Challenges Related to Work-Life Balance and Stress at Amazon, Essay Example

Amazon is currently the world most valuable retailer. With its ambitious goal of selling everything to anyone everywhere the company is known to be very creative and does not fear trying something new. One of the factors that are driving the company success is the dedicated and obsession of its employee. The managers are ever devising new ways of extracting the most from their employees (Scott, Ingram, Zagenczyk and Shoss, 2015). While this has largely worked it has left some employee in miserly many opting opted to resign. My team has also been affected.  Nearly 25% of the team members have resigned, citing high stress and poor working conditions.  They have also complained of constant monitoring by the management and pressure to receive perfecting rating for service excellence. In fact at any given time there are averages of four to five vacant positions. This of this report is to present on strategies that may be used to solve the current challenges in the team.

The numerous reported workplace violence, absenteeism, resignation are evidence of unhealthy work-life balance (Weber, & Cambridge Educational 2010). It is the role of the managers to solve workplace problems. To effectively solve the problem managers or team leader need problem-solving skills. There is two type of problem-solving skills namely analytical and creative.  Effective managers are those who can solve the problem both analytically and creatively. First the report will discuss how the work-life balance problem at Amazon was addressed analytically and then creatively.

The analytical problem-solving model that was being applied to solve the current challenges involves four steps. The first step involved defining the problem. At this stage, the current situation was diagnosed, separating fact from fiction, so as to focus on the underlying cause of an issue. In the case of Amazon, the step involved interviewing the member of the team on challenges that they face in the place of work.  The second step involved generating alternative solutions to solve the identified issues. To generate good alternatives, all members of the team we involved. During this step, the manager should specify alternative that are consistent with the goal as well as possible short-term and long-term alternatives.

The third step involves evaluating and selecting alternatives that will be used to solve the problem. At this stage, the proposed alternatives were systematically analyzed, identifying the main and side effect of each of the alternative. After a thorough evaluation, the management settled to some alternatives that we believed that they will solve the underlying problem. The selected alternatives were clearly stated and were planned for implementation. The final step involves the implementation of the selected alternatives and following up on the solution. During implementation, we ensured that the selected alternatives were implemented in time and the right sequence. During the implementation, the role of the manager was to monitor the progress and collect feedback from the team member. The progress monitoring was based on problem solution. One of the biggest challenges that we encountered is employee resists during the initial stages. However, from the evaluation of the progress the method has recorded remarkable progress.

Other than analytical problem-solving method, creative problem-solving skills were also applied in solving the Amazon challenge. While the analytical problem focus is to eliminate the problem, creative problem solving is involved in generating something new (Warner, 2008). The Amazon challenge was creatively solved by creating numerous short-term goals. Generating success in the short term goals makes the employee feel that are achieving the long-term goal thus motivating them. The accomplishments of each of the small task foster a sense of accomplishment. It diminishes the employee worry about the workload and motivate them to peruse the bigger objectives.  The advantage of implement these creative problem-solving strategies unlike analytical problem-solving method, it easily accepted by the member of the team. The method has also recorded remarkable result. The employee attitude has drastically changed. The number of team resigning has also drastically reduce and most importantly the team member are reporting that they are satisfied with the job.

It is conclusive both analytical, and creative problem-solving skill can be used to solve effectively work life balance with a positive result. Managers or team leader should have both problem-solving skills.

Reference

Scott, K. L., Ingram, A., Zagenczyk, T. J., & Shoss, M. K. (March 01, 2015). Work-family conflict and social undermining behaviour: An examination of PO fit and gender differences. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 88, 1, 203-218.

Weber, A., & Cambridge Educational (Firm). (2010). Developing problem solving skills. Charleston, WV: Cambridge Educational.

Warner, J. C. (2008). Problem solving skills. Mudgeeraba, Qld: Team Publications.