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This description-based case used secondary data to provide students with the controversy centered around Amazon's highly criticized culture. An article published by the New York Times illuminates current and former employees ' disapproving perceptions of the culture Amazon has adopted which has ironically contributed to its overwhelming success. Although some have touted their allegiance to such cultural pragmatism, others, who define the culture as "modern-day Darwinism", have experienced consternation as cultural practices have created unpleasant work conditions thus causing dissatisfaction that lead to voluntary or involuntary exiting. In light of Amazon 's purchase of Whole Foods, questions have resonated regarding the dichotomous collision of cultural disparities that could have either fortuitous or catastrophic implications. Founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, has adamantly defended Amazon amidst such allegations of mistreatment of employees and refutes claims of rejecting underperforming employees and granting reprieves for those only conforming to its cultural model. Bezos strongly maintains that the company 's cultures embodies the industry 's standards and defines its hypercompetitive and aggressive nature as distinctive and incomparable to other companies.
THE LETTER TO THE AMAZIONS
Dear Amazonians,
If you haven't already, I encourage you to give this (very long) New York Times article a careful read. I also encourage you to read this very different take by a current Amazonian (Refer to Appendix A).
Here's why I'm writing you. The NYT article prominently features anecdotes describing shockingly callous management practices, including people being treated without empathy while enduring family tragedies and serious health problems. The article doesn't describe the Amazon I know or the caring Amazonians I work with every day. But if you know of any stories like those reported, I want you to escalate to HR. You can also email me directly at [email protected]. Even if it's rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero.
The article goes further than reporting isolated anecdotes. It claims that our intentional approach is to create a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard. Again, I don't recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don't, either. More broadly, I don't think any company adopting the approach portrayed could survive, much less thrive, in today's highly competitive tech...