12/11/2015

American Express
Business Analysis
Management 301

Team 2
QuayAndra Beamon, Alissa Hawks,
Tarae Keathley, Jodie Yuncker

Abstract (Tarae Keathley)

American Express is a worldwide business that provides credit cards to customers. They
concentrate on innovation to develop new ideas that keep them ahead of their competitors. They
have been successful for many years by focusing on their core values of customer commitment
and team work. Training is provided to leaders that monitor employees to ensure they meet the
goals of their mission and vision statements. American Express strategizes by applying SWOT
and PESTLE and by using different theories to conduct business. They adhere to effective
communication and motivation because American Express understands the importance of respect
and guidance in the work environment.

Introduction (Jodie Yuncker)

American Express, also known as AMEX is a global credit card provider
(Americanexpress). The company was first established in 1850, where they were a freight
forwarding company. After 108 years of business in 1958, the first American Express card
appeared. At American Express they express the vision of Working hard every day to make
American Express the worlds most respected brand (whoweare). As of March 1, 2015 they
have succeeded with their vision and have become the worlds largest card issuer by purchase
volume. AMEX has generated $34.3 billion in annual revenue. They offer charge cards, credit
cards for personal use, small businesses, corporate businesses and prepaid cards. As a company
they value customer commitment to develop relationships that make a positive difference in their
customers lives, quality to provide outstanding products and service that when combined deliver
a premium value to customers, and integrity to uphold the highest standards. They also value
teamwork to work together across boundaries of different cultures to meet the needs of
customers and to help the company succeed, respect for people to encourage their development
and reward their performance through incentives, bonus points, raises, etc., good citizenship to
build the communities they live and work in, a will to win to exhibit a strong marketplace, and
personal accountability to deliver their commitments not only to customers but also to top
management.
They focus on living up to each one of their core values through three principles. These
principles include values, operations, and support. Through superior values they aim high to
provide products, services, benefits and rewards that deliver higher value than any of their other
card competitors. They focus on operating through the best-in-class economies by managing
their business as efficiently as possible. AMEX continually improves through their quality of

service and investment to grow. Their last principle operates on keeping the support of their
customers through their trusted brand. They want to ensure personal recognition each time a new
customer commits to them.
This purpose of this business analysis is to evaluate the operations and methods used by
American Express and to determine where the company needs improvement and the
recommendations needed to make those improvements. The report is arranged the following
way: analysis of relevant theories (organizational culture, strategic management models, Porters
five forces), analysis of company work principles (human resources, innovation, motivation,
artifacts), and interpersonal methods (team use and development, effective communication
methods, management leadership styles), followed by recommendations for the company.

Organizational Culture (Alissa Hawks)

American Express operates under two main organizational cultures, these being clan and
adhocracy. Clan culture is like a family-type organization, it encourages collaboration among
employees, striving to encourage cohesion through consensus and job satisfaction and to increase
commitment through employee involvement (Kinicki 230). Decision making within middle
management is done by collaboration. At American Express their employees collaborate across
departments to make sure all information is widely available. In many companies, top, middle,
and front line management arent always on the same level, but American Express tries to ensure
that each department within each level of management is on the same page. Communication is a
critical aspect in the work environment at American Express. They believe that for all employees
to be successful, they must share information. They use a trickle down effect within their
departments. When senior management gets an idea of what needs to be done, the task is

presented to middle management who decides how the task will get accomplished. The front line
management complete the task and then the information and results are sent back to senior
management for review. Departments work together in order to ensure that the best decision is
being made and that everyones opinions are being heard. Collaboration and cohesion are a huge
part of the American Express culture.
In addition to clan culture, adhocracy is the other main organizational culture that
American Express utilizes. Adhocracy attempts to create innovative products by being
adaptable, creative, and quick to respond to changes in the marketplace (Kinicki 230).
American Express encourages new ideas from its employees by giving them rewards. At
American Express, employees are recognized for their ideas and are rewarded by the companys
internal rewards program. The company is constantly trying to innovate and they rely heavily on
social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate their ideas. American
Express is not stuck on plastic and they look at their competition such as Apple Pay or
Amazon Pay to gain innovative insight from other competitors. The company is highly confident
on their ability to embrace change.

