Apple Incs Organizational Culture and Its Effectiveness - Case Study Example

Apple Inc’s Organizational culture and its effectiveness Name Course Tutor Date Critically discuss how culture is expressed in your organization and how this expression helps or hinders your organization’s effectiveness. Introduction In the current world, corporations are grappling with change blowing in this postindustrial era. The change is taking place in terms of information and technology and business models; therefore companies must be update to date with the change (Gray, 2004). This is because change creates new opportunities to the organization. Managers are forced to change business strategy every time in order to compete favorable. Gray (2004) argues that many companies have found out building new branches in other country are one of the effective ways to target customers globally. With growingly communication and connection, various cultural backgrounds become a notable key issue to be addressed by managers. Even though it is true that changing business strategy help the organization to gain competitive advantage, sometimes managers fail to understand that change in the business strategy affects employees in relation to organizational culture (Robbins & Coulter, 2007, p.101). Once the organizational culture is affected, performance will also be affected. In a nutshell, there is a relationship between organizational culture and performance or effectiveness. This essay will define what organizational culture is and discuss critically how culture is can be expressed in Apple Inc. and how this expression helps or hinders the effectiveness of an organization. Organizational Culture Ravasi and Schultz (2006, p.434) define organizational culture as the set of common mental assumptions which guide action and interpretation in an organization by describing proper behavior for different circumstances. Organizational culture means way of life in an organization. Culture may be altered and manipulated based on leadership and employees. Generally an organization plans a cultural reform through a strategized way of intentional, goal-based transformations. The purposeful attempt by managers or employees to enhance the teams function, the entire organization or department is referred to as programmed organizational change (Rainey, 2003). Organizational and economic development is two strategies an organization use to make change to their own culture. Culture proves that employees conduct can be an asset to any organization which needs to be managed properly. Different theorists such as Charles Handy, Geert Hofstede, Goffee and Edgar Schein amongst others have contributed to the topic of organizational which today shape Apple Inc. Apple Inc’s Organizational culture and its effectiveness Apple Inc was formed in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak (Apple Inc. 2013). While many thought the company would operate in a more traditional corporate culture witnessed in those years, the management drifted to more unique ways in managing that organization. The corporation operated derived from an informal corporate culture in the technology sector in which it preferred an apparently flat organizational informal structure as opposed to a tall structure (Apple Inc. 2013). This form of organizational structure is effective in relation to empowerment and innovation because its policies are quicker and easier to adopt. Apple’s organizational culture is evidenced from their values and behaviors of its employees which acts is a valuable foundation of company’s competitive advantage because it shapes organizational policies and unifies organizational capabilities. Daniel Denison with his model implicitly explains that consistency culture, involvement culture, adaptability culture and mission culture are related to organizational effectiveness (Denison, Haaland & Goelzer, 2004, p.99). These cultural attributes are fundamental to human resource management practices and are of opinion that managers and employees gain from the knowing of organizational culture as a background factor. Apple borrows some of the Denison cultural dimension to manage its operations. Denison believes that organizations have the tendency of being effective when their culture is “strong” and are very consistent, well integrated and well-coordinated (Denison, Haaland & Goelzer, 2004, p.104). Culture at Apple Inc. has been very consistent form its establishment to ensure that the objectives of the company is achieved. This form of consistency is also act a strong foundation of internal integration and stability for that company (Avoli et al, 2004, p.814). Involvement as attributes of organizational supports effective organizations in that they empower employees by build the organization revolving around teams and build human capability every level of the organization (Denison, Haaland & Goelzer, 2004, p.102). Even though Denison roots for this dimension, Apple favors individualistic approach which affects its work rate very much. This aspect claims that executives and employees are devoted to their duties because they feel they own a part of their organization. Employees at every level feel they have some contributions of decisions which will influence their work and their duties are directly related to the objectives of their organization (Gray, 2004). Adaptable organization is propelled by their clientele, learn from their past faults, take risk and have the ability and experience to transform (Denison, Haaland, & Goelzer, 2004, p.107). Apple is an example of the companies that are well adapted to