Analysis of Organizational Culture, Power and Politics of Apple Inc.

This report analyzes the impact of organizational culture, power and politics on the behavior and performance of Apple Inc. It also discusses the theories and techniques of motivation used in Apple Inc. and explains what makes effective teams in the company.

Organizational behavior
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Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
P1 Analysis of organizational culture, power and politics of Apple Inc..................................................3
P2 Evaluation of theories and techniques of motivation in Apple Inc.....................................................5
P3 explain what makes effective teams in Apple Inc...............................................................................7
P4 Apply the organizational philosophies on the organization behavior of Apple Inc...........................11
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Organization behavior (OB) is the study of behavior of human and the workforce of
organization. It defined the relation between human and organizational behavior (Organizational
behaviour, 2017). This also analysis the impact and effect of worker, teams, and structure on the
behavior of organization. Organization is a group of persons and human who join together to
achieve organizational objectives and OB study that how people react in the organization. It is
the human tool used to provide benefits to humans. This report study the organization behavior
in Apple Company. Apple Inc. is formally a computer company which is founded on 1 April
1976 by Steve jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Headquarter of Apple is situated in
California US. They provide their services worldwide and have an efficient workforce. This
report consist analyses the impact of culture, power and politics in Apple effect the behavior and
performance of individual and team. It discuss the content and process theories of motivation use
in Apple Inc. and also how an effective can build. The report also apply the concept and
philosophies of OB within Apple.
P1 Analysis of organizational culture, power and politics of Apple Inc.
The organization culture can be defined by using Hand’s model of organizational culture
in which culture is divided into 4 parts:
 Power culture: In this culture the power is in the hands of few persons. Decisions are
taken by the top authorities of organization (Bloisi, Cook, and Hunsaker, 2007). Under
this culture the decisions are taken quickly even though decisions are not profitable to
company.
 Role culture: In this culture the roles and responsibilities are clearly delegated to the
structure of organization. The power is given on the basis of the positions in the
organizations.
 Task culture: in this culture teams of organizations are join together to solve the
specific problems of organization and for the progress of a projects.
 Person culture: in this culture persons see themselves at the unique and superior
position in the organization. Power is lies in all the persons of organization.
In Apple Inc. the culture awareness is very important at a workplace because there is
globalization and multi culture. Culture awareness is important for effective communication,
productivity and equality in the workplace of Apple Inc. Importance of culture awareness in
Apple Inc.:
 Culture knowledge: it is the easy way to understand the culture of organization by
researching about the cultures and increase the knowledge about the culture.
 Culture knowledge put in use: the culture knowledge is put in use and this help workers
to become more comfortable with their coworkers.
 Effective listening: when the workers listen effectively they can understand culture more
efficiently.
 Difficult culture: the cultures of Apple is complex and can be understand easily.
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Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory
It is the theory used in Apple because it has cross cultural communication in the
company. This theory is given by Geert Hofstede which describes that the values of workers in
Apple Inc. effected by the society‘s culture and these values are related to the behavior of
workers in the workplace. The dimensions used in Apple Inc. is:
 Power distance Index
 Individualism vs collectivism
 Uncertainty avoidance index
 Masculinity vs femininity
 Long term vs short term orientation
 Indulgence vs restraint
The culture of Apple Inc. is influenced by globalization and digital technological development.
The culture of workplace is changed because of this factors.
Globalization: this can change the culture of organization. Apple culture is now become
globalized. This can generate the culture:
 International relation
 Employment
Digital technology is the important part of culture of Apple Inc. now in digital culture workers
understand the technologies by working in groups. Digital technologies help in generating the
culture:
 Effective communication
 Digital technologies help in taking decisions
 Innovations
 Growth
Organization philosophy is different and effective principles that instructs employees.
This philosophies are set of value which develop the personality of employees.
Impact of politics:
Politics in Apple Company affects the work place. This includes informal politics,
unofficial politics and sometimes it is done without seeing in real (Brooks, 2009). The politics
affects the apple positively and negatively.
Positive impacts of politics:
 Healthy competition among the workers.
 It improves the skills of workers.
 It motivates employees to work more productively
 The employees spent more time in work to earn the benefits.
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Negative impacts of politics: it make the environment of Apple negative. Negative politics is
generally includes the saying something wrong about other employees etc.
 It create conflicts between the employees.
