Forced to work regardless of a hazard warning

Description

Weaknesses that exist in Amazon’s crisis response management and how they can be strengthened

Weaknesses in Amazon’s crisis response management

Sakurai, M., & Murayama, Y. (2019). Information technologies and disaster managementBenefits and issues.Progress in Disaster Science,2, 100012
Sakurai & Murayama’s article published by Progress in Disaster Science attempts to address the weaknesses in crisis response management. The paper supports my assumption that Amazon’s crisis response management plan lacked adequate safety procedures. Poor and unsafe workplace policies prevented employees from leaving their workplace without permission, even in cases of crisis. Besides, various safety hazards in the warehouse went unaddressed. The paper is helpful as it identifies issues and weaknesses in managing problems in an organization.
Eggers, F. (2020). Masters of disasters? Challenges and opportunities for SMEs in times of crisis.Journal of Business Research,116, 199-208.
Eggers’ article is useful in understanding the weaknesses in Amazon’s crisis management as it points out the challenges in managing crises such as natural disasters. The scholar identifies delays in response to the crisis as one of the challenges in managing crises. The crisis response management plan was delayed in responding to the incident resulting in death and injuries to the workers. Felix Eggers is a renowned scholar with vast experience and knowledge in disaster management, making his article reliable for this research. The delays were caused by a lack of a proper emergency action plan. The delayed response to the incident was one of the main challenges in the context.
Goniewicz, K., Khorram-Manesh, A., Hertelendy, A. J., Goniewicz, M., Naylor, K., & Burkle, F. M. (2020). Current response and management decisions of the European Union to the COVID-19 outbreak: a review.Sustainability,12(9), 3838.
The source examines the weaknesses in managing crises such as the 2021 Amazon tornado crisis. It is useful in understanding crisis response management as it illustrates the importance of heeding warnings imposed by the potential crisis. The crisis response management plan failed to act against the numerous tornado warnings they received, thereby exposing its employees to the crisis. Besides, failure to heed tornado warnings prevented them from providing adequate tornado shelters as a reputable researcher and a scholar with Ph.D. Associate professor, his insights on the weaknesses that exist in managing a crisis cannot, therefore, be overlooked.
Oh, N., & Lee, J. (2020). Changing landscape of emergency management research: A systematic review with bibliometric analysis.International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction,49, 101658.
The article details the flaws in crisis response management. The organization also had a poor and unsafe work environment for its employees. The source is important as it supports the assumption that the incident happened due to a poor and hazardous workplace environment. Its warehouses were poorly constructed and maintained, exposing its employees to the tornado crisis. Several workers were injured from its collapsed distribution center. Lee is a renowned scholar and an attentive researcher making this article to be both reliable and scholarly. The organization failed to put the safety of its employees first despite the numerous warnings and opportunities they had.
Moerschell, L., & Novak, S. S. (2020). Managing crisis in a university setting: The challenge of alignment.Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,28(1), 30-40.
Moerschell and Novak investigate crisis management in the university setting. The article is rightly published in the Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, making it both scholarly and reliable. The organization failed to incorporate protective actions such as evacuation and shelter in its crisis response management. The reference is, therefore, useful in understanding the weaknesses in the direction of crisis.
Boin, A. (2019). The Transboundary Crisis: Why we are unprepared and the road ahead.Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,27(1), 94-99.
The article investigates the need for organizations to prepare for the unforeseen crisis. The crisis response management had an ineffective action plan to manage natural disasters. For instance, the organization failed to customize its emergency action plan with specific instructions. Arjen Boin is a renowned scholar and a professor of public institutions and governance, making his insights on crisis response management reliable. The source is also important to the study as it points out some of the challenges in crisis response management.
Maas, P., Iyer, S., Gros, A., Park, W., McGorman, L., Nayak, C., & Dow, P. A. (2019, May). Facebook Disaster Maps: Aggregate Insights for Crisis Response & Recovery. InKDD(Vol. 19, No. 3173).
The source is useful as it reiterates the need for the organization to timely notify, communicate, and warn employees of any potential crisis. Amazon’s crisis response management plan failed to timely inform, communicate, and warn employees of the crisis leading to the death of six employees. As a renowned researcher and a Ph.D. holder in Disaster management, Maas’s insights on the direction of the crisis in an organization are reliable for the study.
MARSHALL, A. (2022). THE PUBLIC LAMENT OF JEFF BEZOS’2021 SPACE JAUNTS.PSAKU International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research,11(2), 43-59.
The article rightly published in the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research supports my assumptions as it examines the weaknesses in crisis response management. The company’s crisis response management lacked incident stabilization measures such as prompt notification of emergency services leading to a delay in response to the tornado crisis. Marshall’s article is useful to study as it points out the flaws in Amazon’s crisis response management.
Ali, M. S. S., Arsyad, M., Kamaluddin, A., Busthanul, N., &Dirpan, A. (2019, February). : Indonesian experience. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science(Vol. 235, No. 1, p. 012012). IOP Publishing.
The source supports my assumption as it investigates the weaknesses that exist in the management of community-based disasters. The crisis management plan failed to procure adequate equipment, tools, and infrastructure to manage the crisis. The demand for safety tools and equipment exceeded the available equipment and tools. The company also had a poor infrastructure for evacuation and shelter. The study is reliable to be used in the study as Ali is not only a well-renowned scholar but also works in Environmental Engineering Research.
