Management and Operations: Leadership Qualities and Theoretical Approaches for Addressing Issues at Apple

This report discusses the scenario about Apple company, their managerial skills and leadership qualities, actions and achievements of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, strengths and weaknesses of leaders, theoretical approaches for addressing the issues, and potential factors in the company’s business environment.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS
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TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
1(a): Specific situation which demonstrate the managerial skills and leadership qualities of
Apple’s top manager....................................................................................................................3
1 (b) Actions and achievements of Steve jobs and Tim cook......................................................4
2(a): Strengths and weakness of leader in various situation:......................................................4
2 b) Manager action regarding situational, system and contingency theory...............................5
2 C) Critically analysis of the theories........................................................................................6
PART B...........................................................................................................................................6
1 a) Theoretical approach to address the issues...........................................................................6
1 b) Evaluation of approach that would address issues and strength or weakness of approaches
.....................................................................................................................................................7
1c) Role of leadership in recommended approach and business values for addressing issues....7
2 (a): Factors in business environment at apple that impacts on realistic possibility for
approaches...................................................................................................................................8
2b) Factors that impact on manager decision..............................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Management and operation are the business practices to develop the great level of
productivity within the organisation. Productivity in such makes the business to accomplish all
their desired goals and objectives (Törnblom, 2018). Leadership in management plays an
significant role to align the organisational resources for better utilisation. An effective leader
possesses the better skills, knowledge, communication and other relevant skills to lead the team.
This report will discuss the scenario about apple company. They have diversification in their
product and services which deliver across world-wide. Following report will cover the specific
situation where the managerial skills and leadership qualities are demonstrated by company’s top
leaders. It also covers the actions and achievement of Steve jobs and Tim cook. Moving on
further it will lay out strength and weakness of leaders and discuss the theoretical approach for
addressing the issues and also lay out the potential factor in company’s business environment.
TASK 1
PART A
1(a): Specific situation which demonstrate the managerial skills and leadership qualities of
Apple’s top manager
Apple is the leading company in their sector, it is because of their better leadership which is
played by Steve jobs and Tim cook. They manage the work place system efficiently, there
created the apple work culture as highly innovative which lead them to deliver better and unique
product in the market. Specific situation are as follows-
When Steve jobs returns to Apple company in year 1997, where the company was
focusing on manufacturing the computer array and distinct version of Mackintosh. He doesn’t
like the approach which the company were following, he leads the team to focus on the products
which are able to give better result. Thus Steve cancelled all products which he does not find
potential. It is found that leadership style of was autocratic, he likes to be surrounded with the
people who have innovative vision (Ahmed and Lodhi, 2021). Thus his managerial skills as
better mentoring and communication helps in leading the team to manufacture the products. And
better leadership skill to enable team to focus on the products which will save the company from
big loss.
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Leaders are those who have leadership quality, vision, persistence to influence others to follow
their instruction. Tim cook is one of them he was itself recruited by Steve jobs. His managerial
and leadership skills lead the Apple company to successfully launch Air Pods, Wearable Apple
watch and other apple music. Tim cook usually follow democratic leadership style, which helps
him to allow every member of Apple will equally contribute towards company’s success. There
was a time when apple was suffering from low demand but its cook’s decision to ensure apple
success, as he did not allow the delivery of apple’s product and services to be outrun by demand,
even when the demand in market was stratospheric. Thus it helps the company to develop good
revenues.
1 (b) Actions and achievements of Steve jobs and Tim cook
Manager plays an effective role in organisation, they manage the organisational resources
so that can be utilised in productive manner. As for manager it is important to have effective
communication, problem solving and decision making skill, to align the business task
accordingly. For the leader it is important to have persistence, time management, problem
solving and decision making skill, as effective leader ensures the positive work place
environment which lead to innovation and drive motivation among the employees (Cremene,
2022). In context with the apple company’s scenario, Steve jobs took action which usually help
out the Apple company, because of his risk taking mind set always led to better decision. As for
the Steve job he learner marketing and other skills because his background was not related to
computer engineer, also practiced different skills set. All helped him to become a successful
leader of Apple. He has been rewarded with 450 patents for the technologies.
