Which theory of leadership do you think best describes Jeff Bezos’s contribution

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Which theory of leadership do you think best describes Jeff Bezos’s contribution to Amazon’s performance? Describe how it applies.

CHAPTER 13 Leadership 313 the employees who succeed at Amazon are the ones wheo Jeff Bezos Is the Force of Nature behind Amazon thrive on confli Read the case and answer the questions that follow Studyi this case will help you better understand how concepts relating to leadership can be applied in a company such as Amazon.survve Another of Bezos's values, frugality, partly derives from Amazon's start-up experience. The company was not prof- itable for years, and many observers doubted it would with its strategy of charging prices below costs. Survival required limiting any expenses not connected to Jeff Bezos is a giant in management. Forbes magazine recently named him its top CEO based on the performance of the company he founded, online retailer Amazon, Bezos keep employees happy with fun amenities, Amazon gives started Amazon a few years after earning a degree in com- puter science and electrical engineering. Not satisfied with applying his analytic skills to finance, he started an online gal is not just to help the company earn a profit; it is also to bookstore, incorporating the business in 1994 and launching the website in 1995. Today, Amazon is a retailing monster, best prices contrast to tech conm employees desks made out of doors and charges them f snacks. However, the basis for forcing employees to be fru- enable the company to continue pleasing customers with the ith more than 20 million products and revenues of $48 bil -Bezos is notoriously demanding. If employees let cus- lion. It also is a company built on 14 leadership principles tomers down that reflect the character of the company's founder or fail to live up to his high standards, he is blunt-even rude-in his assessment (reported comments Topmost in Bezos's mind as a business leader is his include "Are you lazy or just incompetent?" and "If I hear passion for pleasing customers. In a famous gesture, Bezos requires that in meetings, an empty chair be placed at the comments hurt employees feelings, well, that is not a major table to represent the customer, the invisible presence every c one must be most concerned about. Even if a service that However, employees observe that when that idea again, I'm gonna have to kill myself). If his harsh concern of his because the goal is to make customers happy. Bezos says an idea sturdier boxes that is bad, his own idea almost always is the better one, even in customers can reuse-Bezos will forge ahead. He even has a functions outside his expertise. The demands he places on publicly available email address, jeff@amazon.com, so that others inspire them to continually improve, innovate, and he can learn directly what customers love and hate. When he make a difference receives a complaint, he is apt to forward it to Amazon man- Under Bezos's leadership, Amazon has continued to agers, adding as his only comment a question mark, implic grow and eat into one itly demanding an investigation and explanation. Employees know they have just a few hours to resolve the problem and service report their solution Most remarkably, that growth is not at the cost of great In the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, Amazon lands in the top spot for retailing year after year.2 In addition, Bezos insists that decisions be firmly grounded in data. At weekly meetings, managers must eval- uate their performance based strictly on data related to the company's 500 quantitative goals, 80 percent of which are related to customer satisfaction. In decision making, because the data will inevitably point to the best answer, Bezos does not shy from confrontation. He expects employees to argu their positions, on the assumption that the best ideas will become evident. As one of Amazon's leadership principles state, "Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Therefore, Questions 13-7. Which theory of leadership do you think best describes Jeff Bezos's contribution to Amazon's performance? Describe how it applies. 13-8. Does Bezos create an environment in which you could contribute effectively as a manager? Explain. 13-9. Do you think Bezos is a better leader or a better

Explanation / Answer

Jeff Bezos was always in line with the company’s focus on customer satisfaction right from the start and still maintains that focus. To ensure that his team understand and aligns themselves to the customer satisfaction focus, he goes to huge lengths, like keeping an empty chair in meetings to remind his team that they have to think their decisions through the customer’s eyes.

Hence, in my view, Jeff Bezos leadership can be best described through the behavioral theory of leadership. Jeff Bezos reflects a strong personality with a positive ego. Over the years, he has not allowed his focus to shift or diminish, and pushed the company with him to achieve and maintain Amazon as one of the best company’s known for customer satisfaction results.

Bezos allowed his team to argue their case and prove why their ideas are better than others. Generally, leaders will try to avoid such kind of conflicts, but Bezos confidence and resolve allows him to extract some of the best ideas from his team, with this approach. These behavioral aspects are the strengths of a leader reflected by the behavioral theory of leadership.

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