Exploring Ethical Practices in Apple's Organizational Culture

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the business ethics at Apple, highlighting their commitment to customer satisfaction and innovation. It discusses recent environmental challenges faced by Apple and suggests improvements aligned with their organizational culture. The role of 'Ethical Leaders' is explored as pivotal in fostering a sustainable work environment where employees feel secure and motivated. Such leadership not only enhances employee retention but also contributes positively to the organization's growth and reputation. By embedding ethical practices within its framework, Apple can further solidify its position as an industry leader while ensuring long-term sustainability.

Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS
Business Ethics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Part A
Question 1
The organizational ethics of the company Apple has been very profound that has worked
to be the stepping stone of their success (Apple 2017). They have always focused on building
the best products for the customers. This is aggravated by the fact that they will be keen on
giving the best efforts for the clients. Some ethical issues have been noticed recently and these
can be improved in collaboration with their motivation organizational culture. They should
seriously cut down the environmental impacts on their service facilities. They should reduce the
emission of the metric gases from their products immediately. Thus the challenges could be
solved (Apple 2017).
Question 2
Apple has been maintaining their ethical values in the industry like no one else. They
have been awarded the first place in the ethics and organizational culture (Alvesson 2012).
They have always been creating the highly innovative and customer friendly products at
random. The products are very much high in quality standards and they are very much aware of
the fact they should follow some simple principles like responsibility to customers, honesty,
confidentiality and compliance (Schaubroeck et al. 2012). These things have to be incorporated
within their integrating skills. Apple always provides their employees with the Business Conduct
Helpline by the use of which they can contact the higher authorities about any misconduct and
discrepancies of the employees (Apple 2017).
Question 3
There are two terms that have been identified in their working territory. These are ‘push
the envelope’ and ‘think outside the square’ (Apple 2017). The first term ‘push the envelope’
signifies the fact theat their employees are always keen on taking up new challenges and cope
up with all kinds of risks and issues. The employees are the main players who contribute to the
excellence of the company. They can be motivated by their leaders to ‘think outside the square’
and produce the goods that no company has ever done in the industry (Yidong and Xinxin
2013). For instance, when Apple came up with the smaller battery with more energy and a
magnet cover on the front, this innovation was an impeccable one.

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Part B
Question 1
An ‘Ethical Leader’ is the most needed identity for the organizations and it is the duty of
the leaders that motivate the employees to achieve more. He should not be forcing the
employees to achieve some targets that could be unachievable. These factors are very much
not with the compliance of the employment relations of any country. In this scenario, it can be
said that the leader of the organization has not been performing his job well enough so that the
employees can feel a proper organizational culture. He did not motivate his employees nor did
he put up any refreshment things for them. This had hampered the culture of the organization
and corrupted the whole system. It should be remembered that the employees are not
resources but the players who contribute their level best to bring the success for the
organization (Kaufman and Guerra-Lopez 2013).
This company prepares the computer components for the big companies like Apple and
Microsoft. They should be aware of their brand image. The leaders should not do any such thing
by which their entity and brand reputation can be harmed by any means. The employee should
be united against this kind of leadership and file a petition against the leaders at the legislative
department. Apart from that, they could urge the leaders to be lenient about the dismissal of the
employees and the production targets. The ethics related to the employment relations should be
followed strictly by the company (Budhwar and Debrah 2013).
Question 2
After the discussion on the practical application of the Ethical Leaders, the topic of
discussion will be on the benefit of the organization and the employees if the leaders get ethical.
At first, it must be said the employees who are hired in the very recent times will always require
some assistance from the teammates and the higher management. The organizational
sustainability is one of the main factors that should be achieved from the perspectives of the
management. If the organization is not sustainable enough, job candidates will not show any
intention to join that organization. The sustainability of the organization will help to benefit the
society from many aspects (Thomas and Lamm 2012). The employees will feel secure and safe
within that organization. These things will be a positive aspect of the activities of an Ethical
Leader.
The ethical programs will help to maintain a better sustainability for the organizations.
The rate of employee retention will be increased in this course as well. If the Ethical Leader

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apply his duties properly, the employees will motivated and show a better teamwork that will
increase the productivity by itself without any outside forces (Armache 2013). The growth of the
employees and the expansion of the organization will be aggravated by this proper application
of the Ethical Leader. The insurance policies and health benefits by the organizations as a part
of the ethical leadership will benefit the employees from a great perspective.

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References
Alvesson, M., 2012. Understanding organizational culture. Sage.
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Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing
countries. Routledge.
Kaufman, R. and Guerra-Lopez, I., 2013. Needs assessment for organizational success.
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Schaubroeck, J.M., Hannah, S.T., Avolio, B.J., Kozlowski, S.W., Lord, R.G., Treviño, L.K.,
Dimotakis, N. and Peng, A.C., 2012. Embedding ethical leadership within and across
organization levels. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), pp.1053-1078.
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business ethics, 110(2), pp.191-203.
Yidong, T. and Xinxin, L., 2013. How ethical leadership influence employees’ innovative work
behavior: A perspective of intrinsic motivation. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(2), pp.441-455.