The Current Human Resource Practices Used by Apple Inc - Essay Example

Apple Inc- HRM Practices Executive Summary Apple Inc is considered as one of the most renowned brands in terms of Smartphone. It offers wide range of products including personal computers, peripherals, mobile phones, and portable music devices. The introduction of iPhone 6 plus considered as the biggest expansion in the history of iPhone. The target markets of Apple Inc are the middle upper class business people and the students of college, university, and high school. The current human resource practices used by Apple Inc includes highly selective employment process to hire the best people who fit in a good way to the culture of organization, equal opportunity and diversity to all the employees within the company, compensation and benefit package, Apple members program to identify the best human resources who had done outstanding contributions, opportunity to the employees to labor with talented and experienced people, and employability security practices. It is recommended that Apple should adopt more flexible human resource practices to achieve success. The company should ensure proper communication between the top management and the employees to help the workforce to better understand the strategies of organization. Reward structure should be revised to provide equal benefit to all the staffs. Change in the organizational structure is required along with adoption of strategic global human resource management strategy. Apple Inc should also consider offering a career growth plan to their employees. These recommendations will enhance both organizational and employee success because the suggested strategies will help in the growth of workforce as well as aid the company to stay profitable in their respective field. Good culture of organization will prosper the growth of the company. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Target Segment 3 SWOT Analysis 4 Current Human Resource Management Practices 5 Recruitment 5 Equal opportunity and diversity 5 Compensation and benefit 5 Recognition and appreciation 6 Career opportunity 6 Employability security 6 Effectiveness of HRM Practices 6 Recommended Human Resource Strategies 7 Proper communication 7 Ownership 7 Reward structure 7 Change of organizational structure 7 Strategic global human resource management strategy 8 Offer staff a career growth plan 8 Impact of Human Resource Strategies 8 Success of Plan 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction Apple Inc was founded in the year 1976 by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs who desired computers to be user-friendly for all people. It is regarded as one of the most accepted brands in terms of Smartphone. They are best recognized for their line of Macintosh laptop i.e. Mac OS X, iPod music player, iTunes media application and extremely reliable user-base (Terrell, 2008). Apple Inc has 284 retail sites spanning ten diverse countries. In 2007, the introduction of Apple iPhone revolutionise the Smartphone market across the world. It had launched the 3G iPhone in the year 2008 and had not snapped up initial release of its phone a year ago (Egan, 2014). Apple Inc offers wide range of products including personal computers, peripherals, mobile phones, and portable music devices, etc. The company has adopted the marketing campaign to advertise its handset through several advertising method which indicates the simplicity of use of product as well as disclose that how the utilization of iPhone could improve the life of people in an easy way. The Company gives emphasis mainly on how internet can be easily used on the Smartphone (Brooks et al, 2010). Apple also releases iPhone 6 plus which is considered as the biggest expansion in the history of iPhone, featuring new models and also packed with inventive technologies (Apple, 2015). It becomes the biggest company in the history of US as the stock of the company reaches up to $623 billion in 2012 (Dailymail, 2012). The objective of this report is to carry out the SWOT analysis and to discuss the prevailing Human Resource Management (HRM) practices of Apple Inc. Further, recommendations of major human resource strategies will be provided along with its impact on the success of the company. Target Segment The company has formed a distinctive status in the area of consumer electronics. Those who have experience of the Apple products became a loyal customer whereas those who do not the products of Apple frequently criticize them for their high price. However, by offering best products with superior quality it has maintained its status of premium product (Dailymail, 2012). The target market of Apple Inc were the middle upper class business people who lead a high lifestyle and thus they require a personal digital help device, in order to communicated with their colleagues and co-ordinate their hectic schedules. Other target segments are the students of college, university, and high school (Egan, 2014). SWOT Analysis The opportunities and challenges which are faced by Apple Inc will be explained through SWOT (strength, opportunities, weakness, and threats) analysis. The internal analysis focuses on the weaknesses and strengths and the external analysis identifies the threats and opportunities of an organization. Once the analysis is done, it