Amazon.com Incorporated, popularly known as Amazon, is an American multinational corporation based in Seattle, Washington, and deals in electronic commerce and cloud computing. While the company was formed in 1994, its incorporation happened two years later (Reuters, 2016). Initially, Amazon was an online library, but with growth came product diversification and currently, the company has one of the most varied offerings of products and services. Strikingly, the company has approximately 600,000 employees (Reuters, 2016). Furthermore, this corporation has achieved historic milestones in its development such as becoming the worlds most valuable retailer, one of the most globally valuable companies, one of the biggest employers, and the largest internet-based company based on revenues (Reuters, 2016). It is fair to say that the company is a towering presence in corporate America.
Operation wise, the company has three segments, namely: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) . Generally, the company includes goods and content it buys from vendors for resale as well as those offered by third-party sellers (Reuters, 2016). The North American segment handles retail sales and subscription sold via its geographically-dedicated website. Furthermore, through its subsidiary- Whole Food Market Incorporated- this segment offers organic and staple food through its retail outlets. Interestingly, this working relationship allows customers shopping on www. Amazon.com to have their products shipped to their local Whole Food Market store or send back returns during a store visit (Reuters, 2016). Still, this company manufactures and sells small electronic devices and this segment also handles export sales. On the other hand, the International segment handles export sales; from the internationally-focused website to customers in North America. As a segment, AWS sells computers, storage, databases among other products and services that target start-ups, academic institutions, government agencies, and enterprises (Reuters, 2016).
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Still, on operations, Amazon has a varied offering of products and services that include database offerings, publishing, fulfillment, certain digital content subscriptions, co-branded credit cards, and advertising. Its retail websites serve customers by focusing on selection, convenience, and price. Through Kindle Direct and Amazon Publishing , an online service offering, Amazon facilitates independent authors and publishers to avail their work on Kindle Store and select royalty options (Reuters, 2016). Further, it has programs that enable content developers to publish and sell their content. In addition to developing and producing media content, Amazon Prime is a subscription-based membership program that includes instant unlimited streaming of thousands of films and television programs. Therefore, Amazon has indeed diversified from books, which it still offers. Seemingly, the US, UK, Germany, and Japan are markets where the company has an impressive presence (Reuters, 2016).
Strategically speaking, it seems that Amazon is keen on further diversification, revenue growth, and faster delivery options for its customers. This approach is highly dependent on having the right information and Amazon is aware of this to the extent of incorporating artificial intelligence in all its systems to analyze their usage and find points for improvement. For customers, this translates to better experiences as machine learning and algorithms optimize system functions (Reuters, 2016). At this point, the company’s relentless commitment to creating customer value and equally relentless ambitions are evident. Seemingly, the company has a technology-infused approach to managing its human resource that is informed by the formative experiences of founder Jeff Bezos (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015).
While not the first company to turn to data-driven management to extract the most out of its employees, the Amazon philosophy is based on, among other things, a predominant confidence in the power of metrics. Basically, this viewpoint codified by Bezos pushes employees to give their all to the point of unsustainability (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015). Furthermore, the company holds its employees to toweringly high standards, has programmed its phone directories to instruct colleagues on how to secretly send feedback to one another’s bosses and an aggressive erosion of the work-life balance. It seems that the company has managed its impressive growth on its ability to extract the most out of its employees (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015). Infused with technology, the philosophy creates transparency and accuracy to distinguish those who are attaining performance targets from those who are not. Seemingly, this culture is incompatible with employee welfare as the compensation is not competitive and workers have reported using their own funds to meet company objectives. It seems that Amazons’ single-minded focus of pleasing customers has been achieved at the expense of harmony among colleagues. Kantor & Streitfeld (2015) observe that harmony is perceived as an obstacle to honest critique and optimal decision-making.
Sociology offers at least 3 theoretical frameworks that can be used to analyze the effects of Amazon’s organizational culture, specifically, symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and conflict theory. Symbolic interactionism analyzes phenomena at the micro level and focuses on the subjective meanings people attach to symbols because that will inform how they interact with the symbols. By design, this approach ignores macro-level analyses in addition to being criticized for minimizing the influence of social forces and institutions on personal interactions (Turner, 2014). Functionalism holds that aspects of any society are interdependent and contribute to its wholesome functioning. This approach underlines the importance of cohesion in attaining societal objectives. Further advancing this notion, mechanical solidarity emanates from societies that maintain similar beliefs and work while organic solidarity entails interdependent societies with disparate values and forms of work (Turner, 2014). Generally, this approach has been criticized for omitting the negative functions of events. On the other hand, conflict theory looks at the negative, fluid, and complex nature of society. Based on Marxism, the conflict viewpoint is economic and socio-political with a method of socioeconomic inquiry based on a materialistic understanding of history, a dialectical approach towards social change, and an evaluation of capitalism (Turner, 2014). Then again, this approach has been criticized for being excessively negative. Again, it interprets humanitarian exercises, democracy, and civil rights as capitalistic designs for controlling the masses.
It is doubtless that conflict is an inevitable dimension of any society and an American multinational corporation is not exempt from this norm. Accordingly, conflict theory is the recommended basis for crafting solutions of Amazons’ conflict with its workers. Functionalism would not be appropriate as it would seek to preserve the status quo, thereby, preserving the tension and unsustainable approach to human resource management at the corporation (Turner, 2014). Similarly, symbolic interactionism may be used only at the micro level, for instance, among colleagues because it will not address the company-wide challenge of an unhealthy organizational culture. Significantly, the organizational conflict at Amazon has aggressively eroded job satisfaction for sections of current and former employees. Furthermore, this has the effect of reducing productivity among employees (Turner, 2014). Therefore, Amazon employees, under the current culture, potentially risk being fired for not being satisfied with their jobs and failing to uphold their employers towering standards. Due to the unsustainable nature of their approach, it is essential that the company start negotiations with the employees and avoid any attempts at applying force in resolving the conflict.
Amazon.com Incorporated has managed to record towering achievements in its short existence. On its way to becoming an industry leader, the corporation has been able to diversify into several industries since its establishment. Being a technology-based company, Amazon has used artificial technology to optimize its value offering to customers and its resource usage. While potentially indicative of the future working environment, the organizational culture at Amazon lacks in sustainability for it neglects employee welfare, minimizes compensation, and erodes their work-life balance.
References
Kantor, J., & Streitfeld, D. (2015). Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace. The New York Times . Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?_r=0 . Retrieved on October 4, 2018.
Reuters. (2018). Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O). Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/AMZN.O . retrieved on October 4, 2018.
Turner, J. H. (2014). Theoretical sociology: A concise introduction to twelve sociological theories . Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
