Leadership Issues in Apple Inc.: Analysis and Recommendations

Read about the leadership issues faced by Apple Inc. and their impact on the organization. Get recommendations and analysis on how to handle these issues.

Running Head: Integrative leadership 1
Integrative Leadership

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Contents
Part 1 Leadership Problem...............................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Statement of the leadership issues...............................................................................................3
Analyse the issues........................................................................................................................3
Part 2: Literature Review.................................................................................................................5
Part 3: Recommendation related to the leadership issue.................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Part 1 Leadership Problem
Introduction
Leadership is considered as a vital function of management that facilitates in increasing the
efficiency and to attain the goals of the organization. The leader has the ability to communicate
the function to the followers and guide them effectively so that they can perform in a better way.
The main objective of this paper is to elaborate the leadership issues because these issues can
distract the attention of the employees towards performing the task. Apple Inc. will be taken to
demonstrate the leadership issues within the company because the company recently faces the
challenges of leadership.
Statement of the leadership issues
Leaders are responsible to hold the responsibility to develop, train and provide the direction for a
team. It has been analyzed that the leadership of an organization sets the manner of the corporate
culture, vision and company expectations for the company. Leadership issues can arise in
organizational leadership that can hamper the productivity of the organization. It is essential for
the company to identify the issues of leaders to bring the positive changes within the
organization. There can be various leadership issues such as lack of communication, the inability
to providing feedback, ineffective leadership styles and poor execution.
Analyse the issues
Apple Inc. has been taken in the paper to endorse the various issues related to the change
management. Apple Inc. is foremost Information Technology Company deliberated by revenue
and the second largest mobile phone producer after Samsung in the world. It has been found that
Apple’s Tim Cook faces leadership challenge on labor concerns as he initiated some changes

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within the organization regarding the process which brought huge challenges for the labor of the
company (McGregor, 2012). Due to diminishing health of Steve Jobs and intervention of the
issues with the presentation of his duties at Apple, the place of CEO was taken over by Tim
Cook in 2011. Company had to face number of issues due to departure of Steve Jobs from the
job, exclusively, one of the major drawback of power culture regarding to a situation where
company can face the severe disadvantages of power culture regarding a condition where
organizations can experience performance drop and shortcomings of the leader of the
organization lacks business and leadership competencies (Dudovskiy, 2013).
As per the Harrison Model of Framework, it has been analyzed that leaders are required to have
the efficient skills in managing the team because in power culture organizations employees are
de-motivated break bad news to the organizational leader. It has been analyzed that a
sophisticated of capabilities, effectual business insight and outstanding level of creativity has
facilitated Steve Jobs to make Apple a highly successful company in the form of power culture
environment. The employee of the company is facing challenges in accomplishing the task due
to improper guidance from the new leader. Tim Cook needs to handle the situation as soon as
possible otherwise it may lead the company into adverse situation.

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Part 2: Literature Review
According to Colquitt, Lepine, Wesson & Gellatly, (2011), strong leadership within the
organization facilitates in handling the good communication and effective communication assists
in developing the efficiency of the organization as well as employees in which employees of the
company are ready to do work mutually for the advantages of the company. Communication
after, during and before the process of change is vital for the organization because it makes sure
that those kind of amendments within the operation of the company is advantageous. It has been
analyzed that the strong leadership is a major success in a business organization as it able to
make effective and efficient utilization of the resources of the organization (Lopez, 2016). It is
required for the company to have the effective leadership skills as it facilitates in taking
decisions on the behalf of the company. Strong leadership in the organization has effective
understandings of objectives and goals of the company. it has been analyzed that the main focus
of the organization is attaining the benefits for them and for this it is vital for the organization to
improve new skills of employees and staffs and makes work of the organization more efficient
(Certo, 2018).
Change management is a momentous issue that is faced by the company at the time of initiating
latest technologies and processes within the organization. The Apple Inc is facing these issues
that could impact the profitability as well as the sustainability of the organization adversely. It
has been said by Drucker (2012) that communication is considered as the major issue of top
change management concerns as it has been observed in the breakdown to correspond when a
transform happens in the workplace. Apple Inc is unable to communicate with employees in an
efficient manner at the time of development of new technologies at the workplace. This impact is