Strategic Management Models (Alissa Hawks)

American Express is a company of thousands of employees, in many distinct
departments. Large companies such as American Express utilize strategic management every
single day to analyze how they are doing and what they need to do to accomplish their goals.
One of the simplest ways to analyze this is called the SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis is an
analysis in which the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are considered. American
Express has many strengths. Their strengths include the many different kinds of cards they offer,

their lack of annual fees, their online payment option, and their strong global presence. In terms
of weaknesses, American Express has been experiencing a decline in travelers check usage, lack
of debit card services at point of sale, their high processing fees for businesses, and the national
financial credit crisis. Expansion into other countries and diversifying portfolios are
opportunities for American Express that can increase their market share and earn them more
money. Lastly, their competition, MasterCard, Visa, and Discover, pose a threat to the company,
as well as government regulations and changes in customer spending habits due to the economy.
Currently, American Express is experiencing growth strategy. Growth strategy is a
grand strategy that involves expansion as in sales revenues, market share, number of
employees, or number of customers (Kinicki 175). American Expresss goals include that of
expansion, into different countries and markets and increasing their revenues and market share.
American Express is a company that is constantly growing and not staying at a standstill with
their efforts. As for Porters four competitive strategies, American Express seems to be using the
differentiation strategy. The differentiation strategy is to offer products or services that are of
unique and superior value compared with those of competitors but to target a wide market
(Kinicki 178). American Express offers many different types of cards to many different
demographics of customers, even though their products are more expensive than the competition,
they offer exclusive benefits to their select group of users.
Another model used for strategic management is the BCG matrix. The BCG matrix is a
means of evaluating strategic business units on the basis of (1) their business growth rates and
(2) their share of the market (Kinicki 179). American Express has a pretty high market share
and very high growth which would make them Stars. In short, this means that this company is a

good company to keep in the market. These strategic management models are what help to
analyze American Expresss progress and help lead them to success.

Porters Five Forces (Jodie Yuncker & Alissa Hawks)

American Express is apart of a highly competitive industry. Their main competitors are
Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. American Express holds the third largest market share of the
four credit card companies. These four companies are the four leading firms in the credit services
industry. The only thing that holds American Express back is their high processing fees for
businesses. MasterCard and Visa have relatively low processing fees and because of this, many
businesses choose to only accept these two types of credit cards. Although American Express has
high processing fees, their competitive strategies to highly satisfy customers far outweigh the
competition. American Express customers receive over five benefits from using their card
whereas the other credit card companies only offer an average of 3.3 benefits from using their
card (YahooFinance).
Threat of new entrants into the industry is low due to the current state of the economy.
Although the economy is starting to recover, this makes the credit services industry an
unfavorable industry to get into. American Express, MasterCard, and Visa are very reputable and
it is highly unlikely that if a new entrant were to enter the industry, that they would prosper.
Buyers have a high bargaining power in this industry. American Expresss success is
directly related to customer spending. Evidence of this can be seen in times of recession.
Customers tend to save more and spend less, which has a negative impact on the companys
profits. There are a few substitutes and the cost of switching suppliers is relatively low. It is

estimated that an average of 72.1% of Americans own at least one credit card, making the
amount of buyers high (Holmes).
As stated above, American Express has three main competitors, Visa, MasterCard, and
Discover. Out of these competitors, American Express is leading in revenue with $31.6 billion.
Trailing behind are Visa, MasterCard, and Discover, with $13.88 billion, $9.95 billion and $7.08
billion respectively. Threat of substitutes for American Express havent been a problem, because
the company has ranked number one in customer satisfaction for the last six years (Holmes).
The bargaining power of suppliers doesnt have a huge impact on American Express. The
cost to produce credit cards costs anywhere from $0.10 to $1.00 per card depending on if they
contain a security RFID chip or not. Cards are made from PVCA, which is a durable, thin, type
of plastic (Randall). A lot goes into manufacturing these cards, but the ability to find materials is
easy because the improvements in plastic and molding technology are continuing to improve,
which will only make manufacturing cards easier and less expensive.

