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Reflection Essay 7 Chapter 34 Part 2
Reflection Essay 7: Chapter 34 Part 2
Question 1:
The unification of Germany in 1871 was characterized by the formation of an alliance with neighboring Austria-Hungary and Italy which made Germany even stronger. The unification was stimulated by the experience of Germans in the Napoleonic period, common language that served as the basis of a nation, the improved transportation through the region, and most importantly, the development of German cultural and artistic identity. The unification of German resulted in a shift in the power balance in Europe. German already had the most powerful army in the region. The modernization and rise of Japan shifted the power balance to Asia, weakening Europe as a powerful region.
Question 2:
Expressionism is a term that originated in visual arts and then applied to other types of arts including music and poetry. During the 19th century, expressionism had a major influence in art and music, with artists getting involved in the creation of vivid pictures, distorting colors and shapes to make unrealistic images that expressed strong emotions. Based on this, expressionist composers often poured intense emotional expression into their music and explored the subconscious mind. Both art and music were highly influenced by expressionism but in different ways. For example, expressionism changed the nature of painting due to the adoption of new artistic processes which enabled artists to develop new techniques in applying paint in art which include moving the canvas from the easel to the floor as well as working on unstretched and unprimed canvas, artistic processes that revolutionized artisanry. With the adoption of new artistic processes, expressionism greatly influenced arts in the 19th century. Music, on the other hand, featured high levels of dissonance, constant changing of textures, extreme contrasts of dynamics as well as distorted melodies and harmonies, which were incorporated to evoke mood or ideas as a way of creating an emotional effect. Major themes depicted by the expressionist artists and musicians include fear, horror, and grotesque emotions.
Question 3:
There are many expressionism artists both in music and art who played a crucial role in using expressionism to influence music and art. Among the expressionism artists, one of my favorites and whom I like the most is Vincent Van Gogh. One of the major things that made me like him is that he was a pioneer of expressionism, with most of his work being exceptional to an extent that other artists and painters emulated his use of pure, bright colors, empathetic brushwork as well as contrasting color combinations. In his paintings, Van Gogh used rough brushwork to spread the contrasting colors in a manner that can be described as primitivist composition. Apart from his artistic process, most of his paintings were expressive, in that he used an impulsive, gestural application of paint and symbolic colors evoking subjective emotions. For example, his “Starry Night” painting is expressive of melancholy, despair, hope, and gloom. In challenging the traditional arts, I don’t think that Van Gogh went too far in innovating the popular culture in that he just tried to be expressive, conveying how he was feeling in a painting, and thus, there was nothing dangerous in the paintings that he was producing.
Hardships people face in Afghanistan
Hardships people face in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, often called the crossroads of Central Asia, has had a turbulent history. This country was passed around through rulers. It was passed from Alexander the Great, the Turks, the Arabs, the Persians, to Ghengis Khan, to the Pashtuns, to the British, then after 3 Anglo-Afghan wars, Afghanistan earned its independence on August 19, 1919. Throughout the century this county was real quiet and remained neutral through many wars including World War 1. Not until the Soviet invasion, did this country show it ferocity against foreign rule as it did against the British. Ten years of brutal war against the Soviet Union had ravished this country. Years of civil war, which just not long ago calmed down, have caused a gap between many tribes and families that may take a long time to close. Life in the Islamic State of Afghanistan, as you would formally call it, is rough because of the poverty, war, and the form of government it is going through as of this moment.
Afghanistan is located in southern Asia. With a literal global position at 33 00 N and 65 00 E, Afghanistan is pretty much landlocked. Nevertheless the country has water supply through the rivers and canals throughout the country. The rivers’ main source is from the snowmelt off of the mountains in the Hindu Kush, which is the largest mountain range there. The climate there is mainly arid to semi-arid, with the winters being extremely cold, and the summers being intensely hot. With this kind of weather you wouldn’t be surprised to find out that there isn’t really a permanent crop grown here. But they do have pastures and only about 12 percent of the land is arable. Not to say this in a joking manner, but land mines have become a prominent land feature of this war-torn nation.