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put on the efficiency and effectiveness of the workers either directly or indirectly (Bochner,
2013). Along with that employees of the organization do not understand the procedures and
technologies which are executing by Apple Inc. moreover, employees of the company are facing
the issues of lack of training and development issues as they are not getting proper training due
to changes within the organization. As a consequence, it can manipulate the growth and
development of the firm unenthusiastically. It shall be noted that employees are measured as the
important element of the organization (Cameron & Green, 2015).
According to Mourdoukoutas, 2011), it has been found that the company is facing four
challenges of technology challenge, leadership challenges, competition challenge and economy
challenge but among of them, leadership challenge is the biggest challenge for the company
because in the middle of the leadership transition it has been found that the company casts a
cloud of vagueness over its upcoming (Cornelissen & Cornelissen, 2017). It would be hard for
the company to flourish without Steve Jobs, as he was a leader with firm vision and a man who
knew the importance of changing technology within the organization and had the efficient
knowledge regarding the market as well as the art. He had personality to enhance and increase
the message to the followers of Apple, building effective and efficient buzz campaigns.
According to Sharma and Grant (2011), leadership is an experiential subject which is always
happened at the place of work. As the similar process, the growth and the success of the Apple
Inc. are also exaggerated by the leadership concerns. It is essential for the company to have the
efficient leader to run the business in an efficient manner. Leader is able to provide proper
guidance to the followers for doing work efficiently. It has been said by Northouse (2017) that
continuously transformation in technology and policies are done by Apple Inc. that influences
the sustainability of the firm. Leadership is the procedure of providing assistance and incentive

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to the workers for achieving long-term goals and objectives. The leaders of Apple Company are
failed to develop skills and knowledge among the workers because of several issues. Moreover,
the poor manager and leader of the company have not proper control which increases the issue of
not giving proper motivation to the employee which amplify the lack of productivity. Their
unproductive and deprived leadership skills are being the cause of failure to draw obligation
towards work too long hours in the office. It builds a deadly working environment at the
workplace. The managers should be proactive to handle the conflicts of the company so that
proper decisions can be taken within time frame.
The main findings of the reading are that the company should have the efficient leaders within
the organization to handle the conflicts as changes in the process may bring conflicts. In such
case, the effectual leader can handle the situation by using his problem-solving skills (Mabia &
Nweke, 2017). The company must understand the personalities and capabilities of an individual
before assigning any kind of works as it increases the productivity of them in more significant
manner. Lack of confidence and enthusiasm also lead huge and high rivalry in the global world
and it also controls long term targets of Apple Inc. it has been found that the company is not
capable to endorse and improve the competence and usefulness of the managers and employees
as well as it is damaging the place of the firm.
Assigned reading such as journal articles and books are related to the concern of the Apple Inc
because the leadership issues and their reasons are similar with the company. The reading
suggested that company should take appropriate action for removing the obstacles from the
company and the same thing is applied for Apple Inc. It is necessary for the company to take
appropriate action for developing the productivity of the organization as well as the employees.
There are various journals articles which is written on the leadership issue on several

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organization with the help of them, it has become easy for this paper to evaluate the common
leadership issues in wide manner and understand the consequences of them in the organization.
Part 3: Recommendation related to the leadership issue
There are various leadership theories which can be applied by Apple Inc to resolve the issues of
leadership. These theories are trait theory, contingency theory, behavioral theory and power and
influences theory. All theories have different concepts and importance as behavioral theory
suggests that leaders should involve in each activity of the organization and suggest making
improvement in the favor of the company. While contingency theory refers to the ability of the
leaders to adopt the several leadership styles in different condition. Trait theory helps in
determining that what kind of leadership skills is required within the organization for removing
the obstacles. Leadership emerges from specific traits (Gafar, Yusoff, Kasim & Martin, 2015).
On the other hand, powerful and influence theories demonstrate that the sources of the power of
the leader. The description of all leadership theories is elaborated below which would be helpful
in handling the labor issues in Apple Inc.
Trait Theories
It is the theory that provides the trust that people are born as good leaders and that the features
required to be a good leader are innate, usually known as traits. It is found as the general sight
nowadays, that defines that anyone can become the leader by getting proper training and

