Many of us know about Amazon from a consumer’s perspective, some Human Resources (HR) Professionals are aware of it’s corporate culture of: high pressure, high turnover, and seeing how far it can push it’s executives. Mr. Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, might be starting to see the cracks in his corporate culture and philosophy.
HRM Canada writes about Amazon’s corporate culture, and it is not pretty. HRM Canada states that some warehouse workers feel that working there is like “a stint in prison“; How is that for employee engagement?
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Renowned culture expert, Stan Slap agrees. Slap told HRM that, “cultivating a positive employee culture is one of the most important keys to a company success. Underestimating the importance of culture, he claims, is one of the biggest mistakes HR and organizations can make.”
From all external reports it looks like Amazon has underestimated the importance of culture. According to Slap, “the first – and perhaps most important step – is to recognize that this is a business issue, not a behavioural issue.”
All HR professionals should memorize Slap’s quote. There are times where corporate culture is a behavioural issue, but in most cases, corporate culture is created by leadership and its direction of the business.
Discussion Question:
- As a HR Professional you have been asked to audit an organizations corporate culture. Considering Stan Slap’s quote, “the first- and perhaps most important step – is to recognize that this is a business issue, not a behavioural issue” , how would you address this issue in your initial audit assessment?