Management Concepts within the Company Apple
Apple Company is an American corporation created in the year 1971 by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The firm’s headquarters are situated within Cupertino, California. Apple Company specializes in developing and designing computer software and hardware but of late has diversified into other electronic goods. Apple Company is ranked the second biggest IT firm by revenue with approximated revenue of USD 414 billion. The success of Apple within technology industry is anchored in offering best computer as well as other electronics to its clientele by offering quality products from broad creativity and innovation.
In the past, Apple Company had organizational structure that was non-traditional department and team divisions. Steve Job was much in control and everything flowed via him. The span of control was narrow and management hierarchy was tall. There were supervisors who reported to Chief Executive officer, Steve Job. Currently, the management and control of Apple does not necessarily need to be stringent, as the span of control is broad. Only one manager is responsible to supervise the work of many employees (Adam, 2012). This novel collaborative technique make Apple to become more deliberate than it was in the past.
The organizational structure of Apple is such that, Chief Executive Officer is in charge, and whenever challenging decisions are to be made CEO must take charge. However, other employees also keep things moving within the right direction. The organization structure is in such a way that there is no head of iPhone or head of devices. No organizational consistency exists on how the firm reports its performance. Managers execute the organization roles of management based on significant elements of Apple’s structure: work specialization, departmentalization, and span of control. Moreover, chain of command, centralization and decentralization, as well as formalization.
Work specialization refers to dividing duties into different job task (Sascha, 2011). Each employee specializes in performing part of the task instead of the whole task so as to enhance work output. Departmentalization refers to how activities are categorized together so that task gets performed in an integrated and coordinated way (Gaines & Kappeler, 2011). Chain of command outlines the line of power from top to lower organizational levels, which explains who reports where and to whom (Sascha, 2011). Span of control involves the number of workers a manager may effectively and efficiently manage (Sascha, 2011). Decentralization refers to the ability of junior workers to offer input in decision making. Centralization is the extent to which decision-making occurs in upper level of the Apple (Gaines & Kappeler, 2011). Formalization refers to how standardized jobs are within an organization and the degree to which workers’ behavior is shaped by procedures and rules (Sascha, 2011).
Apple’s organizational structure starts with the Board of Directors in charge of supervising CEO and other senior employees in the ethical and competent operation of Apple in daily basis and guarantees that the long-run interests of stakeholders are served (Apple, 2012).
Source: Apple Corporation (2012).
One of the key managers in Apple Company is Chief Executive Officer. Job description of CEO with bias to Timothy Cook reveals that the Company’s CEO is in charge of daily operations of the firm; strategic planning; ensuring coordination of different business units; coordinate between members of board and performing responsibility of figure head of the organization (Adam, 2012). Timothy altered things from the way the Company handles its retail workers to the Foxconn employees developing their products in the assembly line within Shenzhen; from Apple’s strategy to charity to the manner investors are rewarded. The new iPad and iPhone 4s were launched under Cook’s management. Moreover, many bold novel products were released under Cook, for instance best-vending version of the Mac OS and the Retina MacBook Pro (Gaines & Kappeler, 2011).
At Apple Company during the times of Steven Jobs, CEO was the decider for final plan choices, no focus groups, no information crunchers, and no committee consensus-builders. Nonetheless, employees may contribute to the process of decision making. It is important that the process of decision making involve the implementers. They play significant role because the best laid designs of the top management may go awry whenever middle management lacks commitment (Adam, 2012). Steve practiced this by organizing the top 100 off site meetings in resorts where he briefed middle management concerning the decisions undertaken within the organization.
Within the Apple Company, there are no definite systems of control; nevertheless, a culture of responsibility is indoctrinated by holding a series of meetings which are the metronome and lays the beat for the whole firm. The executive management team meets every week to discuss strategy, results, and review all significant projects within the industry (Adam, 2012). The mindset of accountability extends down to lower ranks. At Apple Company no confusion exists as to who should be responsible for what. In-house Apple-speak has a name; directly responsible individual (DRI). Always directly responsible individual name appear on every agenda for a conference or meeting, so everyone understand who is responsible. All employees work to achieve the organization’s objectives and goals to ensure that services and goods are delivered as intended.
At Apple Company managers are responsible for the overall organization strategy, operation plan, and strategic plan. Therefore, it is prudent that everyone is involved in all stages of planning. This enables easy coordination of work as well as team work towards achievement of the organization’s objectives and goals.
References
Adam, J. (2012). Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired--and Secretive--Company Really Works. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Apple Corporation. (2012). “Investor Relations - Governance”. Retrieved November 17, 2012 from http://investor.apple.com/governance.cfm
Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2011). Policing in America. Newark, NJ: Lexis Nexis.
Sascha, S. (2011). Apple's Secret of Success - Traditional Marketing vs. Cult Marketing. Berlin: Diplomica Verlag.