Human Resources (Quayandra Beamon)

American Express focuses on their Human Resources department with great value to
increase the performance of the company. Individuals who will be future employees are assigned
to an executive specifically to the task of developing future Human Resource leaders. This
process is to insure that they are receiving the adequate understanding of their duties as future
HRs within the company. Plans are developed of Human Resource leadership centers on five
components: to apply knowledge to the candidates of the American Express business, they are
driven to constantly have creativity and change therefore the company is always improving with
new ideas, theyll demonstrate the values as HR professionals to internal partners and employees

to insure theyre always using the values when making decisions within the company, leveraging
HR expertise and transforming the ideas of the partners to become tangible, measurable
outcomes. When hiring HR representatives, the company list behaviors at different stages that
are provided to correlate with the competency model and use the model to provide an HR
leadership candidate current proficiency level. The HR candidates must meet these levels in
order to move further in the company. Human resource management consist of the activities
managers perform to plan for, attract, develop, and retain an effective workforce (Kinick p.262).
American Express is a prime example of the way HR should be ran as a company, they provide
their management with activities to not only remain great as HR reps but to utilize the mission
for the company. American Express has provided their HR leaders with a mold for the company
that is only obtained by individual teaching by executives, with this type of leadership and
teaching American Express is able to insure their employees with consistency.
Innovation (Jodie Yuncker)
At American Express they value innovation from their employees by being open to new
ideas and potentially converting them into successful applications not only for them to use, but
also for them to share with their customers (pg.320). So you many wonder, how exactly does
American Express keep their marketing fresh to customers? According to John Hayes, the CMO
of AMEX, you have to continually focus on the customer. If you become focused on the issues
that present themselves inside the company by employees, management, etc. instead of looking
outside to the customers then you are sacrificing innovation (Neisser). This quote stays true to
their values and proves that they foster John Kotters organizational change by developing a
vision and strategy to change, generating short-term wins, and by creating a guiding coalition
(Kinicki 315). The only way for them to be a great company is by serving each customers needs

through communication and marketing in their area of residency. The second part that Hayes
believes helps with innovation is to generate curiosity about whats happening in the world,
both in the talent you bring to the company as well as the culture that you build and maintain in
your organization over time (Neisser). At AMEX they have built a culture of curiosity, not only
with their customers but also with their employees. They foster diversity throughout all levels of
management and through their hiring process of employees to better suit the needs of all
customers concerns and cross-cultural differences. Through this innovative culture in fostering
diversity they welcome people of every race, religion, and sexual identity. In addition, they
welcome people with disabilities, parents, veterans and they also foster a high womens interest
unlike many other companies not only in the credit card organization but numerous other
organizations worldwide. At American Express they do not foster the halo effect of forming an
impression of an individual based on a single trait (Kinicki 349). They take pride in welcoming
all different races, sexes, and beliefs to their organization and believe that with numerous internal
dimension throughout their company they are able to innovate with a strong sense of urgency
and meet the needs of all customers no matter what their stance is on diversity. From the
interview with Matt, he answered many of the questions in the same manner about how AMEX
innovates through diversity. This helps drive multiple interventions, gain support from
management, focus on both short and long term goals, and implement change by cross-cultural
considerations.

Motivation (Quayandra Beamon)

American Express focuses a lot on motivating their employees to conduct better business
that will bring the company further. The question of Should you praise your employees

frequently to encourage them to perform better? is continuously brought up when motivating

their employees. Articles state that when praising employees, they equally need criticism since
everyone can improve their work habits. Most people are motivated to do the best they can since
it is important when working for fortune five-hundred companies to have a positive self-image of
oneself, it also gives a sense of achievement when employees maintain that image to
continuously produce a great reputation. Rewarding people with praise isnt going to make
them perform any better Dopamine, the pleasure chemical in the brain is fully released when
were engaged in our work, not when we receive an award (Charles S. Jacobs). When balancing
praise and criticism they are both well construed when having respect when stating opinions.
American Express provides their employees with certification, tangible awards, and send them
on trips when they are being rewarded, in return that gives the employees within the company
reasoning to stay motivated to receive those type of recognitions. Motivation is important inside
the company. When employees feel as if they are appreciated they perform at much higher
standard for themselves because they feel like they belong there.
Customers that eventually turn into members of American Express are the key factor that
keeps the company flourishing. Members are initially introduced to a loyalty program and
loyalty programs are very convenient because they ensure that the member will return, they give
the member motivation to return and spend stack up those loyalty point to eventually be
rewarded for what they are doing. The members of Amex are the most valuable assets of the
company, keeping the members happy will result into highly profitable businesses. When
motivating their members, the company has rewards of pre-sale concert tickets, travel points, and
cruises (no restriction on seating or location of vacation). Providing motivation for their
members to swipe their card is the secret to increase the revenue, increase in number of members

