Apple Inc.: Factors Influencing Structure, Culture, and Processes

This case study examines the organizational structure and culture of Apple Inc., a multinational technology company. The analysis begins with an introduction, outlining the factors influencing Apple's organizational design, including its hierarchical structure and the influence of factors like size, strategy, and environment. It then delves into the characteristics of divisional and functional matrix structures within Apple, exploring how these structures support product-based grouping and specialized functions. The case study further investigates how Apple manages dynamic processes, such as the relationship between organizational culture (power, role, task, and person cultures), leadership (autocratic leadership), and innovation (Schumpeter theory), all of which contribute to the company's growth and evolution. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, highlighting the interplay of structure, culture, and dynamic processes in Apple's success.

Apple Organizational
Structure and Culture
Characteristics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
A-Analyzing the factors that influence the organizational structure of Apple...........................4
B-Examining the characteristics of divisional and functional matrix structure of Apple...........5
C-Describing how apple manages the dynamic process that help in their shape and evolution.6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The chosen firm for this report is Apple is the multinational technology company that designs
and sells computer software, online services and consumer electronics. It will present the factors
like size and strategy that have influenced the structure and design of the organization and
dynamic process like relationship of culture, leadership and innovation that are used to shape
their growth and evolution. The report will also discuss the characteristics of divisional and
functional matrix of Apple.
A-Analyzing the factors that influence the organizational structure of Apple
Apple uses hierarchical organizational structure which contains chain of command from top to
bottom (Apple Inc.’s Organizational Structure & Its Characteristics (An Analysis), 2021). All
the decision under this organizational structure are taken by the senior management and then this
is passed to the subsidiary levels. The organizational structure of the Apple focuses on the
effective and rapid innovation which performs as the success factor of the company in their
online services, consumer electronic industry and information technology (Hasan, Sonnenschein
and Soto, 2019)
From the case study Apple have senior vice president for both retail and worldwide marketing
but all the decision related to the need of business function areas are taken by the top leaders of
Apple. As per their instruction all the operation of the company are performed in well manner.
Factors that affect the organizational structure of the apple are:
Organizational size: Apple is very large and growing technology business which have to
perform several activities like more vertical levels, rules & regulations and more specialization.
It has around 147000 employees working with them. The size is very important factor as it is
very difficult to manage work assignments and delegation of authority. That why apple have
developed hierarchy structure so that all the work are communicated with inter organizational
communication flow that is from superior to subordinate which serve as the foundation of
control, authority and responsibility (Lawanda, 2018).
Strategy: Organizational structure are made to achieve the objectives of company. All the
objectives of the Apple are performed by the overall strategy. Mainly the strategy of Apple are

made by the top leaders to align the operations that are related to the goals and objectives. It
affects the structure because the company changes its strategy time-to-time for the growth &
development and that result in change in new structure. All the strategy are made by seeing the
goal if the strategy are not made properly then it will affect the organizational structure of the
Apple.
Environment: Apple deals in manufacturing and mining phones which affect the organizational
structure of the company. Various conditions that influence the organizational structure of apple
are Technological, social-cultural, natural environment and economic. As Apple sell their
product to the worldwide they have to face various consequences that are related to the global
competition, knowledge management and increased demands from the customers for higher
quality with new features. Mainly environment affects the factor Apple because trends keeps on
changing and customers want new thing with new features it is difficult for them to fulfill all the
needs (Rocha, and et.al, 2020).
B-Examining the characteristics of divisional and functional matrix structure of Apple
Divisional and functional structure both are the part of matrix structure theory that means all the
activities of the business are divided into different people that is projects and products.
Divisional matrix structure: It is related to the focusing on the structures that are related to the
product, geographic and market location that are the main components of the Apple. The main
function of using these characteristics are related to the product-based grouping with Apple. All
the activities performed in the organization are divided like there are senior vice president and
manager for different output and products. For example given in case study all the activities
performed by apple related to software engineering and hardware technologies are performed by
different senior vice president (Torres-Silva, and et.al, 2020).
All the operation in the Apple are performed as per the marketing mix to mange specific
products and components that are delivered to their target customers. It is also known as product
structure. The characteristics of structure maintain the strong innovation process that support
brand development and premium pricing strategy of Apple. All these structures are performed as
per the decisions taken by the top executives to perform and control business function in
effective manner. Characteristics of divisional structure are:

