Leadership and Management Theories: Apple Inc. and Steve Jobs Case

This report critically evaluates the application of leadership theories to Steve Jobs within Apple Inc., and explores management theories relevant to the contemporary organization. It begins by defining leadership and its core concepts, discussing the development of leadership and management theory, and differentiating between leader, management, and leadership development. The report then delves into various leadership theories, including Behavioral, Contingency, Trait, Situational, Great Man, Transactional, and Transformational theories. Through secondary research, the analysis focuses on how these theories manifest in Steve Jobs' leadership style at Apple, providing a comprehensive overview of the interplay between leadership theory and practice. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Leadership and Management
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1. Introduction
In past few years, the study of leadership has grown significantly by offering several
new theories, concepts and frameworks in order to explore what it means to become a leader.
With the same, there are also several studies where everything about leadership and the way
to do leadership is described elaborately providing several evidence based examples. This
topic of leadership has continued to become a notable yet important subject of interest in the
contemporary world both from the ends of the practitioners and the academics. Such a great
concern for the study of leadership arises from the fact that leadership has an important effect
on each and every facets of businesses, be it small-scale, medium scale or large scale
multinational organizations. The main success factor behind the success of any organization
is often its effective set of relationships that prevails in between the organizational leaders
and their followers. Also, management and leadership practices are key aspects in every
organizational settings. By means of efficient leadership, some really effective management
practices are improved and this in turn, have a positive and productive impact on the
organizations. According to Bryson (2018), “the administration remains to be one of the most
significant functions of management which when properly enhanced, helps in achieving the
organizational goals”. This paper shall elaborate on evaluating the application of leadership
theories to a leader in an organizational context. The chosen organization for this purpose is
Apple Inc. and the chosen leader is Steve Jobs. It shall also shed light on the different
management theories to the chosen contemporary organization. Furthermore, it shall critically
elaborate on the nature of leadership and management theories and their application in a wide
range of leadership and management practices. However, it is also to mention that in order to
discuss on the application of leadership theories to the leader, secondary research method
shall be used.
2. Discussion

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2.1. Definition and the concept of Leadership
As per Bolman and Deal (2017), the term “leadership” refers to the pursuit which
involves the process of leading and organizing a group of people in a particular nation or
organization, and follows as per their will. It involves different setups, right from leading a
group of people by means of establishing a clear motive and vision, balancing the conflicts
that arise on the varied views for addressing the interests of every members to providing a
clear set of information. However, a single definition of leadership cannot encompass each
and every aspects of the leadership. In this contemporary world, leadership is regarded to be
the widely known topics of management. There are several theories on leadership that helps
in solving this ambiguity of the definitions. According to Tannenbaum and Schmidt (2017),
leadership is defined as the art of leading a group of people in order to do right things with
having a consistent vision that aims towards involving each and every one to a attain a
common goal. Moreover, as per Covin and Slevin (2017), leadership is “an interaction
between persons in which one presents information of a sort and in such a manner that the
other becomes convinced that his outcomes will be improved if he behaves in the manner
suggested or desired”. Hence, most of the definitions on leadership reflect the idea that the
practice of leadership comprise of the process where a person exerts some intentional effect
on the other individuals for guiding, structuring and facilitating the activities and the
relationships in an organization or group. There are several conceptions of the concept of
leadership that imply that during many times, one or more members of group could be
identified as being the leader, as per some observable difference in between the person and
the other member, known as the followers. As per the definition provided by D’Innocenzo,
Mathieu and Kukenberger (2016), leadership is the phenomenon that involves the interaction
in between two or more individuals. With the same, most of the definition of leadership
reflect that leadership is all about influencing persons.

