Leading as the Management Process - Essay Example

Apple is considered the most triumphant organization in today’s world and it was founded by Steve Jobs who was the CEO and chairman of the Apple computers incorporation. The company started its operations back in the year 1970 and people have known it as a company that brings leadership and innovation by introducing creative products like iPod, Mac, and many other products. (You, 2008)

Steve Jobs was a charismatic leader and he incorporated the concepts like mission, mentor, and mirror. The mission statement of the organization was carefully designed. The mentors for each target group in the apple corporation are chosen wisely and actions were confronted and evaluated at a later stage for their success and failure all these are part of the leading function throughout the Apple Corporation. It was the charismatic leadership of Steve Jobs in the Apple corporation that help in establishing a following base of employees by setting goals, providing directions, setting deadlines, and distributing the tasks to the teams. The teams are highly motivated due to leading strategy followed throughout the organization so that the outcome increases positively. (Williams, 2007)

The success of the Apple Corporation is not due to its products rather due to its leading function, business design, and the business philosophy that motivates the customers to buy its products. The leadership at Apple has incorporated concepts like determination, vision, and guts as the core values in its business model. The business model or the plan created at the Apple Corporation is crystal clear without any flaws, the goals defined and the tasks allocated so there are no barriers in its execution.

The companies which focus on just marketing-driven strategies instead of the design of organization and the implementation of leading function constantly face failures in the market. Some of the example companies are Dell, Samsung, HP, Nokia, and Motorola. 

They should change the design and strategy and should try to communicate with customers and stakeholders more and create enthusiasm and motivation in them before they need to shut down more plants and downsize more employees. If these firms do not realize the importance of leadership and keep focused on managing only they would constantly get beaten up at the stock exchange and the result would be that they need to shut down. (McKee, 2009)

Apple is known for the initiation of the strong culture in its organization and contribution towards internal as well as the external community which is a by-product of the effective leadership style only. The employees are motivated on a daily basis and they take inspiration from their visionary leader Steve Jobs and the result is mind-blowing innovative visions, the visions at the Apple Corporation are also considered charismatic and powerful. Steve jobs have effectively established him as the strategic leader and lead the corporation very well. The style of leadership adopted and followed throughout the organization is disciplinary and centralized. And this has established the mechanistic type of organization. It was the leading style of management that has helped Apple to move from the state of bankruptcy to the highly profitable high technology sector. The marketing-driven product-based strategy is the core strategy of the Apple Corporation. (Sreekumar, 2010)

The Apple organization is evaluated on the points given by John Kotter in his book “Leading Change”. The example of the establishing of sense of urgency in the leading change is that the corporate excesses subsist and Steve Jobs thoroughly and critically evaluates the market. The board of director’s at the Apple incorporation share the same point of view as that of Steve jobs so that all team is streamlined and work towards the achievement of same goals and objectives. This objective sharing is an example of forming a strong, powerful, and effective guiding combination. The renewal of the brand Apple and its diversified portfolio of strategic business units, innovative and market-driven marketing strategies throughout the organization to achieve perfection defines the creation as well as dissemination of vision organization-wide.

The improved flow of communication within departments and across departments is also an example of effective implementation of the leading function of management in the Apple organization. All departments cooperate and coordinate and work as simple units. The clear floating of vision encourages staff to perform accordingly. Apple Corporation learns from the past and improves the quality with the passage of time, the customer base is increased and the new products are added to a business portfolio due to effective short-term and long-term planning. All the tasks are result-oriented and they are monitored till effective implementation. The improvements are noticed over the period of time and this leading function brings change over the period of time. It is due to effective leadership at apple incorporation that apple has changed from Apple computers to Apple Incorporation. (Kotter, 1995)

So, all in all, the leading function is critically important for the organization as the success and the expansion of the organization are hugely dependent on it. It is due to the leading function that the organization is able to create innovation in its organizational procedures and locate the best people to work for your organization in their best manner.