assists the company in recognizing how it can attain its objectives as well as what barriers should be overcome to achieve the desired results (Ferrell and Hartline, 2010). The SWOT analysis of Apple Inc is discussed below: Strengths: Apple Inc is the top innovator in the technology related to mobile device. The loyalty of customer combined with growing closed ecosystem is one of the strengths of company. Other strengths include the large number of retail stores accompanied with well-built financial performance which result in brand reputation. The strong advertising and marketing teams also contribute to the strength of Apple Inc (Atif, 2013). Weaknesses: The incompatibility with dissimilar operating system is regarded as the weakness of Apple Inc. The high price of the product in comparison to their competitor, sometimes also turns against the company. Recently, there occur a bending issue with Apple iPhone 6 Plus which resulted in decreasing market share and the decline in the gross margin. Further modification in the management is also considered as the weakness of the company (Atif, 2013). Opportunities: Growing demand of iPhone 5 and iPad mini and the launch of iTV emerged as an opportunity for Apple Inc in terms of growing their market share. The growth of Smartphone markets and the tablet indicates that they became capable in attracting huge customer base. The company has also growing demand for the services which are cloud based. Apple has opportunity in terms of obtaining patents by acquisition (Atif, 2013). Threats: Rapid change in the technologies is the major threat for Apple Inc. The increase in the tax rate of 2013 also emerged as one of the threats for this company. The strong dollar and the pressure of price from Samsung over their main components is another challenge for them. Moreover, breached intellectual property rights are also a threat for Apple Inc (Atif, 2013). Current Human Resource Management Practices In developing a premeditated perspective, an in-depth knowledge requires to be obtained of the connection between the environment of organization and its human resource strategy. Therefore, the human resource professionals must have knowledge of the human resource management practice in term of the aspects of people. Prevailing human resource management practices of Apple Inc has been discussed below: Recruitment Apple employs people with the computer based proficiency. Highly selective employment process was considered to hire the best people who fit in a good way to the culture of organization despite of their skills. Organizational appropriateness is more preferred than job appropriateness. At Apple Inc, selection and recruitment process is regarded as a short process, where organizational suitability of the prospective employees is determined through verbal interview (Pferrer & Veiga, 1999). Equal opportunity and diversity The employees of Apple are from different background. It gives equal opportunity to all the employees and also promotes diversity within the company. Diversified labor force is the positive feature of the corporate culture of Apple. Compensation and benefit The benefits and compensation package of Apple Inc are extremely competitive as they offer several benefits to their employees. Benefit package are dissimilar for different employees depending on the location as well as employment status. The general benefits include flexible payments accounts, insurance coverage, an investment and saving plan, and a staff stock purchase plan. Product discounts, opportunity to labor on big assignments with experienced players and on site health centre are added bonuses in the company. Compensation and salary reviews include vacation time, year-end bonuses, and other reimbursements. Apple Inc also provides the Flex Benefits plan to their workforce where they can select benefits that fit them best (Gupta & Arvind 1993). Recognition and appreciation The company has formed the Apple members program to identify the best human resources who had done outstanding contributions to the personal computing. Each member of Apple acted as a manager and visionary directed the business in their respective area of proficiency. Apple is recognized for appreciating as well as giving value to their employees. It is regarded as a best place to do a job for those who are obsessive about innovation (Gupta & Arvind, 1993). Career opportunity Various opportunities are provided to the workforce to gather proficiencies with the company. Opportunities for development and training include on-the-job guidance and internship. Internship with this company offers the actual learning experiences which led to potential careers in different fields (Pferrer & Veiga, 1999). Employability security Apple Inc has no communal obligation between its workforce and the company; therefore the employees can go for the better prospect if it comes all along. The company is always impenitent about the layoffs and therefore made it understandable that they believed in the employability security despite of the employment security. The security of employability signifies that a staff after functioning with Apple would be trained enough to become attractive to another manager if laid off. Effectiveness of HRM Practices The human resource management practices which are applied by Apple Inc is very