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and provide new and up to date ways to intrigue their members to use the card more and more
each day.
Artifacts (Jodie Yuncker)
American Expresss number one artifact that represents them is their logo. As you can see
in Figure 1, it is quite plain and doesnt draw much attention to ones eye.
Figure 1

Since they have a great loyalty program and have won first place in customer satisfaction
for the past six years in a row, they dont necessarily have to draw customers in by their logo
image. One way that American Express wins customer satisfaction is through their reward
programs. This program works by rewarding customers points on every purchase they make using
their card (Church). After they have purchased items they can login to their account at
americanexpress.com and look at how many reward points they have. They can then use those
reward points for retail shopping, entertainment events, dining, or for frequent flier programs. At
American Express they offer twenty-nine different options for transferring reward points for air
miles (Church). This is one of their top features to being a card holder. As a customer of American
Express you have the option of a credit card, debit card or prepaid card. Their cards are great for
personal, business and corporate use (AmericanExpress). But if youre a person who doesnt like
to receive a bill for your statement of purchases in the mail each month, keep up on a checking

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book, or make sure you have enough money in your bank account at the end of the month, then
their prepaid card would be a great fit. Their prepaid card offers free direct deposit, online bill pay,
tools to help manage your money, ability to withdraw cash for free at over 24,000 MoneyPass
ATMs, send and receive money between family and friends with Serve Accounts, add checks using
your mobile phone, and load money immediately onto your card at thousands of cashier registers
(AmericanExpress). Ultimately though, it you have a family or own a large business then you want
to own one of their personal, business or corporate cards. These cards will benefit you in ways of
rewards, loyalty, minimum annual fees and great benefits that no other credit card company offers.
That is one of the main reasons why they have 112.2 million cards in force currently in the world
and bring in $34.3 billion in annual revenue (WhoWeAre).
One last artifact American Express innovates on is their employee engagement. According
to Matt from my interview with middle management he said they work as a collaborative team
across marketing and finance departments. Each of the departments has many different interest
groups which helps build new ideas. He also said to keep their employees engaged in their work
American Express builds on employee engagement, to help their employees stay engaged and
excited about their work. This employee engagement drives American Express to the top with
their employees working to their highest performance. In a case study done by a consulting firm,
they state employee performance increases 10% when employees are highly engaged and increase
50% when they have both high engagement and high enablement, such as a supportive
environment (Kinicki 353). This holds true to American Express, because they reward their
employees for their great work and help them stay committed to doing their job with great
management support backing them up.

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Team Use and Development (Tarae Keathley)

American Express cares about their team. Teamwork is one of their most important
values. To elaborate on this value, American Express works together across boundaries to meet
the needs of customers and to help the company succeed (American Express Co, 2015). More
importantly, they respect their employees. This is done by encouraging employees development
and rewarding their performance. I noticed in this value it did not indicate if the performance is
good or bad. Even if performance is not where it needs to be, as a team, other employees
motivate one another to improve and help goals to be achieved. As a member of the team,
employees meet regularly with leaders to be provided with valuable coaching and feedback. To
improve skills and gain knowledge, there are opportunities for training and development. These
opportunities include employee networks and leadership programs. American Express embraces
differences. Different diverse networks are available to create a work environment that
accommodates all employees. Representing the full spectrum of diversity in areas such as
disability, gender, faith, ethnicity, etc. The slogan for American Express employees is The
benefits you need; the flexibility you desire. The use of the pronoun you is interesting.
It makes the slogan more personal. American Express does many things to show their
appreciation for the employees and the work that they do. American Express believes that
employees should get benefits that are extremely competitive and customizable. To achieve this,
the company offers paid leave, great healthcare, and on-site amenities. Balancing work and
personal life is important to the company. American Express makes sure that employees are
comfortable and are working in a good environment. American Express is acknowledged quite
often for being a great place to work by people around the world. They have a high employee
satisfaction rating along with many workplace rewards.

