Report on Organizational Behavior and Leadership Challenges at Apple

This report delves into the organizational behavior and leadership issues impacting Apple, examining its corporate culture, leadership styles, and employee empowerment. It analyzes the transition from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook, highlighting the challenges related to secrecy, hostility, lack of employee empowerment, negotiation skills, and teamwork. The report reviews relevant literature, including Harrison's Model of Culture, Lewin's leadership styles, and human relations theory, to understand the impact on employee morale and productivity. It then evaluates potential solutions, such as fostering a more open culture, improving leadership skills, and empowering employees to make decisions. The report concludes with recommendations for improving Apple's organizational behavior and leadership to enhance its overall efficiency and competitiveness.

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS
2 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................2
3 Analysis of organizational behavior and leadership issues..................................................................2
3.1 Corporate culture........................................................................................................................2
3.2 Leadership issue..........................................................................................................................2
3.3 Employee empowerment............................................................................................................3
3.4 Negotiation skills..........................................................................................................................3
3.5 Creativity and teamwork.............................................................................................................3
4 Literature review.................................................................................................................................4
5 Evaluation of possible alternative solutions for improving the situation.............................................5
6 Recommendations...............................................................................................................................6
7 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................7
8 References...........................................................................................................................................8

2 INTRODUCTION
Apple is one of the well-known multinational company that deals with the different technology as well
as hardware like computers, smartphones, laptops and tablets. Initiated with Steve Jobs the company
was located in Cupertino, California. The company manufactures and sells the software as well as
technology on the different platforms like websites, showrooms and many more. When considering the
technology, the main competitors are Google, Amazon and when considering smartphones or related
products it is the second largest company. at present it has branches around 500 locations and has
employees more than 132,000 employees. The total revenue of company has been recorded as 260.17
billion U.S. dollars (Apple, 2020). Due to his health-related issues Steve Jobs had resigned from the post
of CEO in 2011. Though the post was overtaken by Tim Cook and he is very talented but the company is
facing some disputes in organizational behavior and leadership structure. These all issues are discussed
in report. The project report below targets on the organizational behaviors and leadership issues of
Apple. The processing of business functionalities related to Apple with the help of organizational
behavior concepts and theories. The analyzation of organizational issues in the company are done. A
literature review on different theories related to organizational behavior are discussed. The mitigation
plans are also listed in the report. The recommendations have been included so that any emergence of
issues can be avoided.
3 ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND
LEADERSHIP ISSUES
Through its efficiency and technology Apple has become one of the top technology-based companies of
the world. But it maintains its position it is important that company must execute as a whole so that all
people involved in the company work together so that effective output can be produced easily. since te
company is facing organizational and leadership issues in the last few decades it is important that
management must analyze the main problems and mitigation plan must be developed so that they can
be eliminated. Some of the issues are described below:
3.1 CORPORATE CULTURE
At present the company counters the issues that is corporate culture is one of the biggest challenges.
The current corporate culture so not bring the secrecy and hostility. The issue of secrecy in the company
tends to decrease in harmony and sympathy among the companies and hostility effects the self-
confidence of the employees to greater level (Chaplin & O’Rourke, 2018). The combination of both
cultural issues has affected the overall efficiency of the company and due to this also number of
employees who left the organization in the recent years had increased. It is important that company
must develop the mitigation process due to which the organizational culture and behavior have
changed. Also, it is not important to remove effects of hostility completely but some of its advantages
must be focused upon.

3.2 LEADERSHIP ISSUE
The other issue that effects the company is related to lack of the leadership skills, after the Steve Jobs
the company did not get an efficient leader as he was. The company not making use of its available
resources and talent in effective manner (Elsan Mansaray, 2019). Also, the decisions implemented in the
company in last few years have negative impact as the higher risks are produced under them. There is
no accountability of leaders and criticism is done by lower level employees. This kind of disadvantages
can affect the company’s future as they negatively impacted employees as well as efficiency of the
company.
3.3 EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
The employee empowerment is not implemented properly in the company that is people employees
cannot make their own decisions regarding the work that is being assigned to them. Under the times of
Steve Jobs, the employees were given the full empowerment and in that case the employees go beyond
their abilities to produce effective results. Thus, had increased efficiency of company and employees as
well. But now there are not efficient leadership skills the employees are not provided with
empowerments but they are completed to do work in definitive manner which decreases their morale.
Thus, it is important that these issues must be handled properly and to enforce the innovation and
efficiency in the employees the company must empower their employees to make decisions on their
own
3.4 NEGOTIATION SKILLS
The leader must have appropriate negotiation skills so that they can have impact the organizational
behavior and culture for longer manner. Talking about the leadership skills of Steve Jobs he has
considered the negotiation to be at first place. The negotiation must not be implemented in the external
issues of the company about conflict management can be achieved successfully within the company
(ElShenawy, 2010). The present as well as the future contracts of the company get affected and this had
made the Apple grow properly in the past. Currently the company new CEO do not have such
negotiating skills due to which the competitive advantages can not be achieved easily in the company.
Also, the employees feel that they have been neglected by the company and as the result of which they
lost interest in company and lead to increase in employee turnover. Since productivity declines the
overall efficiency of company declined.
3.5 CREATIVITY AND TEAMWORK
For achieving the success, it is very important that teamwork and creativity must be implemented by the
employees. In the initial period of the company the employees present the views in appropriate manner
and this become base of the company, this has also become one pf the main reason of success in past.
This also enhance overall performance of employees. Since the employees participated in all decisions of
the company, they become empowered and they think creatively for performing the tasks. The
encouragement to the employees is not given properly which results in the low capability of employees
as they do not provide their innovative ideas and also the employees lack team work spirits. Th
employees do not tend to work collectively towards a one single targets. this not only affected the
performance of employees but overall efficiency of the company also gets affected. The mitigation plan

