The Role of Top Management in Carrying the Process of Innovation forward in the Corporate Sector - Dissertation Example

?The Role of Top Management in carrying the Process of Innovation forward in the Corporate Sector: The Case of Apple Contents Executive Summary 2 1.0 Introduction 3 1.1 Background Research 4 1.2 Research Question and Objectives of the Study 6 1.3 Methodology, Data Collection and Analysis 6 2.0 Literature Review 7 2.1 Steve Jobs and Apple in the pages of history 7 2.2 What is innovation? 8 2.3 Current situation at Apple 11 3.0 Findings 11 4.0 What should be done: Recommendations and Suggestions 12 5.0 Conclusion 14 References 15 Executive Summary The system of command and control is strongly ill-advised in the given scenario of business world because the featured mechanism thrives on tight bureaucratic structure that is high on formalization and therefore, hinders self initiation of the employees that is called the soul of innovation by management literature (Elenkov, Judge, & Wright 2005). The idea that is being tried to be conveyed, is to let Apple run in its natural way as it always did because the people who are running the company are a few and those who have to get things done are more in number. The rule of democracy must be obeyed and people’s wishes should be respected. More importantly, the workforce at Apple is psychologically bruised as they lost their leader and the successor has thus far failed to provide them with a saleable vision (Vera & Crosson 2004). The Apple has been popular for innovative products all around the world and it is quite a shame to know that the company is not innovating and due to this very reason, it is not being able to add any notable level of customer value in the products. The image of an organization is at stake and it is because of the fact that top management is not ready to accept the innovative nature of the company. The top layer of managers is attempting to make things visible and the Jobs’ way is dying out that was purely based on intuitive judgment. He lived his entire life with the help of his judgment and managed to see the world with a different set of eyes (Leone & Liu 2010). The Apple is needed to have a CEO who has the profound single-mindedness of the genius because believe it or not it takes a genius to understand and continue another’s work. The Role of Top Management in carrying the Process of Innovation forward in the Corporate Sector: The Case of Apple 1.0 Introduction The top management is purely responsible for taking strategic and long term decisions for the company in every walk of life. The innovation and unstructured decision making are also considered as the key responsibilities of the top level managers (Abdelgawad, Zahra, Svejenova, & Sapienza 2013). The top management is notorious for serving their private goals and purposes. Their decisions not in all cases serve the ultimate objective of the organization that is indeed to maximize the shareholder wealth in terms of increasing market price of the equity and providing dividends on a consistent basis. The agency theory is of the view that humans are created to watch their self interest and therefore, they always intentionally or unintentionally do that. The top managers will always take the decision that will serve their private goals and in this way, the objective of shareholders’ wealth maximization becomes a little secondary in nature. The companies attempt to keep the strategic management motivated by providing significant and persistent raises as every year closes. The managers are also given a share out of each year’s profit. All of the incentives are given in order to motivate the top layer of managers to perform with their best skills. The interest of shareholders remains under-filled because the managers take business decisions that can be implemented with a least level of effort in terms of energies and money (Nyberg, Fulmer, Gerhart, & Carpenter 2010). The strategic choice theory states that managers’ decisions are going to create the future of the organization and the article entitled “The future has already happened” has been written so that the abovementioned premise can be extended and expanded. The problem exists that humans are basically lazy and therefore, they attempt to take the least difficult path towards a goal. 1.1 Background Research In the traditional organizational setup the shareholders are the ones who had to face the ramifications of a loss and the managers’ salaries were safeguarded. But in the current times, the managers are required to show results in order to get raises and furthermore, the companies are introducing competition by providing the best performing executive with highest level of reward and compensations (Geletkanycz & Boyd 2011). The measures are being taken in order to induce managers to give their best to the organizations and it is working pretty well also. The innovation is the ultimate reason of survival of the organization in the modern era of the 21st century. The innovation cannot be obtained without letting people to take initiative and the flatter organizational setup is also recommended to foster creativity and innovation in the human capital (Klijn & Tomic 2010). The business environment of the world economy is becoming more and more uncertain with each passing year and therefore, organizations are required to sport informal culture and setup that is the prerequisite of successful organization. The technology industry is the most challenging one with regard to its need for innovation and it is commonly believed that if an organization is not growth then perhaps it is dying and the innovative products are the only means in the modern work-line of technology. Apple’s ability to innovate has suffered notably and significantly after the demise of great Steve Jobs. Steve was an illegal and that attribute of his personality helped him in becoming one of the great business-man as he faced the challenge of proving his worth to the rest of the world. The world always took him as someone who is not capable of reaching the heights and he proved everyone wrong by doing just that. Jobs created the Apple that focused on nurturing the talented employees as he considered them the most important and valuable assets of the company. The human centric approach towards organizational setup helped the company in becoming one of the leading technology providers in the world (Young & Simon 2005). The process of innovation became sluggish and