Zappo's Holocracy

There is a great importance put on business leadership, this is directly due to how a business not only functions but in how fruitful the company can become. A great leader essentially can take a business plan that is weak yet turn it into a success, whereas a poor leader stands a higher chance of ruining the best of business plans. That is why it is essential to develop effective leadership throughout a companies entire management program at all levels. How does one develop or retain strong leadership? Companies must be focused on hiring strategies that encompass very specific parameters, building from within whilst creating a strong foundation for employee development and succession planning. Leadership is essential in any organization. The style and theory embraced determines whether the company will or will not achieve their goals. in all cases theory must be embraced, as a companies theory, style, and strategy is greatly dependent on the industry the company is in (Sadler, 2014). “The behavioral theory is one of the widely used theories of management. It suggests that leaders are made and not born. It gives room for training to install leadership traits in leaders at the expense of denying them a chance. There are various leadership styles embraced by companies (Cyert, & March, 2005).”  This paper takes a look at the management styles of two specific

Leadership can be defined as the process of identifying a goal, motivating others, and make them to achieve the mutually goals (Giltinane, 2013). According to Humphreys (2002), successful leaders do this by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. A good leadership is not only good at management, but also use different leadership styles in different situations. A successful corporation must has a good leader who have the flexible ability which can provide a suitable leadership to make the company successful. Furthermore, there have no perfect leadership styles in the world. Different leader have different leadership styles which also have the different strengths and weaknesses (Ali & Waqar, 2013). Leaders need to consider

Zappos is an online shoes retailer that started its business in the year 1999. Later on the company had expanded its business to include the beauty products, clothing and even the housewares within its leading e-commerce website. This case emphasizes on the customer service department of Zappos Company and initially the business focused only on the drop ship method. Later on the company also increased the variety of the products. The company had also created a bricks and mortar storefront to expand the business and increase the sales of the business.

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

For centuries leaders have been analyzed in order to determine what the traits and characteristics of a successful leader are. Leadership, as defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2008) is “the art or a process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals” (p. 311). Leadership plays an important role in employee’s participation, creativity, recruitment to an organization, their commitment to the organization, and productivity levels. Over the years, there have been a number of theories surrounding leadership such as the “Great Man” theory, which, according to Riaz and Haider (2010), “assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities, therefore, leaders

Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.

The owners of Zappos did an amazing job coming up with the idea of selling shoes to from online. There was a market that was created by Zappos. Zappos has been able to continue to grow due the advancing in technology that has made it must easier for customer to shop online. A lot of people know what kind of shoes they like and what size shoes they wear. If a customer does need a product in the next few days and can be patient then Zappos is a great store for that customer. Zappos makes it very easy for the customer because of it policies and customer service. Zappos offers free shipping. Zappos also give

Zappos has tackled some serious challenges, handling them with quickness, strength, and accuracy. The first was the 2008 Layoff. Due to the economic times, Zappos had to lay off 8% of their cherished employees. This was a hard choice as the company treasured every staff member. They were straightforward and open about their financial circumstances and the employees fathomed why they needed to take these actions. Employees who were laid off received six months of COBRA health insurance coverage, paid for by the company. The second ethical challenge was the union with Amazon in 2009. Customers were puzzled on why Zappos had decided to join with Amazon. Instead of leaving their devoted customers speculating, they openly articulated the circumstances. Tony Hsieh shared the motives on why Zappos made this decision, guaranteeing that is was to the advantage of the customers. The existing board of directors did not want the company to focus on their clients but to alter attention entirely to product sales. Hsieh did not want to abandon the customer-centric model that Zappos was originated upon, and decided he must take action. In order to buy out the board, Zappos needed to come together with Amazon, a company that not only accepted but endorsed their value to customers. In the end, Zappos and its customers benefitted from the unification. Soon after, the company faced some of its major challenge concerning technical

The topic of leadership is historically one of the most widely researched when it comes to explorations of organizational behavior. The success of any institution or organization is pegged on the quality of its leadership because it is the determining factor on the pattern and speed at which it achieves its growth goals. Leaders are responsible for steering an organization toward its goal by mobilizing resources (both human and material) and maximizing their efficiency. The key deliverables for many leaders include employee well-being, teamwork, adherence to organizational processes and procedures, innovation, crisis

The threat of new entrants into the online shoe/apparel market is relatively small due to the fact that Zappos is such an established brand and has specialized their business model. It would be far too expensive for a new company to copy the characteristics of Zappos including their next day delivery and large overhead. The fact that Zappos was losing money initially illustrates this difficulty. Another issue that would create a high barrier to entry is Zappos commitment to the consumer through overnight shipping. Zappos stated that the overnight shipping caused them to leave their warehouses open for the entire day. Any other company would

A leader is defined as a person with responsibility to influence one or more followers and directing them to achieve a set objective (Sethuraman, 2014). In order to achieve that set of objectives effortlessly, effectively, and efficiently, the most important and valued trait of a leader is an effective leadership styles. Effective leadership styles are required in every organization at every level to be successful. The success or failure of an organization depends on the quality of leadership particularly on the part of top management. An effective leadership style can be developed on the basis of understanding of the situations (Sethuraman, 2014). Top management should know which leadership style is needed based on the situation to be most effective to gain trust and respect from their employee. There is no single method of influencing the behavior of employees for every situation. The employee’s level of knowledge on the task and can determine which leadership style that will be most effective for the situation. Preparing leaders to lead

Zappos started out by selling shoes online to become the world’s largest online retailer of shoes. Subsequently, in their quest to boost sales, they moved beyond footwear to become an E-tailer that sells ‘anything and everything’.

Zappos.com, established in 1999, has rapidly become a strong competitor in online apparel and footwear sales. With the original corporate vison of offering the absolute best selection in shoes; the vision has evolved over the past several years to include the goal of being the retailer that “provides the absolute best service online -- not just in shoes, but in any category” (Zappos, 2014). The online retailer stocks millions of reasonably priced footwear products; carrying thousands of hard to find brand named shoes, handbags, apparel and accessories via the company website and 7,000 affiliate partners. In recognizing their rapid success, Zappos credits it to their commitment to the customer, stating,

Zappos.com is an online clothing and shoe company or shop that is currently based in Nevada, Las Vegas. The company was founded in the year 1999 by Nick Swinmurn. The company’s initial inspiration came after he was not able to find one of his favorite pair of shoes, the air walks, at the local mall. The same year, he approached Alfred Lin and Tony Hseih with an idea of selling different types of shoes online. However, Hsieh was skeptical at first and went to the extent of deleting voice mails sent by Swinmurn (Harnish, 2012). After Swinmurn stated that the footwear in United States is

Zappos introduced a brand new business model that revolved around retaining a customer rather than spending money for new customers. Zappos had to ensure control over the delivery mechanism so they could “WOW” their customers with excellent service and delivery. They maintained their own inventory and warehouse, and developed an inventory management system. Zappos business strategy is to differentiate itself by offering an unparalleled customer service. Zappos gave call center