Management and Operations: Roles of Leader and Manager at Apple Inc.

This report discusses the roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager at Apple Inc. It examines how these roles apply in different situational contexts and explores key approaches to operations management. The report also highlights the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager..............1
Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts......................................................................................................................3
Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.........................................................................................................4
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play..............................................................................................................................................5
Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
.....................................................................................................................................................6
Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers...........................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In this contemporary business era, an impelling management and operational exercise are
critical for an enterprise to sustain business growth and profitability. Management is function of
manager of managing people and business activities and on another hand operations in
management stands for linked function of leader and manager concern with planning and
controlling the production process for effectiveness. In operations management leadership and
manager plays a vital role to achieve set business goals by ensuring smooth organisational
functioning (Paton and et. Al, 2020). Therefore, following report illustrate the roles of leader
and functions of manager at Apple Inc. in different organisational situational. Report also justify
and present the ways to iPhone 12 sales by enhancing quality of phone through using quality
assessment like six sigma and TQM model to reap organisation profitability.
PART 1
Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Apple Inc. is American based well renowned big-tech company manufacturing mobiles
series iPhone, laptop and computer series Mac book and other electronic gadget. Apple was
introduced by the Steve Jobs and he is the one of the best known CEO of Apple for its excellent
management and leadership style. In context of Apple, manager is an individual who is
accountable to perform and function management function i.e. planning to its directing and
controlling, moreover manager is also accountable for administration of people and business
activities. Tim Cook, successor of Steve Jobs took responsibility as the CEO of Apple since 2011
to till know. (Tönnissen and Teuteberg, 2020). However, leadership style of Tim Cook i.e.
inspirational leadership is getting more appreciation than autocratic style of leadership of Steve
Jobs. Leader at Apple Inc. is a person responsible for influencing, leading and directing
workforce efforts in organisational objectives directions. Apple Inc. had been spearheaded by
one man with is compelling leadership style that is Steve Jobs. From this illustration, following
are the difference between role of leader and manager at Apple Inc. based on characteristic of
Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.
Manager Leader
Roles  As a manager and CEO of Apple  One of the critical role of
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Inc. Tim Cook need to carry out
the planning and budgeting of the
organisation, because planning
and budgeting helps in
administration of people and
business activities.
 Under the management of Steve
Jobs, Apple introduces number of
industry changing iconic product,
therefore, one critical function as
a manager to do strategical
management planning and
formulation of business polices
and undertake certain logical and
strategical business decisions.
leader is inspirations and
leading, Tim Cook
appreciated by the employees
of Apple for his inspirational
leadership and supporting
nature (Manikas, Guan and
Hoskins, 2020).
 As a leader, Tim Cook
adopted democratic
leadership style to build
senior and superior
relationship, therefore
another critical function of
leaders at Apple Inc is to
maintain healthy relationship
with its employees.
Characteristic  As a manager at Apple, a person
cannot say impossible, so
manager imposed with
innovation and creativity trait.
 Problem solving skills with
rational and strategical decision-
making capabilities (Chapman
and Ellinger, 2019).
 Under Steve Jobs, Apple
introducer certain IT gadget
to drive revolution in IT
without knowing market
acceptability, hence leader
are risk taker.
 Empathy is foremost
characteristic of leader.
 Ability to delegate task
 inspiring worker to work as
per organisation goals
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Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts
In context of Apple Inc. leader and manager are both required to ensure disruptive
organisational functioning, but both have different approach in regards to different organisational
situations which are as follows-
Situation 1- New product development
Apple Inc. operates in Technology industry where Product life-cycle span is small and
technological changes and disruption are on higher degree. Hence, there is no enough time for
Apple to look and forecast market feedback for its new product development, product IT
manager manoeuvrer a critical role from designing of I-phone 12 with more battery backup to its
introduction in market. A manager is liable to perform product planning function, work
seamlessly with sales and marketing department for product designing. On the other hand, Tim
Cook has innovative leadership style, but at the same time Tim Cook is criticised for its lack of
ambition and forcefulness in entering into new product category, so in new product development
basic role of Tim Cook as leader in product development is to promote a culture of customer
centric in which leader need to identify or overseeing the right production team (Jeyaretnam,
2019). Leader also need to direct team and providing resources and tools which are needed to
build successful product.