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Furthermore, Heifetz and Linsky (2017) have agreed with this fact that leaders are the
ones who inspire and motivate people and step outside for changing or sharing a common
goal that are held by their leader. Notwithstanding this fact, it is also to mention that the
concept of leadership differs on the basis of different types of leaders as well as on the areas
it acts upon. There are several significant leaders like Dalai Lama, Pope Francis and Gautama
Buddha who had used different ways to lead their people. They are religious leaders. On the
other hand, there are many political leaders who again lead their people in ways that differ
from that of the religious leaders. One of the best example of such political leader is Martin
Luther King. He used to inspire their followers by making them to believe that it is only the
unconditional love and truth that is the ultimate reality of world and would triumph over all
the lies and evil happenings in a permanent manner (Shamir, Arthur and House 2018).
Notwithstanding the fact, leader like Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the brilliant and fearless
militant of all times, used to use some brilliant strategies of military and was a tyrant. He had
some extraordinary set of leadership styles for leading his soldiers in the battlefield and won
the wars of those times. Napoleon is still widely considered to be one of the great leaders who
have simply shone upon the entire world.
The concept of leadership can in reflected in many parts of lives right from the
personal life to the religions, government services, corporate organizations and sports. With
the same, right from the ancient civilization to the contemporary era, the methodology and
the trend have been changed but it is to mention that, the overall concept of leadership is
clear. This concept is- ‘different people have different perception regarding leader and their
styles of leadership that they are influenced from. Different people have different and unique
ways for leading people and establishing the quality of leadership for accomplishing their
mission with common viewpoints of their followers. According to what is defined as
leadership by Andriukaitiene et al. (2017), leadership is the aspect of inspiring and

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influencing people, groups etc. and accessing their traits, knowledge, skills and focus on the
establishment of businesses and relationship. Moreover, Bolden (2016) believes that there are
some people who are born leaders. These people are more possibly to identify the right
people instead of developing the right ones. Notwithstanding this fact, the leaders that are
already made are much more possibly to focus on the right opportunities for the people for
developing them into effective leaders. Boerma et al. (2017) in this context have also argued
that “leaders are born or made”. However, there has been a significant transformation in the
various styles of leadership and it has really great influence, advancement and improvements
by means of different theories of leadership.
2.2. Development of leadership and management theory
Managers and leaders are highly studies in the context of human resource
development that reveals that they are widely expected for initiating the development in
absence of the organizational guidance. With the same, the managerial careers are highly
much more market-based and that too, with specialization regarded as negative. There is also
a great risk for the managers to get trapped in the core rigidities due to over investing in the
important competencies which are very relevant to the organization but not of value to the
market. There is a high demand for the managers and the leaders to participate in different
forms of learning situations which provide them both cognitive and behavioral complexities.
With the same, it is also very crucial for them to be adaptive and fast learners and at the same
time, being strong performers. They are also widely expected to use self-directed strategies of
career management on a continuous basis.
Furthermore, it is to note that there is a very significant distinction that is made in
between the leader, management and the development of leadership. The development of
managers basically focus on the managers who are getting to grips with the process of
managing, like that of planning, executing, prioritizing and controlling the processes. With

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the same, the leader development also focuses on the development of the sense of self-
awareness and understanding of the managers and leaders as leader. It is also to mention in
this context that the development of leadership lays emphasis on the social dimensions of the
leadership and it includes these issues as the interpersonal skills and awareness, the process
of team development as well as the processes that are involved for gaining the commitment
towards the strategy and the vision. It is also to note that the leadership and management
development could take various different forms. It might be organization driven and comprise
of different formal interventions like mentoring, feedback-intensive programs, coaching and
formal programs. All these activities are directed by the organizations and they are basically
built on the basis of the competency models. Notwithstanding this fact, in contemporary
world, the organization are recognizing that they need to promote and depend on their leaders
and managers for getting engaged in the development of the self-directed leadership. In the
difficult economic periods, the formal programs are both very time consuming and expensive.
2.2.1. Leadership theories
Over several years, there are several professionals and several authors who continued
developing different approaches, frameworks and models on leadership under varied
circumstances in order to propose some set of leadership theories. It is to note that the
theories of leadership are mainly differentiated into- Behavioral theory, Contingency theory,
Trait theory, Situational theory, Great man theory, Transactional theory and
Transformational theory.
- The Behavioral Theory- Behavioral theory is based on a particular behavior of
leader. It is basically the behavior of leaders that helps in predicting whether or not
they could be influential leaders. This later determines their success and failure. As
per Lord et al. (2017), it is the criticism of the trait leadership theory has resulted in
behavioral theory of leadership. The qualities of leadership are not inherited, but it