The population of Afghanistan is 26,813,057 with the males outnumbering the females. If you were to segregate the population by age group it would be like this: 42 percent of the population is between the ages of 0 and 14, 55 percent of the population is between the ages of 15 and 63, and 3 percent of the population is 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate is 3.48 percent. The country has many ethnic groups, with 38 percent being Pashtun, 25 percent being Tajik, and 19 percent being Hazara. The minor ethnic groups makes up 18 percent of the population, with 12 percent including Aimaks, Turkmen, Balochs, and others. The last 6 percent are Uzbek. With all this ethnic diversity you wouldn’t be surprised that this country has over 30 languages. The most dominant language is Persian (Dari) which about 50 percent of the population speaks. Coming in second would be Pashtu, which about 35 percent of the nation speaks. Most of the country’s people are bilingual. The dominant religion of the country is Islam and 99 percent of the country practice it, with 84 percent being Sunni Muslims, 15 percent being Shi’a Muslims, and 1 percent being other religions. The literacy rate in the country is very poor with only 31 percent of the population over 15 years of age can read and write.
Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, and Turkmenistan surround Afghanistan. This country is made up of 30 provinces: Badakhshan, Badghis, Baghlan, Balkh, Bamian, Farah, Faryab, Ghazni, Ghowr, Helmand, Herat, Jowzjan, Kabol, Kandahar, Kapisa, Konar, Kondoz, Laghman, Lowgar, Nangarhar, Nimruz, Oruzgan, Paktia, Paktika, Parvan, Samangan, Sar-e Pol, Takhar, Vardak, Zabol, Nuristan (note- there may be two new provinces of Nuristan), and Khowst. The capital city of Afghanistan is Kabul.
As of this moment Afghanistan has established a democratic government with a foreign minister named Abdullah Abdullah and a president from the Northern Alliance named Burhanuddin Rabbani. Afghanistan’s government was very fluctuant. Afghanistan was ruled by a monarchy since it was created and during its independence from the UK on August 19, 1919. But after the war between the Soviets there has been a new form of government. It wasn’t clearly established until September 27, 1996 when the Taliban overthrew the old members of the Afghan government. Taliban have declared themselves the legitimate government of Afghanistan; however, the UN still recognizes the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. Before the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan pursued a policy of neutrality and nonalignment in its foreign relations. In international forums, Afghanistan generally followed the voting patterns of Asian and African nonaligned countries. Following the Marxist coup of April 1978, the Taraki government developed significantly closer ties with the Soviet Union and its communist satellites. After the December 1979 invasion, Afghanistan’s foreign policy mirrored that of the Soviet Union. Afghan foreign policymakers attempted, with little success, to increase their regime’s low standing in the noncommunist world. With the signing of the Geneva Accords, Najibullah unsuccessfully sought to end Afghanistan’s isolation within the Islamic world and in the Non-Aligned Movement. Most Western countries, including the United States, maintained small diplomatic missions in Kabul during the Soviet occupation. Throughout the Soviet occupation, the U.S. did not recognize the Afghan regimes and a Charge D’Affaires rather than an Ambassador headed its mission. Many countries subsequently closed their missions due to instability and heavy fighting in Kabul.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognized the Taliban regime in 1997. Saudi Arabia and the UAE withdrew recognition following the September 11, 2001 bombings. Repeated Taliban efforts to occupy Afghanistan’s seat at the UN and OIC were unsuccessful. The Organization of the Islamic Conference has left the Afghan seat vacant until the question of legitimacy can be resolved through negotiations among the warring factions. The country is essentially divided along ethnic lines; the Taliban controls the capital of Kabul and approximately two-thirds of the country including the predominately ethnic Pashtun areas in southern Afghanistan; opposing factions have their stronghold in the ethnically diverse north. Afghanistan since then didn’t have a central government but was merely administered by factions. There was a new legal system that wasn’t really adopted but all factions tacitly agree they will follow Shari’a, or the Islamic law. During most of the century this country remained neutral throughout the world wars and the cold war but it informally sided with the US. But it did have it’s own war with the Soviets and with help from neighboring countries and the US, they defeated one of the world’s strongest powers of that time. But this neutrality issue doesn’t apply to foreign affairs. Afghanistan participates in many international organizations: AsDB, CP, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Intelsat, IOC, IOM (observer), ITU, NAM, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, and WtoO. There are many political parties in Afghanistan and the most recognizable one would be the Taliban, Religious Students Movement, with it’s leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. The chairman of the United National Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan or UNIFSA is Burhanuddin Rabbani and General Abdul Rashid Dostam is the vice-chairman. The military commander is Ahmad Shah Masood. Mohammed Yunis Qanuni is the spokesman. There 13 parties opposed to the Taliban including Harakat-i-Islami Afghanistan, (Islamic Movement of Afghanistan), Hizb-i-Islami (Islamic Party), Hizb-i-Wahdat-i-Islami (Islamic Unity Party), Jumaat-i-Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Afghan Society), Jumbish-i-Milli (National Front), and the Mahaz-i-Milli-i-Islami (National Islamic Front). Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Australia, US, and elsewhere have organized politically; Mellat (Social Democratic Party). In Peshawar, Pakistan there are based groups such as the Coordination Council for National Unity and Understanding in Afghanistan or CUNUA and the leader of that group is Ishaq Gailani. Tribal elders represent traditional Pashtun leadership. The Writers Union of Free Afghanistan or WUFA’s leader is A. Rasul Amin. The US embassy in Kabul has been closed since January 1989 due to security concerns but on Monday, December 17, 2001 the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan opened back up for business.
