Organizational Leadership and Structure at Apple Inc.
Steve Jobs began Apple Inc. with the notion of “One person- One computer” in hopes of having a personal computer that could be easily used by anyone. As of September 2010 with 46,600 full time employees and 2,800 temporary employees and contractors, this notion holds true today (Apple Inc., 2010). Over the years of Apple Inc. development changes in organizational leadership and structure occurred. Apple’s mission of “changing the world by bringing computers to the masses” brought multiple changes within the company that became a hindrance and a benefit to the company’s growth (Freedman & Vohr, 1989).
Under co-founder Steve Jobs and CEO A.C. Mekkula in 1983, then Apple
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Schulley designed this new structure in such a way that he could have as many people as possible report to him. A hierarchy was formed within the organization and two competing companies arouse. This re-design also caused internal problems for Apple. Jobs was still head manager over the Macintosh division and was accused of favoritism towards that department which had a demoralizing effect on the other Apple divisions (Freedman & Vohr, 1989). Schulley had to re-organize the structure again, because he noticed things were not working. As a leader under that structure and the division that was occurring, he was losing control of the company. Steve Jobs was overseeing the Macintosh division and communication about this major division was not given to Schulley, yet handled by Jobs. Schulley was not involved in key decisions of the day to day operations.
Schulley re-organized Apples organizational structure in 1985 and brought in a new general manager to replace Jobs. Schulley converted the three product divisions into one called Product Operations (Freedman & Vohr, 1989). He re-organized Apples structure three more times and in 1988 the organization became decentralized. Since Schulley left Apple as CEO, several other CEO’s have changed the structure several times until Steve Jobs returned. New divisions were formed such as international and upon Jobs return
Apple is a company that everyone in the world knows about today, and most people own at least one Apple product, but Apple did not start out as a huge company. It started out with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak working on computers in the garage of Steve Jobs. Jobs and Wozniak
With the creation of a company like Apple, room for innovation and renovation was always possible. The free enterprise system allowed room for great financial success and greatly appealed to consumer demand needs or wants. Their very first launch of the first PC and Ipod MP3 Music Player grasped the attention quickly in the consumer demand market. His technology skyrocketed as he innovated goods that were advances for the people in their daily lives. Apple was greatly set up with their great alliances in the enterprise industry with companies such as: IBM, Cisco, SAP, JAMF, etc. Apple also includes OS (operating
One of the major challenges facing Apple was to get the appropriate replacement of the company’s visionary Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Jobs who died on October 2011. The CEO was responsible for turning Apple into what it is today. Apple is in this case challenged to purse the strategies employed by Steve, that propelled the company to new heights, and which saw the company become a
Both Bolman & Deal’s frame of organization and Morgan’s Metaphors provided a number of insights into the nature of organizations and structure. Most of these theories can be applied separately or jointly to examine organization as well as to diagnose problems that guide managers into a better understanding of their organization. Therefore, the main purpose of this analysis aims to make sense of Apple Inc. as an organization and to identify its
This was a huge starting point for them and had even bought out a co-founder Ron Wayne out for $800. After the success of the first Apple computer the Apple ll was a big hit, but a competitor the IBM PC threatened the success of the Apple lll. Steve had put his hope into the Lisa computer but was later thrown out for his hot temper. As revenge he started on another project called Macintosh. Macintosh ended up being the new hope for Apple as Lisa was turning into a bust. They introduced Macintosh at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, and was great at the beginning, but by early 1985 it started to plummet. Jobs refused to accept that his work was failing and as a result it ended up him getting kicked out of operations, leaving him as only a chairman at the board. Because of this he started a new company with ex- Apple members, but would later threaten him with suing him. As a result Steve resigned from Apple and sold all but one of his shares. After this he made a plan to incorporate NeXT, his new idea. Later on Apple dropped the lawsuit after a few
However, they may face the limitation on the firms’ development. Apple is based on a hybrid hierarchical structure (mixed with other organizational structures (Meyer, 2015). Meyer (2015) depicts that companies’ main framework is based on innovation and the leadership of Steve Jobs but for that type of leadership only works if the structure allows it to do so. Due to leadership change to Tim Cook, there are some changes made in the organizational structure in order to suit the market and its demands (Meyer, 2015). Despite the leadership change in Apple Inc. it may well enhance Apple’s capabilities will grow rapidly in creative and design (Meyer, 2015).
