Steve Jobs Success at Apple - Assignment Example

As a transformational leader, Steve Jobs was characterized by the following attributes.

Steve Jobs was focused on what he wanted the company to achieve and the way to achieve the same. For example, when he became the Apple CEO, the company started manufacturing an unsystematic assortment of computers and peripherals. However, through his leadership, Jobs cut down the production of a myriad of products and instead urged his team to focus on making only four computers, and this was a success (Emerald, 2002).

As a transformational leader, Steve Jobs took his responsibility from end to end. In particular, he not only created a new vision for the company but was also involved in institutionalizing the change (Eisenbach, Watson & Pillai, 1999). He knew that in order to gain simplicity in Apple devices was to ensure seamless integration of the hardware, software, and other peripheral parts (Isaacson, 2012). Consequently, he was involved in fulfilling this in the Apple products that were produced.

In a nutshell, Steve Jobs provided a clear responsibility and priorities with extensive communication and freedom to improvise. He experimented with ideas and also linked his projects to the future with predictable intervals (McKnight, 2013).

Steve Jobs’ responsibilities in the change process

Steve Jobs was able to change the culture of Apple from being quantity-focused to quality-focused. In particular, he was able to create a small manageable product portfolio that ended up attracting huge revenues for the company.

Apple’s organizational change in accordance with Lewin’s (1959) model of change

Unfreeze

In the first place, he recognized the need for change in the way things were done at Apple. The recognition came from the fact that Apple was having declining sales figures and posting poor financial results. Consequently, he provided a vision of the company’s future about the need to turn things around and make Apple profitable (Schein, 1996).

Change

Upon communication of his vision for the company, Jobs began seeking solutions from members who agreed on reducing the company’s product portfolio and concentrating on improving the quality of the remaining products. The reduction is also meant to lay off workers to manageable levels (Isaacson, 2012). The change implementation involved a loss of jobs to over 3,000 workers. Essential in this stage are communication and timing.

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Once the changes occurred, Jobs began a restructuring process and reinforcement of his vision. This included pushing the employees to produce products that were almost to perfection. He also embraced an innovative culture whereby the employees were free to share ideas and come up with plausible ideas that could be implemented by the company (Emerald, 2002).