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can be learned. Moreover, according to Chiu, Owens and Tesluk (2016), the scholars
have recognized a total of four different styles of the behavior of leadership and they
are-
a) Directive leadership
b) Participative leadership
c) Concerned tasks oriented
d) Concerned for the development and empowerment of the people
- The Contingency Theory- This theory argues on the notion that there is no leadership
style that can be considered to be the best of all. It believes that “the right leader
should match the right situation”. This theory was developed by Fred Fiedler in the
year 1960. The situation in which a leader finds out a team, not the strength of
personality, depicts the effectiveness of that very leader. By means of determining the
situational control and leadership orientation of the individual, the contingency model
could effectively measure the effectiveness in a specific scenario. It is also to mention
that having a clear understanding of the identified leadership style is the main step
during the process of implementation of the Contingency model. Moreover, as per
Fred Fiedler, there are two different factors called the Situational Favourableness and
the LPC (Least Preferred Co-Worker Scale. However, there are several scholars who
have criticized the contingency model as being too rigid in nature. As per 1Jacobs and
Kushner (2017), there is a shortage of flexibility in this theory. Notwithstanding this
fact, Fred Fiedler believes that the styles of leadership are fixed. One of the most
effective way of handling different situations is changing the leaders as flexible one. It
brings more unstable and chaos situations in the organization.
- The Trait Theory- According to Trait theory, people are either born or are made with
some qualities that would make them excelling in their roles leaders. This means that

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there are certain sets of qualities like the sense of responsibility, intelligence,
creativity etc. that put a person in the shoes of good and effective leader. As per
Northouse (2017), this theory of leadership is based on analyzing the social, mental
and physical characteristics for gaining more understanding of what is the
combination or characteristic that are common among all the leaders. This simply
means that the trait theory is focused on the characteristics of the leaders. It is used for
predicting the effectiveness of the leadership which are later compared to the other
leaders and access their possibilities of getting success or failure. This is why, most of
the organizational leaders agree with the fact that they hold some certain set of
qualities which are exploited in the life period. This in turn also help in increasing the
productivity of the organization and leading people with some specific objectives to
achieve. Moreover, according to Judge and Hogan (2015), the trait theory helps in
identifying the demography, personality, psychological appearance, self-confidence,
intelligence, achievements, socio-economic background, as well as the social and the
other different characteristics which could result in the emergence of the leadership
qualities. This theory of leadership is based on analyzing the social, mental and
physical characteristics for gaining more understanding of what is the combination or
characteristic that are common among all the leaders. It is used for predicting the
effectiveness of the leadership which are later compared to the other leaders and
access their possibilities of getting success or failure (Rustichini et al., 2016). The
effectiveness of the trait leaders states the total amount of influence and inspiration to
the groups, individuals and the followers for attaining a common goal.
Notwithstanding, there are certain scholars who have argued that leadership cannot be
emulated or developed in any way. It is unique for certain people who possess the
qualities of leadership by their very birth. Like in the case of the “Great Man Theory”.

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- The Situational Theory- As per the Situational theory, like the contingency theory,
there is no leadership style that can be considered to be the best of all. Both these
theories stress more on the importance of situations (Henkel and Bourdeau 2018). On
the other hand, they differ on the terms that they hold different expectations from the
leaders. It actually depends on the situation at hand as well as the type of strategies
and leadership style that are best suited to the tasks. It is to note that the Situational
Theory claims that the most effective leaders are the ones who are able to adapt their
style to the situations and conditions. They look forward for the cues like the task
type, the group nature as well as the other important factors which could aid in getting
the job done in better manner. It is also to mention that the Situational Theory is also
sometimes referred to as the “Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory”
(Meier 2016). The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership” have suggested that
there are a total of four main styles of leadership and they are:
a) Telling (s1) - Leaders tell their people what to be done and how to do them.
b) Selling (s2) - It involves the back and forth movement in between the followers
and leaders. It is the leader who sell their message and ideas for getting the group
members buying into the process.
c) Participating (s3) - The leaders in this approach, offers very less direction and
allow the members to take active roles for coming up with different ideas and
making certain decisions.
d) Delegating (s4) - It is characterized by less involved and hands-off approach
towards leadership. The group members make the decisions and take maximum of
the responsibilities for what takes place.
- The Great Man Theory- This theory assumed that the leadership traits are intrinsic in
nature. This simply suggests that the great leaders are born and are not made in any

