Zappos, based in Las Vegas, is an online retailer. Its initial goal has been to be the best Website for buying shoes, offering a wide variety of brands, styles, colours, sizes, and widths. The zappos.com brand has grown to offer shoes, handbags, eyewear, watches, and accessories for online purchase. Zappos's vision is that in the future online sales will account for 30 percent of all retail sales in the U.S., and Zappos will be the company with the best service and selection. As a result, Zappos believes it can become the online service leader, drawing customers and expanding into selling other products. Zappos believes that the speed at which a customer receives an online purchase plays a critical role in how that customer thinks about shopping online again in the future, so it is focusing on making sure the items get delivered to customers as quickly as possible. Zappos CEO Tony Heish has shaped the company's culture, brand, and business strategy around 10 core values. They are: · Deliver WOW through Service · Embrace and Drive Change · Create Fun and a Little Weirdness · Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded · Pursue Growth and Learning · Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication · Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit · Do More with Less · Be Passionate and Determined · Be Humble Deliver WOW through Service means that call centre employees need to provide excellent customer service. Call center employees encourage callers to order more than one size or colour because shipping and return shipping are free. They are also encouraged to use their imaginations to meet customer needs. Zappos's employment practices help to perpetuate its company culture. For example, the HR team uses unusual interview questions, such as "How weird are you?" and "What's your theme song?" to find employees who are creative and have strong individuality. Zappos provides free lunch in the cafeteria (cold cuts) and a full-time life coach (employees have to sit on a red velvet throne to complain). Managers are encouraged to spend time with employees outside of the office, and any employee can reward another employee a $50 dollar bonus for good performance. Most employees at Zappos are hourly. All new hires complete four weeks of training, including two weeks working the phones. New recruits are offered $2,000 to leave the company during training to weed out individuals who will not be happy working at the company. Due to a downturn in sales, Zappos was forced to cut costs, including laying off 124 employees. Heish handled the downsizing in a positive way. Laid-off employees with less than two years of service were paid through the end of the year. Everyone received six months of paid health coverage. Zappos also allowed laid-off employees to keep their 40 percent employee discount through Christmas. Discussion Questions 4. Which of Zappos's 10 core values do you believe training and development can influence the most? why? And why Create Fun and a Little Weirdness the least?

Questions 4.

Which of Zappos's 10 core values do you believe training and development can influence the most? Why? And why Create Fun and a Little Weirdness the least?

Zappos's training and development practices will positively impact the core values of embracing and driving change, building a positive team spirit, and pursuing growth and learning. The three core values an aligned to the training and development efforts of Zappos Company. The critical goal of training and developing employees is to help them understand, adapt and drive change, help them pursue individual and organizational growth, which results in a positive team spirit focused on achieving the organization's goals

The core value of embracing and driving change makes it clear that in Zappos, change is inevitable in the organization, and thus change comes with challenges that have to be solved. Training and development will chip in to equip the employees with change management skills that enable them to succeed. Through training, change-resistant will be minimized. Also, change occurs as a result of the company's desire for continuous improvement.

Step-by-step explanation

Questions 4.

Which of Zappos's 10 core values do you believe training and development can influence the most? Why? And why Create Fun and a Little Weirdness the least?

Zappos's training and development practices will positively impact the core values of embracing and driving change, building a positive team spirit, and pursuing growth and learning. The three core values an aligned to the training and development efforts of Zappos Company. The critical goal of training and developing employees is to help them understand, adapt and drive change, help them pursue individual and organizational growth, which results in a positive team spirit focused on achieving the organization's goals

The core value of embracing and driving change makes it clear that in Zappos, change is inevitable in the organization, and thus change comes with challenges that have to be solved. Training and development will chip in to equip the employees with change management skills that enable them to succeed. Through training, change-resistant will be minimized. Also, change occurs as a result of the company's desire for continuous improvement. Improvement in company operations gives an organization a competitive advantage in winning the market.

Considering the core value of pursuing growth and learning, workplaces need to embrace a learning culture to be innovative. Successful organizations are those that encourage continuous learning among the employees through training and development programs. Thus, Zappos's training and development seek to equip the employees with basic skills to be innovative and have career progression as they meet the company's demands. Thus, pursuing growth and learning training gaps will be identified and bridged to improve employees' efficiency and performance.

Training and development bring employees together and translates to a well-established team spirit. Thus following the core value of building a positive team spirit fostered during training and development, employees will be encouraged to work together rather than individually. A unity of purpose is essential for any workplace.

On the other case, I believe that the core value of Create Fun and a Little Weirdness will be less influenced by training and development practices because training and development practices are formal programs that require commitment and engagement. Creating fun during training and development sessions means that Zappos treats them as less important. Fun and humor are the results of achievement, which is against training and development goals in the workplace. Training and development mean that there are critical skills that employees need to learn to improve their performance. Thus I do not believe that Zappos has really achieved and needs to be serious and formal in training and development programs to achieve their desired future. After achieving no more training, thus fun and a little weirdness will result automatically.