 It increase the cost.
 Decreases the productivity
 Decrease the quality of work.
Impacts of power: Power also have negative and positive impacts in the Apple Company. The
powers if used for development of employees is positive and powers used to dominate the
employees is have negative impact.
Positive impacts:
 Encourage the employees to increase the productivity.
 Giving employees the opportunities to take decisions motivates them to work hard.
 This increase the level of confidence of employees
 Retention rate in the company is higher.
Negative impacts:
 Excess work given to employees make them demotivated and less interested in jobs.
 Quality of work reduces due to less trainings and development program.
 Increase the rate of turnover.
Culture, policies and politics influence the individual and the team behavior of Apple Inc.
Culture includes the power, role, person and task culture which can affect the working company.
Culture knowledge is spread among the team and the individuals which help in the increasing
productivity of organization (Wood, Chapman, Fromholtz, Wallace, and Zeffane, 2004). Culture
must be understand by the employees for their effective working. Power and politics have
positive and negative impact on the Apple Inc.
P2 Evaluation of theories and techniques of motivation in Apple Inc.
Motivation is a concept use in organization to encourage and promote the employees to
work hard and make efforts to achieve the organization goals. This objectives and goals help
organization in growth and development of their activities. The motivation is something which is
responsible for employee’s actions (Schneider, 2010). The motivation theories are developed to
which are used by Apple Inc. to motivate and encourage their employees to work efficiently and
effectively. These motivation theories includes the following:
Maslow’s theory of motivation: this theory is defined that the employees of organizations must
be motivated by providing them salary on the basis of their needs.
Physiological needs: the employees work firstly to satisfy their basis needs which includes water,
food and shelter. The employees get motivation when they get such amount for their jobs which
satisfy their basics needs. Apple Inc. provides the attractive salaries to their employees which
satisfy their basic needs as well as them also can use their salaries to satisfy their other needs.
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Safety needs: after satisfying the basic needs the motivation level of employees increases to work
hard to get more benefits which help them to satisfy their safety needs.
Social needs: when the basic and social needs satisfies then employees get the motivation to
work more to earn to satisfy their social needs like needs which can be fulfill by interactions etc.
Esteem needs: this needs can be satisfied when employees work hard. This can be possible when
employee are motivated to work. These needs are related to self-respects of employees.
Self-actualization needs: this needs can be satisfy after all the needs are satisfied and for this
employee needs huge amount of resources. To satisfy these needs employees are motivated to
work hard.
Herzberg’s motivation theory: this theory includes two factors first is hygiene factors and other is
motivational factors.
Hygiene factors: first factors help in motivation when employees feel good at the work place.
These factors are related to the positive working environment in the organization. This include
the working conditions, rewards, security etc.
Motivational factors: this are the factors help increasing the level of motivation through
recognition of work, growth etc.
Vroom’s theory of motivation: this is also called the expectancy theory. This theory help the
employees to motivate by finding relationship between valence, expectancy and instrumentality.
Motivation= valence* expectancy * instrumentality.
Valence: this is actual efforts employees put in completing their jobs.
Expectancy: this is the actual performance of the employees.
Instrumentality: it is the rewards which is given for the actual performance of employees.
ERG motivation theory of Alderfer: this is motivation theory which shorts the needs of
Maslow’s theory in three parts:
Existence needs: this includes basics needs of employees like foods, water and shelter. This also
includes the physical and affection is the safety needs in Maslow’s theory. According to this
theory employees are motivated to satisfy these needs.
Relatedness needs: this includes the social needs and esteem needs for which employees are
motivated to work hard. This includes relations with coworkers, employers etc.
Growth needs: this includes the needs like internal esteem and self-actualization needs. This
includes creative and productive desires and the motivation to complete the tasks.
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This theory shows that every individual has its own different needs (Senior, and Swailes, 2010).
This includes the needs which is related to existence, relatedness and growth needs which is an
individual want to satisfy for their personal growth this motivates them to work efficiently.
The above all are the theories of motivation which is used to motivate and inspire which
help in the quality performance of employees. The motivated employees help in achieving the
goals and objectives of the Apple Inc.
P3 explain what makes effective teams in Apple Inc.