Abdullah Abdullah is the new foreign minister of Afghanistan. Although it is roughly new, the government in Afghanistan is a Democratic one. I have no idea how they do things over there now, since it’s so new, but I can guess how it is. Back when there were kings, Afghanistan’ basic system was like this: a liberal constitution providing for a two-chamber legislature to which the king appointed one-third of the deputies; the people elected another third, and the remainder were selected indirectly by provincial assemblies. Nowadays they probably have a government similar to ours, with elections and appointing of officials. I don’t know how the power structure would be because it is new not only to me but for them too. I guess they would have elections for positions and the president of the country would appoint cabinet members. All I know about the political power is that they have a foreign minister in charge right now. A law is made probably through voting since now it is a democratic government. People or elected officials would propose a law and the cabinet members would pass it. The people can also vote on the law. Well a law that may be different from here, in the US, is that if you steal, the punishment would be that they cut off a hand so that you wouldn’t do it again. Or if you commit adultery you could receive the death penalty as a result.
Well I think that this country now has a connection or belongs to the United Nations and the ambassador would be Abdullah Abdullah. A few weeks ago Afghanistan had a dispute with the United States over the notorious terrorist, Osama bin Laden, and his terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. The result was a “confrontation” between the Taliban and the US forces. It was a minor war but Afghanistan’s people sided with the US and helped overtake Taliban forces. This recent interaction reshaped the United States policy against terrorism. The US created a new cabinet position called Office of Homeland Security and the head of the office is Tom Ridge. Afghanistan is also the world’s largest illicit opium producer and a major source of hashish. Increasing number of heroin processing laboratories are being set up in the country and major political factions in the country profit from drug trade. Another dispute is over which group should hold Afghanistan’s seat in the UN because there are supports to Islamic militants worldwide by some factions. Two areas–Pashtunistan and Baluchistan–have long complicated Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan. Controversies involving these areas date back to the establishment of the Durand Line in 1893 dividing Pashtun and Baluch tribes living in Afghanistan from those living in what later became Pakistan. Afghanistan vigorously protested the inclusion of Pashtun and Baluch areas within Pakistan without providing the inhabitants with an opportunity for self-determination. Since 1947, this problem has led to incidents along the border, with extensive disruption of normal trade patterns. The most serious crisis lasted from September 1961 to June 1963, when diplomatic, trade, transit, and consular relations between the countries were suspended. Afghanistan’s relations with Iran have fluctuated over the years, with periodic disputes over the water rights of the Helmand River as the main issue of contention.
Following the Soviet invasion, which Iran opposed, relations deteriorated. The Iranian consulate in Herat closed, as did the Afghan consulate in Mashad. The Iranians complained of periodic border violations following the Soviet invasion. In 1985, they urged feuding Afghan Shi’a resistance groups to unite to oppose the Soviets. Iran supported the cause of the Afghan resistance and provided limited financial and military assistance to rebel leaders who pledged loyalty to the Iranian vision of Islamic revolution. Iran provides refuge to about 2 million Afghans, though it has refused to accept more in recent years and, indeed, tried to force many to repatriate. In the 19th century, Afghanistan served as a strategic buffer state between czarist Russia and the British Empire in the subcontinent. Afghanistan’s relations with Moscow became more cordial after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan after the Third Anglo-Afghan war and signed an Afghan-Soviet nonaggression pact in 1921, which also provided for Afghan transit rights through the Soviet Union. Early Soviet assistance included financial aid, aircraft and attendant technical personnel, and telegraph operators. The Soviets began a major economic assistance program in Afghanistan in the 1950s.
