Posted: April 24th, 2025

Development Initiative (Teams)

Company Name: Amazon

• Week 4: Team Interventions Memo

Week 4 Assignment:

Last week, you developed training and development initiatives that were focused on individuals in the organization. This week, you will add to that development plan by thinking about how to develop the teams in your organization. Go back and review the data that you collected during the data gathering phase. What data (and analysis) can be applied to teams? In other words, what needs assessment can you do at the team level? How will you enhance the performance of teams as you do your organizational development? (And if you are using your own organization for the project, specifically, how can you enhance the performance of your team?)

This week, you will design a basic training and development intervention for teams that includes at least two different intervention methods. An intervention is a specific action or series of actions taken to address a specific problem that you have identified.

 
Planning and Execution:

• How cohesive is your team? (Cohesion is a measurement of relationship, togetherness, and belongingness experienced by the team  members.) 

  What evidence can you provide to support your conclusions about team cohesion? Are there any pieces of evidence that might contradict your conclusion?
  How might you increase the amount of team cohesion (in essence, what intervention methods, such as role-playing, etc., would you use)?

• How productive is your team? (Productivity is a measurement of task fulfillment by team members.) 

  What evidence can you provide to support your conclusions about team productivity? Are there any pieces of evidence that might contradict your conclusion?
  How might you increase the amount of team productivity (what intervention methods would you use)?

• Who needs to be involved in the team development plan for it to be a success?

   

• What is the time frame for implementing your plan?

Deliverable:

Prepare a one-to-two-page (500 to 1000 words, single-spaced) team interventions memo that addresses the following issues.

• What is the organization you are working with (to remind your readers)?
• What is the team cohesion need that should be addressed and what is the intervention for that need?
• What is the team productivity need that should be addressed and what is the intervention for that need?
• Who will need to participate (at any level) in the training and development initiative?
• When will the initiative take place?
• What is the basic schedule for rolling out your initiative?

Reminder:

• Review the memo tips guide
• You do not need to provide a title page
• Cite any resources using APA even though the rest of the paper is in memo format rather than APA. 

Due by 10/11/24 at 3pm CST

 

Requirements

1. Make certain to include in text citations from your course text in addition to your outside leadership resources within your main  post. This adds credibility to your argument. [Textbook]: Zenger, J. H., & Stinnett, K. (2010).

The extraordinary coach: How the best Leaders help others grow (1st ed.)

. McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9780071703406

2. No plagiarism will be tolerated. Must be in 7th Edition APA format with cited sources within the last 5 years.

3. No AI support, score must be 0% and less than < 10% score on Turnitin

Development Initiative (Teams)

Company Name: Amazon

· Week 4: Team Interventions Memo

Week 4 Assignment:

Last week, you developed training and development initiatives that were focused on individuals in the organization. This week, you will add to that development plan by thinking about how to develop the teams in your organization.
Go back and review the data that you collected during the data gathering phase. What data (and analysis) can be applied to teams? In other words, what needs assessment can you do at the team level? How will you enhance the performance of teams as you do your organizational development? (And if you are using your own organization for the project, specifically, how can you enhance the performance of your team?)

This week, you will design a basic training and development intervention for teams that
includes at least two different intervention methods. An intervention is a specific action or series of actions taken to address a specific problem that you have identified.

Planning and Execution:

· How cohesive is your team? (Cohesion is a measurement of relationship, togetherness, and belongingness experienced by the team members.)

· What evidence can you provide to support your conclusions about team cohesion? Are there any pieces of evidence that might contradict your conclusion?

· How might you increase the amount of team cohesion (in essence, what intervention methods, such as role-playing, etc., would you use)?

· How productive is your team? (Productivity is a measurement of task fulfillment by team members.)

· What evidence can you provide to support your conclusions about team productivity? Are there any pieces of evidence that might contradict your conclusion?

· How might you increase the amount of team productivity (what intervention methods would you use)?

· Who needs to be involved in the team development plan for it to be a success?

· What is the time frame for implementing your plan?

Deliverable:
Prepare a one-to-two-page (500 to 1000 words, single-spaced)
team interventions memo that addresses the following issues.

