Change management can be episodic, continuous or disruptive. Change in key personnel or technology can be an example. Disruptive change can be caused by ongoing trends like the emergence of Big Data or business analytical tools. From its inception, Amazon has initiated a continuous change considering leadership roles as a participative process. The steady growth of Amazon has been possible because of its continuous reinvestment by exploiting several technological and external developments like digital media and cloud services. They have followed their internal force that supports innovation like for instance, they have invented new types of logistics which support fast and efficient delivery. This continuous change supports the long term oriented practices by the organisation (Sveningsson & Sorgarde, 2020, p.3)
Organisational dynamics is characterised by the way employees function together to complete a task successfully. Organisational dynamics is related to leadership strategies, proper resource allocation, and employee performance (Bangert and Doktor, 2020). The power of the leaders to influence workers in an organisation is known as organisational power. On the other hand, organisational culture defines the desired behaviour approved by the organisation itself (Lubis and Hanum, 2020). It is related to shared values and beliefs communicated by leaders. These three notions can affect organisational change significantly if the leadership strategy can be changed.
As Amazon support continuous innovation and change, it can benefit from the Nudge theory to control change by changing organisational dynamics, culture and power. Nudge theory centres on the core belief that any small action can influence people's choices or behaviour. The nudge theory focuses on increasing people's engagement by knowing what factors influence people to make choices or decisions (Kosters and Van der Heijden, 2015). This can make the company shift its focus from metrics to the human dimension of business, thereby altering organisational dynamics, distribution of power and the existing organisational culture (Alapo, 2018). Any change in employee behaviour followed by strict directions and instructions are discouraged, and choices are provided as motivating factors behind the changed behaviour of employees (Rutter, 2015). For example, Bezos encouraged his employees to offer high-quality work, which is evident from the aggressive and fast-changing environment of Amazon, although making overtime mandatory which can decrease organisational performance and tire people more easily.
Amazon can implement nudge theory as a method of changing strategic leadership behaviours. The company is focusing on retaining its employees and regaining its brand values and reputation. In this scenario, perception nudges can be created to influence individual perception. This is important in this context as individuals have different perceptions about change, and understanding workers' perception of desired change is crucial to increase motivation. Amazon can alter the employees' perception of job security (thereby altering the company values from outcome-based to performance-based) by offering paid leaves to those infected with COVID-19. This can increase the sense of security identified in Maslow's hierarchy. Creating motivation nudges can help the organisation model the employees' behaviour as showing individual examples can help set examples of best behaviours that fit the notion of change. Understanding the best behaviour desired by the company can enhance the company culture as it would allow the alignment of company values, norms and resources (Kosters and Van der Heijden, 2015).
This essay has appraised, evaluated and justified the importance of change management in the context of Amazon. It has established the relationship between organisational transformation, organisational dynamics, culture, power and related human dimension of change. Change management is necessary for Amazon because it can control employee retention and enhance the damaged company reputation. Organisational dynamics, culture, power are connected with leadership approaches. Hence, Bezos needs to change the leadership strategies exercised in the company. Change can terrify the employees and create an "emotional fog" for them. Hence, considering the human dimension is an essential factor here.
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