Common Characteristics of an Organization Essay

Zappos.com has moved through the trenches as they have built their business. Their company is an online shoe retailer that focuses on building a strong brand. By doing so Zappos.com profits were shown to be successful since they have been founded. With their success thee secret was very simple. The founder Nick Swinmurn started this business along with Tony Hsieh in 1999. The story that was told Swinmurn left a voicemail to Hsieh where he almost deleted the message. Swinmurn told him about those selling shoes was a $40 billion market. From there they have launched officially in June 1999. This business will be presented with the common characteristics with systems, rules and norms. Also they will show the hierarchy, communication networks, organizational orientation, and leadership approaches. Zappos.com management communication and decision making will be demonstrated and will show what two common characteristics are the most influenced by communication within the organization. (System) Zappos along with other businesses have been able to maintain a distinctive offering that attracts an extremely loyal customer base. A characteristic with systems for Zappos is all online shopping. Customer service is solely built around their business. In order to succeed they do have ten core values in place to as a code of honor. Following these values is for the employees and any consultants within the company. The one type of system Zappos focuses on is their customers to spread the news through word-of-mouth and a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) tool. The brand loyalty is a major factor that has made this company rise to the lacks of other strong brands. Brand loyalty is enhanced by the service and product that the company delivers to the clients. If the service is memorable then it won’t take long for people to relate easy purchase with this brand. Rules can be defined as the restrictions that a group or society have seen fit to define our behavior and ways by which we interact with each other. This will mainly define the ways and behavior that this organization uses to ensure that all its brands display a presentable image in the public. These formal rules have been made into a routine that ensures that the best qualities of the company are to at first hand. These rules will be accompanied in the policies and procedures that are taught to all the employees and employers. The rules will lay out a specific way of doing their business hence becoming the procedure of conducting business. Polices can be found through the core values that have been used to make it the business that it is today. These values have been incorporated in the various activities that the human resource conducts. We can recognize that the Human resource is a key factor in this organization. This is due to the fact that it is crucial to setting the environment required to have a successful business. This can be seen through how they hire and fire, how they train their employees, the customer service they encourage, on how they enhance empowerment of the clients and employees and finally the leadership programmers they have. This can be identified as the acceptable way to do things; the norms will lead to creating a belief system in the company. By understanding the company’s core values one will realize the norm and rules that the company abides to. Zappos tries to maintain a unique company culture that identifies itself from all its competitors out there. Its culture is evident in all the activities it does and also through their interactions with their clients and suppliers. This can also be identified by finding employers that envision the company’s culture. This core values can be identified as the following (Zappos.com, 2010) 1. Delivering wow through service2. Embrace and Drive change 3. Create fun and a little weirdness 4. Be Adventurous, creative and open minded 5. Pursue growth and leaning 6. Build open and honest relationships with communication 7. Build a positive team and family spirit 8. Do more with less 9. Be passionate and determined 10. Be humble All these values should be displayed by the employees that work for this organization. When you look at these values they clearly lay out what is expected of their workers in their daily interactions with their clients. Just like any other business all organizations have a chain of command—an established hierarchy of authority levels (Richmond and McCroskey, 2009). Zappos have a chain of command and also have over 1500 employees within the company. You may not realize it due to a company being online shopping, but Zappos depends on other companies and members to collect data, do the shipping process and other items to run their business smoothly. The founder and Co-founder of Zappos is the Chief Executive of the business. There are different levels of managers and supervisors down to a front desk receptionist. Zappos empowerment has improved through the years. A good communication network was established when Amazon acquired Zappos. The acquisition brings together two companies who share a passion for serving customers and whose customers benefit from cultures of innovation and long term thinking (Business Wire, 2009). They believed that becoming associated with Amazon they will be able to use one another’s strengths and believed in their vision to the customers. Orientation is a key process in instilling the company values; it can be seen as the first instance when the employee is introduced to the rules and norms valued by the company. This is mainly the job of the Human Resources, which chooses employees that hold the companies values. This will ensure that its employees quickly take into heart the companies rules and norms during orientation. Also Orientation is crucial when the client has the first encounter with the company’s product and services. This has been enhanced by the company’s core value of having a WOW experience with the client. The company claims that if they get their culture right in an employee then the rest falls into place. Speaking to an intern recently about Zappos she mentioned about dogmatism. Dogmatic see things as right or wrong, black or white, there are no gray areas or compromises (Richmond and McCroskey, 2009). They mentioned that customer service can be great from a customer care agent but going the extra mile is what separates an individual. There have been several individuals fired on the spot for not complying with Zappos Ten Commandments. Leadership in this company is gotten from the lower ranks, the company identifies an individual with leadership’s qualities and it enhances. This has been built through the process of empowering their employees; the employees can attend various seminars that develop their leadership qualities. The company has found the ideal of growing from the ranks make the employees more motivated, this is due to the fact that there is growth in this company. A leader in Zappos must instill these strategies in the process of doing their business. One must make sure that the culture found in his department has a main goal that is focused to offering unforgettable services. We know that a business is created to achieving the goal of gaining profits but we should not forget to for great service in the achievement of profits. The leader should value all his employees and make sure that gain a lot during their time in the company. This can be achieved by educating them we can see the company does not restrict their workers to the skill that one was hired for. For example a marketing individual can be encouraged to learn graphic design they encourage they employees to expand their options. Working with Zappos has two common characteristics that were more influenced with their organization. Systems being the first, customers are first and have the ability to shop for any item besides shoes and delivered in a timely matter. The customer loyalty and product delivered is a major part of their marketing. Overall Zappos strategy is doing good for business making them a good revenue and customer base. However there are just a few areas needed to improve. References Business Wire. (July 2, 2009). Amazon.com to Acquire Zappos.com. Retrieved from http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090722006145/en/Amazon.com-Acquire-Zappos.com Insights. (2012). Delivering Wow Through Service. Retrieved from http://www.zapposinsights.com/ Richmond, V. P., & McCroskey, J. C. (2009). Organizational Communication for Survival, Making work, Work (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Zappos.com. (May 1, 2010). ZAPPOS.COM, INC. CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT AND ETHICS. Retrieved from http://www.zappos.com/c/code-of-conduct