Amazon's Workplace Culture

ABSTRACT
The case discusses about the workplace culture of Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon),
the US based e-commerce giant. On August 16, 2015, the New York Times
newspaper kicked off a controversy with a detailed article that described
Amazon’s workplace as ‘bruising’. According to the article also criticized,
Jeffery Bezos (Jeff), the founder & CEO of Amazon, for pushing the employees
so hard that the work environment had become toxic. As per the allegations,
the company forced its employees to work ignoring their family & other
personal issues. The article also highlighted how the stringent and unfair
evaluation processes and secret feedback system prevalent in the company
had made the employees emotionally and physically ill. While Jeff denied the
allegations, many existing and former employees of Amazon came forward to
confirm and detail several incidents similar to those documented in the
article... .

Issues
The case is structured to achieve the following teaching objectives:

 Analyze the culture of and its impact on a company.

 Infer the outcomes of employee satisfaction and

dissatisfaction in a company.

 Relate organizational commitment with a firm’s performance.

INTRODUCTION

On August 16, 2015, US-based e-retail giant Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon) was
hit hard by an article published in the New York Times (NYT). The detailed
article kicked off a controversy as it described Amazon’s workplace as ‘bruising’.
According to the article, the founder & CEO of Amazon, Jeffery Bezos (Jeff), to
meet his ever expanding aspirations, was trying to push the employees so hard
that the work environment had become toxic.

In the reports published by NYT, many former employees came out with
statements exposing the allegedly inhuman treatment they received. They
narrated several incidents in which they alleged employees had been humiliated
during company meetings; that employees suffering from health complexities
were put on a performance improvement plan; and many more. As per the
Amazon's Workplace Culture

allegations, the company forced its employees to work ignoring their family and
other personal issues. Other allegations were: Stringent and unfair evaluation
processes and secret feedback system that were prevalent in the company had
made the employees emotionally and physically ill; employees had to work till
late hours and even on weekends and during regular vacations; Employees
were sent e-mails late in the night, and if they did not respond, text messages
asking for a clarification were sent; Amazonians were encouraged to sabotage
their co-workers’ ideas to outrun them. . ..

Q1

Ans Amazon.com Inc. has an organizational culture that enables business capacity to
respond to the demands of the e-commerce market. A company’s organizational or
corporate culture sets the traditions and values that influence employees’ behaviors. For
example, Amazon’s corporate culture pushes employees to go beyond traditional limits
and conventions to develop bright ideas and solutions. As the world’s top-performing
online retailer, the company continues to seek fresh talent. However, to maintain a
capable workforce, Amazon must reinforce its organizational culture to shape the
development of human resources for long-term competitive advantage.