Steve Jobs Career and Challenges when Establishing Apple Company - Research Paper Example

Steve Jobs Career and Challenges When Establishing Apple Company Born on February 1955, Steven Paul jobs who was an American business man and a fonder of a widely recognized pioneer of the personal computer revolution. Steve was the cofounder and chief executive of the apple company. In 1980s Job was one of the first business leaders to witness the commercial potential of the Xerox parc mouse that was driven by the graphical user-interface which resulted to the emergence of apple Lisa (Young & Simon, 2005). It is after this that Steve struggle with the board for directors and left for NEXT Company which is, a computer plat-form development firm that specializes in higher education and business markets. Apple Computer Company was invented and established by Steven Jobs and Wozniak who formed it in his won garage since there was a challenge in raising more funds for its expansion compelling the company to look for more funds and resources for its expansion. Another challenge was insufficient competent personnel, and in this case, the Apple Two companies began looking for an experienced and a competent executive who could help them manage its expansion (Linzmayer, 2004). Therefore, the success and the growth of Apple Company at that time were met severely by insufficiency of both human and financial capital. As a consequent, Steven Jobs encountered a personality challenge of indiscipline and temperament which adversely affected the relationship between him, his workers and the general social environment within the company which incapacitated him on the daily running of the business. This led to a decline in the output of the company resulting to a slump in 1980s. Leadership Styles Used By Steve Jobs Steven Jobs throughout his life depicted an autocratic leadership style which realized especially because of him not making any assumptions and down to earth leader. Moreover, based on his leadership and managerial style, he was not boisterous and thus, he understood clearly the need for strong personal relations (Arnold, 2012). Steve Jobs were also identified as a transformational leader due to the fact that he is passionate and enthusiastic about his work. He is also known for creating visions and injects energy and motivation into his stream to ensure effective management. Apple Company developed a competitive culture especially at the work place, and this was as a result of jobs competency. Jobs control extended as far as the structure and design of the company bus and necessities such as food served at the cafeteria. Within the company, Steven Jobs practiced and encouraged the concept of strictness that resulted into greater accountability into the entire organization. This was carried out through the frequent meetings especially on Mondays with various executives to set the main objectives for the week (Beahm, 2011). Similarly, to put this in place, the executives formed some agenda and at the same time the meetings also reviewed each and every product that was under development. This therefore, led to high out put in terms of quality and competence among the employees in the organization. Employees were recruited into the firm as specialists and were assigned duties based on their specific abilities and strengths, and this also helped in making feel motivated as they enjoyed whatever they were doing in the organization (Young & Simon, 2005). As a result of honesty accountability and transparency, the organization started to enjoy the global market. Steve jobs was also strict and encouraged competent work among his employees hence this created an environment for competent work, producing quality products that sell easily in the global market encouraging Jobs to exert all his control over every aspect of the business. As a Consequent, Steve jobs encouraged a working culture whereby there was a devoted employer-employee relationship and rapport in areas such as communication between the management and the employees, problem solving and strategic management. This helped significantly for the smooth running of the Jobs business organization. Through effective communication, he made sure that the shareholders, the staff and the customers received a competent flow of information promptly without any interference (Linzmayer, 2004). This shows that Steven Jobs was a passionate advocate for his vision for the apple company. Evaluation of Steve Jobs Leadership and Motivation As discussed previously, Steven Jobs who was well known autocratic leader had competent management skills in carrying out his business perfectly and that this explains Apple’s as a Company possessing a positive image world wide (Arnold, 2012). Through his quality management practices Steven Jobs has emerged as one of the most advanced leaders in the world. The autocratic business leadership style is a type of leadership where a leader dictates his or her employees with a high level of strictness in the organization, but for a positive ambition. Conversely, he is defined as a transformational leader, who incorporates a significant positive change in a group, organization or a society. For example, it is noted that he transformed several companies like Pixar that were initially recording poor performance into a success (Linzmayer, 2004). In addition, Steven Jobs is charismatic in trait and this is because, he is an initiator who lead by example for other to emulate, practices empowerment, and has a vision for he does. Steven Jobs posses what is known as sterling power motives especially the ability to communicate inspiringly to his employees and show them what is expected of them. He was gifted and had the charm to win the confidence and being enthusiastic to his workers, so that they could perform highly in the organization. Moreover, Steve Jobs motivates his workers by creating visions and injecting both mental and financial energy into them. This inspires the employees thus increasing the level of Jobs involvement and commitment in the firm (Beahm, 2011). This would also help in the employees to achieve greater heights of expectations by doing impossible tasks assigned to them. Through this, he had managed to convince several customers to buy apple products from the apple company. Impacts of Steve Jobs Contributions to the World Steve Jobs was not only a leader in the world of inventions and technology but also a champ in the real world. The various innovations of quality products produced that was as a result of the apple company had a positive impact of the lives of various people across the globe. Steve Jobs being the manger was so creative and innovative and this lead to varius transformations in the technological worlds (Linzmayer, 2004). Through many of his inventions in the world of technology, things have become efficient and effective to the end users of technological products. Steve Jobs was a genius and a visionary leader who developed and shared with the world the passion he had in life. His business has led to various creative and innovative products in technology that have led to substantial advancement in the same field. Hence, through his innovations today we are able to use iPads, iPods that have tremendously made communication remarkably effective and efficient in the entire world. Equally, through various innovations of Steve jobs the business environment has been transformed digitally as every processing is effectively carried out through various electronics. Consequently, the creativity of Steve jobs has changed the structure of today’s laptop that is the scrolling pad located below the key board with the space either side (Beahm, 2011). Initially, before Job invented this, computers looked wholly different in that, the key board was lower down with less or no space for the wrists to rest on. This evidently shows that his creativity has enhanced the world of technology today. Steve Jobs technology legacy is unequivocal in that he had forever changed the way people used and relate to electronics. However, it is doubted if Steven Jobs ever donated to a charitable persona the way fellow business members do. Hence, this has led to various speculations on whether he closed his wallet to charities or rather helping others out. Conclusion Summarily, Steven Jobs, who began his company from a humble beginning, has made advanced transformation through technology in the entire world. The significant transformations have caused appreciable change and constructive impact on the lives of people across the globe. Considering the world of technology it realized that Steve Jobs revived apple after it had collapsed, reinvented home computing as was noted by Apple two, which were the early home computers (Isaacson, 2011). In addition, he also revolutionized portable music through the iPods devices; he also reimagined telecommunications and finally, redefined portable computing. All these were done through his inspiration to his employees thus producing quality products. References Arnold, F. (2012): What Makes Great Leaders Great: Management Lessons From Icons Who Changed The World. New York: McGraw-Hill. Beahm, G. (2011). I, Steve Jobs in His Own Word: Chicago: Agate Publishing. Isaacson, W. (2011): Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster. Linzmayer, O. W. (2004). Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company ([Rev. 2nd Ed.). San Francisco, Calif.: No Starch Press. Young, J. S., & Simon, W. L. (2005): Icon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act In the History of Business. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Read More