· What is the organization you are working with (to remind your readers)?

· What is the team cohesion need that should be addressed and what is the intervention for that need?

· What is the team productivity need that should be addressed and what is the intervention for that need?

· Who will need to participate (at any level) in the training and development initiative?

· When will the initiative take place?

· What is the basic schedule for rolling out your initiative?

Reminder:

· Review the
memo tips guide

· You do not need to provide a title page

· Cite any resources using APA even though the rest of the paper is in memo format rather than APA. 

Due by 10/11/24 at 3pm CST

Requirements

1.
Make certain to include in text citations from your course text in addition to your outside leadership resources within your main  post. This adds credibility to your argument. [Textbook]: Zenger, J. H., & Stinnett, K. (2010).

The extraordinary coach: How the best Leaders help others grow

(1st ed.)

. McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9780071703406

2.
No plagiarism will be tolerated. Must be in 7th Edition APA format with cited sources within the last 5 years.

3.
No AI support, score must be 0% and less than < 10% score on Turnitin

1

5

Individual Interventions Memo

Student Name

Lecture Name

Course

Date

Individual Interventions Memo

To: Leadership Development Team
From: Consultant
Date: October 4, 2024
Subject:
Individual Development Intervention Plan for Amazon Employees

Organization Overview

Amazon is a multinational organization that deals with e-commerce services and technologies and is gradually experiencing pressure to perform better. Data collected from the key informants in the Amazon organization such as the leadership and the employees indicated developmental needs at the individual level. This memo provides a detailed strategy for meeting individual development needs that are identified in the organization.

Identified Needs

The data gathering process revealed two major areas of individual development improvement at Amazon. First, employees complained about the absence of formal structured development programs and their efficient searches among numerous helpful resources as no clear links to career advancement visions are provided. Second, employees stated that they have work overload, which hinders them from taking career development positions. This raises the question of how work can be distributed in a way that provides time for development. These problems may harm the company and prevent it from building its potential workforce to enhance its performance, innovation and advancement (Nguyen, 2020). Both these concerns are notable for improving engagement as well as overall organizational performance.

Evidence Supporting Needs

The interviews and questionnaires showed that employees want to have clear and defined career development plans. One that was mentioned by many of the participants was that while there is no shortage of learning resources, employees are unable to link them to their career paths. Also, due to the high workload, it is impossible for many employees to participate in valuable development activities. These findings are supported by the feedback received from the team leaders and the employees. Leadership also admitted that, although Amazon encourages innovation, there is a lack of adequate development processes for people. There is no contradictory evidence to these conclusions because they are based on both employee perceptions and managerial attitudes.

Intervention Methods

To meet these individual needs, two intervention approaches will be used in the process of intervention. First, a structured mentorship program will involve senior staff with junior employees in order to provide one-on-one training to the junior employees to assist them in getting the training resources that they need and to ensure that the training resources meet the goals of the employees (Nguyen, 2020). This approach shall therefore try to give more defined development directions and support professional development. Second, the concern will be on time management to ensure that it’s effectively managed through providing workload balancing through time management workshops which aim at imparting skills in prioritization and delegation (Akkermans et al., 2021). These workshops will assist employees to manage their time effectively so that they can be able to participate in the development activities without necessarily being overwhelmed by their normal work. Altogether, these interventions will help each person to develop and enhance the general performance of Amazon.

Participants and Stakeholders

Mentorship system requires that senior leaders and people with vast experience in the organization participate as mentors (Zenger & Stinnett, 2010). Mentees will be sourced from different departments in the organization depending on the level of development they are at and the development plan they have. All employees who have problems with work and development will be forced to attend the time management workshops. Managers of departments and team leaders will also participate in this process and encourage people to attend and participate in it.

Timeline and Schedule

The initiative will be implemented in the next three months. The first of them is the mentorship program, which will start with the matching of the mentors and their mentees during the first two weeks of October. The first mentorship sessions will be held biweekly from mid-October. The time management workshops will be conducted in November where there will be weekly sessions for various departments (Zenger & Stinnett, 2010). All the employees will have gone through the workshops by December and will be able to access further material for their growth.