needs to be implemented by the company so that employees must work collectively and focus on the
targets of the company.
4 LITERATURE REVIEW
The previous CEO of the company proves to be an unconventional leader who has involved all
stakeholders of the company in convenient manner so that potential future targets can be achieved
easily. the culture in which Steve Jobs believed was same as Harrison's Model of Culture under which
the stakeholders are involved in every decision of the company and make the company grow in all
aspects. As per Harrison model the personnel of the company are motivated to perform well but at the
same time if targets are not met properly besides providing all facilities the employees faced the
criticism (Baird & Harrison, 2017). Along with this the concepts of servant leadership were executed in
Apple under which the employees, team members and individuals are motivated so that they can
produce extra ordinary results. Also, a high-level performance culture was adopted in the organization
and this bring popularity to the company. Such organizational behavior theories present different
benefits and problems and this is due to because of benefits to the company they are linked with
competence, innovation and brings out incredible leadership of Steve Jobs. These theories had become
one of the main reasons of success for the Apple.
Along with the organization behavior the leadership style also plays an important role and have proper
effect on the success of the company. almost every international organization focuses on
implementation of Lewin's three style leadership model under their different activities related to
business. but these activities are completely dependent on situations.
Figure 1 Lewin's three style leadership model
Source https://www.citycollege.edu/3-basic-types-management-styles/
As per this law, the leadership styles can be divided into three categories, Autocratic, Participative and
Delegative (Billig, 2014). The autocratic leadership is a leadership style under which the employees are
not asked about their opinion and are asked to perform the tasks with proper instructions, the leaders
have all powers to make different decisions and implement them as per their wish. This tends to loss of
the interest of employees in the company as their innovative ideas are neither listened nor considered.
The other leadership style is participative style which more a democratic approach under which the

employees are told about the targets. they are given the freedom to achieve the targets in their own
way (Caillier, 2014). The thoughts and ideas of the personnel is also given equal importance by the
leader and decision is taken once all the aspects of situation are analysed properly by the leader. The
last style under the model is delegative style also popularly known as Laissez-Faire style. This is one of
the most considerable leadership styles suggested by Lewin even though there is large criticism of this
style among the different people (Tosunoglu, 2016). As per this style the leader provides the knowledge
about the circumstances to the employees and they focus on the targets. a complete freedom is
provided to employees in respect to the selection of approach to be followed for completing tasks. This
has not always resulted in beneficial and acceptable results due to number of different decisions taken
by the company. Also, the overall efficiency of the company is affected to greater extent. At present
when Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple, the autocratic leadership style is implemented in the Apple under
which only the methods are told to the personnel through which they have to perform the task. The
decision of personnel is not given more importance and this is also considered as one of the major
organizational behavior problems and leadership issues. due to this the graph of the company is
declining and rate of employee turnover is increasing.
The other behavioral theory that is linked with Apple’s at present theory is Human Relations Behavioral
Theory under which the employees are empowered and they are given freedom to take their own
decisions. The output of activities enhances and better functioning of the company can be achieved
easily. This theory proves to be the best when talking about the productivity of employees and how they
react under different circumstances (Hyde et al., 2009). The employees when given power to make their
respective decisions they tend to perform beyond their capabilities and overall performance of the
company will automatically improves. The decision-making behavioral theory is effective for the senior
management as all the important decisions of the company are taken by them and these decisions
decided the future of company. Thus, it is very important for making decisions the managers must have
proper knowledge and information of all the activities that are implemented under the company. then
only effective decisions were made. The senior management of Apple can implement this theory very
well and make potential decisions for an effective decision related to growth of company. on the
contrary servant leadership behavioral theory can also be implemented to gain the effective results.
Under the servant leadership theories, the employees are completely involved in all the processes of the
company. Since being the managers, the leaders can prepare the visions as well as principles that must
be followed and also effect the performance of the employees. These approaches help to enhance the
relationship of the employees and employers and also tend to increase the overall productivity of the
company. for achieving success, it is important that company make changes in organizational culture
5 EVALUATION OF POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
FOR IMPROVING THE SITUATION
Though both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook undertake the authoritarian leadership style but as Steve Jobs has
effective attributes of leadership like competence, confidence, vision and negotiation skills which proves
him to be a better leader. But the situation is not same for Tim Cook and it is important that he must
implement some strategies to mitigate the problems in such manner that they do not took place in near
feature. The management of company must be motivated in such manner that they minimize the as
disadvantages of hostility and has adopted the advantages of same. There is possibility that without any

