Employee Development as a CSR Challenge and Solution in Apple Inc.

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Innovation and Management Decision Making
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Corporate social responsibility challenge
Introduction
Companies and businesses around the world define corporate social responsibility as a business
practice that incorporates elements of sustainable development into their core business
operations (El Akremiet al. 2018). Companies are putting much effort into this strategy to ensure
they have a competitive advantage of others. The goal, in this case, is achieved through various
innovative approaches such as Research and development, sustainable social change, public-
private-partnerships, and employee development. This report, therefore, analyses employee
development as a corporate social responsibility challenge and proposes a solution in Apple Inc.
(Apple Inc. 2019).
Apple Inc. is an American-based tech company that specializes in a range of products such as
computing and consumer electronic devices. According to the recent financial records published
for public scrutiny, the company is made profits of more than 10 billion dollars in the 2nd quarter
of the 2019 fiscal year. The company is among the most innovative companies in terms of
developing new products to meet a variety of customer needs (Apple Inc. 2019). Therefore, for
Apple to maintain the competitive edge, it must find a way to ensure that employees are always
innovative. It means that the management must review and come up with more ideas of
employee development.
Employee Development
It is a process by which employers help employees to undergo various training programs to
enhance their skills and acquire more knowledge about a given field of specialization. In the
current world, employees are increasingly demanding to develop both at the workplace and in

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the outside world. Contrary to the traditional ways where the organizational hierarchy was
strictly followed, most of the employees today tend to develop value-driven approaches (Suliman
& Thomas, 2017). Many of them want to know the fundamental reasons for making some career
choices, their contribution to company success, and change in society. Therefore, this scenario
poses a challenge for companies to come up with ways of contributing to employee development
as an approach to enhancing the corporate image.
Employee development enhances innovation since it ensures employees are competent and well
equipped with the current trends relating to the industry (Apple Inc. 2019). It encourages
creativity leading to improved quality of production and customer satisfaction. In the long run,
the company will have a competitive advantage of other industry players that have not embraced
the concept. The problem, however, is that most companies have failed to embrace employee
development as an innovation strategy in corporate social responsibility.
Factors to consider in the employee development process
Top management commitment
It is the direct involvement of the company executives in a specific activity or program in a
company. They are the key decision makers and significant drivers of the company towards
achieving the long term goal. In this case, the directors of the company must fully commit to
ensuring that employee development is given a priority during the resource allocation process in
a given fiscal year (Shin et al. 2015). They must show good leadership by encouraging
employees to enroll in the proposed development programs.
Gain an insight into the individual employee values

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Company employees who are mandated to come up with development programs must first of
take time to understand the values of each employee and how they contribute to the company’s
long-term plan. These values may vary from one individual to another; however, the common
examples include; making a difference in and out of the workplace, transparency, and
accountability and being reliable at all times, and focusing on continuous improvement of quality
(Pivec & Potočan, 2015). Such findings will help in designing the right employee development
program that will have a positive effect not only to the identified workers but also the entire
organization.
Determine the desired outcomes
It is essential to make projections and predictions on the results of employee development
programs. Therefore, critical elements, in this case, can include, setting long term, intermediate
and short term goals, devising goals that are specific to the identified strategies of employee
development. The objectives to be achieved must be motivating to employees and most
importantly, be measurable to determine the level of success.
Change in organizational culture
The company values and employee behavior must be put under check. This aspect provides a
detailed explanation of how employees interact and perceive change at their workplace (Scisco et
al. 2017). It, therefore, implies that the beliefs in a given organization can have a strong influence
on the success of the company in terms of adoption of change and achievement of success. Thus,
the management must create a thriving environment in which employees fully accept the help of
the employer in career development.
Strategic innovation solution (employee development methods)