Executive Skills CYL/121/17: Management Concepts in Apple's Success

This report provides an analysis of four key management concepts—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling—and their impact on the effectiveness and success of Apple Inc. It discusses how Apple utilizes planning to build brand loyalty through customer education and training, organizing to create a flexible and adaptive organizational structure, leading through the vision of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, and controlling to monitor performance and ensure continuous improvement. The report concludes that these management concepts have been crucial in driving Apple's growth and helping it navigate uncertainties in the competitive technology market. Desklib provides access to similar reports and solved assignments for students.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Executive Skills
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Executive Summary:
The report aims at providing an insight into the four concepts of management and their impact
and effectiveness of an organization. The chosen organization for this report is Apple. The report
provides a detailed analysis of planning, organizing, leading and controlling as the four
management concepts. The report also portrays how this concepts play a key role in defining the
effectiveness of Apple.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Identification and Discussion of Four Management Concepts........................................................3
Effectiveness and Impact of Management Concepts in Success of Apple:.....................................6
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
The report aims at providing an insight into the four management concepts along with a
discussion of their impact on the successful operation of an organization. The organization
chosen here is Apple. The concept of management not only includes the factors of production
but also innovation and marketing. In other words, management comprises of interlocking
functions that enables creation of corporate policy along with planning, organizing, leading and
directing the resources of the organization that helps it achieving the objectives of the policy.
Thus, the four management concepts that are identified include planning, organizing, leading and
controlling the actions of the business enterprise.
Apple is a global technology based firm with its headquarters in California (apple.com
2020). The company was found in 1976 by Steve Jobs and his friend Steve Woznaik. The
company has been known to be one of the leading firms that designed, developed and sold
computer software, electronics and the online services. The report analyzes the impact of
planning, organizing, leading and controlling on the successful operations of Apple.
Identification and Discussion of Four Management Concepts

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Figure 1: Four Concepts of Management
Source: (Goetsch and Davis 2014)
1. Planning: This refers to setting of the goals of an organization and deciding the best
ways of achieving it. Planning refers to decision making with regard to the goals and setting the
course of the action from given alternatives (Nickols 2016). Planning helps in maintaining the
effectiveness of the managers since it guides personnel for the future activities. Thus, planning
involves selection of the objectives and the missions along with the actions for achieving them.
This requires decision making or choosing the future course of the action from the available
alternatives. However, planning and decision making in case of manager requires the ability of
foreseeing, visualizing and looking ahead with a purpose (Gray 2019).

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2. Organizing: This is defined as the procedure with the help of which established plans
are moved closer towards realization (Bonini and Swartz 2014). Organizing involves
determination of the ways in which resources and activities are coordinated. Organizing leads to
the production of structure based on relationship within an organization and it is these
relationships that helps in pursuing the plans. Organizing represents the part of the management
that involves the establishment of the intentional structure of the roles for the people within the
organization. It is intentional in sense that it makes sure that all tasks essential for the
accomplishment of the goals remains assigned to the people who are able to perform theme in
the best possible manner. Staffing often relates to organizing and it involves filling and keeping
the positions filled within the organizational structure. This is done through the determination of
the positions that needs to be filled through identification of man power, filling in the vacancies
and training the employees such that the assigned tasks remains accomplished efficiently and
effectively. Thus, managerial function related to promotion, discharge, demotion, transfer ad
dismissal belongs to staffing and it ensures the placement of right person in right position
(Aronoff and Ward 2016). In other words, organizing refers to the decisions that needed to be
made, identifying people for doing the tasks and jobs and the ways of assembling resources.
3. Leading: This is referred to the skills of influencing the people for a specific reason or
purpose. It is considered to be one of the challenging and the most significant of all the
managerial activities. Leading refers to prompting or influencing the member of an organization
in working together in the interest of an organization (Yidong and Xinxin 2013). Put differently,
leading also refers to the creation of positive attitude towards goals as well as work amongst the
organizational members. This is necessary as it helps in serving the objective of efficiency and
effectiveness by changing behavior of employees. Leading refers to the various deferment

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process and activities. The functions of motivation, communication, direction and
communication are considered part of leading system (Rothwell, Stavros and Sullivan 2015).
Coordination is also an essential function of leading. It is however to be noted that efficient
managers first needed to be the effective leaders.
4. Controlling: Controlling refers to measuring, finding deviation, comparing and
correcting organizational activities that are performed for the achievement of the goals or the
objectives. Controlling refers to activities like measurement of performance, comparison of the
existing standards and finding and correcting the deviations (Kerzner 2017). Controlling
activities usually refers to measuring the achievement or the results that are usually taken for the
attainment of the goal. Controlling also requires managers in identifying the source of the
deviation from the successful accomplishment followed by corrective action (Miller and Rice,
2013). It also relates to the non-tangible objectives and goals like reducing of the customer
complaint or meeting production quota to certain extent.
Effectiveness and Impact of Management Concepts in Success of Apple:
Apple Inc belongs to the fast paced and competitive business environment. Therefore, to
maintain its position it is vital for Apple to remain ahead of its competitors. To provide best
technology experience to consumers, employees are provided with necessary freedom for
improving the products if they found any issues with the product. Apple also successfully
implements the four management concepts that contributes to its success. The description of
which are mentioned in the following paragraphs.
As far as planning is concerned, Apple undertakes this management concept in building
the brand loyalty of the customers. This is because the mission of the Apple Store lies in building