Tim’s action led company’ stock inventory to go down from 30 days to only 6 days. It
helps in saving money which was achieved by decreasing the number of warehouses by
developing good relationship with the contract manufacturers. Due to his better management
strategy lead the apple company to gain big revenues.
2(a): Strengths and weakness of leader in various situation:
It is important for both leaders and manager to have enough knowledge to solve any
complex problem or to lead the company in better direction. It is their risk taking ability and
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decision making skills which helps them in find out better solution. As for the Apple scenario, it
is seen that company have faced tough situation when Steve jobs was not there but after re-
joining the company in year 1997, when the company was focusing on producing computer array
and other products, he saves the company from big loss as their strategy was not in line and
proper thus Steve lead the team to manufacture those products which have assurance for greater
profitability (Ali and Anwar, 2021). Thus his innovative thinking and critical problem solving
strength saves the company from big loss. Also helps in solving the complexities associated with
the project. Weakness of Steve jobs have found in his extreme imposing working style, he
always been a goal oriented and allow only those members to work with him who have good
knowledge and skills and also he usually has the destructive behaviour towards the team mates.
But still with his good management and leadership lead the company to achieve good milestones.
As for the Tim cook his strength to develop teamwork and promote collaboration among
the employee helps Apple company in many situations. He always listens to the employees and
allows them to share their opinions to lay out better decision for company. His strength lead him
to slash some suppliers for apple, also for reducing the warehouses lead company to save money.
With this apple company is able to turnover their inventory in very five days. His weakness is
found in his leadership as it is slowed pace for innovation, he has better vision but not like Steve
jobs which guarantees success (Zheng and et.al 2020). But his strength lead them to manage the
complexity that is associated with company’s supply chain, also motivates the team to adapt the
change in supply chain for better performance.
2 b) Manager action regarding situational, system and contingency theory
Situational leadership refer as to adapt the unique management style for distinct situation
and to meet the requirement of team. It usually involves better communication, guidance and
collaboration which the manager promote in teams. It is found that Steve job mainly focuses on
situational leadership to guide others and most of his actions are based on situation. Although
Tim cook also focuses on situational leadership to make apple company efficient. Thus it helps
both of them to make the Apple company largest market shared firm. System leadership is
combination of skills and knowledge which the manager has to support the system level changes.
As by using this approach manager will be able to reflect back on their skills and to test their
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problem solving skills for laying out better decision. Contingency theory suggests that there
might be possibility when the leader’s decision suits particular situation and to be ineffective in
other situation. Regarding Steve job, he usually reflects the contingency in his leadership to lash
out the employee when they are not working properly.
2 C) Critically analysis of the theories
Situational leadership, suggest the leader to implement leadership on the basis of situation. It
can be applied when the team requires the deep supervision and continuous guidance, leaders
makes the decision and the communicate it with the team members. It is often productive in
some aspects but can also create the confusion because leader constantly change their
approaches. For such it is important for leader to have better skills and knowledge otherwise
they will not be able to guide team (Holt, Hall and Gilley, 2018). Contingency theory enables
the leader to make situation basis decision which can be effective for one situation and can be
inefficient for other situation. Such type of leadership is time consuming especially when there is
static or constant external environment. In such it is leader’s ability to make decision which
result as effective for organisation.
