Final Paper Project: Problem Solving

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PROBLEM-SOLVING AT APPLE COMPANY

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PROBLEM-SOLVING AT APPLE COMPANY

Problem Solving at Apple Company

Julian Rumayor

Nayrie Smith

Final Project MAN 3240 – Organizational Behavior

4TH of July 2020

Problem Solving at Apple Company

Background of the Company

Apple company is a technology enterprise that deals with developing, designing, and selling computer software, consumer electronics, and online services. The mission of the company is to offer the best experience to its customers through its innovative products and services.

Issues Facing Apple Company

Currently, several organizational problems are facing Apple company. These problems range from the exodus of senior employees to rival companies to difficulties meeting sales projections for iPhones, too late entry of the company into the 5G internet party, to the decline of smartphones. Each of these issues is discussed in a deeper perspective to shade more light on the seriousness of these issues. That said, this report progresses as follows.

One of the job performance issues affecting Apple company is the dozen loss of staff, more especially high-ranking staff in the company. As much as this might appear as a normal occurrence for a giant company like Apple, it might be a sign of looming trouble in the company. Notable high-ranking employees who have ditched the company for other rivals include individuals like Tanya Ridd, Bass Ording, Chris Lattner, Matt Casebolt, Colin Smith, and Sarah O'Brien. To show that these former employees were high ranking staff in the company, it should be remembered that Tanya Ridd was in charge of corporate PR in Europe, while Bas Ording was working as the user interface designer at the company before departing to Tesla. On the other hand, Matt Casebolt was the head of product design, and Colin Smith headed communications at the company's Mac department. There are other employees of the company that have gone to work with other companies but have not been highlighted in the above list. It should be understood that some of these high-ranking employees were important in some of the company's projects that have so far stalled. A good example is the company's project that has to not kick-started is its car efforts. It could be speculated that these employees' exit took a toll order on the company's project among other issues and had to stall them. At the same time, some of the employees at the company have complained of issues such as employee favoritism and long working hours that affect both employee performance and lack of motivation. Others have complained of issues of staff retention by the company while others have opined that the company offers a limited path of progression. All of these issues have contributed in one way or another to the employee job performance at the company.

Another issue that is facing the company is the decline of the smart phone. Since the advent of the smartphone, investors have reaped huge rewards because Apple has been able to dominate the smart phone market for a while now. Every year, consumers looked forward to new launches of upgraded smartphones with new and improve features. As much as the excitement of these new devices has contributed to the huge unit sales the company has been reporting over the years, it appears that it will not do so into the future given the recent trends where unit sales for the smartphones have been decreasing over and over. Even when the company has been launching new upgrades over the years, it appears the consumer sentiment has changed because they see the new upgrades as just pedestrian upgrades rather than innovations. This shows that the company has lagged in its innovative ability and that its new upgrades barely show innovation on it. At this point, it should be understood upfront that innovation is propelled by employees. And once the employees feel that their long working hours or employee favoritism is getting on the way of their work, even their innovative abilities start dwindling.

Course concepts that could be applied to understand these issues

Throughout the course, several concepts have been taught that could be applied to understand some of the issues affecting this company. One of these concepts is motivated behavior. It should be understood that all employees have their respective needs and that is why they are working to meet those needs. One of the needs could be to attain "career progression" (Dowling, 2016). However, if the employees are complaining of employee favoritism and lack of enough career progression opportunities, they will be working in the company, but their needs may not be met. In other words, they will not be motivated enough to perform their job because some job performance issues are hindering them from doing so.

Another concept that could be used to understand the issues affecting this company is "perception" (Aquinas, 2008). The concept of perception points to the fact that different employees see the same thing in different ways. An employee will always organize and interpret what they see in the workplace as it part of their experiences at work. If an employee sees some employees are favored than others, they must have experienced it in the workplace to determine that they are experiencing employee favoritism. With this perception, they are likely to get less motivated in doing their work or better still, desert the company for better opportunities elsewhere.

Another concept that could be applied in understanding the problem facing the company as pertains to job performance is the concept of value of the person. An employee wants to be treated differently from any other factor of production. If the employee feels that the employer is not treating them right and that they are facing employee favoritism, then they are highly likely to exit the company for other opportunities. This could be said of employees working long hours at the company and that they have complained of the same with little success. When an employee feels that their time is not valued or what their progression in the company is not valued as such then they are likely to seek other opportunities elsewhere.

Recommendations to improve organizational functioning and identified problems

One of the recommendations to solve the issue of employee turnover is to provide career progression opportunities. If an employee feels that their career progression path has limited them it does not matter if they are high ranking or not, they will exit the company and seek better opportunities elsewhere.

Another recommendation is to provide employee motivation. The company should research to determine and understand what they can do to motivate its employees. If the employees are complaining of long working hours, then they could compensate more for the extra hours to keep them motivated. At the same time, career progression opportunities can be a good way to motivate those employees seeking those opportunities.

References

Aquinas, P. G. (2008). Organizational behavior: Concepts, realities, applications, and challenges. New Delhi: Excel Books.

Dowling, G. R. (2016). Winning the Reputation Game: Creating Stakeholder Value and Competitive Advantage.