Amazon is an American company founded in July, 1994. Amazon is the largest retailer in the world. Initially the company was a book seller. Now the company also sells clothes, electronic devices, DVDs, toys, housewares, grocery and more. In this report the main focus is given on the CSR of the company. The official site of Amazon provides information about CSR of company. CSR of the company represents interest of the company and interest of stakeholders which represents society. The ability of the company to satisfy stakeholders ensures growth of organisation. It also helps to maintain position in the market as leading online retail company. The company responds to the interest of stakeholders through it’s CSR strategy (Tai & Chuang, 2014). CSR programs and policies satisfy to the changing interest and expectations of stakeholders.
Amazon practices theories such as classical and modern management theories. The classical management of theory is of three types, scientific, bureaucratic and administrative management.
The classical theory of management is the traditional theory and has been practised by Amazon from years. It is the oldest theory and focuses on the effectiveness and productivity of employees and makes economically efficient. It is basically job oriented approach. It includes scientific, bureaucratic and administrative theory.
Modern management theory of management uses updated techniques. Amazon has been able to increase output with the same number of employees through modern theories of management. For maximising the productivity, mangers are supposed to update with the latest practices. Amazon adopts the changes occurring in the world and the way it influences the business (Villar, Alegre & Pla-Barber, 2014). Theories of modern management are:
Neo-classical theory is the advanced version of classical theory. It is concerned with employees than production or technology. This is employee oriented theory and emphasis the satisfaction of workers. It satisfies personal security and needs of employees other than the basic needs. Amazon focuses on the physiological and mechanical variables to increase the efficiency of organisation. According to this theory performance is not affected by the human actions. This theory uses behavioural science into management to solve the problems which are caused by classical approach of management (Tzortzaki & Mihiotis, 2014). It is also used by the company to overcome weakness of classical theory. This theory has improved motivation and support employees with in organisation. Amazon has improved it’s productivity by participation of workers in management.
Division of labor makes people specialise in particular tasks, which brings efficiency and reduces the producing cost. Amazon has divided labor based on the task, geographical division of labor, gender in societies. Labor is also divided according to clothing and grocery sections. It can be substituted easily. Basically there are three methods of performing tasks. First is time and motion study which involves proper timing and actions taken to perform a task (Burrell & Morgan, 2017). It improves ability of workers to perform a task. Second is a new method of performing tasks. Rules are used to perform a particular task. As a result the efficiency of Amazon has increased. Third is to carefully select the workers according to their capability which matches the requirement of task. Workers are trained in such a way that it brings efficiency to the organisation. Fourth is to establish a fair performance for a task. After this establish a pay level, which provides reward above the acceptable level. Rewards can be in the form of bonus or incentives.
Contingency theory: There are too many constraints in the organisation such as internal and external; an organisation leads according to the given situation. There is no best way to manage. Amazon faces constraints in the form of industry rivalry in the online book business. Contingency theory is an integration of classical theory, behavioural theory and system approach and applies them according to the given situation. The company follows multivariate analysis. This technique considers all the factors which affect the situation. It uses leadership approaches to motivate workers. Autocratic style is used to deal with unskilled workers and participative style is used to deal with skilled workers.
System approach: According to this approach an organisation is made up of sub systems. In this theory organisations are visualised as systems. This approach includes four components, inputs, transformation process, outputs and feedback. Inputs are required at the time of production. Transformation process is used to convert input into outputs. Outputs are the products and services which are produced by the organisation (Moxham & Kauppi, 2014). Feedback is the result related to the Amazon. This approach is goal oriented and cannot survive in isolation.
Ethics have great role in the business of Amazon. Ethics deal with values. It is the state of being right or wrong. It is set of rules governs the conduct of a person. Theory of ethics determines how human actions can be judged as right or wrong and what is good or bad. Amazon has approximately 260 million customers and the company have to consider ethics before launching any product (Lawton & Páez, 2015). Main theories of ethics are:
Consequentialism: In this moral response is related to the outcome that is rightness or wrongness. It is observed in terms of consequences. The most common form of consequentialism is social consequentialism. According to this one should produce well for the greatest number. This theory is followed mainly by Amazon and this is the reason company has largest number of customers (Weiss, 2014).
Virtue ethics: Virtue ethics focuses on the moral characters or virtues of an individual. It discusses the nature and definition of virtues. It motivates individuals to develop good character and relationships. These good characters make a person to take correct decision. Employees of Amazon are focused more on virtue ethics (Shafer, 2015). They do not focus on rules.
(Lussier & Sherman, 2014).
Deontology: Deontology focuses on rules. Goodness or wrongness of an action determines the morality of an action not consequences of the action.
Social responsibility is an ethical responsibility of an organisation to act for the benefit of society. It puts positive impact on society. It also improves the quality of workforce as well as society. CSR implemented by Amazon itself is much more effective than the CSR implemented by the government (Cheng, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2014). It is the short term cost that brings social and positive change and it does not provide immediate financial benefit, it is provides later in the future. Social responsibility brings out the positive reputation of business and creates better brand recognition. It increases sales and customer loyalty which brings the better financial performance. All these factors lead to competitive advantage.
Organisational sustainability is the ability of organisation to achieve goals and increase stakeholder values. Amazon achieves it by fulfilling environmental and social responsibilities. The sustainability issues faced by companies can be employees, production, resources and community. Basically organisational sustainability means to achieve success today without compromising the necessities of future. It is more related to cultures than rules and policies.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that management theories, organisational theories and ethics theories have a great role in social responsibility of business. Example of these theories are scientific, bureaucratic, administrative theories, neo-classical, division of labor, contingency theory, system approach, consequentialism, virtue ethics, and deontology. These theories are explained to make difference in society. It creates organisational sustainability. By implementing these theories, Amazon has been successful to serve interest of stakeholders which represents society at large. The company is also gaining popularity from the time, the company considered sustainability as an important social responsibility goal.
References
Booth, S. A. (2015). Crisis management strategy: Competition and change in modern enterprises. Routledge.
Burrell, G., & Morgan, G. (2017). Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis: Elements of the sociology of corporate life. Routledge.
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I., & Serafeim, G. (2014). Corporate social responsibility and access to finance. Strategic Management Journal, 35(1), 1-23.
Donate, M. J., & de Pablo, J. D. S. (2015). The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), 360-370.
Lawton, A., & Páez, I. (2015). Developing a framework for ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(3), 639-649.
Lussier, R.N & Sherman, H. (2014). Business society and government essentials. Routledge, Inc., Taylor and Francis Group
Moxham, C., & Kauppi, K. (2014). Using organisational theories to further our understanding of socially sustainable supply chains: the case of fair trade. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 19(4), 413-420.
Shafer, W. E. (2015). Ethical climate, social responsibility, and earnings management. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(1), 43-60.
Tai, F. M., & Chuang, S. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), 117.
Tzortzaki, A. M., & Mihiotis, A. (2014). A review of knowledge management theory and future directions. Knowledge and Process Management, 21(1), 29-41.
Villar, C., Alegre, J., & Pla-Barber, J. (2014). Exploring the role of knowledge management practices on exports: A dynamic capabilities view. International Business Review, 23(1), 38-44.
Wachter, J. K., & Yorio, P. L. (2014). A system of safety management practices and worker engagement for reducing and preventing accidents: An empirical and theoretical investigation. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 68, 117-130.
Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
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