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effective learning. It shows that the leadership must have the quality of integrity, empathy,
visionary and good decisions making skills (Dinh, Lord, Gardner, Meuser, Liden & Hu, 2014).
Behavioral theory
The concept of behavioral theory shows other key leadership theories and opposes the
disagreement through offering that good leadership is related to the focus on activities not on
intellectual features or internal states, which is suggested by trait theories. According to this
theory, the leaders can be made through effective teaching and observation (Dinh, Lord,
Gardner, Meuser, Liden & Hu, 2014).
Contingency theory
According to the Fiedler's, the efficiency of leaders is dependent upon the several factors like the
nature of the task, personality of the leader (Fiedler, 2015). The company would be able to
handle the conflicts regarding leadership issue by following this theory as it facilitates to
differentiate the leadership style such as task-oriented and relationship oriented (Fiedler, 2011).
The contingency leadership theory refers to the situational leadership theory which connects the
leadership style with the task maturity of the followers.
Power and influences theory
It has been found that the power theories are related to the influencing people by the concept of
power and authority and the way of influences by the managers on the work. This theory entails
two styles of leadership such as transactional leadership style in which employees of the
company should be given proper direction from the leaders through rewards and punishment. It
is the style that focused on improving the tasks and making structures that can give the reward

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for meeting the desired tasks. According to this style, people will be getting rewarded if they
complete tasks within given time frame. The second style is the power theory is French and
Raven’s five forms of power. It emphasizes the various elements of power in which they show
the three kinds of positional power such as legitimate, coercive and rewards (Fiedler, 2013).
There are two kinds of personal power such as charm and appeal.
It has been recommended to the Apple Company to follow the contingency theory as it is able to
increase the skills of a leader in an efficient manner which will be facilitated in reducing the
situation of the conflicts. This could be effectual for the company because the major advantage
of Fielder’s contingency theory is very well researched and elaborated the task-oriented and
relationship-oriented nature of leaders (Fairclough, 2013). Along with that, there are various
recommendations have been provided to improve the leadership issues within the company.
 Apple Inc. should offer training program for the purpose of increasing and get better the
presentation and output of the workers as it assists in taking advantage of the self-assurance and
faithfulness among the employees. Training and development sessions and seminars facilitate to
decrease change management concerns at the place of work. Furthermore, effectual and energetic
strategies, policies and plans shall be executed by the company to manage the concerns and
disputes regarding employees.
 It has been recommended to Apple to switch from power culture to a task culture because
the traditional power culture of the company should be deceased from due to its clear drawbacks
impose far huge risks than the advantages of its benefits. Task culture should be the more
appropriate approach for Apple due to its offering a large level of flexibility and freedom for
employees (Day & Miscenko, 2016).

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 It is required for the new CEO of the company to play a vital part in the endorsement of a
task culture. As per, new Apple CEO, Tim Cook should adopt a proactive approach for the
purpose of promoting the task culture within the company by using the effective communication
which should communicate the relevant values to several organizational stakeholders in an
efficient way. Furthermore, it has been recommended to Tim Cook to suppose the function of
change agent in the move from power culture to task culture.
 Innovativeness and creativity culture at the workplace of Apple should be conserved at
all costs. It is essential for the company to have a proper understanding about the creativity and
innovativeness that has served as the deep of business strategy for Apple at the time of Steve
Jobs period and these vital components of Apple business culture should be maintained in the
future.
It is required for the specific measures and initiatives to be developed by new management of
Apple for attaining the further incorporation of these principles with the corporate culture.

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Cameron, E. & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the
models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Certo, S.C. (2018). Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Education.
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