AMAZON INDIA

Submitted by: Group 6

Manas Pratim Baruah 034/2017

Mayank Sujitkumar Roy 035/2017

Mitul Shah 036/2017

Shaivya Kaushal 038/2017

Nitesh Rathi 039/2017

Piyush Shah 040/2017

Approvals: -
Dr. Moni Mishra,

Course Facilitator

Designation: Senior Assistant Professor, OB & HR

Distribution List: -
1. Programme Co-ordinator: Dr. Praveen Gupta
2. Librarian: Ms. Nandi Narwal
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
S No. Description Page
Preface 3
Acknowledgements 4
1. Introduction 5
2. Literature Review 6
3. Objectives 9
4. Methodology 10
5. Analysis and Interpretations 13
6. Conclusions 14
7. References 15
8. Appendix 16
Interview Schedule 16
Log Sheet 18
Responses 19

2
 PREFACE

The live project was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the key learnings
gained by us during the course of Managing Work Organisations, involving the
topics of Organisational Political Behavior and Leadership.
An industry visit involving interactive conversations was organised at Gurgaon
office on Saturday, 25th November 2017. While conducting the interviews, we made
sure that all our interactions were in line with whatever we have learnt during the
class lectures. Each member of the group gave their contribution, and this enabled
us in completing the project smoothly.
After going through all our conversations and discussions we have prepared this
report which will include all the relevant interactions and their learnings.

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi and our
Managing Work Organizations professor, Dr. Moni Mishra, for giving us a project
that allowed us to delve deeper into an organizations many facets, and for giving
her valuable inputs on how we can get the most out of this live project.

Finally, wed also like to express our gratitude to Finally, wed also like to thank
Mr. Ankit Goel, Manager- Business Development; Mr. Arvind Sabharwal, Zonal
Manager; Mr. Siddhant, Key Account Manager; Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Sales
Specialists and Mrs. Karishma HRBP at Amazon who took out time from their busy
schedule to help us understand the practical aspects of the topics at the organization.
Their concise answers enabled us to carry out the project successfully and they also
assisted us in getting an insight into the day-to-day workings of the organisation.

4
 1. INTRODUCTION

From the very onset of our PGDM course, we have been made aware of the various
concepts and skills that we as future managers would be required to inculcate and
execute. As much as they have helped us understand what is expected of us in the
future, there was still a need to get practical exposure even at this premature stage
of first year. The Live Project assigned to us under the curriculum of Managing Work
Organizations (MWO) gave us that opportunity to explore and observe the live
executions of some of the HR related concepts we have learned till now.

With the intent of making full use of this opportunity we decided to select
Amazon, a well-established e-commerce company for the same. With the help of
some personal contacts we were fortunate to get in touch with the various employees
of the organization who were kind enough to give us a brief overview of their
organization.

During our interview sessions, we primarily focused on the following topics:

Role of power and political behavior
Leadership
Work Culture.
Once we assimilated all the responses, we gained some valuable understanding of
how all the theories and concepts we are learning right now have a huge role to play
in how to will perform at our workplace tomorrow

5
 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

To get a deeper understanding of the various aspects of Political Behaviour and

Leadership, we went through the following research papers:

1. Organisational Politics Can Be an Asset to Strategy Execution (2017 / by

Michael Jarrett, INSEAD Senior Affiliate Professor of Organisational Behaviour)

This article talks about how politics in organisations is often viewed as problematic.
However, if used effectively, it can help the company achieve its strategic goals.
Having good political skills is important, especially when resources are scarce, and
inequalities exist in an organisation.

The author says that understanding the organisations political landscape, that is,
the political terrain, is essential if organisational politics is to be deployed
effectively. The political terrain can be divided into four types based on the level of
political activity:

The weeds: The weeds involves individual activities and informal networks. The
weeds grow naturally within the organisation. An informal group may be created
and informal meetings outside the organisation may be organized to discuss on the
issues that are common to everyone.
The rocks: The rocks involves individual activities and formal networks.
They are called rocks because they involve a formal network which is a stabilizing
foundation and discussion are held on formal channels, for example, the finance
committee, a special task force, or the senior management team.
However, sometimes, this formal source of power can also be used to serve
self-interests rather than the organisations interests.

6
 The high ground: The high involves organisational activities and formal networks.
It involves rules, structures and guidelines to be followed by the members of the
organisation. These rules make the organisation work in a systematic manner with
roles clearly defined.

However, too much emphasis on rules and regulations can also lead to a
company becoming overly bureaucratic.

The woods: The high involves organisational activities and informal networks.
These include the implicit norms and hidden assumptions that are assumed to be
followed by everyone in the organisation. They can be a great source of innovation
for the organisation, as ideas and creativity is promoted through these channels.

However, it should be made sure that these norms are not too rigid so that they can
be altered according to the situation, so that is handled well.

