First Key Functional Area: Human Resources
The role of the Human Resources department at Amazon Company must be balanced when it comes to managing its fast-paced and multicultural workforce. This operational area is crucial in accomplishing the challenging role of recruitment, training and employee motivation worldwide. Maintaining ethical workplace behavior and fostering diversity in the workplace is paramount to keeping Amazon’s reputation and operational effectiveness. The study by Doghan et al. (2019) emphasizes the HRM practices that consider job satisfaction in a multicultural environment, which is necessary to develop a psychological diversity climate and multidimensional personality trait consideration in such environments.
Critical thinking questions that should guide Amazon’s HR strategies include:
What HRM procedures can we alter to boost the job satisfaction of the culturally diverse workforce?
Amazon can audit HR procedures for bias-free practices, offer cultural sensitivity training, create support groups, and offer flex time to allow job satisfaction and inclusivity, raising productivity and retention (Aloqaily, 2022).
What steps can be taken to safeguard decreasing racial and ethnic representation in the company, including in scientific, IT, and other disciplines, in line with Lett et al., 2018?
The company can handle its recruitment process more deliberately, engaging in mentorship programs and diversity metrics monitoring so that there is a strong representation, especially in scientific and IT fields, fostering innovation and accountability within Amazon (Antoun et al., 2016).
According to Nwora et al., 2021, how can Amazon virtual interview processes be developed to overcome bias?
Amazon can conduct virtual interviews by using standardized questions, educating interviewers on bias awareness, adopting AI for anonymous evaluations and taking candidate feedback, among others, to guarantee appropriate behavior and attract diverse talents for a more favorable image as an employer of choice (Lu et al., 2022).
These questions allow Amazon to fulfil the standards set globally in HR and create an inclusive culture that will prioritize the welfare of employees and, eventually, the organizational goals.
Second Key Functional Area: Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Supply Chain Management at Amazon is critical as it governs the processes from warehousing to delivery to be productive and sustainable. SCM functions must keep innovating to efficiently address the complex and dynamic situations in Amazon’s vast logistic network and ensure that environmental and social responsibilities are not compromised. Hu et al. (2021) suggested an optimization model for the carbon footprint of fresh products in the cold chain. This is helpful for Amazon as it has a grocery delivery segment, indicating a need for energy conservation and emission reduction.
Critical thinking questions for Amazon’s SCM include:
How will Amazon incorporate the optimization model Hu et al. (2021) suggested to reduce its carbon emissions efficiently through logistics?
The application of Hu et al.’s optimization model by Amazon can simplify logistics, choose optimal routes, and use environmentally friendly packaging and data analytics to reduce energy consumption. This strategy helps decrease environmental impact and business costs and upgrades Amazon’s image as a responsible business (Deoskar et al., 2023).
The question arises: what programs/schemes can the company establish to ensure ethical sourcing and fair labour practices in Amazon’s supply chain?
Amazon may design supplier code of conduct agreements, conduct regular audits, provide supplier training, and boost transparency to ensure ethical sourcing and fair labor treatment. A robust ethical foundation in the supply chain lowers risks, cultivates trust, and builds sustainability (Elias et al., 2021).
To what extent can the supply chain be flexible enough to respond promptly to fast-changing market situations and consumers’ new expectations and maintain sustainability and efficiency?
Amazon could involve agile production, real-time inventory management, local relationships and predictive analytics to increase supply chain flexibility while meeting the sustainability thresholds. Both agility and sustainability are critical to Amazon meeting the needs of the changing markets, minimizing waste, and competing, so Amazon will be strong in the long term (Lu et al., 2022).
These critical thinking questions are crucial for driving company success as they address key challenges and opportunities related to environmental sustainability, ethical responsibility, and operational agility in the supply chain. By critically evaluating these aspects and implementing strategic initiatives to address them, Amazon can enhance its brand reputation, mitigate risks, and capitalize on emerging market trends, ultimately fostering growth and profitability.
References
Aloqaily, A. N. (2022). The Role of the Human Resources Information Systems in Enhancing the Organizational Creativity Process (A case study in the International Amazon company–Jordan). Res Militaris, 12(2), 5441-5458.
Antoun, C., Zhang, C., Conrad, F. G., & Schober, M. F. (2016). Comparisons of online recruitment strategies for convenience samples: Craigslist, Google AdWords, Facebook, and Amazon Mechanical Turk. Field methods, 28(3), 231-246.
Deoskar, V., Pande, M., & Vishwarupe, V. (2023, May). An Analytical Study for Implementing 360-Degree M-HRM Practices Using Amazon Mechanical Turk and Machine Learning in IT Sector. In International Conference on Information Science and Applications (pp. 429-443). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
Doghan, M., Bhatti, M., & Juhari, A. (2019). Do psychological diversity climate, HRM practices, and personality traits (Big Five) influence multicultural workforce job satisfaction and performance? Current scenario, literature gap, and future research directions. Sage Open, 9(2), 215824401985157. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019851578
Elias, A. A., Donadelli, F., Paiva, E. L., & Bacic Araujo, P. P. (2021). Analysing the complexities of sustainable wood supply chain in the Amazon: a systems thinking approach. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 32(4), 1481-1505.
Hu, B., Huang, B., Liu, Z., Guo, H., Chen, Z., & Shi, L. (2021). Optimization model of carbon footprint of fresh products in cold chain from the energy conservation and emission reduction perspective. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2021, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5559021
Lett, E., Orji, W., & Sebro, R. (2018). Declining racial and ethnic representation in clinical academic medicine: A longitudinal study of 16 US medical specialties. Plos One, 13(11), e0207274. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207274
Lu, L., Neale, N., Line, N. D., & Bonn, M. (2022). Improving data quality using Amazon mechanical Turk through platform setup. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2), 231-246.
Nwora, C., Allred, D., & Verduzco‐Gutierrez, M. (2021). Mitigating bias in virtual interviews for applicants who are underrepresented in medicine. Journal of the National Medical Association, 113(1), 74-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2020.07.011
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