In the Apple Inc. there are many teams which perform their functions to achieve the goals
of the companies (Sørensen, 2011). The teams can be defined as the group of persons who are
come together to achieve the common goals of company. In Apple their teams are work at
different level so the organization can run properly. The teams work in the company are as
follows:
 Functional teams: this teams are formed different functions of company. The functions
performed by the organization for their growth and development includes planning,
organizing, directing and controlling etc. functions. The planning teams perform planning
functions of company. They plan the operations of company in different areas. The teams for
the development of employees work to organize the trainings events of companies. The
functional team also includes the team for the each departments to achieve the department
goals.
 Problem solving teams: the team in Apple sometimes faces problems these problems can be
solved by the problem solving teams. This teams are work to solve the problems of
employees which is related to working conditions, related to health and safety (McShane,
and Travaglione, 2007). The persons must require highly qualified skills which is used by
them to solve the problems employees and the teams.
 Project teams: this are the teams which is formed for different projects which are started by
the Apple Company. Apple Inc. is a company where are many projects started by the
companies to provide new technologies to the world. The team leader of project team
controls the activities of their teams so the projects are completed in time.
Impact of technology on the teams of Apple Inc.
Technological changes in brings revolution in the working of apple Inc. new technologies
are introduced in the company to produce a new product every year. Apple company aim to
provide new and innovative products and services to their customers every year. The expectation
from the company is very high by the customers. The customers expects high technological
products from the Apple Company (Mullins, 2007). The company always produce the products
on the basis of customer’s needs. Apple Inc. is adopt new technologies which have a great
impact on the teams. New technology help the teams to reduce the cost of production. The
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company use the technology to improve the communication between the team leaders and the
team members. New technology improves the quality of the products which increase the
productivity. Apple Inc. is the one of the most popular technological company in the world. New
technology is used in the promotions of the company’s products. They use websites, social
media, email, ads, etc. for promoting the products and services of Apple. The new technologies
are used to produce the products of Apple Inc. like Macintosh, IPod, IPhone, I pad, I tune store,
Mac App store, I books store, I cloud and Apple music. All this products are best in
technologies. The technologies is the main assets of Apple Inc. they make innovation in the
technologies beyond the expectation of the customers. The technology enhancement in Apple
Inc. now made company to launch an Apple car which is one of the greatest development of
Apple (Mullins, 2007). New technology in Apple made them to organize trainings and
development sessions so the employee can handle the technology well. This help in the
development of the employee and also in the development of teams which leads the profitability
of the Apple Company. The development of all employees equally generates equality in the
organization. The trainings of new technologies builds the personality and confidence of
employees which also make them work together to generate coordination in Apple Inc.
Team effectiveness can be increase with the help of following:
The teams of Apple Inc. can increase their efficiencies with help of two models first is the
Tuckman’s Team Development Model and Belbin’s typology.
Tuckman’s team development model
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Figure 1 Tuckman theory of motivation
(Source: Tuckman forming storming norming performing model, 2017)
This model is formed to develop the teams by using 4 stages of development which
includes forming, storming, norming and performing.
 Forming: this stage also called the introduction stage of development. In this stage the
team understand about the opportunities and threats and agree on the goals and
objectives. Then they start to work on the tasks to achieve the goals and objectives of the
teams (Robbins, 2001). In Apple Inc. teams make their objectives and goals on the basis
of goals and objectives of the company.
 Storming: this is the stage in which the employees of teams are allowed to ask questions
on the decisions of team leaders. In Apple employees are allowed to ask questions if they
have any confusion and problem with any policy and plan then they can share it with the
team leaders.
 Norming: the problems and confusion of employees are solved in this stage. Apple Inc. in
this stage solve the confusion and problems of employees so there is no clashes. The
employees has given a right to give suggestions and ideas to company related to any
products and services.
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 Performing: this is a stage in which teams start performing their roles and responsibilities
to achieve the goals and objectives of organization. In Apple Inc. after all above stages
the teams now focus in performing their tasks and focuses in achieving the objectives.
These stages help in the development of teams and the individuals in the teams. In apple the
team leaders use these stages for the development of their team members. The team members
communicate the goals mad objectives of the team (McKenna, 2000). The employees of Apple
has given a right to give suggestion and ideas. They can share their opinion on important matter
of company. This help the company to improve their products and services. The problems of
employees is solved by using this model and then they focus on achieving the organizational
goals.