its informal structure and culture which make its employees related and are able to deliver quality products. They are constantly transforming their system in order to improve the organizations’ collective capabilities to offer value for their clientele (Avoli et al 2004, p. 805). Denison considers that successful organization have a clear direction and mission that describes the goals and strategic plans and articulates a vision of the organization outlook in future (Denison, Haaland & Goelzer, 2004, p.103). He argues that when an organization’s leadership changes fundamental mission, changes also will also take place in other elements of the organizational culture. This realization has made Apple company stick to its mission which is commitment to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, creative professionals, educators, and consumers across the world (Apple Inc, 2013). Charles Handy postulated that organizational structure can influence organizational culture. In his theory he mentioned four forms of culture that are entrenched in the organizational that influence the effectiveness of an organization, they are power culture, role culture, task culture and person culture (House.et.al, 2004). In an organization where power is concentrated in a central figure of a few individuals the resulting decision is normally not received well by the employees who feel their opinions are not valued. Even though this culture seems not to be effective it has work well in Apple Inc. where everything revolved around Steve Job before his demise. This form culture can greatly affected when an individual that was looked at decides to leave the company or dies. Handy thinks that organizations that operate on role culture power are passed on within an extremely defined arrangement. House.et.al (2004) postulates that this kind of organization creates hierarchical bureaucracies in which power is derived from the individual position and hardly ever from a professional power. In this culture dimension , an organization work as the powerful ‘pillars’, where personal values have little significance, but the positions have central roles (House.et.al, 2004). Apple Inc. are engaged a degree of secrecy as individual views were not allowed at every levels and there are faults in communication too (Smith, 2003, p.252). When analyzed from a human resource outlook, this proved can affect product development at different levels. From a perspective product development, this is much more challenging and demanding quality of vital importance. In several occasions the pillars are managed by the position, also responsibilities and job prerequisites are more critical than personal performance. This kind of arrangement will automatically hinder the effectiveness because expert opinion is never given a chance by the leadership (House.et.al, 2004). He also advocates that some organization have the culture of forming terms to solve a certain problem. Power is originates from a team which have expertise to perform against a certain task. This culture employs a small team strategy, where individuals are greatly skilled and focus on their personal area of capability (House.et.al, 2004). Furthermore, these cultures frequently characterize the several reporting lines observed in a matrix structure that Apple uses. However reports at Apple Company indicate that with this form culture it be hard to attain economies of scale (Smith, 200, p.250). In current rapidly changing digital world, numerous organizations as well as Apple Inc has embraced this form of operation. Multinational IT firms are implementing this culture since they are enthusiastic regarding the objective and tasks of their organizations. This is seen with Apple Inc adopting a task driven and innovative culture and similarly the company has a strict deadlines and very powerful work ethics. John (2010) state that the best case is where the employees work for 60 to 70 hours as opposed to 48 hours per week. In this way, this company is embarking Handy’s task based organizational culture; in which Handy explain that organizations are highly task based and less formal. In his study Handy found out that some companies uses person culture in their operations. In this form of culture individuals consider themselves greater than the company. House.et.al (2004) argues that it could be very hard for these categories organizations to carry on this way, because the concept suggests only like-minded individuals will pursue organizational objectives. However, when that person is a professional and insist on quality he or she can attract several customers to the company. To some extent Apple used this style where Steve Jobs was the central personality and millions of people were familiar with him (Smith, 2003, p.261). Though he did not consider himself as superior than the company, people did; and through his effective leadership, he made the Apple Inc. to be like a cult (John, 2010). Another theorist that has made a mark in the topic of organizational culture and its relations to organizational effectiveness is Geert Hofstede. Hofstede also found out four organizational culture dimensions that contribute to work place differences (Robbins & Judge, 2008, p.253). These consist of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism and masculinity. In power distance there is total dependence on the organization management; the subordinates have to obey their superiors (Hofstede, 1991). In this culture, communication flow in top to down platform. It is observed in militaries, currently, most organizations are attempting to lessen