 This structure is used by the company to be competitive in dynamic environment that
requires responsiveness and flexibility.
 In this structure all the division gets adequate freedom in their work that are performed
by each division.
 It also helps in providing excellent coordination among the functional departments.
 It helps the top-level management to lower their degree of control and centralization by
division of work.
 It creates the duplication of support function for the organization.
 Structure is based on the product lines, customer markets and geographical locations.
Functional matrix structure: It is the structure which is related to the interactions between the
various components of the business. It is based on the specialized ares that are marketing, sales
and production for the purpose of management (What is a Functional Organization Structure?,
2021). For instance of case study apple can have group working in information technology
similar to that another in marketing and finance (Suriansyah, 2017).
In this all the manager of the different department answer to the executive who is level up in the
hierarchy and see multiple department. The main function of using this structure by the Apple is
all the employees are grouped according to their skills and capabilities to focus on collective
objective to achieve the organizational goals. This structure also present the interdepartmental
communications which are related to the issues and decisions of managerial level among the
individual departments.
Characteristics of functional structure are:
 By suing this structure employees will have clear career growth path.
 In this functional structure all the employees are grouped according to their knowledge
by allowing them to achieve high performance.
 It also helps in reducing the communication channels between the different department
and also the hierarchy is clear.
 Apple can easily decide the roles and responsibility of employees by facilitating easy
accountability for the work.

 Work under this structure is not duplicate as all the responsibility given to the employees
are defined.
 This structure offers high level of specialization as the group of individuals works under
the direction of executive leadership.
C-Describing how apple manages the dynamic process that help in their shape and
evolution
A-Relationship between the culture of the organization in shape and evolution:
Handy culture theory describes the relationship between the cultures of organizations for their
growth and evolution. Handy is the for variable model that includes Power, role, task and person
to see the interaction of humans and nature (Caspar and et.al, 2020). This is mainly focused on
long term behaviour rather than short term forecasting. The different kind of handy culture are:
1. Power culture: This is related to the organization culture where power remain in the
handle of few people and only they are responsible to take decisions. In the company they
are one who have special privileges. They only delegate the responsibility to the other
employees. In the company employees have no liberty to express their ideas or views on
any topic they only have to follow what their superior says and work according to that.
2. Role culture: Its mainly based on the rules that followed by every individual by knowing
their Roles and responsibility according to their education, specialization and interest.
This is also expectations related to how people behave and work together and how well
they function as a team. Mainly they are build by deliberating the organizational structure
related to the command from top-level with long chain.
3. Task culture: To achieve the organizational goal of the company different tasks are given
to different person by seeing their capabilities, common interest and specialization. For
example in a team there are generally four-five members then all have to contribute
equally to perform that tasks in innovative way.
4. Person culture: In this there are different type of organization in which employees feel
that they are important as compared to company. In this culture individual are more
concerned about themselves rather than company.
For example given in case study in Apple company there are different reward excellence among
workers that are related to product design and development which is important for the growth of
company.