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Effective Communication Methods (Tarae Keathley & Quayandra Beamon)

For American Express to achieve their mission and vision statements, they have to work
together. Working together means that they must communicate effectively. Effective
communication in an organization increases productivity, decreases employee turnover, and
improves the work environment. The better that employees communicate, the better their
relationships will be. This goes along with conversing with customers as well. To make sure
American Express communication is effective, methods of listening, speaking, and preparation
are being used to serve customers and create a good work environment to meet their goals.
Examples of this include providing effective communication to the members, being intuitive and
attuned with body language, and making members comfortable and engaged enough to talk. A
comfortable member is a more open member to communicate their issues with employees.
The most important effective communication method has to be listening. It is important
to be an active listener by actively decoding and interpreting verbal messages (Kinicki &
Williams, 2013). Also giving ones full attention and processing information (Kinicki &
Williams, 2013). When conversing with fellow co-workers and customers, listening will help
with avoiding confusion, understanding tasks clearly, and developing a connection with the
person you are having a conversation with (Holt, 2015). One must give respect to receive it. I say
that because if one does not listen to others, others will not listen to them.
American Express is a worldwide company and values their customers. They do their
best to make sure there are multiple ways to get in contact with them. Contact information,
including customer service numbers and e-mail addresses are available on their website. On their
site as well are small message boxes that are present to talk with representatives if question(s)
that need to be asked are short. Alongside that are frequently asked questions to make

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communication fast. American Express understands that customers time is valuable and does
not want to waste it. American Express also advertise on social media sites, such as Twitter and
Facebook to get in contact or connect with them. Customers may mention or send them a direct
message on Twitter. I used this as a way to get in contact with management and my message was
answered within a few minutes.
Overall, effective communication within the corporation is very important. Good
communication skills help the company ensure that all their staff and employees are all sharing
the same standards and values when conducting outside of the business. Expressing
communication to members of American Express not only drives the members to renew their
membership but provides a personal connection between the two. When advertising through
social media sites they have gained that market value of making their company more popular and
global.
Management Leadership Styles (Tarae Keathley)
At American Express they appreciate the impact of their talented leaders. Their leaders
are well rounded, not only focused on the business but society as well. American Express uses
resources to attract, develop, and keep their leaders. American Express has their impactful
leaders live by the quote of Mahatma Gandhi, You must be the change you wish to see in the
world.
American Express is interested in the current and future non profitable leaders with
opportunities to learn and build leadership skills. They are more so interested in proposals that
develop leadership opportunities for diversity communities within the nonprofit sector or that
focus on innovation. Innovation is their style of leading. American Express focuses on training

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professionals with demonstrated commitment that targets the arts, environment, higher education
and social service arenas (Amex, 2015).
Leadership styles that are important would include people-orientation and decisive. True
leaders are made during trying times, not situational, says American Express CEO Kenneth
Chenault. Leaders must remain decisive yet compassionate when problems arise or their
reputation will vanish. Always serving the main aspects of the company, employees, customers,
and shareholders (Yakowicz, 2013). Every decision that is made needs to be for the team. The
goal is to be effective with decisions that are made and be the one that pushes the team to
accomplish goals.
Leaders need to be present in their community, showing their faces to all employees in
their company, to share knowledge and help make sure the company will be successful. Chenault
does this by visiting different Amex offices around the world a few times a year. Physical
presence of leaders shows employees no matter how large the company, leaders care about their
employees, Chenault concludes.
Leaders, which can be managers and other employees, play an important role in the
American Express company. It is important for them to meet with lower management employees
to share their words of wisdom, come up with ideas and new ways to help with innovation. This
is a leadership style that the company focuses on. Leaders must do this but in a compassionate
way to make sure their words are being heard and applied to every employees work. Leaders not
only are focused on their business, but all aspects that go into making sure the company is
successful. These wonderful words of Gandhi say, You must be the change you wish to see in
the world. A quote that American Express aims for their leaders to live by to be their motivation
to continue with their good performance.

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Recommendations (Quayandra Beamon)

Human Resource development has been a focus of American Express since the year
2007. They have conducted much research on providing consistent research to improve the HR
department with it being very important to have HR who understands all aspects of the company
and their different departments. They seem to have set high expectation for this department and
quite frankly they do not need to adjust the way they hire their employees. My recommendation
for the other aspects of the way they follow up with their HR team is to issue evaluations to other
departments of Amex on how the HR has adjusted to their position and criticism that could
improve their work as HR. Introducing this element to the corporation could prevent write ups,
suspension, and firing. If a positive employee knows what theyre doing wrong, they will take
that criticism and improve to better themselves. This technique doesnt only have to be steered
towards HR but throughout the company, improvement is important.
American Express did not focus on their debit card services at point of sale. They now
have prepaid cards that are only relevant when cash is uploaded onto the card. Although it is an
improvement from not carrying debit card services in general but now the issue is the member
cannot make a deposit of cash through direct deposit because this feature is not offered yet.
Generally prepaid cards are created to the market of unbanked (underbanked) population. This
causes an inconvenience for customers who want to bank with Amex being that every other
competitor gives their member the opportunity to have direct deposit and debit card transactions
if they chose. Reflect financial freedom and the corporation will flourish in revenues and profit
(The Problem With2011). Yes, their targeted customers are well-off, well banked customers
but if they open their market to everyone by introducing debit card transactions with direct
deposit for the market that are not as established they can build a connection and loyalty between

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the two eventually Amex will be able to introduce that market to the more profitable services that
are offered.

