Zappos motivates its employees by following a hierarchy system called “Holocracy”, in which the differences between employees and managers are not easily distinguishable. The CEO, Tony Hsieh, asked the managers to distribute authority to their teams and get rid of their titles. The CEO himself has a salary of just $36000 and his desk is the same size and in the same room as everybody else’s. At the same time as asking managers to decentralize their work, Hsieh asked team members to take ownership of their own work. The results were amazing. By distributing authority and ownership over employee’s work, employees find the time and space to be creative and focus on long term projects that had in their to-do list for months.

The recruiting process at Zappo’s shoe company is an even more interesting case study. All employees have to pass through two interviews. The one assesses whether they are competent for the job and the second assesses whether they fit the environment and ethics of the company. In addition, each prospective Zappo’s employee, even a new CFO, has to go through a five week training process, which include a two week period of talking to costumers on the phone. Although this is a very expensive recruiting process, it pays back as the company makes sure that everyone working in it is not only competent is but also in line with the firm’s ethics, mission and vision.

After this 5 week training process the company offers the trainees 3000 dollars to leave the company. The ones who accept the offer would have not been passionate about their job in the first place and the ones that reject the offer enter the firm committed and loyal willing rejected the offer to work for the firm. By taking the risk and following such innovative and expensive human resources management, Zappo’s attracts the best employees, who it then trains and makes sure they give their 100%.

Have you ever wondered why there is only one African American and no Asian angels in Victoria Secret? Is it because Caucasian girls are more competent for the job? Of course not! Victoria’s Secret has a very narrow definition of beauty, and has been accused several times for unethical behavior in recruiting their angels based on unrealistic and stereotypical beauty standards. Fashion lovers from all over the world watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show each year. Girls and women relate to the angels as their role models. However, most get disappointed because of the unethical process that Victoria’s Secret follows at recruiting their models.

The models cannot be shorter than 5 foot 9 and their figure must be 34 by 24 by 34 inches and although it is not stated, Caucasian models have a higher chance to be selected. This unethical way of recruiting the models is just the start. Once they are selected, the models must exercise two times a day with personal trainers while they are told what and when they can eat and how many calories they can have per day. Everyday girls who look up to the models think less of themselves. However, this should not be the case because not everyone is able to afford personal trainers and personal dieticians and not all women are 34x24x34 or more than 5 feet 9, or Caucasian but all women are beautiful in their own unique way and should never look down on themselves.

A scandal showing the brand’s unethical behavior occurred just a few years ago. A Victoria’s Secret advertisement portrayed a model with a disproportionate amount of fat on her thighs because of a Photoshop mistake. This mistake made it obvious that the brand had been excessively using Photoshop to sell its products by promoting unrealistic body expectations. The brand was accused for unethical behavior even from some of the most loyal of its fans.

Another incident occurred in 2014, when Victoria’s Secret launched a campaign with the slogan: “the perfect body.” This advertisement was featuring 10 models wearing nothing but lingerie. The brand received great criticism and was accused of body shaming and placing unrealistic standards because not every woman has the body of a supermodel. A petition against the advertisement received over 27,000 signatures and the brand had to change the slogan to “A body for every body.” However, the fashion industry overall is even more unethical as Victoria’s Secret models must at least gym and appear healthy instead of anorexic.