Altay, N., Gunasekaran, A., Dubey, R., & Childe, S. J. (2018). Agility and resilience as antecedents of supply chain performance under moderating effects of organizational culture within the humanitarian setting: a dynamic capability view.Production Planning & Control,29(14), 1158-1174.
Altay, Gunasekaran, Dubey, & Childe examine the importance of heeding warnings on a potential crisis. The company failed to mobilize and secure enough financial resources to manage such a crisis despite the series of warnings they receiveda timely and adequate response to the crisis required sufficient financial resources. Altay’s affiliation with disaster and crisis management makes their article reliable.
How Amazon’s crisis response management can be strengthened
Inoue, Y., Lock, D., Gillooly, L., Shipway, R., & Swanson, S. (2022). The organizational identification and well-being framework: Theorizing how sports organizations contribute to crisis response and recovery. Sport Management Review,25(1), 1-30.
Inoue, Lock & Swanson investigated and concluded that Amazon needs to incorporate protective action for safety in its crisis response management plan. They need to put in place protective measures that factor in the shelter, evacuation, and lockdown. The company failed to provide the shelter’s location in the warehouse, resulting in the six employees’ death. This protective action would decrease the occurrence of many incidents.
Cornelis, E. F., Baker, A. M., & Ahsan, M. (2022). Mitigating a crisis of confidence: The effect of crisis response strategies on rewardbased crowdfunding success.Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,16(1), 67-96.
This article tries to illustrate that the company’s crisis response management plan needs to provide adequate protective resources such as the local fire department, emergency management, and police department. The Amazon company has only an alarm system which did not provide enough for the incident. The plan is useful as it deals with emergencies.
Cornelis, E. F., Baker, A. M., & Ahsan, M. (2022). Mitigating a crisis of confidence: The effect of crisis response strategies on rewardbased crowdfunding success.Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,16(1), 67-96.
The journal properly published in mitigating the crisis of confidence explaining how the company’s crisis response management plan needs to provide adequate training and exercise to enable them to understand the management of the disasters, for instant Amazon organization failed to provide sufficient training to its workers to allow them to familiarize and understand the detection alarm communication during the tornado crisis. This training and exercise will contribute a greater percentage to reducing accidents.
Morsut, C., Kuran, C., Kruke, B. I., Orru, K., & Hansson, S. (2022). Linking resilience, vulnerability, social capital, and risk awareness for crisis and disaster research. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,30(2), 137-147.
Most, Kuran& Hanson in their artifact of risk awareness, Kuran & Hanson figure out that Amazon needs to develop a crisis response management plan that timely warns, notifies, and communicates the potential hazard to the employees to ensure their safety. The company failed to inform, alert, and communicate the potential threat to their employees, leading to six employees’ deaths. It is helpful as it points out what to do to reduce hazards in Amazon.
Campagnolo, D., Gianecchini, M., Gubitta, P., Leonelli, S., &Tognazzo, A. (2022). SMEs facing crisis: ideal response or equifinal reactions? InBusiness Under Crisis Volume I(pp. 63-84). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
This report by Campagnolo, Gianecchini&Tognazzo outlines that the organization needs to develop an emergency plan and procedure to foresee hazards and threats. The emergency plan needs to be customized with specific instructionsthis helps in predicting the danger and threats that may come.
Liu, W., Lai, C. H., & Xu, W. W. (2018). Tweeting about the emergency: A semantic network analysis of government organizations’ social media messaging during Hurricane Harvey. Public relations review,44(5), 807-819.
Liu, Lai&Xu investigates that Amazon’s crisis response management needs to incorporate incident stabilization measures that includes protective action for employees, constant notification of emergency services, and accounting of all employees. The lack of enough incident stabilization measures led to the passing and injury of six or more workers in the Tornado incident. This is convenient as it reduces the magnitude of the loss of life etc.
McKnight, B., &Linnenluecke, M. K. (2019). Patterns of firm responses to different types of natural disasters.Business & Society,58(4), 813-840.
Mc Knight &Linnenluecke’s research paper indicated in their journal patterns of the firm’s response and that organization’s crisis management plan should have . The company had unsafe and poor workplace policies preventing workers from leaving the job place even during the incident. This is helpful as it outlines the process and patterns for avoiding accidents.
Lovari, A., & Bowen, S. A. (2020). Social media in disaster communication: A case study of strategies, barriers, and ethical implications.Journal of Public Affairs,20(1), e1967.
Lovari, A &Bowen, in their study, distinctly outline that companies need to ensure their work environment is safe for all employees. Amazon warehouses were poorly constructed, exposing the employees to the tornado. This article is useful as it confirms the safety of the territory in the company.
Schumann, G. J., Brackenridge, G. R., Kettner, A. J., Kashif, R., & Niebuhr, E. (2018). Assisting flood disaster response with earth observation data and products: A critical assessment.Remote Sensing,10(8), 1230.
Schumann, Kashif & Niebuhr (2018) correctly write that Amazon needs to set aside adequate financial resources to facilitate a speedy response to future crises. The company did not allocate enough resources to respond to the tornado. This source is useful as it draws the organization’s attention to the magnitude of the finances needed to be set aside for the emergency.
Nuzzo, J. B., Meyer, D., Snyder, M., Ravi, S. J., Lapascu, A., Souleles, J., … &Bishai, D. (2019). What makes health systems resilient against infectious disease outbreaks and natural hazards? Results from a scoping review.BMC public health,19(1), 1-9.
In their thesis, Nuzzo, Meyer &Bishai reveal that companies must procure adequate equipment, tools, and infrastructure to meet emergency demands during crises for effective management, e.g., natural disasters. In the eventuality of the tornado, Amazon did not have enough equipment, tools, and infrastructure to prevent the poor event. The article is useful as it shows what is required to avoid the incident.