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way. Great leaders are destined by their birth to become a notable leader. With the
same, the belief is that the great leaders would rise only when they are confronted
with proper situation (Spector 2016). It is to mention that the Great Man Theory was
inspired by the study of influential heroes. He has also compared a wide range of
heroes in one of his famous books called “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic
in History” Mouton 2017).
- The Transactional Theory-The transactional leadership takes place when a person
takes initiative in process of making contacts with other people for exchanging
something valuable. It is “leaders approach followers with an eye toward exchanging”
(Antonakis and Day 2017). In the transactional leadership, the leaders gain the control
of their subordinates by means of intimidation, coercion and praise. Also, the
transactional leader specifies the standards for compiling and most of them punish
their followers being out of the compliance with those standards. With the same, it is
also to note that the transactional models of leadership also focuses on the transaction
or the implicit social exchanges. This approach focus on the active role of the
followers having the potential for two way communication or influence, instead of the
coerced compliance. It is also to mention that the transactional theory is also known
as the exchange theory (Kark, Van Dijk and Vashdi 2018). This is due to the fact that
this theory is characterized by the transaction or exchange that are made in between
the followers and the leader. It values both mutually and positive beneficial
relationship. It is also to note in this context that in order to ensure that the
transactional theory is effective and that the results have some motivational sets of
value, a leader need to find not the ways for aligning to properly reward or punish his
or her followers in order to perform the leader-assigned task. Overall, in other words,
it can be said that as per the different transactional theorists, human beings seek for

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maximizing the pleasurable experiences as well as to decrease the un-pleasurable
experience.
- The Transformational Theory- According to this theory, the process by means of
which an individual interacts with other people and get the potential for creating
strong relationships that helps in acquiring higher level of trust, which later results in
increased motivational level, both extrinsic and intrinsic among both the leaders and
the followers (Taylor 2017). It is to note that transformational leaders helps in the
creation of an atmosphere that is conducive towards the creation, exploitation and
sharing of the knowledge by making use of charisma and by encouraging the process
of intellectual development. With the same, it also pays attention to the workers as
well. It is also to note that the transformational leaders are the ones who motivate their
workers for creating and sharing the knowledge. They inspire their workers to higher
degrees for effectiveness and innovation. Moreover, it is also to state that the
transformational leadership has been shown for having a very positive relationships
with the productivity and the performance of an organization or institution. Despite of
the support by most of the scholars and research on the transformational theory, it still
has several weaknesses as well. According to Meuser et al. (2016), there are several
transformational behaviors that are missing in this theory. These are inspiring,
developing and the empowering. There are several authors who perceive that
situational variables that are missed can increase the possibilities of the
transformational leadership and at the same time, lessens its impact on the followers.
As per Anderson (2015), this theory of leadership could have many negative
consequences for the companies. Firstly, the followers are transformed into higher
level of emotional involvement that makes them burn out their long standing stress.
Secondly, they are biased towards the customers and top management at the cost of

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other of the employees. Thirdly, different types of leaders, having competing visions
could create role conflict and role ambiguity. Moreover, Ghasabeh, Soosay and
Reaiche (2015) have also claimed that this leadership theory is very unethical. As per
him, it appeal to the emotions instead of the other reasons and at the same time, it also
lacks in the balances and checks of the democratic discourse and the distribution of
power.
2.2.2. Management Theories
The contemporary managers make use of different practices, techniques and
principles that are developed from the earlier experiences and concepts. The Industrial
Revolution has brought in the emergence of large-scale business and its necessity for the
professional managers. There are several theories of management in an organization and
these theories portray different point of view on how management needs to be undertaken. It
is to note that there are a total of three categories of management theories and they are- the
Classical School of Thought, the Behavioral Science School and the New Developments in
Management (Waring 2016). Under the Classical School Thoughts fall- a) Scientific
management theory and, b) Classical Organizational theory. Secondly, Under the Behavioral
Science School fall- a) The Behavioral Science School and, b) the Human Relations School.
Thirdly, under the New Developments in Management fall- a) Systems Theory and, b)
Contingency Theory. Some of the many management theories that are basically used by the
modern day organizations are as follows:
- Systems Theory- This approach allows people to realize the different and serious
restrictions and variables along with their interfaces with a single alternative. As per Haines
(2016), “A system is composed of related and dependent elements which when in interaction
from a unity whole”. It is a collection part of all the amalgamated in order to get done an
inclusive goal. Furthermore the system approach is a process of doing something in way of