I did conduct an interview with James Bright.
Bright was in our area for a lecture, and I was able to set up a meeting with him via his linked-in profile.
Amazon's operations boss is James Bright.
He is the Amazon Operations Manager for the Greater St. Louise Area and is largely responsible for warehousing. This is a job that James Bright has only filled for nine months, since July 2016, but he did admit in the interview that he wished they were more given the expectations that came with the position.
James Bright's background and experience
Apparently, James Bright holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Furman University. He did work as a territory sales manager for Kellogg Company for a period exceeding four years. He was then promoted to become a district sales manager for the same company for one year in 2006 and 2007 (Bright, James). Bright departed from Kellogg and became an operations supervisor at UPS for nearly two years. It was at this 2009 time that he was a Group Leader at Target which he worked for after leaving his employ at UPS. He later became associated with BMW North America for a year before becoming an operations supervisor with Reliable Management Solutions for only four months. Bright went back to work with UPS as a dispatch supervisor for UPS for one more year. After UPS Bright went back to another of his former employer, Reliable Management Solutions, this time to work as a production shift manager. It was until 2014 that James Bright was employed by Amazon as an area manager. He then became a junior operations manager for Amazon for 11 months in September 2015. In July 2016 he became the Operations Manager for the company in the Greater St. Louis Area.
Interview
According to James Bright, his role mainly revolves around warehousing. The storage and dispatch of merchandise to clients. In any way, as a retails operations manager, there is the need for all orders and dispatches of clients in the Greater St. Louis area to be run smoothly. James Bright does claim that operations management as a position makes him interact with most of the departments in the organization. He is more of a general manager since his tasks force him to have a hand in almost all the departments within the organization.
Bright's responsibilities in warehousing
For Bright, the inbound goods, as well as outbound goods, are the main concerns of his works. He has to ensure that the commodities coming in are well organized and safely placed. Bright understands than any misplacement of goods or damage of goods will not only ruin the reputation of his region but the reputation of the whole company. In essence, he understands that it is vital for inventory analysis to be frequently done. Bright has to ensure that the goods that enter their warehouse are properly documented and stored before they leave the premises. In the Department of inventory control, Bright asserted that it was critical for him to minimize costs within the organization. He considers reducing the costs of operations through ensuring efficiency in the available resources as well as dealing with affordable contractors and suppliers. It is also Bright's job to participate in the budget preparation process. As the operations manager, Bright considers the budgeting process allows him to minimize costs as well as establish performance parameters.
Administrative duties
As part of his job description, Bright has to oversee some of the administrative duties. Bright has to sometimes organize and schedule meetings as well as corporate review contracts. He also has to get involved in the administration of staff. That implies that he has to sometimes be actively involved in the recruitment of employees. Bright seems to enjoy this part since he considers that the selection of the right employees will ease the performance of his duties. He will minimize the chances of mistakes and poor performance if the right people are given the available opportunities. There is a time when Bright has to evaluate the performance of the current employees. That is something he says he does almost every day as he interacts with them. The direct interaction gives him a chance to identify their strengths and shortfalls in time. Bright also has to identify and give a recommendation for the additional skills needed by his staff. Bright does mostly consider improving the skills of his staff through his direct influence.
Challenges and Enjoyment in the role
Bright mostly dislikes the flexibility needed for his work. He at times is needed to work extra hours and even most of his weekends. His position as an operations manager mostly denies him personal time. Even when at home Bright claims that he still has to focus on work. It his duty to ensure deadlines are met and therefore has to put in more hours than the rest of his staff. Among other dislikes, Bright considers recommending other members of his staff to be dismissed to be somehow immoral but necessary. In making such decisions, Bright has to consider the needs of the company, but at the same time, he understands that the individual being recommended for dismissal is financially dependent on the job.Bright mostly enjoys the importance of his job in the organization. He relates his importance whenever his presence is required at work. Paradoxically it is the pressure from his duties that also makes him dislike his position. Part of his challenges is dealing with disgruntled customers and employees. The customers have to be satisfied, and the employees have to be properly treated to ensure their productivity is optimal. It is usually challenging for him to side with customers instead of employees even when it is the customer who is at fault. The other challenging aspect is the dynamism of the market. It is hard to keep up with changing competition and changing customer needs. As an operations manager, he has to keep up with the changing paces of rivals so as to retain a competitive edge.
Conclusion
Aside from the interview being abundantly educative, it was deeply enjoyable. It was great to finally have to get a first-hand account of an individual who has been doing what has been theoretical in my classes. I did get to understand that what I was learning was being done in practice by Bright. I, however, did come to understand that working as an operations manager will demand a lot of my time and so I will need to brace for the incoming work pressure. From the interview and most importantly personal contact with an operations manager, I got to have a preview of what is to come.
Work Cited
Bright, James. “Bright”. Linkedin. N.p., 2017, https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bright-b8984325?trk=seokp-title-professional-cta.