slow because the successors of Jobs somehow reverted in the direction of adding bureaucratic attributes in the organizational setup. The company is operating with the clearly defined chain of command whereas, the informal organizational setup became weak over the passage of time and now the company is sporting a rigid culture and structure. The Apple became an organization that is operating in a highly risky industry with the help of formalization and standard operating procedures. The key characteristics of the organization have caused its response rate towards market challenges to slow sand therefore; the competitors are taking the lead. The Microsoft and Google on the other hand, are letting their employees think and create by providing them with a relaxed work environment (Kolk & Rungi 2012). The hostile work environment that is quite prevalent in the offices of Apple. The Apple is also failing to expand in other countries because it is always looking to implement convergence by applying their cultural norms in a foreign country. The employees do not feel at home while working with the company because it makes them feel like betraying their own identity and way of life. The culture is believed to be the software of human mind and because of this reason, the companies are supposed to modify their practices according to the cultural realities of the host nations. The unfriendly attitudes of Apple’s administration while, dealing with business professionals of emergent markets are causing global popularity of the company to decrease (Paik, Chow, & Vance 2011). The global market is being controlled by Microsoft that is running a productive partnership with Qualcomm. The Apple as a company is not famous for entering manufacturing contracts and the management is looking and planning to specialize in every field. In short, the company is trying to follow the philosophy of self sufficiency in the period where specialization is the way to go. The human capital development, cooptation, collaboration and strategic alliances are a few strategies that are use to control and manage the environmental uncertainty. The companies are becoming well aware of the fact that competition is an ineffective method of doing business in the uncertain environment and therefore, they have to support each other. The environmental uncertainty is increasing because the demand is decreasing and there is not enough number of customers who can support competition (Lee, Olson, & Trimi, 2012). The companies currently are gaining specialization in one or two core areas of information technology such as Qualcomm has gained expertise in building powerful processer chips that are being used by leading companies in their hardware. In the modern world, the innovation is going to come from the teamwork that is something alien to Apple at this point in time. 1.2 Research Question and Objectives of the Study The research question along with objective of the study is presented as follows: - Q. what is the role of top management in helping the organization in the process of realizing its goals and objectives? O. the primary objective of the study is to highlight problems that are being faced by Apple upon the demise of its founder 1.3 Methodology, Data Collection and Analysis The method of intensive literature review of the relevant studies of the past twenty years will be followed in order to conduct the study. The findings of the literature review will be registered in the upcoming sections of the paper. The researches will be collected from libraries of Google Scholar, Ashford and Phoenix Universities and the rule of induction will be used to logically link the arguments and findings of these collected studies. 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Steve Jobs and Apple in the pages of history The death of Steve Jobs came like a catastrophe for Apple because the charismatic personality of the featured individual cannot be replaced. The company’s culture is transforming and therefore, the employees are leaving their jobs in great quantities. The employees who are leaving the company are doing so because they no longer find the work enjoyable. The period of Jobs has seen the company’s best times because the leader at that time was not a big fan of formalization and his profound attitude was evident from his dressing. He also found sleeping in the hallways as he was so tired to go home. Steve Jobs made people work hard by leading the show and doing what he expected from others. He changed the culture of the company that he managed to develop from scratch in the time when Atari was leading technology industry. Jobs and his associate presented the first product of Apple at the corner stall of the technology show. The former and late CEO of Apple Steve jobs, was able to pull the people up because he was committed to survival and thriving of the company and this is the most important reason for which anybody cannot replace the legend. Jobs’ friends found out that his loneliness and orphanage drove him in ways that appeared alien to others (Young & Simon 2005). After becoming a Chairman, Jobs did not become shabby in terms of doing the field work and this even inspired the juniors. The energy that the founder-chairman of the company injected in the human capital made him able to achieve the unattainable and impossible (Young & Simon 2005). The Apple as a company was founded by Steve jobs and therefore, the organization represented his self-interest as well. The agency theory did not apply in this case. The founder of Microsoft is also alive and because of this reason, its development and innovational activities are understandable. Apple and Microsoft were managed by their founders and they had invested themselves in the growth of the companies because they represented their dreams (Adamsa, Almeidab, & Ferreirac 2009). The managers were founders and this reality caused them to become emotionally attached with the need to develop their contributions to the world. Nevertheless, agency theory has been famous for causing the managers to become uncommitted and act with lethargy during fulfillment of organizational goals and objectives. The application of agency theory goes out of the window, when it has to deal with managers who are also founders of the companies that they are leading. Still, it is very important to note, that the top and strategic managers do not fully commit themselves to serving the objectives of the companies and shareholders because they have to meet their personal agenda first (Mellahia & Collingsb 2010). 