Conclusion

This paper highlighted a number of individual development needs that require attention at Amazon, in order to enhance and optimize human capital. The problems with unstructured development paths and excessive workloads are solved directly by the logistics of the mentorship program and time management workshops. It will ensure that employees at different levels are involved and that an organized time plan is implemented to enhance the improvement of workforce’s professionalism and performance among the amazon’s employees.

References

Akkermans, J., Spurk, D., & Fouad, N. (2021). Careers and career development. In 
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology.

Nguyen, C. (2020). The impact of training and development, job satisfaction and job performance on young employee retention. 
Job Satisfaction and Job Performance on Young Employee Retention (May 1, 2020).

Zenger, J. H., & Stinnett, K. (2010). 

The extraordinary coach: How the best Leaders help others grow (1st Ed.)

. McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9780071703406

2

Data Gathering Plan Memo

To: Leadership Development Team
From: [Your Name], Organizational Development Consultant
Date: September 28, 2024
Subject: Diagnosis of Development Needs for Amazon

Summary

Based on data from key stakeholders, this brief describes Amazon’s individual, team, and leadership development needs. Building on last week’s scouting, this letter evaluates Amazon’s development methods and suggests improvements. Interviews, observations, and a structured questionnaire were used to collect data from employees, team leads, and senior leadership. This letter will describe the questions, techniques, data, and developmental needs.

Data Gathering Plan

Amazon needed to engage multiple tiers of the business to determine individual, team, and leadership development needs. Senior management, team leaders, and department heads were interviewed for data collection. The effectiveness of existing development approaches was also assessed using a standardized questionnaire. The process posed five key questions:

1. How would you describe the current opportunities for professional growth at Amazon?

2. What challenges do you face as a team in achieving high levels of collaboration and performance?

3. How do you perceive Amazon’s leadership development initiatives, and what improvements do you suggest?

4. What support systems (e.g., coaching, training) do you feel are lacking or could be enhanced?

5. How does leadership at Amazon promote a culture of learning and innovation?

To collect data thoroughly, individual interviews and group discussions were used. To determine development program strategy, department managers and senior leadership were interviewed. Team discussions revealed teamwork, communication, and growth issues. Overall, 25 people from various hierarchies provided input.

Data Summary

Interviews and conversations revealed various themes about individual, team, and leadership growth. The lack of organized professional development tracks worried employees, who noted that Amazon offers many learning materials but can be difficult to access without assistance. Team members also noted departmental communication challenges that delayed collaboration. Leadership development at Amazon was generally positive but variable, with some leaders receiving strong coaching and others lacking support.

The research shows that employees are typically overwhelmed by work, which limits their development chances. Amazon promotes innovation, however team leaders noted that there are few procedures for continuing team development and feedback. Senior leadership said the leadership pipeline is good but could be improved with more coaching and mentoring for emerging leaders.

Developmental Needs

Based on the data gathered, three key developmental needs have been identified for Amazon:

1.
Structured Individual Development Programs
Amazon needs structured individual development programs with clear professional progression tracks. Employees have access to many training modules and online courses, but many struggle to use them or connect them with their career aspirations. Amazon should consider tailoring growth plans to each employee’s career path with milestones, skill requirements, and educational opportunities (Zanon, 2021). Expanded mentorship programs could match employees with senior staff for advice, support, and assistance. These activities would boost employee engagement and assist them develop skills that support Amazon’s long-term strategic goals, supporting personal and organizational growth.

2.
Improved Team Collaboration Mechanisms
Amazon needs to improve teamwork, especially cross-departmental collaboration. Collaboration with other departments typically causes communication issues, which delays project completion and misaligns priorities. Better communication and a more unified workplace could be achieved by using project management software that connects several departments (Ekemezie & Digitemie, 2024). Amazon might also implement structured feedback loops to help teams evaluate and improve. In-person and virtual team-building exercises can improve trust and communication. Amazon can improve productivity, innovation, and difficult project management by fostering teamwork.