Between 1954 and 1978, Afghanistan received more than $1 billion in Soviet aid, including substantial military assistance. In 1973, the two countries announced a $200-million assistance agreement on gas and oil development, trade, transport, irrigation, and factory construction. Following the 1979 invasion, the Soviets augmented their large aid commitments to shore up the Afghan economy and rebuild the Afghan military. They provided the Karmal regime an unprecedented $800 million. The Soviet Union supported the Najibullah regime even after the withdrawal of Soviet troops in February 1989. Today unresolved questions concerning Soviet MIA/POWs in Afghanistan remain an issue between Russia and Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s relations with newly independent Tajikistan have been complicated by political upheaval and civil war in Tajikistan, which spurred some 100,000 Tajiks to seek refuge in Afghanistan in late 1992 and early 1993. Tajik rebels seeking to overthrow the regime of Russian-backed former communist Imamali Rahmanov began operating from Afghan bases and recruiting Tajik refugees into their ranks. These rebels, reportedly aided by Afghans and a number of foreign Islamic extremists, conducted cross-border raids against Russian and Tajik security posts and sought to infiltrate fighters and materiel from Afghanistan into Tajikistan. Also disenchanted by the Taliban’s harsh treatment of Afghanistan’s Tajik minority, Tajikistan has facilitated assistance to the Northern Alliance. After the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1934, the U.S. policy of helping developing nations raise their standard of living was an important factor in maintaining and improving U.S.-Afghan ties. From 1950 to 1979, U.S. foreign assistance provided Afghanistan with more than $500 million in loans, grants, and surplus agricultural commodities to develop transportation facilities, increase agricultural production, expand the educational system, stimulate industry, and improve government administration. Following the Soviet invasion, the United States supported diplomatic efforts to achieve a Soviet withdrawal. In addition, generous U.S. contributions to the refugee program in Pakistan played a major part in efforts to assist Afghans in need. U.S. efforts also included helping Afghans living inside Afghanistan. This cross-border humanitarian assistance program aimed at increasing Afghan self-sufficiency and helping Afghans resist Soviet attempts to drive civilians out of the rebel-dominated countryside. During the period of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the U.S. provided about $3 billion in military and economic assistance to Afghans and the resistance movement. During the Soviet occupation, the United Nations was highly critical of the U.S.S.R.’s interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and was instrumental in obtaining a negotiated Soviet withdrawal under the terms of the Geneva Accords.
In the aftermath of the Accords and subsequent Soviet withdrawal, the United Nations has assisted in the repatriation of refugees and has provided humanitarian aid such as health care, educational programs, and food and has supported mine-clearing operations. The UNDP and associated agencies have undertaken a limited number of development projects. However, the UN reduced its role in Afghanistan in 1992 in the wake of fierce factional strife in and around Kabul. The UN Secretary General has designated a personal representative to head the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (UNOCHA) and the Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA), both based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Throughout the late 1990s, 2000, and 2001, the UN unsuccessfully strived to promote a peaceful settlement between the Afghan factions as well as provide humanitarian aid, this despite increasing Taliban restrictions upon UN personnel and agencies.
This war-torn country shows its true heart when times of hardship are around. Poverty is a main problem in this country as well as civil war. Afghanistan’s ethnically and linguistically mixed population reflects its location astride historic trade and invasion routes leading from Central Asia into South and Southwest Asia. It shows how and what this country’s history has been through. Afghanistan’s ferocity and unity shown in past wars is showing nowadays through the effort to help the United States in ending the Taliban regime. New government may show a new way of life that can help take this country out of civil war and poverty. Although we are at the tail end of the war to stop bin Laden and the Taliban, we can clearly see the rise of Afghanistan as a nation. With aid form the UN, US, and other nations, Afghanistan will soon be a nation that can be proud of itself and maybe help other countries in need of aid or support.