power distance and making their greatest endeavors to bring fairness in these organizations. Apple had this form of culture within its management and this affected their overall performance to some extend (John, 2010). As Hofstede associated the organizational culture and national culture, uncertainty avoidance means the unforeseen cases that employee an organization or the general society feels they may experience (Hofstede, 1991). John (2010) stated that Apple Inc has had this issue where a degree of secrecy that is expected to be maintained amongst employees. This secrecy may be happening but the employees do not know. With individuality, employees are expected to take care of themselves and think for themselves. This does not mean that they are not allowed to consult, but to remain true to themselves and run their shows. Due to that, Apple Inc normally looks for the best talents who are independent of ideas (John, 2010). This culture promotes a situation where employees can take responsibilities as individuals. This brings a shared belief in employees that Apple Company usually seeks for achievement as opposed to building relationships (John, 2010). Employees that are self-driven do not have time to waste but believe in performance; this is because they believe they own the company. Another culture Hofstede discovered in his research is masculinity. It means the gender disparity in organizational culture, in different societies the value of women is not varied from the men’s but in other societies it differs (Hofstede, 1991). This is also happens in different organization. Even though Apple prefers only to employ men rather than men it doesn’t affect the performance. The key concern is that the company looks down upon the women’s talent. Schein on his involvement on topic of organizational culture argued that culture is collection of deep-seated tacit assumptions regarding the manner society relate to people, their thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and behavior (Schein 1992 p.9). This also happens in human organization like Apple Inc. Schein designed model which identified three unique levels in organizational culture consisting of behaviors and artifacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions (Shein, 1992, p.9). These three levels were meant to demonstrate the extent to which different cultural experiences are visible to the onlooker. Artifacts comprises of any tangible, overt identifiable elements in the organization. Robbins & Judge (2008, p.256) claim that organizational culture identifies artifacts in the perspective of the dress code, architecture, furniture, office jokes. At apple the dress code is actually casual which creates a relaxed efficient working environment making their employees productive. Espoused values demonstrate the stated values in an organization. It is depicts how the employees represent their organization at an individual level to other members of the society (Schein 1992 p.9). Steve Jobs always had apple product whenever he went to various conference and forums (John, B. 2010). Conclusion A well defined organizational culture emerges as an integral element in the performance of any organization, as without it, no organization will survive. Apple currently relies mostly on individualistic dimension of culture; which has its demerits in terms of team work. It can be recommended that Apple Inc. do away with their individualistic operational strategy to an inclusive team work which can produce a high work rate. Apple Inc. management should also realize organizational culture, leadership, structure and shapes the manner in which the company operates, therefore Apple Inc must change corporate culture that is dysfunctional and suggests change that which will enable the corporation to remain competitive in the modern era. References Apple Inc. (2013). Mission statement. Retrieved 12th August 2013 from http://www.apple.com/about/ Avoli, B.J., et al. (2004). Unlock the mask: a look at the process by which authentic leaders impact follower attitudes and behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 15, 801-823.. Denison, R., Haaland, S. & Goelzer, P. (2004). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness: Is Asia Different from the Rest of the World? Organizational Dynamics, pp. 98–109. Gray, D. (2004). Processes of learning for the global age. In D. Gary, S. Cundell, D, Hay & J O’Neill (Eds.), Learning through the workplace: A guide to work-based learning. UK: Nelson Thornes Ltd. House.et.al. (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations. The Globe Study of 62 Societies. United Kingdom: Sage Publications. Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. London: McGraw-Hill Professional. John, B. (2010). What its like to work at Apple. Retrieved 12th August 2013 from http://www.cultofmac.com/49808/what-its-like-to-work-at-apple/ Rainey, H. (2003). Understanding and managing public organizations (3rd ed.). San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass. Ravasi, D., & Schultz, M. (2006). Responding to organizational identity threats: exploring the role of organizational culture. Academy of Management Journal. Vol.49, No.3, pp. 433–458 Robbins, S.P., & Coulter, M. (2007). Organizational culture and environment: The constraints. In Management, 9th ed.,. New Jersey: Pearson International Edition. Shein, E. (1992). Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. p. 9. Smith, M.E. (2003). Changing an organization’s culture: Correlates of success and failure. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(5), 249-261. Read More