3.
Enhanced Leadership Coaching and Succession Planning
Some Amazon leaders receive extensive training, while others receive nothing. Amazon must improve its leadership coaching programmes to give all managers ongoing training in emotional intelligence, decision-making, and strategic leadership. A rigorous succession planning strategy could also improve Amazon’s leadership pipeline. Amazon can assure a consistent supply of talented leaders ready to tackle future issues via early identification and focused leadership training (Zenger & Stinnett, 2010). This would lessen disturbance during organizational change and prepare the organization for eventual leadership changes. Structured leadership coaching and succession planning promotes continual progress and leadership stability.

Conclusion

Finally, Amazon can strengthen its individual, team, and leadership development programs. Amazon may promote continuous learning by adopting defined development routes, improving team cooperation, and formalizing leadership mentoring and succession planning. These initiatives will boost employee engagement and performance and establish Amazon as a leader in innovation and leadership. Addressing these developmental needs would help Amazon thrive in a competitive global market while preserving its operational excellence and creativity.

References

Ekemezie, I. O., & Digitemie, W. N. (2024). Best Practices in Strategic Project Management across Multinational Corporations: A Global Perspective on Success Factors and Challenges.
International Journal of Management & Entrepreneurship Research,
6(3), 795–805. https://doi.org/10.51594/ijmer.v6i3.936

Zanon, N. M. (2021, April 8).
The Startup journey through a case study: Amazon. Webthesis.biblio.polito.it.

https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/17675/

Zenger, J. H., & Stinnett, K. (2010). 

The extraordinary coach: How the best Leaders help others grow (1st ed.)

. McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9780071703406

Tips for Memo Writing

Purpose:
The word memo is short for the term “memorandum,” which means something that should be

remembered. Memos are brief documents that summarize information. Often memos highlight key

problems or key steps to solve a problem. Memos might also report new information about a policy,

change, or requirement. Accordingly, memos are targeted to a specific audience who need to know the

summarized information.

General Guidelines:
Memos are usually no more than one or two pages long, and are often shorter. They should be single-

spaced and left justified. New paragraphs are signaled by skipping a line between paragraphs rather

than indenting the first line of the paragraph. Effective memos often use headings to clarify information.

Although a memo can be divided into structural sections (e.g., summary, context, etc. as per the next

portion of this guidelines sheet), it can be helpful to use a content heading to assist the reader. For

example, rather than stating summary, you might use “New Grading Deadline” or another short term

that describes the change or problem. Also, use of lists and bullet points rather than paragraphs can

make memos clearer and simpler for readers.

Sections:
Memos are organized strategically, with each section fulfilling an important role. To begin, memos have

a header section. A header section usually looks like:

To:

From:

Date:

Subject: (sometimes abbreviated as Re: for regarding).

The header section provides a “quick glimpse” of participants and purpose. Who is the memo for? Who

sent it? What it is about? The header should use exact date and exact name/title (rather than nick

names).

Next, a memo contains a summary segment. Some memos will only contain the summary segment. For

longer memos, the summary segment provides the introduction. Regardless of whether the summary

constitutes the entire memo or just the introduction, it will provide a brief statement of the purpose of

the memo, the context, and any problem, solution, change, or action step. Provide just enough

information to attract audience attention, answer their questions, and persuade them to take needed

actions. For a longer memo, the summary or opening segment should be about ¼ of the memo.

Longer memos build on the summary segment and can include specific sections addressing context,

problem or change, action steps, and supporting evidence. In a longer memo, these sections generally

constitute about ½ of memo—with header being 1/8, summary or opening being ¼, and closing section

being 1/8.

Longer memos also include a closing section that reiterates needed action steps, clarifies benefits for

completing action steps, and indicates how the author (or organization or other agent) will support

those action steps. For a shorter memo that only has the summary section, the summary section will

include some elements of the closing section too (e.g., benefits, support).

Finally, a memo will include attachments as needed. Because a memo represents summarized

information, extensive details are provided in the form of other documents or sources when required.

These might include graphs, tables, charts, lists, etc. If a memo includes attachments, there should be a

line at the end of the memo that indicates attachments and the title of those attachments. For example,

Attachments: Communication Survey Results, May 2015.