PART B
1 a) Theoretical approach to address the issues
Apple company is popularly known for their innovative products which is highly
anticipating the technology market. They have diversification in their products and services. But
company is mow been facing two issues with their latest product, thus for addressing the issues
two theoretical approaches are as follows:
Six Sigma: This framework allows the organisation a tools to improvise their ability to run the
smooth business process. It leads to increase in performance and to reduce the process variation
as result it helps in decrease all defect possibilities, thus with this it creates positive work place
environment, employees feels more dedicated towards their work. As for the Apple are facing
issues as Order fulfilment issue and quality issue (KONDA RAMADOSS, 2020). Company can
begin to implement this approach, initially they require to inform all about implementation from
senior level to entry level workers. Company also required to arrange all resources, thus with this
they can easily reduce the waste which helps in saving time and cost, as with formal training
employee will be able to know proper utilisation of resources thus there will be no such chances
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for errors. Therefore, Apple company can also be benefited to provide order at a time and also
this model focuses on the quality, with this company can be able to resolve the quality issues.
TQM: A management approach to give long term better result by offering better customer
satisfaction by delivering better IT qualitative services. With This apple company will be able to
focus on their customer as they are the ultimate judge who determines the quality, therefore for
ensuring better quality they need to involve all employees towards central goal and to provide
them training opportunities to deal with the software and technologies (Touriki and et.al 2022).
With this they can easily focus on process thinking as to buy input from suppliers and to deliver
as output to customer, with this monitoring they will be able to address the unexpected
variations. Therefore, with this they will be able to fulfil the order issue and also to provide
better qualitative products.
1 b) Evaluation of approach that would address issues and strength or weakness of approaches
Apple company, will proceed implement both Six sigma and TQM framework, both are
efficient in addressing their both order fulfilment and quality issues. With the help of Six sigma
they will be able to eliminate the chances for mistakes and in result they will easily meet the
organisational goals by fulfilling customer satisfaction (B2C). Therefore, with this Company can
easily resolve the order fulfilment issues as this methodology will lead them to analyse the
possibilities of problems, then lean can be utilised to target the wastage areas and promote better
performance (Sutrisno and Ardyan, 2020). With TQM company can easily focus on quality
management system for providing better customer experience, it will empower employees and
helpful in proper planning and implementation to deliver better quality product. Thus both
frameworks can be used to address both issues. Main strength of six sigma’s is its proven success
to improvise the sales its limitation is it restricts the use of technical tools and methods. Strength
of TQM is to deliver high quality products as to reduce the waste and time. Its limitation is that it
is not cost efficient because quality requires the better resources.
1c) Role of leadership in recommended approach and business values for addressing issues
Leaders plays a prominent role in company’s success, in Six sigma entire process is depend on
the interest and dedication of top management, they implement the six sigma work culture. Thus
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with this leader lead the team to analyse the problem and found better solution. Leader’ in TQM
implementation will help Apple to offer the unity purpose by developing organisational
direction, they maintain the internal environment to make sure quality does not suffer. Thus
leader will lead the team so that they will find the loop holes which is causing order fulfilment
and quality issue. Thus leaders are the one who made several decisions, they require to involve
the team members in every process, so that qualitative output can come out. As by using TQM
approach Leaders in Apple will be able to provides inspiring vision to team which helps in
making the strategic decisions, thus they can be able to address the issue (Graffeo, 2018). By
addressing the issues company will be able to drive valuable progress, as well as they will be
able to provide better customer satisfaction and also move forward to streamline their
functionalities in order to cope up with the issues.
2 (a): Factors in business environment at apple that impacts on realistic possibility for
approaches
Stakeholder relationship: It is micro environment factor, as Six sigma and TQM both processes
helps the organisation in improvising the company’s performance as well as to provide
qualitative services. Thus stakeholder as suppliers, employees, consumers, shareholders have
major influence in such TQM and six sigma project. Thus with this apple’s consumer
stakeholder will get qualitative and affordable products. It also boosts employee morale towards
their work.
Competing interest: Also refer as conflict of interest, as for the apple company they have better
vision for innovation to deliver way better and unique product which makes them stay ahead
from their rivalries. For competitive benefit company always have better management thus it
positively impacts the implementation of Six sigma and TQM theories.
