Zappos.com Teams and Employee Empowerment and Organizational adaptability and response to change, innovation
Zappos: Team Empowerment
The online shoe company Zappos is famous for its low prices -- and also for its commitment to hiring the best employees and creating an atmosphere in which they can thrive. Fast Company's case study of Zappos says that the organization promotes a 'happiness culture.' Zappos is committed to promoting the happiness of customers by promoting the happiness of its employees. It is characterized by a strong ethos of teamwork and a unified corporate culture. "It's about giving employees permission and encouraging them to just be themselves" (Rosenbaum 2010).
According to CEO and founder Tony Hsieh: "when we hire people we do two sets of interviews. The hiring manager and his or her team will do the standard fit within the team, relevant experience, technical ability and so on. But then our HR department does a second set of interviews purely for culture fit" (Rosenbaum 2010). The new employee must feel at home within the culture of the organization, not simply seem willing and able to do his or her job in an individualistic fashion. Zappos' HR department estimates that cultural fit counts for 50% of Zappos' hiring decisions (Heathfield 2012). In fact, Hsieh is such a believer in the idea that the employee must support the company's core values and fit in, he will actually pay employees to leave if they decide they are a bad fit for Zappos during the training period. "At the end of that first week of training we make an offer to the entire class that we'll pay you for the time you've already spent training plus a bonus of $2,000 to quit and leave the company right now" (Rosenbaum 2010). Few new employees, however, accept this offer.
Zappos tries to foster an atmosphere of fun for all employees, spanning from everything from "smoothie fests, Pop-a-Shot contests, and hip-hop fitness classes" (Shuster 2010). As well as enabling employees to 'blow off steam,' these activities blur the line between work and play. Zappos engineers its organizational culture so employees want to come to work because of the quality of social life they enjoy at the company. A priority is placed on employees getting to know one another. "Employees are encouraged to interact with not just the customer but also one another" (Schuster 2010). Unlike some other technological companies like Best Buy, despite its dot.com roots, Zappos does not allow telecommuting. The focus is on having employees bond as a community, so they can feel comfortable being themselves at work. "So many people when they go to the office, they leave a little bit of themselves at home, or a lot of themselves at home," but not at Zappos (Rosenbaum 2010). Zappos strives to create a home-away-from home.
Zappos could be said to embody a 'Theory Y' culture, according to the Theory X / Theory Y managerial theory…
Zappos History (Zappos, N.d.) Zappos Core Values (Zappos, N.d.) The Secretes to Zappos' Success (Palmer, 2010) Here's Why Amazon Bought Zappos (Parr, 2009) The first two sources are from the company's website and talk describe the founding and culture while the second two sources give independent accounts of the culture and why it is effective. Since this paper will focus on the strengths of the culture and why this might be an issue for
Zappos is maybe not the best fit for me professional, just in terms of what I expect they need in terms of skills (engineering/technological, customer service, warehouse) but the company does have a good culture. It is important that you enjoy your work in life, and Zappos has recognized the value of this in employee retention. For example, they emphasize fun and close social bonds among their workers, and both
Zappos Manktelow (2014) defines the vision statement as stating the organization's purpose, from the context of human values, as opposed to things like bottom line measures. The vision statement should include the values that the company holds as integral to its operations. An exception would be if there is a separate values statement, but even with that the company's vision of the world should naturally incorporate its values. Vision statements combine with
Zappo's Case Zappo's founder and CEO Tony Hsieh is a visionary in online retailing and business models, as he sees the creativity, intuitive, intelligence and passion of his employees as being crucial to delivering exceptional customer experiences. While many other online retailers have come and gone out of business. Zappo's has been able to develop one of the most loyal and profitable customer bases online. Even during one of the most
However, the company needs to be cautious of putting too much power in the customers' hands. 5. Competitive Rivalry between Existing Players Direct competitors are currently not able to match Zappos capabilities, especially in terms of customer service. But this does not mean they should be dismissed as viable competitors. In fact all direct competitors should be watched very closely. SWOT Analysis Strengths Outstanding customer service Free overnight shipping Wide variety of products Happy, dedicated employees Weaknesses Cannot afford
Hiring Decisions at Zappos With the company's emphasis on the Zappos Insiders group, a recruitment strategy that is likely to be a good fit would emphasize referrals from existing Zappos employees. A good-fit recruitment strategy would be structured to allow candidates for positions to spend time with members of the team that they are interested in joining. Zappos takes pride in being a company that is focused on the company culture
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