you, and you are willing to work long hours for good pay, then Amazon is the place to be.” – Amazon Operations Manager (Seattle, WA) 

“ With the explosive growth Amazon has seen, they have promoted too many people who are smart and great individual contributors into management roles. Most managers don’t actually know how to lead. Unfortunately, this will continue to get worse as Amazon expands into new areas.” – Amazon Employee (Seattle, WA) 

“ Projects are often under resourced and overly ambitious, creating a frenetic unfocused environment that can sometimes be hard to get simple things done. The frugal mindset is sometimes just cheap, which can cost more in the long run.” – Amazon Principal Engineer (Seattle, WA) 

“ If you’re looking for just 40 hours a week, Amazon is the wrong place. Realistic hours for a technical position are 50+ per week. Q4 is a special time of year, so if you like taking the month of December off work, Amazon isn’t somewhere you should look.” – Amazon Employee (Seattle, WA) 

“ Not much chance for promotion, training or job rotation. You get stuck in one spot unless you become best friends with the managers.” – Amazon Production Assistant (Lebanon, TN) 

In this type of working atmosphere it is very difficult to have consolidated teams that can achieve goals, but it is an opportunity to start a process to build effective teams. This kind of environment gives the reason to the top decision executives of the company to invest in building teams’ improvement. 

Amazon Recommendations 

Our group has determined that a company is able to improve their overall performance if they are able to gain a solid understanding of the underlining issues. The company must first be able to analyze individual conflicts within the teams to be able to distinguish behavioral patterns, predicting and being able to react more efficiently. Team members should be able to openly express their creativity among other team members as well as a manager should be able to resolve disagreements by encouraging constructive debate. A great technique to introduce to Amazon would be the Nominal Group Technique as known as NGT. This technique is designed to maximize the creativity of team building. This allows the manager to introduce a goal or mission. The team is then given the chance to gain clarification on the task that is needed by asking questions or positive reinforcement by management. Then each individual is allowed to work alone or larger groups can be broken down in smaller groups. The team would then come back together to prioritize and implement a plan to get the work done. The last step is honoring the movement toward the success. This is the chance for management to acknowledge the team’s success and not solely focus on individuals. (Tague, 2004) 

Another recommendation regarding Amazon’s issues with their high turnover rate will be implementing new policies to develop and improve team building within the organization. These newly formed teams will need to devote time to getting to know each other while analyzing the common task at hand and how they are likely to tackle it. New teams need to have boundaries set for it which allow it to develop, but don’t give it too much freedom, otherwise it won’t know where the limits are. Sharing of previous success can bind groups together. It gives the members a background which creates a depth to the relationships within the team. It takes a while for this type of group personality to form but if you want to build a team it is essential that you allow the member’s time to find out about each other and carefully nurture them through this process. 

In order to achieve the goals implied in team building, we recommend working with motivation, this is the key to revert high employee turnover rate based in team building. Motivation is about something within you impelling you to move forwards, to achieve a goal, to make progress in a task. The ‘something’ which is the driving force may be a need, or a desire, or an emotion but it leads you to act in a certain way. Signs of motivation in a person are an energy and determination to achieve. (Neil & Adair, 2006). 

Typical qualities of a motivated person include: 

• A willingness to work 

• Dedication to the project or common cause 

• Alignment of the person with the organizational goals 

• Commitment 

• An appetite to achieve 

• An energy 

• Drive and determination 

• Tenacity 

• Strength of purpose 

• Orientation to work. 

Motivated team members may have a different sight of what working that hard can be. A motivated team can accomplish any objective, task or goal improving the current situation. 

Conclusion 

In summary, Amazon has been ranked as the second company in the world that has lowest employee retention rate. As discussed in the essay, when Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos asked the current and the former employees to provide a review of their experience with working at Amazon, it was evident that the company was not performing well. The employees raised numerous complaints and these complaints surrounded human resources and the lack of the company to align the company mission with the strategic objectives. Overall, there was an abuse of power among the human resources. Corruption was also high in the organization where the management offered some employees with severance package so that they cannot report the issue of power abuse. As discussed above, the company has neither invested in team building nor improving the working conditions of the employees. Unless the organization solves these issues, the overall performance will be affected in the long run. Amazon should follow the recommendations proposed above if they wish to be a high performing organization. 

References 

Dyer, W. Gibb; Dyer, H. Jeffrey; Dyer, William G. (2013). Team Building. Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from http://www.mylibrary.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu 

Farrington, J. (2015). The Importance of Working Together with Your Team. Retrieved from https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-importance-of-working-together-with-your-team.php 

Glassdoor Team (2015). What It's Really Like to Work at Amazon in the Wake of New York Times Exposé - Glassdoor Blog . Glassdoor Blog . Retrieved 15 November 2017, from https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/amazon-new-york-times/ 

Gonzalez, A. (2016). Amazon Tests 30-Hour Week for Some Teams Of Employees. Retrieved from https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-tests-30-hour-week-for-some-teams-of-employees/ 

Howland, Daphane ( 2017, January 23) Amazon revamps HR strategies to aid under performing employees retrieved on November 12, 2017 from https://www.retaildive.com/news/amazon-revamps-hr-strategies-to-aid-underperforming-employees/434526/ 

Karlgaard, R. (2013). Team Management Think Small and Agile. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/e 

Kim, Eugene ( 2016, February 17) There's a website just for upset Amazon employees to post reviews, and its organizers want union retrieved on November 13, 2017 from http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-an-anonymous-group-of-amazon-employees-to-complain-about-the-company-and-they-want-to-unionize-2016-2 

Neil, T., & Adair, J. (2006). The concise Adair on teambuilding and motivation. New Delhi: Viva Books. 

O'Donovan, C. (2015). Amazon Rewards Employees Who Stay — But Turnover Is Still High. BuzzFeed.Retrieved 15 November 2017, from https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/amazon-rewards-employees-who-staybut-turnover-is-still-high?utm_term=.ivr4QL3EZe#.jdll5ego1p 

Streitfeld, David and Kantor, Jodi ( 2015, August 15) The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers to get them to achieve its ever-expanding ambitions. 

Streitfeld, David and Kantor, Jodi ( 2015, August 17) Jeff Bezos and Amazon Employees Join Debate Over Its Culture retrieved on November 12, 2017 from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/technology/amazon-bezos-workplace-management-practices.html 

Tague, Nancy. The Quality Toolbox, 2nd Edition, ASQ Quality Press, 2004.