Last week, you selected an organization for your project and wrote a report including the name of the organization (may be disguised) and the problem(s) the organi

Example: A medical doctor writes about the importance of vaccinating children

Scholarly sources are written by experts who have a higher degree in their field and are written for other experts to help them further their research and understanding. They often have a long references list at the end and are sometimes peer-reviewed.

Example: A medical doctor writes about a study she conducted on overweight mice in an academic journal

Scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles can be identified by the following characteristics:

Author(s): They are typically written by professors, researchers, or other scholars who specialize in the field and are often identified by the academic institution at which they work.

Purpose: They are published by professional associations, university publishers or other academic publishers to report research results or discuss ongoing research in detail.

Language: They are highly specialized and may use technical language.

Layout: They will cite their sources and include footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical citations and/or a list of bibliographic references.

Content: They may include graphs and tables and they undergo a peer review process before publication.

Helpful tips for finding scholarly articles:

Limit your search to peer-reviewed journals only. Some databases allow you to limit searches for articles to peer reviewed journals only. For example, Academic Search Complete has a check-off "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Articles" filter:

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Week 1 Project

Introduction

Amazon is one of the largest and recognized e-commerce and technology companies which is known for its innovations and fast development. Nonetheless, like any other large establishment it has its challenges which must be addressed through carefully constructed plans if it is to remain a force to reckon with in the industry and achieve future growth. In this report, I am to present an OD intervention plan for Amazon, and in this case, I will assume to be an external consultant. This approach will enable me to take a neutral stand and use my knowledge to solve the problems facing Amazon’s efficiency, workers, and other goals.

Organizational Background

Amazon was established in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and up to the present, it has become one of the biggest corporations in the world with focus on e-commerce and cloud computing services (Stone, 2022). Amazon has grown significantly to have over 16 million employees worldwide by 2024 and operates in various segments such as e-commerce, video and audio streaming services, AI and cloud computing services through AWS (Stone, 2022). The company is a market leader in a number of sectors, including e-commerce where it holds a large market share in the United States and other countries Also, Amazon Prime membership has come to be one of the core revenue streams for the company and is considered a membership program which provides free and discounted shipping, video and music streaming and many others.

The firm sells almost everything including electronics, books, clothing, and even food through the acquisition of Whole Foods Market (Stone, 2022). It also offers cloud computing services to organisations and governments across the globe. However, as a market leader, Amazon has numerous challenges that can be attributed to its size and structure such as employee relations, operational effectiveness, and keeping the customer at the heart of the business.

Approach

For this project, I will come in as an external consultant to the group. This approach will afford me the opportunity to look at Amazon’s problems as an outsider and apply my knowledge without being prejudiced by the company’s politics and procedures. Being an external consultant it is possible to have a view of other companies and their practices, and introduce the best practices and some new approaches that may be not evident for an internal team. This approach also allows for free flow of communication within all levels of the organization because the employees might be more free with an outsider.

Amazon was established by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and it is one of the biggest e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital streaming company. It has more than 16 million employees all over the globe and they serve in the sectors of retail, technology and logistics (Stone, 2022). Amazon is famous for its customer-oriented strategy and the constant improvement and optimization of its processes. Some of the important products and services of the company are the online retail services, Amazon Prime, AWS and the Amazon Echo smart devices (Stone, 2022). Nevertheless, Amazon has various issues with regards to the employees, operations, and customer satisfaction, and this intervention seeks to address.

Organizational Challenges at Amazon

Employee Engagement and Satisfaction

The biggest problem Amazon faces is the lack of employee engagement and satisfaction. While occupying the leading positions in the market, Amazon has faced some controversies concerning its working conditions, especially in the fulfilment centers (Yohn, 2022). High rates of employee turnover, instances of burnout and complaints about work-life imbalance are some of the challenges that have led to low morale and efficiency (Yohn, 2022). The necessity for change in the area stems from the growing advocacy for better working conditions in Amazon, which are inextricably linked to workers’ satisfaction, turnover, and output.

Operational Efficiency

Another critical test facing Amazon is the continuation of operational efficiency, considering its rapid growth. The logistics, the complex network of warehouses, delivery services, and supply chain management—is, in fact, at the core of the company's business model (Nguyen, 2019). Inefficiencies in these areas will mean delays, rising costs, and dissatisfied customers. It is the huge scale of operations at Amazon that has impelled such operational efficiency change, which calls for continuous innovation and optimization to meet customer demand while keeping a tab on costs.

Customer-Centricity

One of the key factors that have enabled Amazon to achieve its success has been its focus on customers (Stone, 2022). Nonetheless, there is a problem of how to reconcile customer services with the overall profitability of the organization. As the company expands its product and service lines, it may lose sight of the needs of the customer. This is compounded by the fact that the e-commerce and cloud computing industries are becoming more and more crowded with competitors providing similar services (Stone, 2022). The requirement for change in this area arises from the need to enhance the quality of customer service that Amazon prides itself with, while at the same controlling costs as the company moves into new markets.

Conclusion

To conduct the above intervention, as an external OD consultant I would first make a call to the CHRO and the COO of Amazon. These leaders are critical in managing issues to do with employee engagement, operational effectiveness, and customer orientation. Some of the key provisions that must be included in the contract include the Scope of Work that defines the areas to be addressed, the Deliverables that will be provided such as reports and recommendations, the Timeline that will be used to achieve each phase of the project, and the Confidentiality clause that will prevent the disclosure of sensitive information. Regarding the Fee Structure, I would suggest a fixed fee for the initial assessment phase and then a variable fee for the successful implementation of the intervention, which will make my incentives aligned with Amazon and the focus on the results.

References