2.2 What is innovation? The innovation is repeatedly defined as the practice of joining several natural elements in order to create a system that can yield a different output in the form of a product or service. The strategic development and planning are the activities that are performed by thinkers and philosophers. The implementation of the strategy is done by doers. The innovation can only take place effectively, if both the above-mentioned groups work together. In a traditional organizational setup, there is a notable rift between strategists and practitioners and therefore, both cannot operate in the absence of mutual respect (Miller & Cardinal 1994). The company that was created by Jobs had successfully respected strategists because founder’s personality was very much complimentary with creative individuals and therefore, it made him believing and converting theoretical and obscure products into realities. These products changed lives of millions throughout the world. At one time in his life, he had the honor to serve as CEO at two leading companies and he was expected to drop one of the seats because his self-love was anticipated to be stronger than his professionalism. What Jobs did was unexpected because he dropped the interim and became CEO at Apple and Pixar and while making this difficult decision, he astonished the world of business. His close friend Steve Wozniak was so moved at the ceremony that he forgave his friend for his past misdeeds and Wozniak was surprised that even those like Jobs can taste the grace of God. Steve Jobs was humbled to an extent that it caused his eyes to flash with tears. After becoming CEO of two leading companies, he became stronger as a leader and he was sure of himself and created more products. The only thing that kept the winning streak of Apple going was its organic structure and culture. At that point in time, the companies were operating under strict systems and their response rates in the direction of market changes were slow. Apple on the other side managed to construct a system that gathered customer feedback and the company attempted to make necessary changes to the offerings in the light of what customers say. The Research and Development, Customer Relationships and Flexi timing are a few concepts that were operationalized at Apple. But it is very painful to see that the company that introduced the rest of the world to new horizons of management is now embracing old system in order to control the friction within its setup (Dyer, Gregerson, & Christensen, 2009). The company is in need to implement more organic style of management and it is a pretty bad idea to use outdated managerial concepts in the modern times. The innovational endeavors have to be aligned with customer demand and the company is attempting to push the customers to use old products in the new packing and therefore, it is not going to work because customers are used to receiving computer related products in a tailored format that are going to serve their needs and wants specifically. The Apple after the death of its founder has lost the way of innovation because the company does not trust the people anymore that it used to do in its high days and now the management is fearful in the process of taking risks that Steve Jobs did take fearlessly in the past and that was indeed the essence of creativity. Now his successors are feeling the pressures because the market is expecting them to copy the great legend. All the top management has to do is to trust their judgment and take bold decisions. The creative thinking and innovation should be carried out and the mistakes can be rectified along the way. The humans make errors and so did the great Jobs in his time. The management is trying to hide out in fear of making an error and all along making a big one because presently Apple is dying and this company can only be revitalized with the help of new and innovative products (Cefis & Marsili 2005). The Jobs’ company cannot die and fail like this because it is the time to follow his own slogan let’s make it possible. The company is bleeding out its essential and creative human capital. The management must think to retain its employees. The management is not going to call the shots but they are going to play the role of enabler and facilitator and let the people do the trick. That is how it worked in the period of Jobs and why the new management is so motivated and committed to change all of this in response to the mere fact that the founder is dead (Bessant & Caffyn 1997). His way of doing things was unique because he was a poorly educated man and therefore, he was damn original. He learned everything by doing and experience and because of this reason, he introduced the world with the whole new idea of business management and when the rest of the world is thriving on his way of doing business, his own dear company is looking to establish a clear chain of command. The existing top management of the company is way out of its line because they are trying to understand how the organization works and they are wasting time in audits and analyzing the figures, when they are indeed losing employees and market-share as well. 2.3 Current situation at Apple Meanwhile, they are attempting to lollypop the customers with old products in a new packing. After the death of Jobs, the company has failed to create and supply any new product to the market and therefore, the clientele of the company is withering away. The Samsung is gaining on the lead with the help of its Galaxy series (Kim & Kim 2012). The short setback was expected by the market analysts as they were aware of the fact that the iPhone maker will take some time before recovering from the loss of its beloved CEO (Badelt & Weiss 1990). But no one has ever thought that the company will go on with the plan to restructure itself in order to gain more control on the assets. The Apple as a company always operated in the form of a loosely coupled organization and it let the company to innovate more rapidly (Baker & Hart 2007). 