Apple's Inc Background and Environment - Essay Example

?INTRODUCTION The concept of organizational culture is constantly emerging in the corporate world. Due to the growing interest in this particular topic, different definitions and perspectives are continually observed. Some consider organizational culture as a combination of rule that guides human behavior in terms of interaction; some define this concept as an integral component in an organization based on which norms and beliefs are created whereas; others define the concept of organizational culture as a perception that fuels the working environment in the workplace. One of the most common definition that most of the researchers and authors have agreed upon defines organizational culture as a mixture of norms, values, beliefs, attitude and behavior that guides an individual working in the organization to be disciplined and organized in order to promote safer and healthier working environment. It has been witnessed that the concept of organizational culture that was once seen as “how things are to be done in an organization” (Drennan, 1992) have significantly evolved with the passage of time. In order to evaluate the changes in organizational culture, Apple would be taken as an example to analyze the concept of organizational culture. The aim of this assignment would be to evaluate the organizational culture of Apple Inc., and to do so, Hofstede’s theory regarding organizational culture would be taken as the primary theorotical framework. Furthermore, a brief argument would also be provided regarding the selection of Hofstede’s theory on organizational culture rather than theories provided by other prominent researchers (i.e. Schein, Weick, Handy/Harrison or Duffy) followed by analysis of the organizational culture under the light of theory proposed by Hofstede. In the very end, conclusion along with certain recommendations would be provided to enhance the reader’s knowledge regarding organizational culture. APPLE’S BACKGROUND AND ITS ENVIRONMENT Overview of Apple Inc Apple is one an example of the most successful business internationally. Even though, the company experienced many challenges throughout its history but was finally able to accomplish its desired goals and objectives. In the year 1997, Apple’s share price was around $3.30 but with the passage of time and with the changes made in the organizational culture, the organization was able to enhance its share price to $339.87 in 2011. For the customers, the brand Apple represents prestige, quality, innovation and creativity. Due to its vast range of products, the organization is reported to be worth $153 billion, making Apple the most successful and valuable brand in the corporate world. Due to such prestige and respect in the market, it has been constantly reported that many organizations are consistently trying to copy business model incorporated by Apple but none of such organizations were able to discover the factors that made the organization so special in the market. Many believe that Apple’s success lies in its corporate culture that embraces enthusiasm and innovation which provides the organization with an ability to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers in the market through its constantly evolving and technologically advanced products. The combination of such qualities has constantly provided the organization with an opportunity to revolutionize the technology as well as the retail industries. Being such a technologically advanced company, it has been observed that Apple was named as the most admired company in United States in 2008 by Fortune Magazine. In addition, the company was also named as the most successful organization in the world from 2008-2012 by Fortune Magazines. Apple’s Corporate Environment The working environment for the employees at Apple is harder than hard. This means that the employees are constantly pushed to exceed their potential limits. As indicated by several reports, Apple’s corporate culture is just too ruthless making it a piece of mystery for the corporate world. The foundation for such corporate culture was setup by Former CEO, Steve Jobs, who is also known for making the company accomplish its desired goals and obectives. It has been reported that an employee was once fired in an elevator by Steve Jobs as the employee was not able to provide the Former CEO with good enough answer to his question “So what have you done for Apple lately?” (Love, 2013). This indicates that Apple constantly look for self-motivated employees that would take all necessary actions to complete the given tasks on time. The success of Apple lies in its corporate culture.Llike everyone else in the industry, the company constantly made mistakes in order to learn which provided the organization with an insight that to be successful, the organization had to think different. Although, the success of Apple is credited to Steve Jobs’ remarkable and outstanding leadership abilitites but to overlook corporate culture at Apple would be unfair. Some of the factors that made Apple’s corporate culture differ in the industry are as follows; Concept of Evangelism The concept of evangelism is an essential component of Apple’s culture. This concept refers to the people that extensively promote that products offered by the company in the market to either create awareness regarding the product or to influence the customers to purchase the products offered by the company based o the benefits associated with the product. Due to such important job, evangelists strongly believed in the company and passed the beliefs to others in the company which eventually resulted in strong sense of loyalty and dedication towards the company. Vision for Employees One of the changes instituted by Steve was the creation of vision for the employees. Due to such vision, the employees highly believed that their job is quite important and that they were part of something bigger than themselves. Such feelings in the employees eventually resulted in the creation of sense of loyalty and commitment towards Apple. On the other hand, the new CEO; Tim Cook, is constantly working to eliminate the blind spots in corporate culture in Job’s era. Tim is constantly focusing on people making them believe that they are organization’s most important and crucial asset. Some of the things that Tim Cook is continually doing involve; The introduction of “Blue Sky” program designed inparticular for providing the employees with an opportunity to learn new skills and knowledge regarding other jobs by working on pet projects for about two weeks that are completely unrelated to their jobs at