Sources of conflicts: Every organisation might face the conflict situation when the team
members do not reach to same conclusion. Those sources can be different background, distinct
skills and level of understanding ineffective communication and poor leadership. Apple company
have better leadership which is helpful in managing all conflicts and to drive positive energy at
work culture (De Mast and et.al 2021). Company can also proceed with conducting different
activities which promotes team productivity, it reduces the chances for conflicts.
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2b) Factors that impact on manager decision
If the company do not have better stakeholder relationship then it affects the working of
leaders, as they will not be able to make right decision. Thus it is important for Apple to make
sure their all stakeholders are satisfied with their working style. As for competing interest factor,
leaders of the apple required to streamline all resources so that team members can develop the
efficiency in order to make organisation competitive (Galli and Kaviani, 2018). In conflict
situation leader’s decision always impacted, in such leaders might make strict decision, thus
Apple company need to provide better work place environment where no conflicts are found.
These factors helps in preventing the negative execution of decision. Thus apple also require to
have better management so that these factor can be manage effectively to make the positive
decision.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that effective management and better control over the
operation leads the businesses in forward direction. Above report have illustrated the discussion
over the leadership and managerial skills of the leaders through specific situation. It also covered
the actions that are taken by the company’s leaders, also discussed the strength and weakness of
leaders in different situations. Report further discussed the leaders action for different theories
which highlighted the situational, system leadership and contingency. It has also illustrated the
theoretical approach which is Six sigma, TQM for addressing the organisational issue.
Furthermore, it has evaluated the role of management and potential factors that impact which
mainly highlights the stakeholder relationship, competing interest and other sources of conflict
factor.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ahmed, R. and Lodhi, K., 2021. THE EFFECT OF MANAGERIAL COMPETENCIES ON
THE SUCCESS OF PUBLIC SECTOR PROJECTS. Journal Of Project Management
Practice (JPMP). 1(2). pp.17-33.
Ali, B.J. and Anwar, G., 2021. Strategic leadership effectiveness and its influence on
organizational effectiveness. International Journal of Electrical, Electronics and
Computers. 6(2).
Cremene, L., 2022. Complex systems literacy: Social dilemmas–the setup for managerial
decision-making in a complex world. In Rethinking Leadership for a Green World (pp.
145-175). Routledge.
De Mast, J. and et.al 2021. Exploring the process of management system implementation: a case
of Six Sigma. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.
Galli, B.J. and Kaviani, M.A., 2018. The impacts of risk on deploying and sustaining Lean Six
Sigma initiatives. International Journal of Risk and Contingency Management
(IJRCM). 7(1). pp.46-70.
Graffeo, A., 2018. Leading Science and Technology-Based Organizations: Mastering the
Fundamentals of Personal, Managerial, and Executive Leadership. CRC Press.
Holt, S., Hall, A. and Gilley, A., 2018. Essential components of leadership development
programs. Journal of Managerial Issues, pp.214-229.
Kaur, M., Singh, K. and Singh, D., 2019. Assessing the synergy status of TQM and SCM
initiatives in terms of business performance of the medium and large scale Indian
manufacturing industry. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management.
KONDA RAMADOSS, D.B., 2020. Applying Six Sigma on private equity firms and their
assessment on the operating performance and overall industry economic benefits.
Sutrisno, T.F. and Ardyan, E., 2020. Achieving organizational performance in food companies:
The critical role of leadership and continuous improvement as part of TQM
practice. Calitatea. 21(177). pp.133-138.
Törnblom, O., 2018. Managing complexity in organizations: Analyzing and discussing a
managerial perspective on the nature of organizational leadership. Behavioral
Development. 23(1). p.51.
Zheng, Y. and et.al 2020. Service leadership, work engagement, and service performance: The
moderating role of leader skills. Group & Organization Management. 45(1). pp.43-74.
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