Organizational culture is a reflective view of the inner workings of an organization. This culture reflects hierarchical arrangements as it pertains to the lines of authority, rights and obligations, duties, and communication processes. Organizational structure establishes the manner in which power and roles are coordinated and controlled amongst the varying levels of management. The structure of an organization is dependent upon their goals, objectives, and strategy. Determining organizational structure best suited for an organization is generally found within the six key elements of organizational structure and choosing those to implement those best suited for the organization. The six key elements include: 1) Work Specialization – The level in which duties are subdivided into distinct jobs within the organization taking into account efficiency gains and efficiency losses. a. Efficiency gains i. Relation of payment to skill level ii. Increased performance iii. Encouragement of creativity b. Efficiency losses i. Stress ii. Boredom iii. Fatigue iv. Absenteeism and turnover 2) Departmentalization – The foundation for determining the way jobs will be grouped, which can include: function, process, geography, product, or customer. 3) Chain of Command – This establishes the level of authority from the bottom to the top within the organization and the level of authority each managerial position will hold. Additionally, the chain of command will outline the reporting process. 4) Span and Control – This element pertains to such issues as the number of subordinates under the direct supervision of a manager. It is extremely important to take into consideration a larger pool of subordinates can equate to efficient cost, but to... ... middle of paper ... ...y their mission statement. Works Cited Abilla, P. (n.d.). The Mind of Jeff Bezoa. Retrieved from: http://www.shmula.com/the-mind-of-jeff-bezos/395/ Blandino, S. (2012). Amazon’s Culture: How to Shape an Enduring Organizational Culture. Retrieved from: http://www.faithvillage.com/article/81939068ed36450197491582db1d7b21/amazon Deutschman, A. (2004, August). Inside The Mind Of Jeff Bezos. Fast Company, 85, 52-58. Retrieved from: http://www.fastcompany.com/50106/inside-mind-jeff-bezos Distinguin, S. (2011). Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire. Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/faberNovel/amazoncom-the-hidden-empire Layton, J. (2013). How Amazon Works. Retrieved from: http://money.howstuffworks.com/amazon.htm/printable Robbins, S. P., & Coulter. M. (2014). Management (12th ed.). Retrieved from: Colorado Technical University eBook Collection database.
The chain of command is the line of authority that extends from the highest to the lowest levels of the organization.
...dures. Job descriptions are closely defined with little flexibility. Jobs are divided in different specialization e.g. finance and marketing. This makes control easier.
One of Amazon’s main focuses is to create value for it’s customers. To do this, their number one strategy is to exceeding customer’s expectations. Amazon does a lot of little things very well. These little things are often overlooked by other retailers and, as a result, create customer loyalty for Amazon.
Bezos believes in the value of customer satisfaction and this is the Amazon.com main objective. A huge number of measurable goals are used to track the rate of how Amazon performs and wishes to perform. Not surprisingly, an astonishing eighty percent of those goals are related to the satisfaction of the customer. Bezos primarily concern is improving the performance of the organization and customer service. Personnel issues are given secondary importance and attention. As Stone has emphasized (2013), Kim Rachmeler , who worked for Amazon.com for more than a decade, affirm that “This is not somebody who takes pleasure at tearing someone a new a--hole. He is not that kind of person. Jeff doesn’t tolerate
Jeff Bezo’s began Amazon in his garage in July 1995 with three Sun workstations setting on wooden doors for tables and extension cords running from everywhere (Academy of Achievement, 2010). Right from the beginning he was a visionary leaving his well paying job as a senior vice president with D. E. Shaw to begin Amazon.com (Academy of Achievement, 2010). Being the visionary that he is he saw an opportunity prompted by the huge growth rate of internet use in a single year and ran with it never looking back. Jeff realized that the internet had “no real commerce to speak of” so he began researching possible businesses (Academy of Achievement, 2010). “After reviewing 20 mail order businesses and deciding which could be conducted more efficiently over the internet than by traditional means he decided on books” (Academy of Achievement, 2010). He thought books were perfect because attempting to send huge catalogs for all the available books would be expensive and cumbersome, but an online resource database that was easy to navigate would provide customers with easy access and a single point from which to shop. “In 30 days, with no press, Amazon had sold books in all 50 states and 45 foreign countries, obviously by the success of Amazon he was right (Academy of Achievement, 2010). In a case study written by Javad Kargar called “Amazon.com in 2003” he stated that “Amazon's online store was a big hit, with about $5 million in the first year of operations” (2004). This huge success so quickly would have confirmed for Jeff that his idea was viable and drove him to continue to strive for more. Jeff Bezo’s charismatic-visionary leadership is the key to his and Amazon’s success.
Analyses: For the purpose of this case study, the Balance Scorecard and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analyses will be used to analyze the employee culture at Amazon.com with proposals on improvement.
Since the creation of Amazon in 1995, it has been a reference of adopting a successful strategy which has preserved over time; being the largest online store in the world nowadays. In addition, i...
O'Reilly III, C. A., Chatman, J., & Caldwell, D. F. (1991). People and organizational culture: a
The term segregation of duties is an important internal control that must be tested and followed. “The rationale for segregation of duties is that the work of one employee should, without a duplication of effort, provide a reliable basis for evaluating the work of another employee. There are two common applications of this principle:
Amazon.com was a venture into an emerging market of internet and had to face hidden and unexpected hurdles in order to survive and excel in the market. Therefore, Amazon.com kept modifying its strategies with their focus on enhancing customer experience of online shopping and to delivery exceptional services with complete convenience to their customers. One of the major strategic decisions was to compromise on cost saving stragegy when Amazon.com started to maintain its own warehouses in different countries in order to ensure timely and accurate delivery to their customers
an hierarchical structure characterizes how exercises, for example, teek allotment, coordination and supervision are guided towards the accomplishment of authoritative points. It can likewise be recognized as the review glass or viewpoint through which people see their association and its surroundings or it might be seen as the formalized game plan of communication between obligation regarding the errand, individuals , and assets in association it most seen as graph with positions or titles and parts.
Organizational structure within an organization is a critical component of the day to day operations of a business. An organization benefits from organizational structure as a result of all it encompasses. It is used to define how tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated. Six elements should be addressed during the design of the organization’s structure: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, spans of control, centralization and decentralization. These components are a direct reflection of the organization’s culture, power and politics.
Amazon is best known for their kindle, fast shipping, and selling various products (Smith). With Amazon being such a large corporation, professionalism, academics, character, and engagement are crucial parts of the success of the company. Professionalism: Amazon has grown to become the largest internet-based retailer in the world by total sales. It began as primarily an online bookstore and soon began to sell more and more electronics and then over time began to sell pretty much anything. In 1998, Amazon earned about $0.6 billion, which held steady growth from 1998-2006 (“Amazon.com”).
Amazon has recorded a magnificent success in its business throughout the years that it has been in operation. It has attracted almost all people to use it when necessary. Amazon has built its success in business methodically and slowly. Amazon has made much success because of its ability to read market trends and diversify its operations. It started as an online book selling company. However, it changed its operations and started selling other products. Currently, many large retail shops use Amazon to host and power their websites, for instance, sears and virgin megastores. Amazon now attracts over fifty million visitors in a period of one month. Amazon has tried to make their services fit each individual user. It has based its services on the end user. It has shipping discounts, customer product reviews and a credit card with bonuses. It also has prime membership, product forums and 1-click ordering system among other services. The company has tried to make a remarkable experience for customers and visitors (Thomas, 2006).
Robbins, S.P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.