Bibliography:
www.countryreports.org/content/Afghanistan.htm
www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
www.infoplease.com/countries.html
www.state.gov/www/policy.html
Amazon.com, Inc is one of the largest online companies today with annual revenue figures of close to $ 75 billion
LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH PAPER REVIEW
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Contents
1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..3
2.0 Literature review…………………………………………………………….3
2.1 Poor working conditions……………………………………………….4
2.2 Supervisor mistreatment………………………………………………5
2.3 Lack of recognition……………………………………………………..6
2.4 Lack of opportunity for professional advancement………………7
2.5 Discord between organizational and employee missions……….8
3.0 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………9
4.0 Bibliography………………………………………………………………….10
1.0 IntroductionAmazon.com, Inc is one of the largest online companies today with annual revenue figures of close to $ 75 billion. With such revenue figures, one would easily conclude that its human resource practice must be optimized to enable its workforce maintain a good track record and ensure the company gets the best input in terms of skill to ensure optimum performance. However, the opposite is quite true. Surprisingly, Amazon.com has the highest rate of staff turnover in its class of companies yet still manages to rake in huge sums in revenue. This unusual phenomenon shall be the focus of this literature review alongside trying to identify ways of remedying the situation. In addition, we shall be trying to critically analyze available literature regarding the issue of staff turnover from the company’s perspective.
2.0 Literature review
Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and launched operations a year later launching an online books store. Since then, the Seattle based online company has grown and diversified increasing its range of services to include the sale of not only media but everything that its clients want. This includes; hardware, clothing, spare parts, perishables and fragile goods. From an employee turnover perspective, Amazon.com has continued to perform poorly making it a target for numerous studies and inquests as people seek to find out why such a large successful company would have major issues retaining its workers. Staff hiring, management and retention is one of the most sensitive aspects that influence a company’s ability to perform well.
From a human resource perspective, turnover is primarily viewed as a problematic issue especially if it is voluntary. The firm’s ability to attract, induct, manage, and retain a skilled workforce is directly linked to its ability to achieve its organizational objectives. If it cannot retain its workers, the firm is left exposed and has to incur unnecessary expenses in the process of recruitment and replacement. In addition, the high rate of turnover affects the company’s productivity as the main source of its operational capacity leave.
As part of a larger more complex organizational function, turnover can be influenced by many factors. The working conditions, level of job satisfaction, and supervisor behavior affect organizational rates of staff turnover. However, from the perspective of Amazon.com, the main causes of its high rate of turnover are poor working conditions, discord between organizational and employee missions, lack of advancement opportunities, and supervisor mistreatment.
2.1 Poor working conditions
Harsh working conditions serve to disrupt a worker’s ability to effectively contribute to the organization’s operations. If the environment is conducive, the workers feel motivated and enabled to work harder as they feel that their employer cares about their welfare. Available literature seems to suggest how manipulation of the organizational working environment could have far-reaching consequences on the rate of employee turnover and organizational staff retention. One example depicts how innovative organizations could make great strides on ROI from a staffing perspective by using innovative staff retention strategies (Philips and Connell, 2003).
Herein, we are reminded of the benefits organizations stand to benefit from a revision of their workplace policy. Based on motivation theories, literature supports the notion of higher performance tagged to a conducive environment. As such, Amazon.com needs to improve their workplace to make it more appealing. Many complaints from its former employees pointed to the non-conduciveness of some of its working environments and the inability of immediate management personnel to address this issue as being a major impediment to optimal performance. These sentiments are echoed in related literature most of which seeks to demonstrate the positivity that wor place-motivated employed inject into their performance and how it benefits the organization in the long run (Croucher et al., 2013).
From the perspective of Amazon.com, we can summarize the issue of poor working conditions by stating a need by the company to revise its workplace conditions. In addition to motivating its employers, this would greatly benefit the company by assisting it to evade any liabilities that are attached to dangerous or inhabitable working conditions. One good example was a United States store that forced its staff to endure 38 degree Celsius heat without adequate air conditioning equipment. That would have exposed the company to legal and medical liability due to issues like dehydration and heat stress. A simple solution for this example would simply entail the installation of air-conditioning equipment in the store.
It is obvious that all the above literature articles point to the same place with regard to staff turnover. They all consider the work environment and its impact on employee motivation very important and further their common agenda by stating the need for innovative corporations to exploit this to the firm’s advantage, something Amazon.com should consider doing.
2.2 Supervisor mistreatment
Amazon.com workers have severally expressed their disdain at the kind of treatment middle and high-level management directs at them. Even the CEO Jeff Bezos has come under sharp criticism for his belittling attacks aimed at members of the board. Such treatment has been shown to negatively affect the morale of workers and even lead to decisions that cause high turnover rates in some companies. (Sliter et al, 2012).
