Amazon.com Inc. might be many people’s dream place to work for; a high employee turnover (second position among Fortune 500 companies) seems quite ironical given its reputation and other profitability statistics. Though the high turnover is also a courtesy to improving the job market and growing growth opportunities, a punishing culture of long working hours, high-stress level, strict deadlines, and disparaging bosses cannot be ignored. Apparently, HR dimensions need to be taken care of if the company wishes to retain key employees and optimize their productivity.
It goes without saying that employees are the cornerstone of business and lack of loyalty among them hampers organizational productivity and overall efficiency. It is, thus, imperative to adopt a lean management approach that emphasizes on reducing wastes of all types. Though Jeff Boss has emphasized the lean principle since the very day of Amazon’s inception, there have been some loopholes in the management aspect. For instance, Amazon initially placed more heft to the technological part believing that it could solely solve most of the issues. As a result, engagement of frontline workers gradually took a beating thereby making a negative impact on the continuous improvement of the organization. With the company’s expansion and business evolution, it is, thus, necessary to redefine automation principles. Reserving employees for critical and innovative tasks is the key to business improvement. Furthermore, a seamless communication across departments and hierarchy is a must-have condition to apply lean principles with the full zing. The biggest challenge is to apply lean management principle in software creation. Software engineers have not been able to detect defects during the software development. It is a future challenge, and only continuous employee training on best practices can solve the purpose.
Furthermore, it is quite natural for big companies to lose the focus more easily than their smaller counterparts. A large number of employees to manage, high customer expectations and multiple layers might play a spoilsport. The management has agreed that assigned tasks are vague sometimes, and employees have to figure out things on their own. This condition coupled with organizational hierarchies is enough to plummet employees’ morale and satisfaction.
Prominent among many solutions is the participative approach. The power of participative leadership in relation to improving employee satisfaction and organizational productivity is well documented in the literature. While people are supposed to perform ‘good’ in a participative environment, the participative style also enhances the innovative behavior of employees. Instead of dictums and instructions, managers and seniors must act as mentors and coaches for team members.
Another efficient strategy is to shift towards employee centric approach from a hardcore customer-centric mindset. Several companies including HCL (India) are redefining their approach with employees first, customers second management philosophy. The aim is to create a transparent and value-driven culture marked by employees’ motivation and high sense of engagement. Company culture is a unique differentiator of Employee Value Proposition (EVP), and the application of participative leadership can prove a low-cost and high impact factor in spurring a productive and creative work environment. HRD managers can think of innovative ways to break the work monotony and bring out fun by non-working activities. Evidence reveals that out-of-the-box activities as potlucks, family picnics, starting a book club in the office help employees divert their minds from the workplace stress. The organization must impart a platform to employees to express, socialize, and scale up the communication in an absolutely non-threatening ambiance.
Explicitly, the ability of the organization to improve itself with time hinges on its subparts, i.e., how employees relate themselves to their workgroups and how this workgroup interacts with other groups of the organization. That is, the success depends on interconnectivity. The stronger the bonds are, better are the chances of revitalization in the future. The management can accomplish organizational development by paying heed to interpersonal goals, team goals, and employee training. Aligning staffers towards organizational goals might be one of the biggest challenges, making cultural changes to be in sync with changing employees’ needs must be ensured to facilitate the organizational development over time.
A transparent culture, team emphasis and participative leadership also ensure improved processes and outputs be reducing the time and energy spent on taking undue permissions and approvals. Researchers are unanimous that HR managers can improve organizational output by inculcating positive attitude and motivation among employees. At the same time, employees can be provided with expanded responsibilities so that they can best use their skills and aptitude. The findings of Patterson et al. (1997) have confirmed that people management practices have a sound impact on organizational productivity and profitability. In the same vein, Mahoney and Watson (1993) have recommended employee involvement model that proved befitting concerning organizational productivity and organizational performance.
Last but not the least, the organization can measure the success of efforts by comparing current statistics from earlier statistics. Reduction in employee turnover, less time spent in detecting and fixing errors, and overall organizational profitability will reflect the sincere implementation of change efforts.
References
Forbes. (2010). Why I Put Employees Ahead of My Customers. Retrieved June 20, 2016, from forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/18/employees-first-vineet-nayar-leadership-managing-hcl.html
Mahoney, T., & Watson, M. (1993). Evolving Models of Workforce Governance: An Evolution. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.
Onetto, M. (2014, February). When Toyota Met e-Commerce: Lean at Amazon. Retrieved June 20, 2016, from mckinsey.com: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/when-toyota-met-e-commerce-lean-at-amazon
Patterson, M., & West, M. (1997). Impact of People Management Practices on Business Performance. London: Institute of Personnel and Development.
Timmerman, M. (2012). How Participative Leadership Powers a Culture of Productivity. WorkSpan.