B-Relationship between the leadership of organization in shape and evolution:
Leadership plays and important role in the development of the business. Autocratic leadership is
used by the company to save its time on the decision-making to make clear to every employee
what they have to do and how they have to perform all the activities without error and mistakes.
This is performed by the organization to rely on specific rules, procedure and policies that re
governed within the workplace. In this all the decisions are taken by the leaders ( Martin, 2020).
By using this company can improve its communication which will help in shape and evolution as
in apple there are multiple levels only top-level have rights to take decision and all the
employees have to follow them.
With the help of autocratic the command are straightly delivered to the workers of the company.
It helps in improving the productivity which is useful for growth as leaders are able to deliver all
the information within the organization quickly which result in no delay at the time of
production. Worker complete all their task and project without asking for any delay as they
receive timely decision and communication from their leaders.
For example at the time of Tim cooks leadership the company have changed the organizational
structure to suit current global market and industry demands (Autocratic Style leadership |
Meaning | Advantages | Disadvantage. 2021). Autocratic leadership helps in reducing employees
stress as the leaders of them have challenging environment which creates good environment for
them to work. Mainly subordinates like to work under the centralized authority and strict
supervision. It also helps in reducing stress because all the decisions are made by the leaders
only they only have to perform as per they ask.
C-:Relationship between the innovation of organization in shape and evolution
In business innovation is related to the introduction of new ideas, services, products and strategy.
Schumpeter theory is used by the company to earn profits by introducing successful innovations.
For him innovation is the change in method of transportation and production. According to this
innovation means policy are made to reduce overall coat and helps in increasing the demand of
the products. It is described on the basis of two categories that are:
First category: In this all the functions that are used to reduce cost of production like introduction
of new technique and new and innovative method of organizing, etc.
Second category: In this all the activities which increases the demand for the company like
introduction of new commodity, opening of new markets and designing the products, etc.

Such that given in case study the leaders of apple motivates their employees to perform their
tasks in innovative manner which will be profitable and attractive for their target customers.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that Apple is the multinational technology company
that designs and sells computer software, online services and consumer electronics. The above
studies reflected that Apple uses hierarchical organizational structure which contains chain of
command from top to bottom and the different factors that have affected the organizational
structure are sizes, environment and strategy. Also, the characteristics of divisional and
functional structure are described. Lastly Dynamic process that are used by the company for their
growth and evolution are mentioned that is relationship between the cultural, innovation and
leadership of organization.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Caspar, S., and et.al, 2020. Creating cultures of care: exploring the social organization of care
delivery in long-term care homes. Journal of Long-Term Care. 2020, pp.13-29.
Hasan, N., Sonnenschein, C. and Soto, A. M., 2019. Vitamin D3 constrains estrogen’s effects
and influences mammary epithelial organization in 3D cultures. Scientific reports. 9(1).
pp.1-11.
Lawanda, I. I., 2018. REDEFINING LIBRARY ORGANIZATION CULTURES. International
Review of Humanities Studies. 1(1).
Martin, J., 2020. The Role of Leadership in Healthy Library Cultures. Journal of Library
Administration. 60(4). pp.406-411.
Rocha, L.A., and et.al, 2020. In vitro Evaluation of ASCs and HUVECs Co-cultures in 3D
Biodegradable Hydrogels on Neurite Outgrowth and Vascular Organization. Frontiers
in Cell and Developmental Biology. 8. p.489.
Suriansyah, A., 2017. Implementation of The Total Quality Management Model to Support Qual-
ity of Work Cultures at Primary School Teacher Education Programs in Lambung
Mangkurat University Indonesia. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied
Sciences. 11(9). pp.179-186.
Torres-Silva, G., and et.al, 2020. Anatomy, Flow Cytometry, and X-Ray Tomography Reveal
Tissue Organization and Ploidy Distribution in Long-Term In Vitro Cultures of
Melocactus Species. Frontiers in Plant Science. 11, p.1314.
Online
Apple Inc.’s Organizational Structure & Its Characteristics (An Analysis). 2021. [Online].
Available through: <http://panmore.com/apple-inc-organizational-structure-features-
pros-cons >
Autocratic Style leadership | Meaning | Advantages | Disadvantage. 2021. [Online]. Available
through: < https://accountlearning.com/autocratic-style-leadership-meaning-advantages-
disadvantage/>

What is a Functional Organization Structure?. 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://pmstudycircle.com/2012/08/what-is-a-functional-organization-structure/ >