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and educating the loyalty of the customers (developer.apple.com 2020). The company holds the
belief that educated customers are vital for building customer loyalty. Therefore, proper planning
allows Apple in offering free workshops to the people with varied experience level to explore
more about products of Apple. The workshops helped in learning the basics about the Apple
product. Experiences are often shared by people who has better understanding of the Apple
products. Proper planning also allows offering training programs to customers who bought new
Mac. The program however offers three kinds of training choices that includes personal, group
and open training. Effective planning has also enabled Apple in keeping their genius available
who helps in resolving any technical problem faced by customers. The expertise of the genius
helps the customers in troubleshooting problems related to the Apple products.
On the other hand, organizing enables Apple in following a functional structure of the
organization that helped in grouping the employees with similar or the relational specialties
(Lashinsky 2020). Grouping the employees having similar kind of specialties makes them
satisfied and comfortable since it provides them with the opportunity of speaking the same
language similar to the peers. It has been found that almost all senior level vice president reports
directly to the CEO of the company due to the extensive control. Effective organizing also
portrays that the organizational structure of Apple is loose, flexible and highly adaptive that
allows the company in changing rapidly. This allows the employees with enough freedom to deal
with an issue without bothering them with the layers of bureaucracy in getting approval. This has
allowed the company in responding to the problems and in improving the products.
Proper organizing has also allowed Apple in providing necessary training to the newly
hired employees for improving the ability of performing on job. Necessary training has been
found to change certain skills of the employees related to attitude, behavior and knowledge. This

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allows the company in putting the right people in right jobs that helps in avoiding financial and
human capital. In addition to this, effective organizing has also allowed the company to
undertake a decision of manufacturing its products in China and also cooperate with Foxconn
which is one of the biggest electronic component maker of the world.
When it came to leading, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, made sure that the
company reached the pinnacles of success under his leadership. He believed that Apple’s aim
was not to catch up with the competitors but to overshoot them (apple.com 2020). His position
was taken by Tim Cook in the year 2011 when Steve Jobs left Apple due to certain health
conditions. Tim Cook also successfully steered Apple through various controversies and led to
the successful release of iPad mini and iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 released in the year 2012 and had
a pre-order booking by 2 million customers. In addition to this, Tim Cook also made use of his
leadership style for changing the environment of the company. For instance, under his
leadership, Apple became increasingly corporate with a focus on the operational efficiency while
maintaining its unique culture. Tim Cook also had an approachable nature compared to Steve
Jobs. He also did not put forward any issue in meeting the investors and also had meal with the
employees.
As far as controlling is concerned, it is the task of the manager in monitoring the
performance, evaluating the effectiveness with which the company achieves its goals and
undertake necessary corrective action for maintaining and improving performance
(support.apple.com 2020). It had been found that Steve Jobs always monitored the performance
of Tim Cook. It is Steve Jobs who in his resignation letter mentioned the name of Tim Cook as
his successor as the leading capabilities of redefining the success along with better monitoring of

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the firm. Thus, effective controlling allowed Apple to come forward with a backup plan that
helped it in coping with the uncertainty.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it has been found that there are four basic concepts of Management
which include planning, organization, leading and controlling. Planning referred to the
formulation of the strategies, plans, policies, standards and procedures along with determination
of the objectives. The report also shows how organizing acts as the procedure for the
development of the structure amongst the people, function and the physical capabilities for
execution of the plans along with achieving the stated objectives. The report also portrays how
leading acts as the function for motivating and stimulating people to willingly undertake the
desired actions based on the pre-determined objectives and plans. The report further portrays
how controlling puts across desired action according to the desired objectives and plans. The
report also further analysis the impacts of the management concepts on the effectives of Apple.
Appropriate planning had helped the company to achieving success and experience growth on a
day to day basis. Organizing has enabled Apple in providing necessary training to the employees
thereby improving the abilities of the job performance. The report also showed that how
effective leading by Steve Jobs and Tim Cook drove the company to the heights of success. The
report also portrays that effective controlling by management has enabled Apple in avoid all its
uncertainties.

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References:
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2020]
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Jan30 2020]
Aronoff, C. and Ward, J., 2016. Family business governance: Maximizing family and business
potential. Springer.
Bonini, S. and Swartz, S., 2014. Profits with purpose: How organizing for sustainability can
benefit the bottom line. McKinsey on Sustainability & Resource Productivity, 2, pp.1-15.
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https://developer.apple.com/app-store/planning/[accessed Jan30, 2020]
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Gray, D.E., 2019. Doing research in the business world. Sage Publications Limited.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

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Lashinsky. A, (2020). How Apple Works: Inside the World’s Biggest Startup. [Online].
Available at https://fortune.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/[accessed Jan30, 2020]
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boundaries. Routledge.
Nickols, F., 2016. Strategy, strategic management, strategic planning and strategic
thinking. Management Journal, 1(1), pp.4-7.
Rothwell, W.J., Stavros, J.M. and Sullivan, R.L. eds., 2015. Practicing organization
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Yidong, T. and Xinxin, L., 2013. How ethical leadership influence employees’ innovative work
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