Amazon Management Practices: Effective and Ineffective Analysis
This paper examines both effective and ineffective management practices at Amazon, one of the world's most valuable retailers. Drawing on organizational behavior frameworks and investigative reporting, the paper explores Amazon's problematic use of stack ranking, its disregard for employee work-life balance, and the biased nature of its annual performance reviews. It also acknowledges an effective practice — the use of stock options to boost employee motivation and organizational commitment. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving Amazon's workplace culture, including eliminating stack ranking, establishing healthier work schedules, and reforming the annual appraisal process to ensure fairness and individual accountability.
- Introduction: Amazon's growth and management controversy overview
- Disdain for Employee Work-Life Balance: Employees pressured beyond normal working hours
- Ability and Ranking: Biased annual ranking system harms employees
- Motivation and Organizational Behavior: Stack ranking used to sort and motivate workers
- Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction: Stock options boost ownership and motivation
- Solutions and Recommendations: Three reforms to improve Amazon workplace culture
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper clearly separates ineffective practices from effective ones, creating a balanced analytical structure rather than a one-sided critique.
- Specific examples from investigative journalism (the Kantor and Streitfeld New York Times article) give concrete grounding to otherwise abstract management critiques.
- The recommendations section directly responds to each problem identified earlier in the paper, creating coherent internal logic and satisfying closure.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates applied organizational behavior analysis — the practice of using established management theory (Jones and George's organizational behavior framework) to evaluate real-world corporate practices. By anchoring observations about Amazon in academic concepts such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and motivation, the paper bridges journalistic evidence and scholarly frameworks effectively.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief company overview and thesis statement. It then devotes three body sections to ineffective practices (work-life balance, performance ranking, and the stack ranking motivational system), followed by one section on an effective practice (stock options and organizational commitment). A final section offers three concrete, source-supported recommendations corresponding to the problems identified. The references section cites two academic sources and two journalistic sources.
Introduction
Amazon was incorporated in 1996 and has grown to become the most valuable retailer in the United States, surpassing Walmart, with a market valuation of $250 billion. Amazon offers a wide range of products and services through its websites, including its own products alongside third-party products in various categories, available via mobile applications, websites, and retail platforms. Despite its continuous growth and advancement in the industry, the company has in recent years faced numerous complaints and negative perspectives regarding the management practices employed within it. This paper analyzes some of the effective and ineffective management practices at Amazon and offers recommendations for improvement.
Disdain for Employee Work-Life Balance
One of the ineffective management practices at Amazon is the lack of a proper work-life balance for employees. As noted by Kantor and Streitfeld (2015), a number of former Amazon employees acknowledged that supportive managers or relatively slower-paced departments shielded some workers from overwhelming stress. However, many others reported that the corporate culture actively encouraged them to obliterate the boundaries between work and personal life. For example, employees regularly devoted hours to working from home at night and on weekends. At times, they were expected to be available on conference calls during holidays such as Easter Sunday and Thanksgiving. Despite this, managers would still criticize them for having a poor internet connection during those holiday periods (Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015).
Ability and Ranking
Another problematic element of management practice at Amazon is its biased system of employee ranking. The company conducts organizational-level reviews every year, during which managers discuss and determine the rankings of their subordinates. These appraisals begin by deliberating on lower-level personnel in the presence of higher-ranking managers. As described in the reporting by Kantor and Streitfeld (2015), team leaders characterized the preparation for these appraisals as getting ready for a court case — complete with paper trails to deflect unjust allegations, implicate members of opposing groups, or identify individuals to sacrifice in order to protect more valued players.
References
Jones, G., & George, J. (2008). Introduction to Organizational Behavior. New York: Prentice Hall Publications.
Kantor, J., & Streitfeld, D. (2015). Inside Amazon: Wrestling big ideas in a bruising workplace. New York Times. Retrieved 21 February, 2016, from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html
Rosain, T. (2015). 9 key issues with Amazon's corporate culture. Becker's Hospital Review. Retrieved 21 February, 2016, from:
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.