Conclusion (Tarae Keathley)

American express, also known as Amex, has been an established, global company since
the beginning of the 19th century. Amex has generated $34.3 billion in annual revenue this year,
which is a much larger profit margin than their competitors Discover, Visa, and MasterCard.
They are always looking for ways to grow. Amex has consistently been trying their best to
improve the Human Resource department since 2009. Being one of the worlds most successful
companies, they do this by focusing on customer commitment and the mutual respect for their
employees, whom they could not function without. Their training offered to managers is issued
to guide the employees in the right direction by using motivational rewards and benefits, such as
paid leaves and trips. Applying effective communication for customers and employees to make
sure everyone is respected and workers innovative ideas are heard is important so Amex can
achieve their principles of offering superior value propositions to customers, operating with bestin-class economics, and supporting the American Express brand.

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Appendix I (Alissa Hawks)

SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis, also known as a situational analysis which is a search for the Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats affecting the organization (Kinicki 168). This allows a
company to come up with a strategy based on its goals.

Strengths

Different types of cards

No annual fee
Access to ticket pre-sales
Customers get cash back, rewards points,
travel points
Online payment option
Strong global presence
Worlds largest card issuer
Diversity

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Expansion in other countries

Diversifying portfolios for
customers

Decline in travelers check usage

Lack of debit card services at point of
sale
Financial credit crisis
High processing fees

Threats

Competition
Government regulations
Changes in customer spending
Environmental concerns with PVCA

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PESTLE
Pestle is a tool used in order to analyze external factors that affect a company.

Political
Worldwide merchant base
Help small business owners succeed
Help merchant partners attract customers

Economical
Investing in growth
Focus on managing business as efficiently as possible
Trusted and powerful brand

Social
Global leader
Customer loyalty experts
Dedicated to serving customers

Technological
Powered by innovation
Amex sync with twitter
Pay with points

Legal
Evolving business regulations
International laws

Environmental
PVCA plastic concerns
Good citizenship
Employee network

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Lewins Force Field

Lewins Force Field of Change is a model that weighs the driving and opposing forces that affect
change.

Government
Regulations

Online Banking

Driving
Forces

Expanding
market

Competition
Proposed Change:
Get rid of all plastic
cards and switch to
electronic transactions

Eco friendly

Dissatisfied
Customers

Advancement
of Technology

Security
Concerns

Restraining
Forces

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Appendix II (Alissa Hawks)

Interviews
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT
Interview with Matt, Human Resources Representative
1. How would you describe the way your colleagues interact with each other in your work environment?
Collaborative work environment
Organizational structure work together across marketing and finance departments
Need information from other teams
2. Would you say that your organization reflects a positive sense of community?
Yes, reflects by information from everyone
Have a lot of different interest groups Hispanics, LGBT etc.
Can incorporate into community their different cultural groups
Every team has representation in employee engagement teams, keeps employees engaged and excited
about their work.
3. Do you feel that decision making is shared and that those impacted by decisions are involved in the
process? Is input valued?
Yes, example would be the finance department is structured to oversee finance as decisions support
function.
The business marketing team launches new product or refreshes an old product, the business marketing
team then leans on finance team to make recommendation on how to structure campaign and who to
target. They help ensure their opinion is heard at the table.
4. How would you describe the communication process in your organization? Do you feel that
information flows throughout the organization and everyone has access to what they need to know? What
are the barriers in communication?
Do good job, in any large company tough for individuals to know all information from the senior level.
They have a general idea that needs to be explored then it trickles down to lower management to break
down into components then assign to people below them, information flows well then it goes back to top
management for review.
They need to collect information from other teams, helps make employee successful. Everyone is open to
share information.
5. Do people feel appreciated in the company? In what way are individuals recognized for success or
improvement? What celebrations or traditions does your organization observe?
Appreciated yes, internal rewards programs sends thank you notes or larger projects send rewards points
for employees to redeem for merchandise gift cards, etc.
Awards given out by CFO, CEO to employees, and these awards are given to large programs to recognize
high achievers and smaller ones to recognize day to day achievements
6. How would you describe the environment you work in? Collaborative? Isolated? Other?
Collaborative, people are willing to work together by getting information from multiple teams across
organization
7. When things go wrong do stakeholders try to fix the problem or play the blame game?

