Chapter 14 Case Application 1 (pages 513-514) 

14-15: How could Amazon eliminate concerns with employees using the tool to sabotage other
employees ? (Linh)
Ethical communication
 2-way feedback => constructive criticism, receive positive reinforcement
 Set specific guidelines

Let begin with clarifying the source of information about Amazon workplace from 2 articles
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-
workplace.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-nick-
ciubotariu?fbclid=IwAR09M408WlYkt8QDXWmCRJhfR9kKjYQOOgxtZ-n3nrI1KPU4N94R7TrP_Ak
Slide 3: On the day of 15th August, 2015, The New York Times had published an article describing
shockingly callous management practices, including people being treated without empathy while
enduring family tragedies and serious health problems inside Amazon, and also gave a wrong claim about
“Anytime Feedback Tool” often have negative feedbacks which are likely to sabotage another employees.
Then on the next day after the article was released, Nick Ciubotariu - an Amazonians had responded to
correct and provided evidence to prove that article led the audience a false perception. Additionally, on
17th August, the Chief of Amazon spoke up to clarify the article's reliability and encourage Amazonians
to escalate to HR wherever they know of any such report.
Slide 3: As we have clarified the reliability of the information, we are likely to give some evidence about
the Anytime Feedback Tool of Amazon, and it is true to the problem of anonymous overuse of this
platform to send negative feedback for sabotaging other employees. Nick also provides some evidence to
publish a disclaimer about Anytime Feedback Tool: The New York Times wrote. “Many others …
described feeling sabotaged by negative comments from unidentified colleagues with whom they could
not argue. And Nick stated that he’d given feedback via the tool, mostly positive, some that address his
growth areas, that his boss discusses with him. Also, despite secretly feedbacking each other via the tool,
some employees never use it and tend to talk and directly construct each other.

Slide 5: In Nick rebuttal to NYT, he said "If the feedback does not have very specific data, as a manager,
you are trained to dig deeper before accepting it (whether it’s positive or negative), and the tool allows
you to do just that: reject the feedback by sending it back for clarification. Managers are also coached on
diving deep into feedback to ensure that employee sabotage does not happen.

https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles 

Slide 6: In addition, Amazonians are instructed to Disagree and Commit according to the 14 Leadership
Principles of Amazon culture. This means workers are encouraged to argue their convictions and SPEAK
UP when they disagree and this may lead to feedback from each other. “There’s no reward for not
speaking up. ‘Good backbone’ is a compliment. It’s a very seductive quality about the organization
because people want to contribute.” said Stephanie Landry - vice president of Amazon. Besides that, Nick
Ciubotariu - said: Amazonians are encouraged to “come up with better ways”, and try to evolve. By the
way, when you participate in a meeting and start to discuss, if workers don’t quickly come to a consensus,
we debate – but debate politely and respectfully, and you are given constructive
feedback. 

Because Amazon provided such a competitive workplace and let assume that the tool does face the
problem of sabotaging employees through anonymous negative feedback. To eliminate the concern
of employees being sabotaged from receiving those feedback either to develop Amazon's feedback
tool, we have discussed and provided some suggestions below:
 Set specific guidelines or policies to avoid unethical communication:
When I search for further evidence, the employees’ sabotage using Anytime Feedback Tool does not
happen in real practical Amazon culture. But let's assume a situation in which the problem does occur and
is likely to violate ethical communication through false or misleading feedback. As we learned from
chapter 14 in the Principle of Management textbook, unethical communication often distorts the truth or
manipulates audiences. So, to encourage ethical communication, one way is to set specific guidelines or
policies for ethical behavior, thus avoiding unethical communication. This has been proven by 70%
of communication professionals who said their companies clearly define what is considered ethical and
unethical behavior, according to the Principle management textbook.
 Enable two-way communication:

One of the problems of “the Anytime Feedback Tool” feature is that it is often linear in terms of being
only one-way, which is likely shown in traditional feedback mechanisms. It is only top down in terms of
the managers gathering feedback from the tools then delivering their feedback to the employees, and
those getting the feedback are unable to defend themselves from the negative ones. Amazon should
develop a new feature that allows employees opportunities to engage with feedback, for example, asking
for feedback’s clarification by delivering back to the sender and requesting specific details for work’s
reflection and further performance improvement. (Essentially, both people fully experience the feedback
process by being on the giving and receiving end of constructive criticism.) However, receivers should be
able to correct faulty assumptions or bad information. This approach not only builds self-confidence in
the employee, it also reduces the risk of unfair criticism employees receive.