Belbin’s typology
In this Belbin provides nine roles of team leaders and employees which they can use at
workplace to achieve the goals Apple Inc. also use these roles.
 Resource investigator: this is a role in which the employees and team leaders explores the
opportunities and develop the contacts.
 Team worker: the employees and leaders play a role of team workers. In this the workers
always work on the behalf of teams (Organisational behaviour (OB): definition,
importance and limitations, 2017).
 Coordinator: they work and focus on the team’s objective which is made by team and
they delegate the work to employees to achieve the objectives.
 Plant: this are the most creative and skillful person who can solve the problems of in
difficult situation.
 Monitor evaluator: they analysis operations of company and take decisions.
 Specialist: this a roles in which team members brings in depth knowledge and skills in
the special areas.
 Shaper: in this role the team leaders take care that the team should continuously work and
do not lose their focus.
 Implementer: make plans and strategies which they make sure is implement efficiently.
 Completer and finisher: this role efficiently use to complete the tasks efficiently and
complete it with the quality control.
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Figure 2 Belbin typology
(Source: A guide to team work survival: Belbin nine team roles, 2016)
These are the roles which is play by each individual and member in Apple Inc. according
to this typology team members must have to be creative and skillful in their work. In this
theory workers need to understand the tasks and should have to make strategies to achieve
the tasks. The coordinator manage and coordinate activities of workers so they can result the
quality products. In this ways following all the roles carefully they achieve the objectives of
organizations.
By above model and roles Apple Inc. can generate the team spirit. The employee’s
behavior improves at the workplace while working. It also help in developing the effective
communication in the all the teams of company (Rollinson, 2008). This also help in resolving the
conflicts between the employees and team leaders or between employees etc.
P4 Apply the organizational philosophies on the organization behavior of Apple Inc.
The organizational philosophy includes the concept of path goal theory which is defined
by Robert House in 1916 in which he stated that the performance of employees is affected by the
behavior of leaders (Rollinson, 2008). The leaders play important role in Apple Inc. who leads
the operation of all members of their teams. The leaders is an intermediate between the top
management and employees. Leaders communicate the goals and objectives of Apple Inc. to the
employees and also delegate work to employees. According to the theory employees perform the
roles and responsibilities as per the instructions of leaders.
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Path goal theory stated that the employees of Apple Inc. are work in decent manner
because of the control policies of the leaders. The leaders take care about the employees of their
team and provide them positive working conditions to the employees. In Apple Inc. leaders take
care about the interests of employees and motivates them by using different motivation theories
and techniques. Leaders help employees to understand the multi culture of Apple Inc. and also
help in them in settle down in their jobs (Robbins, 2001). Leaders generate friendly relations
with their employees. They understand the problems and confusions of employees and take
measures to solve this problems and confusions. In this employees respect their leaders and obey
them because they have good relations with their leaders. Leaders controls the operations of
employees so they can improve the performance. They also leads the quality of work of their
employees. Leaders use their skills to improve the team performance and productivity.
Leaders also analysis the performance of the employees and provide incentives to
employees on their efficient performance (McShane, and Travaglione, 2007). Leaders provide
monetary and non-monetary incentives to employees which includes the bonus, employee of the
year etc. the path goal theory determined that the leaders behavior towards their employees affect
their performance which also affect the performance of organization.
The barriers in effective behavior can be inefficient communication process. If the
communication process is wrong then wrong information flow in the organization which can
confuse the employees and affect the performance of the employees. Leaders take measures to
create effective communication in the organizations. The leaders take all the measure to control
the performance of the employees.
CONCLUSION
The report concludes the organizational behavior of Apple Inc. it analysis the culture,
politics and power in the organization. In Apple Inc. cultural awareness is very important which
can be done by providing cultural knowledge, put this knowledge in actual use, effective
listening and difficult culture can easily understand. Power and politics has the negative and
positive impact on the Apple Inc. Different theories and techniques of motivation is used to
achieve the organizational goals. In Apple Inc. there is many teams like functional, problem
solving and project teams which have a great impact of technology. Tuckman’s team
development and belbin’s typology is used for the development of individual. This development
of employees and team help in communication, corporation and competition. This development
also help in solving the conflicts. Path goal theory improve team performance and productivity
of employees. The leaders play an important role in efficient performance of employees. The
barriers like ineffective communication can be overcome with the help of leadership skills.
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