3.0 Findings The key findings of the study are as follows: - The top management is responsible for providing the company with a vision that will define the company’s core areas of business and expertise The Apple as a company has been repeatedly defined as an innovative body The death of Steve Jobs resulted in a significant and powerful jolt for the company and it is apparently unable to get out of the challenge in the present The idea of innovation is defined as rearranging existing factors and create a new product The rearrangement of factors take place when people are allowed to think and thinking only takes place in the relaxed environment that Jobs provided in the past The era of Steve Jobs considered humans as the most important asset of the company and therefore, they were treated as such in his time The current management system of the company is exhibiting early signs of becoming a command and control mechanism that is known as an enemy of innovation for centuries No doubt the company is failing to respond to the changing market needs as it is working towards becoming a company where everything should be registered that is indeed making the competitors lead the show in the marketplace of technology 4.0 What should be done: Recommendations and Suggestions The company’s history is a witness to Jobs’ distastefulness about corporate uniforms and he attended the most prestigious events of his life in well pressed pair of jeans. The loosely organized Apple innovated because people were motivated to get relaxed in the office and that jolted their creativity. Jobs deliberately kept things simple and cozy because he himself was an outsider and could not fit with rigidity of corporate culture. His successors have already lost significant amount of workforce because people are getting more and more worried as they had been pushed to report to the office in time. The Jobs’ feeling is going away and the people who worked at Apple because of its fun are already left or leaving. The companies such as Google, Yahoo and even Microsoft are attracting former employees of Apple and they are trying very hard to imitate the working conditions of Apple, when its CEO was around. The existing management of Apple must remain vigilant to the fact that what made Apple a lead in the modern industry of technology in the past and they are most probably running away from it because they cannot manage it properly. If they cannot do that then, the board should think of hiring somebody who can because it is only matter of time that the company will fall apart. The strategic leadership must learn not to take the spotlight in the modern science of management and they are supposed to acknowledge others’ contributions and efforts. They should make it appear that people did all the work by themselves. The traditional Apple’s way must be followed because these people worked with the greatest mind in the business world and therefore, they are going to find a piece of him in their leader whatsoever. The secret of success for the Apple exists in keeping the practices like the way they were in the Jobs’ supervision and if something is needed to be changed than, the people should be taken into confidence first. The prevalent feeling in the company is believed to be saying that “we are losing the part of Jobs in the Apple and it is not going to be the same without him” and this very belief is going to be strengthened as more and more changes keep popping up. The innovation’s way is currently blocked in the company because the management is not so forthcoming in terms of clarifying people about their roles and responsibilities. The employees are no longer capable of relating their jobs with overall strategic plan of the company and additionally, they are not being allowed to let their creative juices flow freely in the organization. The issue of mismanagement of information is also growing because rumors are quite significantly prevalent in the organizational layers right now. The top management in any kind of industry is accountable and responsible for providing the lower staff with a vision and every manager is going to do that but the question remains that whether or not the employees are going to buy that. The Apple is in suffering because the existing management is attempting to sell a vision that is totally contradictory with that of Jobs’ and the people are puzzled and confused because what they want to do is not permissible while what they are asked to do is very difficult. The problem exists with the absence of any proper change management initiative that will have provided information about the change and why it is necessary to implement in the long run prospective. The management is at fault because it is making the employees suffer for its own inadequacies. The current top management of the company is killing the elementary soul of Apple in order to making it more manageable and they are not awake to the fact that people are viewing dying innovation as the symptom of losing the taste and vision of Jobs that he sold to them for years. The management have to quit their jobs in order to give anybody else an opportunity to steer the sinking ship of the Apple or change their vision to support innovativeness that is going on in the company for decades. 5.0 Conclusion This paper has reviewed and analyzed the performance of Apple after the demise of Steve Jobs who was the founder of the company and found the company is not able to get out of the setback that was caused by the abovementioned catastrophe. The innovation remained a defining attribute of Apple for past numbers of decades and the vision of Jobs was particularly based on jolting creativity in employees. The legendary person Steve Jobs was committed to his organization because he founded it from the scratch but the current management is looking to find an easy way out of the problems because they have families and friends and therefore, they are not ready to sleep in the hallways as Steve did in his time. The lack of commitment towards excellence is causing the company to create a failed product over another and this chain of failures will continue if the management does not attach itself with an image of innovation and newness that can only come with the following of organic and flat organizational setup with informal culture. References Abdelgawad, S., Zahra, S., Svejenova, S., & Sapienza, H. 2013. Strategic Leadership and Entrepreneurial Capability for Game Change. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies Vol 20 no 4 . Adamsa, R., Almeidab, H., & Ferreirac, D. 2009. Understanding the relationship between founder–CEOs and firm performance. 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Young, J., & Simon, W. 2005. iCon Steve Jobs The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business John Wiley and Sons, New York. Read More