This literature suggests the existence of a good relationship between stress factors at the workplace and poor workplace performance. Amazon.com can implement this on their company where insensitive bosses could be informed of the detrimental effects of their activities when they throw their weights around the office (Fidalgo, 2012).
Interestingly, the effects manager and bosses who treat other members unfairly at the work place is one of the areas that has received a lot of attention with regard to its effects on workplace motivation and organizational performance. Many researchers have invested time and effort in trying to prove how a relatively harmless behavior such as ‘bossing people around’ the office can harm the performance of even the largest companies. Amazon.com presents one such example where there is evidence of employees who left the company due to harassment from a senior member of the company. Unfortunately, Jeff Bezos as the CEO of this large company has been dragged into the allegations. He has lost important members of the company including some who were influential to the company during its formative years.
2.3 Lack of recognition
The willingness of managerial personnel to identify workers who have contributed to the good performance of the organization is what recognition is all about. Motivation theories associated with expectancy dictate that workers expect their managers, and organizations for that matter, to reward them based on their input levels. So they are encouraged to increase their dedication to the organization to levels they feel are commensurate with the level of output that these firms have attached to them. Amazon.com should attach more value to its workers, especially the most loyal ones that have been with the company from its formation through the growth and hurdled till now. However, that seems not to be the case as issues of future growth, mitigation of unnecessary risks, and dispensation of appropriate strategy to cope with rising competition seem to have taken precedence over workers welfare and appraisal. This is very detrimental even for the most growth-oriented companies as it undermines the same aspect they base their future upon by neglecting the agents of success (Choi, 2009). In light of the above observation, Choi suggests that development-minded organizations need to marry their employee appraisal strategies to their development ones in order to ensure that growth is even within the business.
Many managers are ignorant enough to allow opportunities to appreciate the work of a good dedicated worker when they come up yet some of them are not even active. Research has shown that something as simple as an employee’s name on a memo is one way of keeping a hard-working employee motivated (Mariappanadar, 2009). As such the forward-minded organization will attempt to come up with employee gratification models based on their organizational needs. Such resources themselves are motivational towards the workforce as they demonstrate sensitivity towards the human aspects of labor force.
In order to reduce the high rate of turnover, Amazon.com needs to appreciate the need for recognition of their loyal and hardworking employees. It is self-defeating for an organization to ignore an employee who has stayed on board its work force for a decade to the point of them making the decision to leave. The skills set and experience lost when that happens is considered irrecoverable by most scholars (Ferguson et al, 2008). These scholars exemplify these further using large companies that seem to forget about their earliest recruits prompting them to move on to form their own successful ventures at the cost of their former employer. Amazon.com has had its share of such loses if the formation of such companies as Hulu.com is put into perspective.
2.4 Lack of opportunity for professional advancement
In many organizations, especially large global companies, growth from a personal perspective among employees is a problematic affair. There are usually many other workers that the chances for one to raise the corporate ladder are limited and restricted to a lucky few. Such phenomena has been shown to contribute to high levels of employee turnover among such companies as the workers feel neglected from an appraisal point of view. A lot of research done on the area seems to point to ambitious individuals getting on board companies with their personal objectives which if not met, increase the chances of the same worker leaving for another company that shows more attention to its employees’ ambition(Chiang & Birtch, 2010). Such conditions could be tricky especially for large companies as Amazon.com, with all the global economic hardships and its tens of thousands of employees. However, and as demonstrated by even larger multinationals, it is possible to achieve this level of sensitivity towards employee ambition and factor it into appraisal strategy.
The importance of consideration for employee ambition and professional goals is echoed in more research and literature (Duffield et al, 2011; Ariffen, 2010; Bhuian & Menguc, 2004). Such consideration offers a two pronged approach for organizations to improve their human resource function from a turnover perspective. First, it is a clear demonstration of the organization’s dedication to advancing the employee’s career and a source of motivation. Second, if followed through, it offers the organization with a better batch of skilled workers who in addition to being adequately motivated, as appropriately appraised through retraining and re-evaluation.
Amazon could benefit from the theories and observations forwarded in the above literature regarding ignorance towards employee professional advancement. As a large global company with a complex human resource structure, it needs to factor in more efforts at recognizing the need to enable its employees to develop while on board, and even assist those that express a need to hop off the bus.
