Corporate Culture
There are several recommendations that can be given to the Amazon HR strategy. They include the implementation of modern HR management models, mutuality, gratitude, open communication, support, and strong corporate culture. First of all, it is the application of the critical model of employment relationships. Mason (Macke & Genari, 2019) points out that the business elite (owners of capital/employers) are increasingly detached from the communities they serve. The remoteness as a result of the detachment has reduced the moral pressure to comply with acceptable standards of engagement. Therefore, a decent corporate culture should be developed to provide workers with respect and security.
Support
Ordinarily, support from the employer entails the provision of training, tools, and means through which an employee would realize maximum productivity. Human resources management, being an individualistic approach to improving performance, places employer support as one of the most important elements. Hence, Amazon should embrace the provision of training programs to the employees to fulfill their need for growth and development on a personal and professional level. Hiding the organization in plain sight by ensuring that staff is “placed” in a situation that restricts their free speech.
Mutuality
The principle of mutuality should also be adhered to in Amazon’s HR strategy. Human resource management performs functions that deliver value to both employer and employee. Left to work within its positive constructs, it holds a promise of competitive advantage and overall wellbeing. However, the environment in which a business operates introduces constraints that make the pursuance of certain ideals a mirage. For instance, the pluralistic and egoistic employment relationship models paint a picture of an equilibrium in which both the employer and employee seek to maximize their returns (Westerman et al., 2020). Whilst it is worthwhile pursuing such ideals, in reality, it becomes financially burdensome, especially in small and medium-sized organizations. This is because it entails laying out significant resources. Thus reconciling who we are and who we aspire to be becomes problematic in the face of the above challenges.
The mutuality element speaks of the existence and practice of mutual knowledge and respect between the employer and the employee. Human resources management demands that there has to be a humane way in which the employer enforces the rules and regulations and the employee’s execution of the same. In this regard, certain violations, such as “refusal of “excessive” toilet breaks” (El-Farr & Hosseingholizadeh, 2019) are an outright instance of a lack of respect for the employees since there is no such empirical measure of what amounts to an excessive toilet break. Underpayment is another area of concern under mutuality.
The elements of a good human resource practice do not work in isolation but rather in unison. Showing gratitude begins with an overwhelming feeling of valuing employees. Equal pay for an equal amount of work is one such way of ensuring that the employees feel valued for their services. Another way is to ensure that excessive and highly punitive actions such as heavy fines for petty offenses are eliminated.
Gratitude
Pay as a form of gratitude must be implemented in such a way that reflects an employee’s input. In a work environment likened to sweatshops of Bangladesh today, gratitude as a human resource tool in driving productivity does not exist, be it monetary or otherwise. Instead, employees are coerced to produce, and their productivity is measured in metrics that advance employer advantage. Non-monetary gratitude, such as recognition and acknowledgment of high performance, costs an employer much less to implement while affording increased returns in terms of employee productivity and overall return on investment.
Open Communication
One of the most important things for a successful implementation of any HR strategy is open communication. This is the basis upon which an effective feedback loop exists. Vibrant feedback loops ensure that there is management accountability and employee ownership. Both the employer and the employees could benefit from open channels of communication as it enhances a trusting relationship.
References
El-Farr, H., & Hosseingholizadeh, R. (2019). Aligning human resource management with knowledge management for better organizational performance: how human resource practices support knowledge management strategies?. In Current Issues in Knowledge Management. IntechOpen.
Macke, J., & Genari, D. (2019). Systematic literature review on sustainable human resource management. Journal of cleaner production, 208, 806-815.
Westerman, J. W., Rao, M. B., Vanka, S., & Gupta, M. (2020). Sustainable human resource management and the triple bottom line: Multi-stakeholder strategies, concepts, and engagement. Human Resource Management Review, 30(3), 100742.