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Apple Inc. was founded in the year 1976 and was incorporated under the name of Apple Computer Inc. in the year 1977. By now, the company is 40 years old and it is headquartered in California in the middle of Silicon Valley. According to the Store list from the official website, Apple Inc. has 479 retail stores in 18 countries, many of them are located inside shopping malls, but Apple has also built several “flagship” stores that stand alone mainly in big cities of Europe and the United States. Since the company’s formation, it has been under the leadership of many CEOs, however, it has thrived the most under the leadership of Steve Jobs due to his innovative products and creative marketing strategies (Brian 1).
Being an unusual man, Steve Jobs did not tolerate ordinary worldview in the office. Therefore, he was a founder of non-conventional corporate culture. Its informal notion of corporate culture became a distinguishing trait that was rather similar to a start-up project rather to a decent corporation. The corporate culture has been shifting as the reins of government has been taken over by different stubborn chief executives, firing and hiring talented people (Brian 1).
During 1997 to 2011, the time of Steve Jobs executing, the company experienced a palpable progress with design and innovative devices in the time of rapid technological leap. Jobs was a devotee of creativity and individuality, which attracted talented youth workers. On the other hand, however, Apple Inc. has a strict accountability and there is a responsible person who is assigned to lead each project. As in any other corporation, the executives in charge of team’s action. Some people say that often the culture inside Apple is ruthless because Jobs was overly demanding and aspired to ideal in everything and whenever a released product was panned, Jobs berated the team, fired the person in charge, appointed another to get the project redone (Lashinsky 27).
Apple Inc. has been renowned for its innovative products and young employees who seek creativity and innovative work opportunities for their career, want to work for Apple Inc. In this manner, the company is known to have an extensive supply of innovative workers due to which the employees are strictly evaluated on the basis of their performance and face consequences if they cannot meet their work objectives. The negligence in addressing the wellbeing of the employees by the Apple Inc. has been reported by many scholars and the issues related to fair pay policies and non-monetary benefits, due to which the relation between the company and its employees is not considered ideal (Knapp, 1).
The organizational culture of Apple Inc. is focused towards the continuous innovation, outperformance and achievement of organizational objectives, which eventually requires demanding efforts from its employees. In this manner, the wellbeing of the employees is eventually threatened due to increased workload and inadequate monetary benefits. The ethical concerns also prevail due to which the relation between the employees and the company lacks sustenance and it has been reported that the some retail employees have been checked on a regular basis in order to ensure that they have not involved in the activities of theft and shoplifting. It indicates that the employees are not being trusted by the company and hence, the critical situation between the company and the employees prevail (Becker 1).
Apple Inc. provides a sense of self-esteem and career opportunities to its employees due to its market standing and personnel development policies but it also challenges its employees to maintain a high level of performance (Lashinsky 32). The employees who fail to meet the expected level of performance are either demoted or fired and hence, it is considered that Apple Inc. fails to manage adequate relation with its employees whereas, the company justifies its decision on the basis of its performance oriented policies, which eventually indicates the challenging and object oriented culture in the organization (Becker 1).
Work Cited
Becker, Sam. “Why Apple’s Employee Relations Could Be It’s Biggest Problem.” The Cheat Sheet. 13 June 2015. Web. 5 June 2016.
Brian, Matt. “A look at Apple’s CEOs from 1977 to 2011.” The Next Web. n.d. Web. 5 June 2016.
Knapp, Emily. “Are Apple’s Employees HAPPY?.” The Cheat Sheet. 26 June 2012. Web. 5 June 2016.
Lashinsky, Adam. “How Apple works: Inside the world's biggest startup.” Fortune. 9 May 2011. Web. 5 June 2016.
