Discusion question - Case Study Example

Case Study Affiliation: What lessons about leading people and managing organizations do Zappos and its CEO Tony Hsieh provide?The first lesson is that people in leadership treat the ones being led as people and not as property. This will lead to coordination, cooperation and communication success to both the organization staff and its customers or potential customers. When managing an organization, offering the best customer service possible is the way to ensure sustainability of the organization.

Even without marketing, a well-managed organization can still prosper and make profits in the long term with good management and effective leadership skills. 2. What do you like about Zappos? What do you dislike about Zappos? Explain your answerWhat I like Zappos is the fact that it is so friendly and customer oriented which is not something that one sees in many organizations and especially the online businesses. Many e-commerce businesses are detached from the customers and they find no new ways to entice more customers.

With Zappos however, their free shipping and free returns policy is what makes it not only stand out but likeable as well. Even though they act in good faith, every business needs to be strict and have boundaries between them and their customers or potential customers. The 365 days return policy is not the best of choice considering the items they sell. People can take advantage of the products use them and later return them with fraudulent claims but having served their purposes. The next customer will therefore get a used product and even with the free shipping costs, the quality of the products remains questionable. 3. Which of the management challenges-globalization, leading a diverse workforce and ethics character and personal integrity-have had an important impact on the evolution of Zappos?

Explain your answerGlobalization has presented the major challenge in the management of the organization Zappos. This is so because with globalization, many e-commerce companies are facing hard competition from the multinational companies which are physically present in most locations where they provide the same products Zappos provides and without any time delay or risk of return. Globalization has also meant that customers come from all over the world and since the company is shouldering the shipping costs, they end up incurring a lot of cost for shoppers who are in different continents.

This has restricted its growth as they still are unable to make huge profits and it even took long for it to breakeven. This slow trend is hindering its evolution. 4. How has Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh addressed the management challenges of globalization, leading a diverse workforce, ethics, character and personal integrity and technological innovation? Explain your answerHsieh ensured that the employees are trained to be ethical and use their personal characters to make customers feel cared for and long to come back.

This has maintained the customers and even attracted more customers even without marketing of the organization. In as far as diverse workforce and globalization are concerned, the CEO relocated the headquarters to Los Angeles and even opened another branch in Kentucky to serve more customers and reduce shipment costs. Communication channels have been opened and this puts the workers at ease of working and hence presents no unnecessary complaints that may affect the workforce. 5. Natalie Zmuda, a reporter for Advertising Age, concludes, “It seems that Zappos is really the poster child for this new age of consumer companies that truly are customer focused.

A lot of companies like to say they are, but none of them is as serious as Zappos.” Do you agree or disagree with Zmuda’s assertion that Zappos is much different than other consumer companies? Explain the reasoning behind your answerI agree that it is different from other companies and especially on the customer service aspect which is not something most organizations are able to handle so effectively and passionately. Most organizations that are not in the service industry remain without any close relation with its customers unlike Zappos. 6. What particular aspects of Zappos would other organizations do well to emulate?

Explain your answerThe aspect of being sincere and welcoming to customers and the customer service made so that they can retain their customers as well as be on the right path towards sustainability. The aspect of free shipping is also a way to attract more customers who are bothered or are not well conversant with handling of the shipping details and hence discouraging them from online shopping. ReferencesNelson, D. and Quick, J. (2010). Organizational Behavior: Science, the Real World, and You.

New York: Cengage Learning.