Apple (Spiegelman, 2012). Employees are being provided with discounts on the purchase of products offered by Apple. In addition, the company is constantly providing the community with related gifts. Employees are constantly being praised in front of public. This praisal have helped the organization to enhance its workforce morale and job satisfaction. The company under the leadership of Tim Cook is constantly providing the employees with counter-offers that are willing to shift their jobs (Spiegelman, 2012) Focus of Report The focus of this report would be the organizational culture at Apple. In order to evaluate the culture at Apple, theory proposed by Geert Hofstede would be taken into consideration. The spotlight of this report would be the practice of Apple in terms of design. THEOROTICAL FRAMEWORK TO ANALYZE APPLE INC Geert Hofstede indicated that the organizational culture differs due to the level of practices. In addition, the organizational culture is regarded as superficial as the organizational culture could be easily learned and unlearned by an individual as compared to values that forms the core of national culture (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). The main concept of the theory proposed by Geert Hofstede consists of dimensions of organizational culture which would be separately and briefly discussed below; Mean Oriented vs Goal Oriented This is one of the dimensions that effect the effectiveness of the organization. The mean oriented culture focuses highly on “how” and the way in which the work has to be carried how. On the other hand, in a goal oriented culture the employees work towards the achievement of internal goals and results with primary focus on “what”. In addition, in mean oriented culture organization focuses on avoiding risks due to which employees limit their efforts in the job. But in a goal oriented culture, the organization focuses highly on the achievement of specific internal results even though the associated risks are quite high (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Internally Driven vs Externally Driven In an internally driven culture, the goal of employees is to accomplish the tasks by strongly focusing on business ethics and honesty in order to provide the customers and the world with quality products and services. Internally driven culture aims to provide the outside world with best available technologically advanced products. On the other hand, in an externally driven culture focuses on the satisfaction of customer’s requirement by any means necessary. This indicates that results for such culture are quite important rather than business ethics and honesty (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Easy Going Work Discipline vs Strict Work Discipline As the name indicates, the easy going work discipline indicates loose internal structure along with lack of predictability as well as low control and discipline. In this particular work culture, there are lots of improvisations and surprises. On the other hand, strict work culture is quite the opposite and reverse of easy going work discipline. In the strict work culture, people are serious about what they do and conscious in terms of cost and punctuality (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Local vs Professional In a professional work culture, the position of employees is determined by the level of work undertaken by a particular individual. This means that the higher the content of the job, the higher position of the individual would be. On the other hand, local work culture indicates that the employees are very short-term directed due to which each individual tend to be like others in the workplace (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Open System vs Closed System In an open culture, it has been indicated that the newcomers are immediately welcomed due to the working environment of the organization. On the other hand, close culture are quite the opposite. For a newcomer, settling in the organization takes time in order to adopt the environment and to know the operations of the business (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Employee Oriented vs Work Oriented In an employee oriented culture, organization takes measures to reduce personal problems by taking them under consideration in order to protect the working environment of the organization along with the protection of the welfare of the employees. On the other hand, the work oriented culture focuses on the completion of the assigned tasks and responsibilities. This heavy work pressure reduces the employee’s morale as it involves the completion of task at the expense of employees. Degree of Acceptance of Leadership Style This degree indicates the leadership style that is accepted by the employees. As the employees are highly dependent on the boss, leadership style plays an integral role (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Significance Of The Chosen Theoretical Framework In order to gain exposure regarding the organizational culture of Apple, this framework proposed by Geert Hofstede would be the best available option. With the help of this framework, the different concepts associated with organizational culture would be explained in details. The dimensions proposed by Geert Hofstede in his theory regarding organizational culture, focuses on every single dimension there is in organizational culture. Similarly, the organizational culture differs at the level of practices which could only be effectively analyzed with the help of this particular framework. The particular reason for the selection of this theoretical framework lies in the capability of the theory to evaluate the organizational culture in detail with the help of dimension included in the theory. With the use of this framework, it would be quite easy to evaluate that either the culture will enable or hinder the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. ANALYSIS Apple consistently focuses on design rather than any other factor in its products. This is one of the practices of the organization due to which several companies in the market are continuously copying what they find relevant to success. One of such companies includes Samsung (Worstall, 2012). Samsung constantly copies everything that Apple does in the market due to which the company is always second in the market. For Apple, design is everything due to which the company gives #1 priority to design from the very top of the organization to the very bottom. In the light of the theoretical framework selected in earlier stages, this particular practice would be analyzed. Mean Oriented vs Goal Oriented This practice of the organization would be regarded as goal oriented culture as the employees constantly seek to provide the customers with greater design products with an aim to achieve internal goals and results. The key question that the company asks itself regarding design is “what should be provided to the customers in terms of design?”