Change in Leadership of Microsoft and Apple

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 3
P1: Compare different organizational examples where there has been an impact of change on an
organization’s strategy and operations................................................................................... 3
P2: Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and
individual behaviors within an organization............................................................................4
P3: Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimize negative impacts of change on organizational
behavior........................................................................................................................ 6
P4: Explain different barriers for change and determine how they influence leadership decision-making in
a given organizational context............................................................................................. 7
P5: Apply different leadership approaches to dealing with change in a range of organizational contexts 10
Conclusion................................................................................................................... 10
References................................................................................................................... 12

Introduction
Organizational change can be defined as the technique by which management structures as well
as business processes can be reviewed and modified so as to be in tune with new situations and
market environment. There is often a need to induce deep organizational change so as to
maintain the overall competitive edge over rivals. The present study has thus laid emphasis on
discussing the change in leadership that took place in Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft
corporation is an American multinational firm that is known for selling computer software’s and
other services. It is the largest software maker of the world in terms of revenue (Langone, Key
and Alder, 2014). In the similar lines, Apple is also an American multinational firm that designs,
develops as well as sales computer software, hardware and similar services. It has been regarded
as largest information Technology Company of the world as per revenue figures (Bryant, 2014).
The present research thus discusses one of the changes that took place in the organisations so as
to assess how the change created an impact on the strategies and overall operations of the above
mentioned firms. This is followed by assessing the internal/external drivers to change and how
they affected overall leadership, team as well as employee behaviours. Focus has also been given
on assessing barriers to change and how the impact can be reduced to minimum.
P1: Compare different organizational examples where there has been an impact of change
on an organization’s strategy and operations.
The present section discusses the organizational change in leadership that took place in both the
companies being Apple and Microsoft. Apple Company was in a great difficulty during 1996 as
Mac product line launched in mid 1990s was very complex. There was further great hardware
confusion in an effort to create modern mac operating system. Most importantly, there was a
need to introduce modern operating system for the company (Kodama, 2017). It was the time
when Apple has just a few months of cash left in the bank. The firm nearly attained the state of
bankruptcy as it stood still and was not ready to innovate. Although the officials tried to invest
heavily in the research and development areas but there was absence of any output. It
differentiation had eroded to a great extent especially with respect to Microsoft company
(Golson, 2011).

The company then underwent a drastic change in the year 1997 when Steve Jobs joined the
company as interim CEO that soon became a permanent position. The company asked for and
also received 150 million dollar investment from Bill gates and the money was then used to
increase the advertising activities and highlighting those products that were offered by Apple
(Mitchell, 2014). Jobs at that time was further aware about the fact that future growth was
needed by Apple and need was to create products that was wanted by the consumers and the one
that would appeal to the mass market. This led to discontinuation of Macintosh series which then
needed a replacement. This resulted in creation of iMac which was a high performance computer
designed by Jobs and Jonathan Ive that gave the company a much needed hit with selling of
800000 units in the very first 5 months after the launch (Beleaguered: Apple Bottoms Out, 1996
to 1998, 2017). It was an extraordinary vision as well as leadership style that saved Apple and
guided the firm to become one of the most innovative technology companies in the world.
Microsoft had experienced a phenomenal success by its operating system and office
products but started struggling in the year 2013. Due to turf of war between its various units that
acted more like competitors than partners of the same firm. The lack of innovation led the
company attain stagnant growth and it was undertaken by compactors like Google and Apple.
Microsoft had maintained a good legacy in Silicon Valley but there was c need to bring changes
in the strategy so as to be able to compete with counterparts such as Apple (Palmer, 2017). It
was only after the joining of Satya Nadella as the CEO in the year 2014 that a major
restructuring took within the company as he gave new set of goals to the employees being
reinventing the productivity and overall business processes of Microsoft; building an intelligent
cloud platform followed by creating personal computing (Brunett and et.al., 2014). During the
same time Satya Nadella even merged the Microsoft Research Group so as to create a new AI
and Research Group.
P2: Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership,
team and individual behaviors within an organization.
Leadership can be defined as a practical skill that encompasses the ability of a person to
lead, direct as well as guide the employees, team and the entire firm (Ximénez and Sanz, 2014).
The concept aids in creating a future vision for employees and also motivates them to get
engaged with the vision. It thus brings together that skill set which is needed to attain the
objectives of the company. In this regard, there is a presence of various internal and external