2. To Be a Great Leader, You Have to Learn How to Delegate Well (2017 / by

Jesse Sostrin, Ph. D, Director, PwCs Leadership Coaching Center of Excellence)

This article talks about the challenges in leading in the long term and how a leader
can overcome those challenges just by changing a few practices.

The author focuses on how it is easy to lead in the short term, as energy is high, and
resources are in abundance. But in the long term, resources shrink, and the work
becomes more demanding, and it becomes more difficult to involve others.

However, this problem can be solved just by becoming more essential and less
involved. In other words, he should make others capable of performing tasks on
their own, rather than being iterated again and again.

7
To become more essential and less involved author has suggested some
strategies:

Start with your reasons: The leader must make others realise how they fit into
the big picture.
Inspire their commitment: Once they realise this, the next task is to make them
clear about their role. Also, the leader must not try to be too involved and give
enough freedom to the members.
Engage at the right level: Another important thing is to be selective about the
opportunities coming their way, and say No if you feel your contribution
can have a greater impact elsewhere.

Learnings from The Articles:

From the first article on Organizational Politics, we got to understand how politics
in an organisation can be used effectively to achieve the organisational goals, and
how the political terrain can be effectively used to understand politics in an
organisation.

The second article has shown how a leader can be essential, not only in the short
term, but can maintain the performance of the group over a long period of time by
letting the group members understand their role in achieving the big picture, that is
the organisational goals.

8
 3. OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the working structure and work culture at Amazon India.

2. To study the importance of Political Behaviour and Leadership at Amazon
India.
3. To understand the various HR policies and practices at Amazon India.

9
 4. METHODOLOGY

Research Tool Used:

We started out by asking some basic questions about the organisation, so

that we could get an understanding of how working is carried out in the

organisation. This helped us to ask further relevant questions regarding the

organisation.

After this, we interviewed them with questions regarding political behaviour

and what is its role in the organisation.

Then, we asked them regarding leadership and how it has helped the

employees in improving their efficiency.

The next few questions focused on the culture of the organisation and how it

is different from other organisations in the same industry.

Study site:
The research study was conducted at the Amazon Development Center at Gurgaon.

About Amazon India:

Amazon Inc. is the largest e-commerce retailer in the world, which started primarily
as an online bookstore, and later diversified its business to sell various other
products.

10
Amazon started its operations in India in the year 2013, with the launch of
Amazon.in, providing a platform for hundreds of retailers to sell their products
online.

Why Amazon?

To learn about the various aspects of organisational behaviour, it was necessary that
we took an organisation that already had a well-established structure of organisation
into place. Also, we were able to connect our learning well with this organisation,
because we already knew a lot about Amazon. Therefore, it became easier for us to
understand how the daily operations take place and how important organisational
behaviour was to the company.

HR Policies of Amazon India:

Amazon India focuses on hiring superachievers, to continuously improve the

performance of the company.
In the words of Raj Raghavan, the former HR Head, "I have to be able to say,
'I'm glad I hired you' to a new joinee.
Amazon India provides a lot of benefits to their employees, including
insurance, meal vouchers, recreation places, cab allowances, paid leaves, site
off holidays and transport allowances.

The visit enabled us to understand in brief how the organisation functioned and
how we should carry forward our research work. The structure included various
departments like the HR Department, Sales Department and Accounts Department.
Each of these departments had their heads and we interviewed them to know about

11
the department, and later on tried to connect the dots to get an overall
understanding of the organisation.

Sample Study:
We were fortunate enough to have the contact details of Mr. Ankit Goel, Manager,
Business Development and he enabled us to visit the organisation and interact with
all the other department heads. We interviewed the following persons:

Mr. Ankit Goel (Manager- Business Development)

Mr. Anurag Srivastava (Sales Specialist)
Mr. Arvind Sabharwal (Zonal Manager)
Mr. Siddhant (Key Account Manager)
Mrs. Karishma (HRBP)

12
 5. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS

1. Rather than seeing Organisational Political Behavior from a negative frame

of mind, we should also look at the positive effects of it. If this helps in
bringing out the best from all employees, it should be encouraged.
2. Each and everyone is a leader of their own. Therefore, they should motivate
themselves and lead themselves towards better performance.
3. It is important to give different kinds of roles to employees in the organisation,
otherwise the job may become monotonous after some time.
4. An open work culture is really helpful in initiating changes in the organisation.

13
 6.CONCLUSIONS
Power and political behaviour:

o Political behaviour should not always be discouraged. If used effectively, it

can help in bringing out the best out of the employees

o One rigid structure should not be followed, rather a blend of different

strategies should be followed to make every situation effective.
o A healthy competition should be encouraged between the employees, as this
will help the company to move towards its objectives.

