Select a specific company and identify one potential crisis and gives a summary to the President/CEO of the steps the company should take to prepare for the specific type of crisis.
Amazon.com is currently the world’s largest online retailer having an evident competitive advantage created by a wide range of products, fast delivery, and high-quality customer services. The company was founded by Jeff Bezos in July 1994 and has been operating successfully since that time up to the present moment. Nevertheless, despite its strong customer orientation, the company’s management is now being widely criticized. The problem indicated by many consists in the fact that the corporate culture of Amazon.com is based on scientific management and digital Taylorism, which mars the image of the company and leads to a substantial loss of customers, undermining Amazon’s competitiveness in the market. Furthermore, despite constantly rising sales, Amazon has falling profits that are attributed to its management failures. Thus, it is crucial to investigate the management practices of the company to identify how innovative management techniques can be implemented to increase its competitive advantage (Rozdolskaya, Evtushenko, Somina, & Degaltseva, 2014).
To deal with the current crisis, innovative management techniques should be applied to change the conservative approach for a prospective vision. The company needs to take the following steps: 1) introduce new technological advances; 2) switch to a humanized approach; 3) foster teamwork; 4) encourage creativity; 5) promote transparency; 6) improve brand recognition. Amazon must foster innovation and constantly review management strategies to ensure that organizational issues should not stand on their way to success (Watada, Xu, & Wu, 2014). As a progressive company, it should know that the influence of innovation and technology in the world of globalization is overwhelming indeed. Setting innovative management as a priority will help the company not only win enormous profits but also position itself as an organization that cares for its employees and does its best to ensure their commitment. This always attracts investors and guarantees workers’ loyalty (Jain & Jeppe Jeppesen, 2013).
Discuss how a relational leader would acknowledge the diverse talents of employees, trust the process to bring good thinking to the socially responsible changes that all agree are worthy goals, and empower employees.
Traditionally, organizations view people as a source of profit, which means that the only thing that interests them is how much a person contributes to the organizational goals. Leaders are typically oriented at finding the most beneficial solutions to each problem, regardless of the human factor. On the contrary, relationship leadership presupposes a more empathetic approach, taking into consideration the personal values and beliefs of employees. To acknowledge the diverse talents of their subordinates, rational leaders usually assign them to various tasks and projects that would best demonstrate their knowledge and professional skills while helping them to enrich their background. Moreover, they can be given individual assignments that would make them feel special and increase motivation (Jain & Jeppe Jeppesen, 2013).
Rational leaders should bring good thinking to the socially responsible changes usually achieved by being reliable, committed, and showing trust to other members of the team. They must be able not only to deal with problems but also to use preventive measures and show an example of how to confront inappropriate behavior. Ethical standards must be followed primarily by the leader to make employees respect them (Jain & Jeppe Jeppesen, 2013).
There are many ways for rational leaders to empower their employees effectively. They can do it by gatekeeping and sharing information as the leader should demonstrate that employees have the right to participate in the decision-making process. Moreover, they must know how to use communication techniques to encourage others even without financial incentives. They must remember that job satisfaction heavily relies on successful leadership styles and motivation communicated from the top (Rozdolskaya et al., 2014).
References
Jain, A. K., & Jeppe Jeppesen, H. (2013). Knowledge management practices in a public sector organisation: The role of leaders’ cognitive styles. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(3), 347-362.
Rozdolskaya, I., Evtushenko, E., Somina, I., & Degaltseva, I. (2014). Problem-oriented way and multi-aspect character of research of innovative management of competitive enterprises at the stage of global transformations. Life Science Journal, 11(9), 963-970.
Watada, J., Xu, B., & Wu, B. (2014). Innovative management in information and production. New York, New York: Springer.