In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as an advisory and with the purposes of reshaping the product line. The changes made by Jobs resulted in increased sales and $309 million in profits. Job changed the mindset of Apples management and development team. He encourage them to have the “think different” management style that promotes the development of products that are ahead of the technology and design curve, and a creative retail strategy. It is this strategy that would eventually make Apple the best-selling company in the PC industry.
From its start-up until the present, Apple’s corporate structure hasn’t changed a lot. Before his death, Steve Jobs was the one to make the calls regarding all the decisions; everything had to be passed through him. The company’s decision making processes were and still are centralized, in which the CEO makes all the decisions but it is incorporating more of a collaborative approach. The company is doing so by encouraging its hardware and software teams to collaborate. This approach however, never existed when Jobs was the CEO. Apple is considered a centralized company because it makes high capital investments that encourage centralization. It is highly competitive, offers high technology products, has a homogeneous product line, low product diversification, and has a lot of experience doing international business. Furthermore, it is organized on different basis; functional, divisional and geographical. Its functional structure is that the innovations and visions essentially come from top management and flow down the organization. Top management includes the board of directors in which they oversee and ensure that shareholders’ interests are being served for a long-term. Also, its functional structure is departmentalized and includes marketing, engineering, manufacturing, financing, IT, research and development. Its divisional functions include the products the company is offering, the market it is operating in and geographical areas. Apple has four product categories; the
As a consultant for Orb Ltd a company who specializes in organizational behavior. I have been asked by the CEO to research areas within organizational behavior on the two examples that I selected, so it can be used for future training.
Apple prides itself on offering innovative technology to a society that has become dependent on it. In markets inundated with companies offering similar products and services, Apple has had to rise above and distinguish itself from the masses. While their products have a cultivated a devoted-customer following (our family is one of them), their organization and the values it espouses are what will help them to remain a relevant and successful company in the tech world.
Nowadays, Apple has positioned itself to be an innovator in the personal computer industry and Apple has developed by offering modern products compared to its competitors. According to Apple’s mission statement last year, “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” (Business Management,
It did so in order to better focus its resources on changing customer needs as well as emphasize its strengths in the market place. The organizational structure now consists of centralized engineering and marketing organizations. This way the company has the ability to prevent product and resource overlaps and more effectively allocate its resources to areas yielding optimum profitability. The engineering side has eleven technology groups with people heading multiple groups and reporting to one person who then reports to the CEO. The marketing side has one head who reports to the CEO as well.
What the structure of apple company is customized management institution,the ice of bureaucratic hurdles was broken by this creative simplifies structure. It is the creative culture that Apple Company has launched the new technology new products come out every year.
Co-founded by Steve Jobs in 1976, the company was named under Apple Computers Inc. and its initial product Apple IIe gained relative popularity and success. The release of the Macintosh revolutionized the computer experience with a graphical user interfere and a pointer devise called the ‘mouse’ was launched in the same year. The company went public in 1980 resulting in its owners gaining immediate wealth. However, its company’s
In its infancy, Apple Computer Inc. began with the Macintosh personal computer. The company was founded on April 1, 1976. The founders were Steve Wozniak and Steven Jobs. They incorporated the company in 1977, on January 3rd, in Cupertino, California. In the twenty years that followed, the company produced personal computers. Besides the Macintosh, Apple Inc. made Apple II, and the Power Mac lines. Although they lasted for decades, during the 90’s the company experienced some turbulent times with low sales and market share. Steve Jobs left Apple Inc. and came back in 1996 when his company, NeXT was purchased by Apple. In 1997, Jobs became the interim CEO. In later years it became a permanent position for him.