References
Ali, M. S. S., Arsyad, M., Kamaluddin, A., Busthanul, N., &Dirpan, A. (2019, February). Community-based disaster management: Indonesian experience. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science(Vol. 235, No. 1, p. 012012). IOP Publishing.
Altay, N., Gunasekaran, A., Dubey, R., & Childe, S. J. (2018). Agility and resilience as antecedents of supply chain performance under moderating effects of organizational culture within the humanitarian setting: a dynamic capability view.Production Planning & Control,29(14), 1158-1174.
Boin, A. (2019). The Transboundary Crisis: Why we are unprepared and the road ahead.Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,27(1), 94-99.
Campagnolo, D., Gianecchini, M., Gubitta, P., Leonelli, S., &Tognazzo, A. (2022). SMEs facing crisis: ideal response or equifinal reactions? InBusiness Under Crisis Volume I(pp. 63-84). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Cornelis, E. F., Baker, A. M., & Ahsan, M. (2022). Mitigating a crisis of confidence: The effect of crisis response strategies on rewardbased crowdfunding success.Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,16(1), 67-96.
Eggers, F. (2020). Masters of disasters? Challenges and opportunities for SMEs in times of crisis.Journal of Business Research,116, 199-208.
Goniewicz, K., Khorram-Manesh, A., Hertelendy, A. J., Goniewicz, M., Naylor, K., & Burkle, F. M. (2020). Current response and management decisions of the European Union to the COVID-19 outbreak: a review.Sustainability,12(9), 3838.
Inoue, Y., Lock, D., Gillooly, L., Shipway, R., & Swanson, S. (2022). The organizational identification and well-being framework: Theorizing how sports organizations contribute to crisis response and recovery. Sport Management Review,25(1), 1-30.
Liu, W., Lai, C. H., & Xu, W. W. (2018). Tweeting about the emergency: A semantic network analysis of government organizations’ social media messaging during Hurricane Harvey. Public relations review,44(5), 807-819.
Lovari, A., & Bowen, S. A. (2020). Social media in disaster communication: A case study of strategies, barriers, and ethical implications.Journal of Public Affairs,20(1), e1967.
Maas, P., Iyer, S., Gros, A., Park, W., McGorman, L., Nayak, C., & Dow, P. A. (2019, May). Facebook Disaster Maps: Aggregate Insights for Crisis Response & Recovery. InKDD(Vol. 19, No. 3173).
MARSHALL, A. (2022). THE PUBLIC LAMENT OF JEFF BEZOS’2021 SPACE JAUNTS.PSAKU International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research,11(2), 43-59.
McKnight, B., &Linnenluecke, M. K. (2019). Patterns of firm responses to different types of natural disasters.Business & Society,58(4), 813-840
Moerschell, L., & Novak, S. S. (2020). Managing crisis in a university setting: The challenge of alignment.Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,28(1), 30-40.
Morsut, C., Kuran, C., Kruke, B. I., Orru, K., & Hansson, S. (2022). Linking resilience, vulnerability, social capital, and risk awareness for crisis and disaster research. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,30(2), 137-147.
Nuzzo, J. B., Meyer, D., Snyder, M., Ravi, S. J., Lapascu, A., Souleles, J., … &Bishai, D. (2019). What makes health systems resilient against infectious disease outbreaks and natural hazards? Results from a scoping review.BMC public health,19(1), 1-9.
Oh, N., & Lee, J. (2020). Changing landscape of emergency management research: A systematic review with bibliometric analysis.International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction,49, 101658.
Sakurai, M., & Murayama, Y. (2019). Information technologies and disaster managementBenefits and issues.Progress in Disaster Science,2, 100012
Schumann, G. J., Brackenridge, G. R., Kettner, A. J., Kashif, R., & Niebuhr, E. (2018). Assisting flood disaster response with earth observation data and products: A critical assessment.Remote Sensing,10(8), 1230.