effective as it gives equal opportunity to all the workforce and also provides several benefits plan where the employees can select benefits that fits them best. Apple values the effort of their employees and provides them the benefits package and bonuses accordingly. The reward policy does not depend on the team performance; rather it is based on individual effort and individual performance. However, there are also some loopholes in the human resource practices of Apple. The employees of lower level do not get pay rise or bonuses. Even they do not encompass the stock option despite the fact that they work sixty hours every week. Moreover, the company is having hierarchical organizational structure. The management of Apple must focus on this issue. It is an essential task for the HRM department of the company to align the payment arrangements of Apple and broad reward structure with the objectives of business. Recommended Human Resource Strategies Proper communication There should be a proper communication between the top management and the employees. It will help the employees to outline the strategy of organization and then they can work accordingly to achieve the objective. Ownership Ownership is promoted by engaging people in taking their own decisions and therefore making them accountable for implementing exact action. Involvement of employees in the decision making process is very important as it will permit them to give their ideas and suggestions on particular issue. Within the company employees can be engaged through empowerment and ownership (Schuler, 2006). Reward structure Reward structure as well as the performance assessment should be based on the commitment of employees even they are the employees of lower level. It is recommended to offer equal pay rise to all the employees including the lower level staff. So, the company is suggested to pay reward according to the performance of employees irrespective of their status. Change of organizational structure The organizational structure of Apple is hierarchical in nature which means strict supervision and control of higher management. So, a cultural change is required which would transform Apple from an extreme control cultural organization to a mutual cultural company (Schuler, 2006). Strategic global human resource management strategy The managers of Apple Inc could select the best human resources and make use of them throughout the company in the formation of worldwide system. Staffing process of Apple should focus on employing the most competent staff despite the consequences of ethnic group. Offer staff a career growth plan This will permit the workforce to have an enhanced vision of long term of their growing role in the organization. If the staffs contain gaps in the experiences, a career growth plan will permit the staff to understand that the company wants to seal that gap as well as prepare them for the later step (Rudani, 2011). Impact of Human Resource Strategies The positive impact of offering the career growth plan to the employees will be on the organization. It will let the Apple to show their commitment towards developing the talent of their workforce, which will consequently benefit the employees as well as organization. In this way, the staffs don’t feel trapped and without the prospective of growth in the company. The improvement in the reward structure will help to generate a culture within the company where each one will desire to become a part of it. The effective communication between the top management and the employees guarantees that the workforce will stay with the company (Ulrich & Lake, 1991). Success of Plan Good organizational customs will flourish the growth of the company. The development in the workforce potential will help them to perform in the best way for the growth of the company. A good system of performance evaluation will help the company to attract as well as retain the existing employees. A strategic global human resource management strategy will help in the development of the workforce as well as aid the company to stay profitable in their respective field. Conclusion It is apparent that Apple Inc encompasses most of the excellent things which are regarded as the strength for them including their strong management; skilled, leading and committed people resources. Although it is also obvious that the entire corporate culture of the company is not up to date which is described by the lack of connection of organizational strategy and the human resources. So, modification in the culture of Apple is essential and is imminent for the success of long term. Various human resource strategies are recommended for Apple Inc for their development and success. Further, managers of Apple are suggested to set a standard human resource management policy which should aligned with their organizational strategy thereby addressing entire promising matters of human resource management. References Apple. (2015). Apple Announces iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus – The Biggest Advancements in iPhone History. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/09/09Apple-Announces-iPhone-6-iPhone-6-Plus-The-Biggest-Advancements-in-iPhone-History.html. Atif, M. (2013). The complete analysis of Apple Inc and its SWOT analysis. 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