Leadership:
o Each person should be given the world that he specializes in.
o At the same time, the workers must be given flexibility to work in different
departments so that the work does not become monotonous.
o Employees should be aware of the big picture and their jobs should be given
importance in reaching towards that big picture.
o There should be an open culture of discussion, so that any doubts or
clarifications can be addressed quickly.

14
 7. REFERENCES
1. http://search.ebscohost.com/
2. Michael Jarrett, Organisational Politics Can Be an Asset to Strategy
Execution, (2017)
3. Jesse Sostrin, To Be a Great Leader, You Have to Learn How to
Delegate Well, (2017)
4. https://www.statista.com/topics/846/amazon/

15
 8. APPENDIX
INTERVIEW SCHEDULE AND LOG SHEET

8.1 Interview Schedule

Power and Political Behaviour:

1. How does the management of Amazon ensure that the employees who are
hesitant in sharing their thoughts about the business practices followed, get the
right forum to do the same?
2. As a leader, what do you think is more appropriate, power in the hand of one or
delegation of authority?
3. Does Amazon endorse political behavior or such practices if it has some positive
effects on the organization?
4. How does the management in Amazon empower their employees so that they all
give their best efforts?

Leadership:
1. While leading group in Amazon, do you emphasize more on the task or do you
believe maintaining good relationship with your subordinates will get the work
done?
2. We all know that its a big challenge to maintain the same level of performance
over a long period of time, in doing so what major challenges have you faced in
this organization?
3. What processes or methods do you follow while communicating a possible
upcoming tough time to the employees? (GROUP)

16
4. How would you ensure that when you communicate a tough task to employees,
so that they are able to handle it well?
5. Becoming more essential entails delegating work. How does the management
engage with the employees to maintain the balance between getting too involved
or too laid off?
6. By empowering the employees, the manager needs to be less involved, and thus,
he becomes more essential, how has the change reflected on the organization?

Culture:
1. How would you include new members in the team so that they get up to date with
the teams work culture? (INDIVIDUAL)
2. What are the practices that Amazon follows to keep employees motivated,
increasing their job satisfaction and reducing employee turnover rate?
(INDIVIDUAL)
3. What are the organization practices when it comes to addressing the employees
who seek for clarity?
4. What are the preventive measures the organization has in place which checks
misuse of power by an individual?

17
 8.2 Log sheet

Employee Positon Interviewer Date Format Duration

Name
Mr. Ankit Manager- Shaivya 25th Personal 12-15 mins
Goel Business Kaushal & November,2017 Interview
Development Mayank S
Roy
Mr. Anurag Sales Piyush Shah 25th Personal 15-18 mins
Srivastava Specialist & Manas P November,2017 Interview
Baruah
Mr. Arvind Zonal Mayank S 25th Personal 8-10 mins
Sabharwal Manager Roy & November,2017 Interview
Nitesh Rathi
Mr. Siddhant Key Account Mitul Shah 25th Personal 10-12
Manager & Shaivya November,2017 Interview
Kaushal
Mrs. HRBP Mitul Shah 25th Personal 8-10 mins
Karishma & Nitesh November,2017 Interview
Rathi

18
8.3 RESPONSES

Mr. Ankit Goel, Manager-Business Development:

How does the management of Amazon ensure that the employees who are
hesitant in sharing their thoughts about the business practices followed, get
the right forum to do the same?
The company on a regular basis has its employees talking to the HR regarding any
problems they might be facing - professionally or personally. These meetings are
held once in a month, unless the employee requests for it earlier and the details of
these meetings are completely confidential and stay between the employee and
the HR alone.
The HR might further ask the employee certain open-ended questions like:
If he/she is comfortable with his/her manager?
If he/she feels that his/her manager is the doing the job in the best possible way,
according to him/her?
What he/she expects from the manager?
Etc.
As a leader, what do you think is more appropriate, power in the hand of one
or delegation of authority?
In our organization, there are no absolute policies that work in all circumstances,
it is always a blend of these policies. Sometimes, situations require power to be
restricted in the hands of one person where responsibility needs to be held while
in other cases, power needs to be delegated among a group of people based on

19
 their strengths and skill sets. We, as an organisation, try to be as flexible as
possible so that every situation can be handled effectively.

What are the practices that Amazon follows to keep employees motivated,
increasing their job satisfaction and reducing employee turnover rate?
We see money to be a great motivator. Apart from this, to ensure job
satisfaction employees are allocated work according to their interests and skills,
they get constant support from their superiors and managers. Employees are made
sure that their work counts in framing a big picture and that they arent given just
some back-end jobs. Further, in case of any accomplishments, employees get
recognitions in the e-mailers and newsletters along with other rewards and
incentives.

Mr. Arvind Sabharwal, Zonal Manager:

Does Amazon endorse political behavior or such practices if it has some

positive effects on the organization?
Political behavior is something people generally take with a negative connotation,
but as long as it further motivates your team and brings out their best efforts, it is
encouraged. Competition today, is the biggest motivator for people so if that is
what it takes to help the organization reach is goal, we encourage it. As long as
its healthy, its acceptable.

