Case Study : Apple Inc.

We first must look at their organizational behavior. Organizational behavior is a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations (Jason Colquitt, 2011). Now by Apple going into other corporations and handing out their black cards that is just making their employees think poorly about the corporations they work for; thinking there is better out there. To some, Apple’s behavior can be considered good, hard-nosed business, but to most it is considered to acting unethically. By developing this black card strategy Apple is not just trying to hire anyone, they are trying to steal employees from other companies, so they already know they will be good for the job. Apple really needs to take a step back and look at their behavior. They need to find the correlation between their actions and other organizations. The type of organizational behavior being displayed here by Apple is the method of intuition with a bit of experience. It is obvious that their strategy is working and there experience tells them so. That does not make it right though. They are still costing other organizations good employees. The job performance showed by their employees is very negative. Apple needs to go out and get a 360 degree feedback from an outside source.

In 2006, the Mail on Sunday alleged that sweatshop conditions existed in factories in China, where the contract manufacturer Foxconn, operate the factories that produce the iPod. The article stated that one iPod factory, as an example, employed over 200,000 workers who lived and worked in the factory, and regularly performed more than 60 hours of labor per week. The article also reported that workers made around US$100 per month and were required to live on the premises and pay for rent and food from the company. Living expenses—a requirement of keeping the job—typically required that employees spend a little over half of their earnings. The article also said that workers were given buckets to wash their clothes in.

Environmental Scan Paper MGT/498 Environmental Scan Paper The business environment of an organization reveals much about its competitiveness and the possible influences on the success of its strategies. The focus of this paper will be an environmental scan of the internal and external environments of two real-world firms, their competitive advantages and company

The organization conducting business in the United States and globally that I am familiar with is Apple Inc. I will include an analysis of global economic interdependence and effects of international technology industry practices and agreements. The importance of demographics, physical infrastructure, social responsibility and ethics versus legal obligations of

1. China Labor Watch (CLW) is an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. CLW conducts investigations of factories in China and creates report to educate the communitity on supply chain labour issues as well to enforce corporations to improve conditions for workers. According to Li Qiang, the founder and executive director of China Labour Watch, the Apple is making technological advancements resulting in fantastic profits. It can also make great improvements in the working condition of the workers, but have not made sufficient efforts. Apple CEO Tim Cook said: "We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain." However, sufficient efforts have not been made to keep up the promise. In a report by CLW, human rights and labour

Apple’s success can be attributed to Steve Jobs leadership skills. He made corporate culture an important part of its success. They employ highly skilled employees who strive to do things “the rights way” (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). All these things are true only in the corporate sector of Apple. When

Sweatshops have been apparent in the production of worldwide goods for centuries, “A foreman roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass into bevelled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing 10,000 units a day” (Urakami, 2012). Articles covering the headline claim Foxconn in Longua, Shenzhen, advertised for 16 year old workers, 100 persons per dormitory, 15 hour shifts, $53 USD per month in wages and military-style drills; and Austek in Suzhou encloses 50, 000 workers in a barbed wire site with $106 USD monthly wage – of which half went towards accommodation and food (Frost, 2007). An ABC TV network broadcaster revealed that some workers are forced to complete 24 hour shifts, whilst others are forced to stand the entire shift. Managers were also requested to put up nets in 2011, after nine employees committed suicide in the space of three months (Cooper, 2013). This is justified through the financial results for Apple Inc’s fiscal 2012 first quarter ending December 31, 2011 as Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $46.3 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion with the sales of 54 million iPhones, iPads and Macs (Apple, 2012). Furthermore, these claims juxtapose the principles that Apple declares to abide by, “We have a strict Code of Conduct that requires our supplies

Initially, it may be tempting to conclude that Apple's admission that its Chinese factories have employed underage workers is not relevant to business ethics. After all, Apple's stock continues to zoom upwards despite ongoing criticism against Apple's acceptance of factories who "abuse workers and impose harsh conditions on workers" (Dailymail.co.uk, 2010). In addition to numerous human rights violations whose consequences have included worker suicides and the subsequent installation of "suicide nets" around factory walls, the