2.5 Discord between the organization’s and employees’ missions
All organizations have visions and missions that drive their business resources through skilled workers to success and organizational objectives. However, many organizations fail to establish if their employees’ missions are aligned with those of their companies leading to disparities that more often than not are erosive to the long-terms growth of the business. One way this disparity harms organizational growth is employee dissatisfaction which has been proven to be a major cause of high employee turnover (Kilbridge, 1961). Therefore, organizations need to establish an alignment between organizational missions and those of its workers in order to foster a synergistic relationship between the two thus propelling the firm better towards success.
Large global companies are subject to more than the average range of problems with seemingly small issues such as economic downturns and competition getting magnified to a global scale. This generates more pressure on the management’s end to sustain growth and ensure the firm continues to prosper, sometimes at the expense of more important issues such as employee welfare and consideration. As we have seen, the alignment of employee missions with those of the organization is an important strategy towards success. But, the situation on the ground is opposite as other issues more directly linked to fiscal performance and shareholder gratification take precedence. Research shows that such ignorance has a demonstrated long term effect on employee motivation and morale as eventually, feelings of self-actualization force employees to start considering moving to other firms (Lee, 2004; Schmidt, 2010; Jones & Skarlicki, 2003).
As demonstrated by these literature resources, the correlation between feelings of consideration towards personal growth and organizational efforts at enabling their achievements has a profound effect on the employee’s morale. Amazon.com could exploit this to their advantage by inquiring their employees’ mission and feelings of highest professional achievement (Simons, 2011). Once they are established, strategies could be formulated to marry them with the organization’s long-term goals, making sure that these important assets of the company feel a lesser need to leave for other companies.
3.0 Conclusion
Amazon.com has thrived as an online company offering an internet-based market place for millions of global customers. However, and ironically, the otherwise successful company has been a long-time victim of high rates of employee turnover. Some of the issues that have been raised and identified as being responsible for Amazon.com ‘s high turnover rate include; poor working conditions, supervisor mistreatment, discord between organizational and employee missions and lack of opportunities to advance oneself professionally.
A substantial amount of literature has been used to demonstrate the existence and a strategy from which Amazon.com can derive a way out of its current predicament. Though the literature review provided a wide variety of scenarios from which Amazon.com can derive solutions, it is not intended to form an exhaustive source for similarly challenged organizations to benefit from. More research and industrial trouble-shooting is needed to benefit the situation.
4.0 Bibliography
PHILLIPS, J. J., & CONNELL, A. O. (2003). Managing employee retention: a strategic accountability approach. Amsterdam, Butterworth-Heinemann.CROUCHER, R., STUMBITZ, B., QUINLAN, M., & VICKERS, I. (2013). Can better working conditions improve the performance of SMEs? an international literature review. Geneva, International Labour Office. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1531578.
SLITER, M., SLITER, K., & JEX, S. (2012). The employee as a punching bag: The effect of multiple sources of incivility on employee withdrawal behavior and sales performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 33, 121-139.
MARIAPPANADAR, S. (2009). Motivational Gratification: An Integrated Work Motivation Model with Information System Design Perspective. International Journal of Software Science and Computational Intelligence. 1, 101-115.
FERGUSON, M., MOYE, N., & FRIEDMAN, R. (2008). The Lingering Effects of the Recruitment Experience on the Long-Term Employment Relationship. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research. 1, 246-262.
CHIANG, F. F. T., & BIRTCH, T. A. (2010). Appraising Performance across Borders: An Empirical Examination of the Purposes and Practices of Performance Appraisal in a Multi-Country Context. Journal of Management Studies. 47, 1365-1393.
DUFFIELD, C., ROCHE, M., BLAY, N., THOMS, D., & STASA, H. (2011). The consequences of executive turnover. Journal of Research in Nursing. 16, 503-514.
ARIFEEN, S. (2010). The Significance of Mentoring and its Repercussions on the Advancement of Professional, Managerial Women in Pakistan. Global Business Review. 11, 221-238.
BULENT MENGUC, & SHAHID N. BHUIAN. (2004). RESEARCH NOTE: CAREER STAGE EFFECTS ON JOB CHARACTERISTIC-JOB SATISFACTION RELATIONSHIPS AMONG GUEST WORKER SALESPERSONS. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. 24, 215-227.
KILBRIDGE, M. D. (1961). Turnover, Absence, and Transfer Rates as Indicators of Employee Dissatisfaction with Repetitive Work. Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 15, 21-32.
LEE, P. C. B. (2004). The Relationship Between Role Variables and Turnover Intentions Among IT Professionals.
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