level of hostility the situations can go beyond the control and it is important that some level of hostility
must be kept in the company so that effective results can be produced and popularity of company
increases (Asberg, 2013). In addition to this the company can execute some of the important cultural
traits under which the operations meet the needs of current situations and when some changes in IT
sector are implemented the chances of growth increases.
Though some problems are being faced by Tim Cook but this cannot doubt his efficiency as he also
proved himself an effective leader as Apple gained its position of the top technology-based company.
But if the power of flow is distributed to all individuals rather than focusing on one single person there
are more chances of achievement of results. The current situation can also be improvised. it is
impossible for any techno company that they achieve success because the contribution of the
employees. The innovative ideas of the employees focus on achievement of targets in effective manner.
thus, a higher degree of empowerment can be applied in the company so that it becomes a norm in the
company. the input forms the employees must be encouraged. Also, the motivation methods such as
reward and recognition must be applied in the company so that achievement if employees are
appreciated and targets are achieved easily by other employees as well.
There are very less chances for any leader to meet the skills of Steve Jobs when negotiation is taken into
consideration. Currently it is important for Apple to focus on the negotiation areas and bring satisfaction
to the all stakeholders. this also help to obtain the competitive advantages. The future vision of the
company can also be decided. Apple need to appoint the personnel that has suitable and required
negotiation skills as thy can deal with the contracts of the company in effective manner. Also, the
company need to focus more on innovation ideas so that the products as well as services can be
improvised properly, the motivation must be provided to employees so that they can push themselves
and perform extra ordinary task (Kharbanda & Stallworthy, 2018) s. This will enhance overall capabilities
of employees. The team spirit among the company is also very important and working in team will make
employees more satisfied and as discussions can help in eliminating the existing problems and bring the
best out of the everything. The employees should be dividing into teams and specific targets must be
assigned to them to achieve. The teams collaboratively tend to achieve targets in effective manner. This
process is suitable for the Apple as making teams will help to bring the innovative ideas for better
growth of the company.
6 RECOMMENDATIONS
Organizational behavioral theories and leadership approaches are adopted by the company so that any
complications in future can be avoided easily. Also, this will help the company to be at top most position
and retain its success. it is highly recommended that if participative or democratic style is implemented
in the company it is easy to achieve success. The employees are given the power to handle the situations
as per their choice by making their own decisions (Pradhan et al., 2014). This help to flow ideas freely in
the company and reaches upper management, along with experience of senior management it is
possible to revolutionize the products and services provided to the users. Along with empowerment, the
human relations behavioral theory is implemented in the company as under this the productivity of
employees will increase. The employees feel satisfies. Apple must implement this theory so that success
can be achieved in future. The productivity and performance of employees will increase and job
satisfaction is easy to achieve. The servant leadership behavioral theory can also be adopted by Apple as

the employees will be empowered and they themselves feel that their duty is to maintain the reputation
as company by performing extra ordinary tasks. Also, a better relationship of employer and employee
can be maintained as employees become more focused towards their jobs. The decision-making theory
is also important for the better achievement of business operations. The company must make use of
organizational approach so that they can achieve best decisions which suits the situation provided
easily.
7 CONCLUSION
In the conclusion it can be said that Apple was more successful under the leadership of Steve Jobs due
to his capabilities related to management like negotiation, employee empowerment and many more.
After Steve Jobs in 2011 Tim Cook takes his position and he implemented the authority’s leadership skills
which results in employee turnover and result son reputation of the company. it is analysed in the
company that company currently is facing from the different organizational behavior and leadership
issues like corporate culture, leadership issue, employee empowerment, negotiation skills and creativity
as well as teamwork. There are number of theories which can be implemented in the company in
relation to the analysed problems so that Apple can achieve success and these theories are discussed
under literature review. The theories such as Lewin's three style leadership, Human Relations Behavioral
Theory, decision-making behavioral theory and many other are being discussed in the report. The
possible alternates are servant leadership, employee empowerment, under which the employees are
targeted to provide the innovation ideas under which the services as well products provided to the
customers can be improvised. Some recommendations are also discussed in the report which states that
for solving leadership and organizational issues the theories related to enhancement of processes must
be implemented.

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