Research Project

Organizational structure and problem of Apple Inc

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I. Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the problem of managing human resources at Apple Inc. This problem highlights the challenges that organizations in today’s business world face in human capital management.

II. Background

Wong (2016), points out two main factors that challenge human resources. One of them is retaining talent in that due to rapidly changing business dynamics employees need to keep up lest their skills become useless and rendering training costs insignificant. The human resource is forced to find means to retain the talent of their employees by training and developing their skills to match the market changes while at the same time facing poaching of staff from other competition.

The second challenge is employee diversity in terms of gender and race. For instance in the industry that Apple Inc. operates is dominated by more males than females. Also in terms of race according to Wong (2016) there are more whites than blacks who are employed. This poses a challenge as human resource has to take these conditions into consideration when recruiting and laying off staff so as not to propagate discrimination.

However, the two problems pointed out by Wong as the key factors that make it difficult to manage human resources begs the question whether these issues could have been managed if organizations delegated more strategic responsibilities to their HR management.

Apple Inc. is an American company whose core business is designing and manufacturing computer hardware, software and other electronics. It was founded on April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in Cupertino California.

The corporation is headed by its current CEO known as Tom Cook and has a Board of Directors. It is one of the leading companies in the technology industry whose core business is manufacturing computer hardware and software including other consumer gadgets.

Tom Cook has been instrumental in cementing the leadership and culture of Apple Inc. by bringing in a new thought process. It is based on seeing the good in imperfectionism, a strong belief system without allowing outside influences to shake it, creating a realistic image of the company’s capabilities and taking calculated risks.

The mission of the corporation has changed over time to be in line with changing organizational and global market conditions (Rowland, 2015).It states that “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLie, iWork and other professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad” (Rowland, 2015).

The core values of Apple Inc. according to the CEO Tom Cook are: a) provide the best products to the world, b) belief in simplicity, c) belief in owning and controlling primary technologies that are the bases of their products, d) narrowed focus on markets that can be effectively changed, e) focus on core projects that will make a real difference, f) belief in team work and a cohesive spirit, g) belief in providing nothing but the best.

III. Rationale

Apple Inc faces the problem of managing human resources but while this is a common organization problem in the business world a successful company such as Apple Inc. should have had put up strong frameworks in their HCM.

The structure of the corporation is one of the key factors that make it one of the most valuable brands in the global market. The structure is based on three features: a) Autonomy and inclusivity hierarchy (under the leadership of Tom Cook there is more independency among the vice presidents and inclusivity between employees and management), b) functional categorization (Each senior vice president that reports to Tom Cook is responsible for a business function) and c) product line categorization (The lower level of the organization handles product matters such as the less senior vice presidents).

IV. Conclusion

One of the two organizational behavior concepts surrounding the problem of managing human resources at Apple Inc, I believe, is integrating a diverse work environment which has become a norm in the modern business world. When it comes to diversity the human resource in collaboration with top management have to create strategies that make the employees from diverse backgrounds to work together like a well-oiled machine without feeling isolated. Another concept is the leadership style in that today’s managers have to inspire inclusivity in their management style which inspires feelings of belonging and treating employees as one of the most important assets. This enhances loyalty and great work productivity and in the end retains talent.

As established in this paper the two key issues affecting the human resource management problem are talent retention and diversity. Therefore, the recommended solution to this problem would be based on these two key factors. Organizations must create a work environment in which employees feel that their input, efforts and talents are appreciated. I would recommend that the most talented employees be well compensated and the management should invest in training and development so as to meet the highest skill threshold that constantly changes. While at the same time delegating responsibilities to employees from diverse backgrounds based on their proved merit. One follow up action that can be utilized to establish that this problem has been resolved is carry out a periodical performance appraisal by the HR department on employees performance to gauge their attitude, skills and loyalty to the company.

References

Kreitner, Angelo Kinicki & Robert. 2012. Organization behavior. New York: Wiley.

Rowland, C., (2015).Apple’s Vision statement & Mission statement. Retrieved from panmore.com/apple-mission-statement-vision-statement

Wong, L., (2016). Strategic challenges and significances of human resource management in today’s business environment. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/strategic-challenges-significances-human-resource-management-wong?forceNosplash=true