How does the management in Amazon empower their employees so that they
all give their best efforts?
At Amazon, each employee is made to feel like an individual leader. Specific
focus and attention is given to each employee to bring out their best capabilities.

20
 They are given aggressive targets and sufficient resources to meet/exceed those
targets.
Furthermore, if an employee faces problem in meeting with his targets, hes
always welcome to discuss about it. Hes given adequate training and/or
counselling for the same and according to the results of it, he might be shifted to
a different department that better compliments his skills.

Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Sales Specialist:

While leading group in Amazon, do you emphasize more on the task or do

you believe maintaining good relationship with your subordinates will get the
work done?
The team that we have working under us, we try to allocate the work among that
team in such a manner that each person gets the work that he specializes in or has
an interest in. Hence, the will to work becomes a pull from the employees and a
push from the manager. Therefore, the professional relationships that we have
here arent specially made as a replacement to the emphasis to be given to the
work to be done.

We all know that its a big challenge to maintain the same level of
performance over a long period of time. In doing so, what major challenges
have you faced in this organization?
After working at a position for some time, every job gets monotonous and
somewhat boring. Amazon is a dynamic organization where each employee has a
number of responsibilities and works as a part of various departments making the
cases of monotony very less.
But mainly, employees working at a post for over 2 years are always given the
option to shift internally from one department to another by giving interviews of

21
 the intended department and approval of the current manger. This is one of our
policies which has enabled us to retain our workforce and maintain the
performance levels over a long period of time

What processes or methods do you follow while communicating a possible

upcoming tough time to the employees? (GROUP)

Amazon has a very open and transparent culture so that all the changes, decisions,
organizational movements are communicated to all the employees on a regular
basis through e-mails and newsletters. Any tough time that company faces is also
well communicated to the employees so that right steps can be taken in that
direction.

The employees are also asked for their response and opinion so that they feel
comfortable with whatever changes are made that may affect them in any possible
way.
How would you include new members in the team so that they get up to
date with the teams work culture?
Amazon has the policy of hand holding period wherein every new employee
joining at the managerial level is required to work for 3 months with the person
he would be replacing. This is done so that the new entrant can understand the
work culture of the organization better.
We also have a policy wherein a person working at a post for 2 years can switch
internally to another department with the approval of his manager and interviews
in the other department. In such a case, this hand holding period is reduced to 1
month since he is already somewhat aware of the overall work culture.

Mr. Siddhant, Key Accounts Manager:

22
 How would you ensure that when you communicate a tough task to
employees, so that they are able to handle it well?
We make sure to inform the employees of all the aims and objectives of the
organization beforehand so that they have enough time to make plans and change
their strategies accordingly. We, as an organization, accept and welcome changes
and transitions.

Becoming more essential entails delegating work. How does the management
engage with the employees to maintain the balance between getting too
involved or too laid off?
Mostly each person who is employed by Amazon is at first placed at an
individual level. The benefit of this is that, these employees learn how to complete
a job and not know how to do only a part of the task. When that individual moves
up the ladder in future years and is allocated teams and is required to delegate
work, he then knows what parts of the job needs him to be focused and on his feet
and what parts can be handled without his close involvement.
Moreover, if a new employee joins in directly at the managerial level, he is
required to be a part of the hand holding period where he works for 3 months
with the employee he will be replacing so as to come in sync with the work and
the culture of Amazon.

By empowering the employees, the manager needs to be less involved, and

thus, he becomes more essential, how has the change reflected on the
organization?
This I would continue from my previous answer; further adding that when the
employee gets empowered it gives him the decision-making power and the sense
of authority and responsibility come with it.
23
 As for the organization, it gets benefitted as new ideas and minds come in, so we
are able to tackle different challenges in a better way.

Mrs. Karishma, HRBP

What are the organization practices when it comes to addressing the

employees who seek for clarity?

Amazon has a very open and transparent culture, where any employee can
consult his superior/manager at any time to seek clarifications. As per the policy,
the superior/manager in question is required to address the issues within a period
of 24hours. Moreover, if the employee so deems necessary, there is a provision to
hold meetings with the HR every once in a month, where the employee may talk
about any of his doubts or confusions.

What are the preventive measures the organization has in place which checks
misuse of power by an individual?

Amazon has a flat network such that any employee can talk to any other employee
he might feel a need of. If an employee is not comfortable with his immediate
senior/manager or if he feels his immediate senior is misusing his powers, he
employee may skip him and further communicate with his managers manager!
this give every employee a lot of power and discourages people who are at high
ranks to misuse their powers.

In case nothing helps, the HR is always there to address the employee grievances!

24
25
26