Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource: Apple - Case Study Example

Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Introduction Apple Inc headquartered in California has attracted scholarly interest due to the organizational strategy that has transformed the organization into one of the most successful businesses globally. The organization which in 1997 was on the brink of bankruptcy has been able transform and record profits in the following years due to the production of leading computer software and personal computers that are based on high standards of innovation, prestige and quality. Due to the customer loyalty that Apple has been able to establish over the years therefore driving sales, the company has featured in several occasions as the first among Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies with latest financial results for second quarter ended March 29, 2014 indicating $45.6 billion in revenues and $10.2 billion quarterly net profits (Apple 2014). The following sections presents an analytical business report focused on different levels of organizational behaviour and human resource. The first part explores Apple’s organizational behaviour at the level of individual employee with close attention to employee perception and attitude. Thereafter focus shift to the group level with the analysis of group dynamics within Apple before lastly shifting attention to organizational culture and climate. Employee Attitude and Perception There are two types of fit, which informs the right employee for an organization; Person–organization fit, and Person–job fit. In this case, person–organization fit represents the extent to which a potential employee has the right personality, values and goals among other specific traits that are considered as being in tandem with organizational needs. Person–job fit on the other hand refers to the degree to which the potential employee possesses the required skills, abilities and knowledge suitable for the demands of a job (Lauver and Kristof-Brown 2001). Based on the two types of fit, hiring for Apple does not only take into consideration the skills that an employee has to enable them perform their responsibility in the organization but also looks at the personality of the individual as part of the necessary qualifications potential employees. Gallo (2012) asserts Apple has a hiring policy that makes it possible for the organization to employ someone 10 percent because of their knowledge and the remaining 90 percent based on their personality, but the author adds that potential employees have to be 100 percent fearless. Consequently, Apple seeks to have employees who are friendly, appealing, enthusiastic and who are happy to assist others discover tools that transform their lives. This therefore implies Apple does not hire employees based on their aptitude but on assessment of their attitude (Adams 2012). To indicate the difference between an organization with the right employees to perform specific responsibilities with one which lacks such employees, Gallo (2012) gives an example of the customer service offered by Sears where complains are mainly handled by the machine at the other end while the company also takes long to attend to complains. This indicates lack of proper strategy in ensuring customer satisfaction as delay in attending to customer complain leads to negative attitude towards the organization. The importance of Apple’s approach in picking and creating the right employee attitude and perception is demonstrated in the organization’s preparedness to handle a crisis within the market. Gallo (2012) note while Sears recorded a significant fall in sells of some of their stores due to poor customer service, Apple was recording great success in its businesses. The difference in these two organizations, the author notes is that while Sears was thinking of how best to cut expenses in their customer care service provision, Apple was concerned with having the best employees for existing customer service positions. This is in line with the proclamation of former CEO and founder Steve Job who asserted the kind of people employed within an organization as part of the motivations for a successful organization. Apart from hiring employees who possess the right perception and attitude, Apple has a remuneration strategy that ensures employees are motivated enough to continue giving their best to the organization. As an organization whose pride is in being one of the most innovative and admired company globally (Bloomberg Business Week 2010), Apple aims at attracting the best employees who will add value to the organization by coming in with new ideas. The management has introduced a number of insurance policies and product discounts for employees based on the realization that for the innovative levels to be maintained employee motivation should be high. Therefore, the high incentives given to Apple employees are due to the organizational need to sustain employee creative thinking and sustain innovation (Tidd and Bessant 2009). Group Dynamics Whenever there is a group of people who come together to achieve a given objective, there are always forces operating in the groups. Group dynamics there refers to these forces operating within the groups whether in formal or informal situations. The social situation created when the constituents of a group interact is the concern in the study of group dynamics within an organization. Working groups within an organization offers the managers a platform on which they can coordinate the behaviour of members towards the achievement of set organizational objectives and goals. Group dynamic within Apple involves the creation of teams as opposed to just groups working together. Creation of teams in Apple is based on established understanding among members of the organization based on the experienced gained from working together for many years. Having a team of people who have worked together for many years creates cohesiveness with the overall strength of the team lying on the positive working relationship between members. This is evident in the leadership team that has been assembled in Apple over the years where most of the executives in the organization have been working together for decades since the early days of the organization (Farber 2013). Creation of strong teams that ensures each member contributes to the overall organizational output played an essential role in the Apple’s transition process when the founder and first CEO Steve Job died. There was no leadership vacuum as the organization had already ensured an effective succession and transition when Tim Cook took over. Cook and Job had established a long work relationship that relied on keeping all the organizational aspects running smoothly with Jobs initially taking the position of chairperson before leaving the organization. Cook together with an executive arm that had already acquired adequate experience working with Job have been able to maintain the high performance of the organization even with the death of the team leader. As a team leader within the larger Apple group, Job ensured every member of his teams participated in the overall organizational outcomes by given them opportunities to affect major organizational ideas based on the convergence of the “Top 100.” The Top 100 is a group that meets on a weekly basis to share new ideas which are then passed down to teamwork through the company to ensure Job’ thinking is embedded into many of the Apple’s 46,600 employees (Milian 2011; Lashinsky 2011). This approach by Apple was informed by the realization that the argument that the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” (Forsyth 2010, p. 303) with every member of the groups having a role to play towards the achievement of the final product. Organizational Culture and climate Organizational culture refers to the shared principles, beliefs, assumptions and values whose role is to transform behaviour through enhancement of employee commitment, offering direction and instilling a sense of communal identity within the organization. Organization culture can be perceived through the organization’s behaviour which has taken long to be established and adopt the organization to the business environment. Organizational culture makes it possible to realize the practical aspect of organizational strategy since it becomes institutionalized as employee constantly perform specific patterns of successful behavior (Alston 2013). Exploring the organizational culture of Apple should begin at the foundation established by Jobs in the early years of his leadership where he set to transform an organization that was on the verge of bankruptcy to one that would later be feted as the most innovative globally (Guglielmo 2012; Stone, B., 2011). The importance of having a leader who is able to set visions for how the organization will operate in future can be demonstrated by the approach taken by Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs, as a strategic leader for Apple is an appropriate example in the area of creativity and innovation (Ireland 2008). He was able to position Apple to seize future markets through the firm’s strategy, which was based on insights into external opportunities. Steve Jobs recognized that Apple had a limited client base in the personal computing market. Nevertheless, Jobs maintained that the company was undertaking a long-term strategy that would see it operate beyond personal computer industry. Further, Steve Jobs claimed that he was waiting for the next big thing that was going to revolutionize the computer industry forever. Steve Jobs’ ability to envision future technological needs saw him introduce game changing innovations such as the iPod and iPhone. Therefore, Jobs in the industry where seizing opportunities would dictate the difference between market leaders and those that only relies on consuming available technologies because of his adept ability to recognize and initiate new trends (Wooten 2010). It is these beliefs held by Jobs that provided the ground for the adoption of a culture of innovation in Apple. Innovation for Apple implies having employees who are able to perceive a vision of great products that will transform people’s lives due to their unique features. To make this possible, Apple has established a scheme for rewarding employees who demonstrate great initiative through creativity and risk taking. This strategy where the challenge to come up with an innovative idea is cultural aspect of the organization as employees are constantly pondering about the next item of creativity (Fortune 2008). Organization climate is a theory on human motivation that refers to measurable aspects of the workplace environment that is directly or indirectly experienced by employees that motivates and controls their behaviour. Organizational climate is therefore a sum total of the way functions are carried out within the organization therefore representing the employee’s perception about the organization (Holloway 2012; Schneider, Ehrhart and Macey 2013). Organizational culture and organizational climate are interlinked where for instance Apple seeks to motivate the employees to perform to their highest potential through rewarding those who produce creative ideas that contribute to maintenance of the innovative organizational culture. The challenging working environment within Apple provides an organizational climate where employees are motivated to meet the stands set for Apple products therefore ensuring the organization maintains a high level of productivity. Conclusion The foregoing report has provided a critical analysis of the organizational behavior and human resource Apple based on individual employee, group and organizational levels. It has been determined that Apple creates the right employee attitude and perceptions about their responsibilities from the time of recruitment where emphasis is put on having the relevant personality that will translate into the kind of productivity needed in the organization. On group dynamics, Apple has created a business environment that relies on teamwork as the basis of innovative ideas where information trickles from the highest executive level to every employee in the organization. Organization culture for Apple encompasses activities aimed at making the future of the organization reliant on production of innovative products. The Apple strives to distinguish itself from organizations that consume existing technology and innovation and emerge as one that generates new ideas. 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