Leadership and Management in Apple Inc.

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Task One
About the company
Apple Inc. is a multinational organization which has its origins in the United States.
The company mainly operates in the technology based sector in different countries of the
world. The headquarter of the company is located in Cupertino, California. Different products
that are provided by the organization mainly include, hardware based products like, iPhone
smartphone, iPad tablet, iPod media player and Apple TV. The software related products on
the other hand include, iOS operating systems, macOS, Safari web browser and iTunes media
player. The organization was established in the year 1976 by Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne
and Steve Jobs (Apple.com, 2018). The mission statement of Apple is “Man is the creator of
change in this world. As such, he should be above systems and structures, and not
subordinate to them”. I have been appointed as the marketing executive in the New Zealand
operations of the company.
Leadership based qualities and the personal characteristics displayed by the leader
Apple Inc. has been managed in an effective manner by Steve Jobs who is also one of
the major founders of the company. The leadership based qualities which have been attained
by Steve Jobs are based on the development of effective vision for the company,
development of the passion levels and challenging the limits of employees. The employees
are trained in such a manner so that they are able to aim for highest levels of perfection. Risk
taking is also an important capability which has been displayed by Steve Jobs in the
company. Steve Jobs has been able to develop the operations of Apple Inc. in an effective
manner with the help of his unique and effective leadership qualities (Banks, McCauley,
Gardner & Guler, 2016).
Capabilities that are relevant to effective leadership
The effective leadership is mainly based on different qualities that can be acquired by
them in order to operate in the organization. The leaders need to be people-oriented in nature
and the team based dynamics are also important in this case. The capability of leaders so that
they are able to make difficult decisions is also a part of effective leadership qualities. The
levels of confidence which are depicted by the leaders are thereby able to affect their
capability in a huge manner. The leaders can increase the confidence and motivation levels of
employees in an effective manner (Cashman, 2017). The strategic thinking process is

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considered to be another important capability of the leaders who are an important part of the
organizational processes. Modern leadership is based on the strategy and vision which can be
developed for the organization. The leaders of modern companies need to act as role models
or examples for the employees who are thereby considered to be an important part of the
operations. The development of new opportunities is also a major capability that is depicted
by the leaders (Chang, 2016).
Capability displayed by the leader of Apple
Strategic thinking is a major quality which has been depicted effectively by Steve
Jobs in Apple. The leader has been able to analyse the technological factors in order to
develop the most effective types of operations for the company. The levels of innovation in
Apple has been increased effectively with the help of strategic thinking based process. Steve
Jobs had developed an effective vision which was shared with the employees in order to
increase the revenues of the company in the technology industry. Steve Jobs has played the
most important role in the development of the position of Apple Inc. in the industry and in
increasing the value of the company as well (Covin & Slevin, 2017).
Appropriate leadership style for Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was considered to be an unconventional or transformational leader who
was mainly known in the industry for his unique style of operations. The high expectations
which the leader had from the employees have played a major role in the ways by which
innovation levels of the company have been increased. The levels of expectations of the
leaders had thereby been able to improve the work process of the employees. The leadership
style which has thereby been depicted by Steve Jobs with respect to different qualities is the
transformational style. The transformational leaders are thereby able to share the vision
which has been developed by them with the employees in order to achieve the organizational
goals (Dinh et al., 2014).
Strengths and weaknesses of the leadership style
Strengths - The major advantage which is provided by the transformational style of
leadership us related to the vision which is thereby developed by the leaders based on
organizational goals and operations. The vision is thereby shared with the employees in order