Situation 2- Training and developing skills of employees to enhance organisational
productivity.
In training and development of employees, leader decide and analyse the need of training
of a employee and set goals for training and manager made decision about training by insuring
organisational goals. In this situations Tim Cook use management by objectives approach where
main focus is tied to enhance business productivity. On other hand, leader set and influence
employees for high standards performance that would motivate employees to go to extra mile
for their services and explore their hidden skills and talent, here leader approach with
transformational leadership model in which it act as mentor and guide to help employee to
develop its core competency in order to boost its performance and productvity.
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Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency
It has been found that there are wide range of theories and models of approaches are used
in leadership within the Apple Inc. for effective operations management following are some
theories and approaches- Situational leadership
A leader in situational leadership requires to have a colossal adaptability, because leader
must have ability to switch its style as per requirements of some situation. In context of Apple
Inc. operations, situational leadership theory can be looked as the leader measure an initiate of
leading different situations (Sibinga and Oladejo, 2019). Tim Cook the leader face of Apple use
this theory by focusing on existing product portfolio and employee relationship which is
effective approach in context of Apple company and consumers. Situational leadership approach
emphasis that leadership is composed of directive and supportive traits which can be applied in
accordance to different situations.
 System leadership
System leadership theory supports Apple in introducing and driving innovation and
encourage employees of employee to think creative and different to frame an iconic IT gadgets.
In system leadership, leader can lead across the boundaries i.e. departmental, IT sectors and
organisation, by influencing other and create a system of motivation factor for employees to
work as per requirements. In system leadership approach leader control the performance of
worker and can direct their efforts as per situational requirements, this is thus, system leadership
is armoury tool for leader to counter difficult situations (Wu and et. al, 2020).
 Contingency
In contingency leadership theory it outlines that no matter how successful a leader Tim
Cook is, there are always a condition that can challenge them. In contingency theory at Apple,
leader adopted two traits, task oriented leadership approach which can increase employees
productivity and relationship oriented leadership approach can be useful to promote sustainable
performance by increasing motivation and satisfaction level of employee which can be used as
employee retention strategy of Apple Inc. mainly in contingency theory of leadership, leader
have to use other measure than influence and motivating to get work done by the employees.
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Leader can use reward and punishment strategy when they are unable to motivate or diverting
employee efforts in accordance to organisational goals and objectives.
PART 2
Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play
Apple have deliver finest quality product since its first iconic Apple Lisa; however in
recent media coverage it has found that Apple fail to maintain its quality legacy in iPhone 12,
there are slight issue regarding low battery backup and slow performance. Moreover, Apple is
also facing issue in fulfilling customer order of iPhone. Therefore, it is equal responsibility of
leader and manager of Apple for improving operational working by addressing continuous total
quality improvement. Following are the key approaches in context of Apple-
 Total quality management (TQM)
Apple is known for its quality of products, hence quality is competitive edge for Apple to
earn more profit margin despite such a high cost of products. Total quality management
approach can be used core strategic quality approach in context to iPhone 12 issue by insuring
continuous improvement in phone performance (Kahney, 2019). TQM is a model in which
Apple Inc. uses scientific and developer approach to remove bugs from iPhone 12 to boost its
performance and developing more battery life using through lithium batteries. In TQM, manager
have responsibility to recruit skilled developers and provide necessary expertise to enhance
quality of iPhone 12. On another hands, leader play critical role by encouraging employees to
work on continuous quality approach. Leader can also set some sort of reward plan for providing
more better idea to enhance mobile performance. Six Sigma
Six sigma is quality approach method which Apple is using since its foundation by Steve
Jobs. Apple have given certain iconic products in mobile desktop, watches and other IT gadgets
and all are known for finest quality with every new products. In six sigma approach, Apple
eliminate the defects and threats regarding the quality, in context to iPhone 12, developer can
remove many bugs from the operating system to make phone performance more smoother and
enhance battery backup by eliminating emery consumer features (de Sousa Jabbour and et. al,
2019). Manager of Apple communicates the importance of six sigma to the quality team and
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developer team and allocates the necessary resource to perform the six sigma projects. Whereas
leader play a critical role in solving business treats by identifying the right candidate for quality
project and review and support manager in driving six sigma for quality improvement.
Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives Inventory control- Apple is experiencing issue in fulfilling customer order due to lack of
inventory control or management therefore, operations management can be armoury tool
to manage the inflow and outflow of inventory. It is responsibility of manager to control
surplus and shortage of resources Continuous room for product quality improvement- Apple maintain its legacy among
Big-Tech company like Google and Microsoft just because of its appealing quality. No
matter how costly a Apple product is still customer willing to pay for its extreme and
finest product quality (Nallamothu and et. Al, 2020). Through effective operational
management, Apple can ensure that right number of products is delivered to right clients
and employees in right time.
 Reducing operational costing- Operation management also supporting in making an
increases in the profit margin of Apple. Increase profit can be further used new product
development and removing investing in sustainability activities. Operations are the
expensive component of this is thus, management of operations bring forward an
opportunities to reduce various redundant cost in the operation.
Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers
In every day operation at Apple, various business environmental factors impacts the
decision making of Tim Cook and leaders. Leadership and stakeholder relationship – Stakeholders of a business are various parties
who showing their keen interest in business of Apple Inc. These stakeholder are mainly
customer, investors, employees and employees of supplier and distribution. However, to
achieve sustainable business in operational, it is duty of leader to maintain healthy
relationship with these stakeholder to achieve CSR of business (Teramoto Okura and
Kondo, 2020) Leader maintain relationship with these stakeholder by building or
increasing trust, communication, and understanding of stakeholders. CSR within
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competing business environment is necessary for IT company to combat operational
disruptive issue arisen by one of stakeholder of company. Competing interest- Competing interest are public privacy related issues that an IT
company like Apple Inc. to frame in its business operations. However, with voiding
public privacy and interest by Facebook, other IT company like Google, Microsoft and
Apple are on target by many IT expert across various nations. Apple is using IOS 0.8
version which is AL face and fingerprint to encrypt the data and Apple do not use this
data for its personal use and sell it to third party, this could be count as the misconduct ,
hence legal sue can be faced by the company. This could impact on Apple market
credibility and reputations and operational functions can be hamper.
 Conflict- Conflicts not only levered negative impact on workplace but also hamper and
impact organisational working of Apple. However, in business environment conflict are
common because of the clashes of individual interest, belies and shared values. Conflict
at the Apple can be arise because of the disagreement by employees and employer and
between peers or lack of relations, trust and communication between various stakeholders
of the business. It is primary duty and responsibility of of manager and leader to maintain
healthy relationship with its stakeholder to avoid chances of organisational conflicts.
 Resources and financial status of the firm- Resources are both product and human
resource in context of Apple. If there is deficit of developer and programmers this would
not only constraint the operational working but also restricting Apple to drive new
product in technological advancement era. Furthermore, funds are necessary to meet
daily operations, if Apple is experiencing deficiency of monetary fund, they couldn't
operate smoothly (Leiras and et. Al, 2019). Therefore, without cumulative fund it is
impossible for manager to give more rewards to employee and invest in new product
development planning.
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CONCLUSION
From the dynamics of carried out study, its has been concluded that an organisation can
achieve strategic and effective operational successful with the help of both management and
leadership approach. However, it has been found that role and functions of leader and manager at
Apple Inc. are different but both have same vision to achieve organisational objectives i.e. giving
customer an iconic and innovative IT gadget. However, it has been found that TQM and Six
Sigma approaches are quite suitable for a IT company like Apple Inc. to ensure continuous
quality improvement of the products that meet customer and current market needs. However,
business environmental factors like, CSR, Legal and political environment and economic
condition of market can impact upon the operational management decision-making of leader and
managers.
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REFERENCES
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