Organizational Development Challenges in Apple Inc. Like any other organization, Apple Inc. is facing a number of challenges regarding its efforts to implement new changes that can lead to effectiveness (Burke and Noumair, 2015, p. 198). It undergoes many challenges that need to be effectively solved before the organization attains effectiveness in its activities. The company is facing challenges such as difficulties in managing the performance of employees, incompetent and unqualified leaders, career development difficulties, employee resistance, and lack of a good communication network among others.

Since Jobs’s gaunt appearance at the WWDC in June 2008, Wall Street has been keeping a close eye on Apple. Its share price has been shifting with the different emerging announcements. While there is a segment of the public that feels that a person’s medical condition is a matter of privacy and not under the realm of public disclosure, there is a segment that insists that, in this case, it is indeed within the purview of shareholders. Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times emphatically stated that “Apple has allowed its institutional arrogance, its culture of secretiveness, and possibly its solicitude for and fear of Jobs to lead it down a path of rank corporate irresponsibility.”4 Apple is facing credibility issues with both its corporate communication and with concerns regarding the company’s success without Steve Jobs. As Dylan Ratigan stated on CNBC’s Fast Money, “…the quality of information we’re getting from Apple is inconsistent at best and misleading at worst.”5 Combined with post-Jobs jitters, it seems unlikely that such a highly praised, successful company with an extremely loyal customer base would invoke such backlash and concern about its future over any single employee, but clearly Steve Jobs proves to be the exception. Early Days Apple Computer was established on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald

In 2006, the Mail on Sunday stated that Apple’s China factories had sweatshop conditions. It also said that the iPod factory workers had 60 hour weeks. (Heffernan 2013) Following this allegation, Apple started an investigation, working with their manufacturers to ensure that conditions were acceptable by Apple’s standards. (Heffernan 2013) Audits of the labour conditions of all its suppliers, raising standards slowly and stopping relationships with non-complying suppliers. (Heffernan 2013) Progress reports post 2008 have been a reality. (Heffernan 2013) Chinese workers in 2010 had planned to sue iPhone contractors over poisoning from a cleaner used to clean LCD screens, with one worker claiming they weren’t informed of possible occupational illnesses. (Heffernan 2013) Following the 2010 Foxconn suicides, A 2014 BBC investigation found excessive hours & other problems persisted, despite Apple promising to change factory practices. (Heffernan 2013)

As it is illustrated by the article “In China, Human Costs Are Built into an iPad”, Charles Duhigg and David Barboza show the detrimental impact of this corporation upon its Chinese employees. Apple is now identified for its harmful working condition in its factories. Employees work excessive overtime without a single day off during the week as these sweatshops work all day, every day. To produce the merchandise efficiently and effectively, the workers stand at all hours of the day and leave with a decreasing amount of energy every passing day. The company provides most of its workers with the benefit of satisfying dorms. 70,000 Foxconn, Apple’s major manufacturing partner, workers are obligated to live with 20 other people in a slum three-bedroom apartment. Under age workers are unfortunately adding onto Apple’s

I. INTRODUCTION International Human Resource Management (IHRM) is the management of Human Resource in business operations in at least two nations and IHRM issues are the HRM issues and problems arising from the internationalization of business, and the HRM strategies, policies and practices which firms pursue in response to the internationalization process

Apple’s Strategic Approach to Globalization Apple is known all over the world to provide excellence, when it comes to provision of its quality services and products with effectiveness in the implementation and design of their merchandise with products of high quality such as Mobile phones, Computers and Music softwares (Apple, 2015).

Organization Overview and Background This paper presents a case study of Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is a technology based corporation with emphasis on computer software and hardware (MAC and Apps), tablets (IPad), smart phones (IPhone), and mp3 plays, (ITouch). Apple Inc. has grown tremendously over the years and ever since 2001