. In order to achieve this particular organizational goal i.e. superior product design, Apple constantly focuses on innovation and creativity. This has allowed the organization to remain ahead of competitors in the market for over half a decade (Thompson, 2013). Internally Driven vs Externally Driven The organizational culture of Apple could be regarded as internally driven culture. The company focuses on providing the customers with products based on superior designs as compared to others in the market. The design ideas are based on honesty and business ethics while protecting the environment. With the passage of time, Apple have understood what is good for the customers in the market as well as the world (Thompson, 2013).. Easy Going Work Discipline vs Strict Work Discipline The work structure at Apple is quite strict and disciplined. The design is the #1 priority of Apple due to which the entire company focuses on the design at once which eventually helps the company to create a foundation for breathtaking products in the market. The design of the product direct reports to the CEO but in the end, the design decisions are taken by the designers due to which the company hires experienced and the best people on whom the company trusts to make the right decisions (Thompson, 2013). Local vs Professional Apple is a highly professional company in which the identity of the employees is determined by the level of job responsibilities as well as by the profession and content of the job. Apple is a decentralized organization where every division is provided with an authority to take decisions effectively. Each of the decisions regarding design are reported to the CEO and by eliminating the flaws in the designs, the decisions regarding the design are taken by the designers rather than any other person in the organization. With Apple’s focus on quality rather than quantity, the design decisions are left with the designers as the company is aware that by giving non-designers with the authority to make decisions would eventually result in disaster (Thompson, 2013).. Open System vs Closed System Apple could be regarded as a much closed organization where the newcomers have to tackle variety of problems to gain recognition and importance in the organization. Even though Apple focuses highly on diversity management and equal employment opportunity, the newcomers are not immediately welcomed in the organization (Thompson, 2013). As every person in the organization have to gain respect with the quality of work rather than just quantity. In the design process, every member is provided with an opportunity to provide opinions and ideas regarding superior quality which in the end is combined to provide the customers with breathtaking products in the market. Employee Oriented vs Work Oriented At first, Apple was a work oriented organization but with the appointment of new CEO; Tim Cook, the organization changed its organizational culture significantly to employee oriented culture. This indicates that the organization takes full responsibility of the welfare of its employees due to which the designers are provided with total authority to make the right decision at the right time regarding product’s design. With such high authority with the employees in terms of design, the designers are able to make right decisions based on their intuitions and experience to provide the customers with superior design products. Degree of Acceptance of Leadership Style It has been indicated that the leadership style at Apple is directive and supportive at the same time. This indicates that the leaders take active part in the decision making process for product design and play an essential role in simplifying complexity in designs. For Apple to provide the customers with great products, the organization works together i.e. the leader and the teams, due to which two meetings are held in order to discuss the design of the product. The first meeting is regarding the idea generation where the employees and the leader go crazy thinking regarding the different design of the product. The second meeting is regarding the plan for execution where the final design is taken into consideration. Due to such leadership, the organization focuses on perfection as the company beliefs that if the design is not perfect, it is not ready to be introduced in the market. CONCLUSION In order to conclude, it could be said that organizational culture at Apple is a piece of mystery in itself which the competitors in the corporate world are constantly trying to copy but have not seen any progress. With the organizational culture foundation laid by former CEO; Steve Jobs, the organization has witnessed success to great extent. Product design is one of the practices that Apple constantly focuses upon to provide the customers with breathtaking products in the market. The analysis of organizational culture at Apple revealed that the organizational culture is quite ruthless aimed to enhance the potential limits of the employees through harder than hard work. The theoretical framework proposed by Geert Hofstede indicated that the organizational culture at Apple is a combination of goal oriented, internally driven, strict work discipline, professional, closed system and employee oriented in terms of design. References Drennan, D. (1992). Transforming company culture. McGraw-Hill London. Love, D. (2013). FORMER EMPLOYEE: 'At Apple, They Really Are After You. Business Insider, available from http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-corporate-culture-2013-1#ixzz2RsjKq6Ot Spiegelman, P. (2012). Tim Cook's Attention to Culture Will Grow Apple Even More. Inc, Available from http://www.inc.com/paul-spiegelman/why-apple-will-make-even-more-money-a-change-in-leadership.html The Hofstede Centre. (n.d.). Organisational Culture & Change Management. Available from http://geert-hofstede.com/organisational-culture.html Thompson, C. (2013). Apple Strategy & Corporate Culture — Proven Success Formula. Available from http://www.informing-arts.biz/apple-envy-what-does-it-take-to-be-like-apple/ Worstall, T. (2012). Apple v Samsung: Corporate Cultures and Design. Forbes, Available from http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/09/03/apple-v-samsung-corporate-cultures-and-design/ Read More