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Fix the problem and determine the best course of action.

Example: Early in year American Express stepped away from COSCO contract they didnt blame anyone
internally for deal but they made a strategic decision for best course of action to go forward.
8. Would you describe your company as innovative? How are new ideas encouraged?
Yes, we encourage new ideas through rewards or priority for innovation through products we launch sign
on Facebook and Twitter have a large data advantage constantly trying to innovate and encourage
employees to innovate
9. In what ways are diversity and cultural differences embraced by your company? In what ways are they
diminished?
Different cultural groups, through recruiting and encouraged through development of our teams,
encourage all organization to keep it diverse.
10. Are there some areas in your company that are not thriving? How would you describe the growth that
is needed in these areas?
United States corporate business slowing down because of MACRO environment, United States
consumer business has been difficult because of additional competition. We need to continue to improve
our value proposition in the market place.
11. If you could make one short-term change in how things are done around here, what would it be? If
you could make one long-term change, what would it be?
N/A
12. Would you say you work in a culture that embraces or rejects change?
Embrace change we try to innovate in many different ways. We arent stuck on plastic we look at apple,
amazon pay trying to get away from plastic and trying to allow customers to pay through phone or online
we embrace change!
Mission, Vision, Values:
13. What is the purpose of your work position? How does your purpose fit into the mission and vision or
your company? (Can you state the mission or vision of your company?)
Mission- Provide the highest level of trust, security and service to customers to ensure when they make a
payment it is done the fastest way possible and in a secure manner.
Communicate how our performance achieves this and look at our financial aspects and how it reflects the
broader strategy of our company.
14. What do you think are the top three things this company values? Is there any evidence to support
this? Is there something that you have noticed that is not valued, and you think it should be?
Diversity is a big value through our hiring employee outreach programs
Trust in the brand when payment is made they know it will be processed and wont experience fraud
Service American Express prides themselves on offering the highest level of service to customers.

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TOP MANAGEMENT
Interview with John Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer
I was able to get in contact with John Hayes representative. After a few weeks of
contacting back and forth, we finally were able to schedule a date and time for the interview.
John Hayes representative tried to reschedule the interview three separate times, including the
morning of the interview. Due to scheduling conflicts, the interview could not be rescheduled.
FIRST LINE MANAGEMENT (Tarae Keathley)
Starting on Friday November twentieth I tried to get in contact with American Express
first line management. I called Human Resources and spoke with a woman. She directed me to
the companys website to find contact information there. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. A
few days later I called customer service and spoke with a man. He told me it was best to email
the company and to find that information on the website. There were a few different emails to
choose from. I went ahead and emailed student opportunities the interview questions. I did not
receive a response. On Monday November thirtieth I called the American Express Company in
New York twice and both times they hung up on me. I went on to call the investor relations
office. I spoke with a woman in the office by the name of Laudes. She seemed interested in the
project and willing to help. She instructed me to email her the interview questions and she would
forward them to whom they concerned. She also told me she would get back with me the
following day and never did. Since she did not email or call me back I went ahead and called
Investor Relations back the following day to ask to conduct my interview with first line
management. This time a different woman answered. I asked her kindly what is the best way to
get in contact with their first line management for an interview and she said we cannot supply
that information. Later that evening I had my group member email Investor relations again and

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put urgent in bold letters in the subject box. They still have not gotten back with us. December
second I went ahead and mentioned American Express on Twitter. They did not respond. I
messaged American Express Global Business Travel on Twitter and they did not believe they
had a general line of first line employees. And went on to say that they are separate from the
American Express Company. I messaged American Express UK on Twitter as well and was told
to contact their colleagues, Ask Amex UK on Twitter, so I did. Ask Amex UK said they could
not help me with the interviews and did not know who to direct me to that could help. My team
member QuayAndra has tried to get in contact with American Express first line management
but no one will get back with her. I tried for weeks and no one seemed to help. I can say for
American Express to be so customer committed they could work on being a little helpful in
other aspects, rather than just credit cards.

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Works Cited
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