MGMT

Building Organization Structure & Managing Internal Operations

YIYAO HU

11/20/2020

Building Organization Structure & Managing Internal Operations

Introduction

Apple is unarguably one of the most successful companies, and that has a powerful and successful brand. From 2004 to 2018, the company has enjoyed unparalleled revenue growth, a phenomenon that can be echoed by the record made in 2018 of being the first American company to surpass the $1 trillion in market capitalization.

Chapter 10. Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution

LO1 What Managers Must Do To Execute Strategy Successfully

1. During the recruitment process, Apple is keen on selecting candidates exhibiting hard work, loyalty, and derives each precise detail with perfection. Apple is known to be hiring diverse, talented, and independent employees that compose its workforce, which requires the minimum direction of expectations. The company invests a considerable amount in providing its representatives with self-awareness programs that have contributed to high innovation levels in the tech world. The human resource deploys strategies such as providing training to every new employee, inspiring its employees to work better than the rest, reinforcing its employees into building self-reliant skills, and making use of agility to absorb the real talent.

2. Apple's reputation attracts innovative, highly-skilled, and creative employees that have contributed to the company being more productive than an average company. The company provides a dynamic environment that cultivates innovation attributed to selective hiring, 360-degree employee evaluation, and performance reward. Further, the company fosters an environment characterized by openness, incorporation, and innovation. Finally, Apple is among the companies that pay lucratively to its employees. On average, Apple's salary is approximately $28,850 per year for the inventory specialist, $167,724 for the engineering manager, hourly pay of $11.04 for Performer, and $64.24 for the project manager.

LO2 Why Hiring, Training, and Retaining the right People Constitute a Key Component of The Strategy Execution Process.

1. According to Steve Jobs, the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc., believed that employee management constituted of hiring the best talent and effectively managing them. Steve and his top executives never compromised with the hiring standards and requirements of the employees and talents. With Apple, hiring the best talents poses benefits such as increased employee performance and productivity, increased employee engagement, and increased employee retention (Zippia, 2015). To Steve, the hiring process was a serious process that didn't need a rush. The Apple Human Resource Manager spends a considerable amount of time hiring the right people.

2. Despite its size and geographical distribution of its stores, Apple has managed to improve its employee retention rate from 61% to 89% (Markovic, 2020). To achieve this, the company deploys several strategies such as uniting employees around a strong vision and mission, staying in tune with employee's sentiment, keeping its employee informed, choosing the right people for its workforce, continually training and developing its employees, among others. With such a culture – employee retention, the company enjoys customer satisfaction, satisfied co-workers, effective succession planning, and building organizational knowledge and learning.

Chapter 11: Managing Internal Operations

LO1: Why Resource Allocation Should Always be Based on Strategic Priorities

1. Among the prime contributors to Apple's success rate includes its visionary leadership and strategic goal of new product development. The company emphasizes design, a feature that has seen success due to strategic component implementation. The company allocates a substantial amount of resources to new products, often awarded well thought and planned processes for their development and implementation. The financial resources set aside for the development of the new products and features make use of Sun Tzu's strategic principles, which requires one to know oneself and the enemy, i.e., competitors. Due to its huge capital base and capability, the company can develop superior products than its competitors, aiding it in staying competitive and firmly holding its customers.

2. The company's products undergo some of the best design practices in the tech industry. This includes developing products that are reputable and developed with the best standards possible. The company uses a tying rewards strategy that contributes to the company's design strategy success. Further, the company invests heavily in support systems meant to be utilized by the company's workforce. With these systems in place, the company can efficiently manage communication of different layers of operations, ensuring that time and other resources are not wasted during decision communications and feedback.

LO2: The Role of Information and Operating Systems in Enabling Company Personnel to Carry Out Their Strategic Roles Proficiently.

1. As aforementioned in the previous text, Apple deploys numerous information and operating systems meant for aiding the company personnel in executing their strategic roles, improving their customer relations, and developing new products and services. For instance, Information Systems & Technology (IS&T) is used in managing key business and technical infrastructure at Apple (Thennakoon, 2018). The systems deployed to govern the process of online order taking, network capacity required around the world, credit card processing, book closing, etc. The Apple's information system includes office automation system, expert support/information system, and the expert systems etc. (Thennakoon, 2018).

2. The Apple's transaction processing system –includes the Cashiers of the Power Mac Store and iTunes applications that aid customers in online purchase of products. The Apple's company personnel makes use of the office automation system such as the iCloud technology that aids the employees in digital creation, collection, storage, and relaying of office information to achieve different organizational and company's objectives.

Reference

Markovic, I. (2020). This is how Apple improved their employee retention rate by 28%. https://edume.com/blog/how-apple-improved-employee-retention-rate

Thennakoon, D. (2018). Management Information System- Apple Inc. https://www.slideshare.net/DevikaThennakoon/management-information-system-apple-inc-115822247#:~:text=Apple%20information%20systems%20can%20be,Knowledge%20management%20system%20is%20associated

Zippia. (2015). STEVE JJOBS'TOP HIRING TIP: ""IRE THE BEST"" https://www.zippia.com/employer/steve-jobs-top-hiring-tip-hire-the-best/