Apple Incorporation - Strategies for Human Resource Management - Essay Example

Apple Incorporation- Strategies for Human Resource Management Apple Incorporation- Introduction Apple is probably the most well-known firm which has been developing cutting edge technology and products that everyone desires to possess. Apple incorporation was established in the year 1976 in Cupertino, in California, when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak released Apple 1. It was then incorporated on January 3 1977. Apple computer incorporation was renamed into Apple Incorporation in 2007 after its expansion in consumer electronic products. They still kept their focus on manufacturing personal computers. From its establishment till date there is no looking back for Apple Incorporation. They continuously stayed at the top of the race due to their innovation and rapidly developing technological products. Apple is a recognizable brand worldwide. There are many reasons behind its success from its innovative technology to the memorable services that the firm provides to their customers. They bring technologies that are one of their kinds in the software and hardware market. Their products are what everyone desires to own in order to create easiness in their lives [The13]. Apple Incorporation, designs and markets commercial servers, electronics, software, phones and computers. The famous hardware products of apple are: iPod iPod iPhone Macintosh computers. The software created by apple includes: IOS (a mobile operating system) iTunes iWork (productivity software) Final Cut Studio (film industry and audio software products) Logic studio (tools for producing music) Mac OS X operating system[Anj11] Apple incorporated innovational behavior for nurturing new talent in their organization and to develop a corporate structure within the organization. The main focus of Apple Incorporation has been to bring forward the skilled and talented employees of their organization and to motivate the weaker ones. Apple, the leading brand name in the gadgets industry, has transformed the employer-employee relation to passion-for-duty attitude. The manufactures of hand held gadgets basically focuses more on the technology of the gadget than its design. Apple changed this trend by introducing gadget with attractive and crafted designs. The capabilities of its gadget and its unique and beautiful design have fulfilled the technological as well as social needs of its customers. This has created an immense market of buyer for the firm. Reason for studying Apple Incorporation from Human Resource Perspective Apple Incorporation is the leading firm in the electronic industry. They continuously come up with new and innovative technologies due to which the standard of technology in electronics is updated. Apple Incorporation is at the crest of success because it has been able to gain customer’s loyalty. Their products are considered as a status symbol. Their services are what they are praised about. They own a brand which is an inspiration for other electronic and computer companies. This has been the outcomes of the efforts of its CEO Steve Jobs. Apple stands on the seventh cloud due to the combined efforts of the employees working at Apple Incorporation. Apple has the strategy of placing the right person for the right job. The company believes that if this strategy is established perfectly, half the work is already done. This can be one of the reasons behind Apple’s success. The need behind studying Apple Incorporation from human resource perspective is because their strategies have been a success in establishing their name in the electronic industry. The pre and post services given to the customers by the staff of Apple are commendable. Customers are impressed by gracious hospitality of the employees working at Apple Incorporation. Their employees know their respective roles. Leaders at Apple Incorporation spend their time thinking that which employee is suitable for which job. All this is because of the excellent human resource management present at Apple, which knows the worth of its human capital and is effectively utilizing it as well. Apple Incorporation has an effective human resource management system. The steps of human resource management i.e. staffing, employee equity, training and development, employee maintenance are being followed effectively by the firm since its establishment. Apple always comes up with innovative hiring strategies that are worth studying. Recently a new staffing strategy of Apple Incorporation came into limelight. Apple Incorporation traces the friendly employees working in other organization. They give them card with “you’re amazing: we should talk” written on it. On the back of the card, the procedure of becoming an employee at Apple is mentioned. [Cor08] Strategic goals of Apple Incorporation The basic goal of Apple Incorporation is to give the best experience to its customer through their new and innovation hardware, software and services which are different from that of its competitors. Apple’s goal is to design innovative and unique operating system, hardware, software and services of its own. The firm wants to bring an ease in their consumer’s life by giving them an easy solution for their technological problems. Apple assigns a major part of their budget for research and development. They also believe that marketing and advertisement plays important role for the introduction and selling of new products and technologies. The company’s business strategy is to discover and deliver digital third party content through iTunes. The company’s iTunes and iBook stores software allow the consumers to download applications and books either in Mac or in computers or even through apple electronic devices such as iPhone, iPad and iPod. The costumers of Apple Incorporation may also download Mac application through its Mac application stores. The company strategies involve giving its customer memorable pre and post purchase experience [App12]. The strategic goals of Apple are related to its human resource policies as they can’t be accomplished without the selecting the correct members for working in the work force of Apple Incorporation. History of human resource at Apple Incorporation In 1989-84 Apple applied all its efforts but still it was getting unsatisfactory results from the sale of Apple1 and Apple 2. The CEO noticed that the production team behind Mackintosh and Apple2 were having different views which lead them towards argument. He also noticed that the arrangement of the employees was not in order. The CEO immediately understood that there is a need for the arrangement and organization of the employees so that each employee may play their respective part. Various deserving employees were assigned as in charge, to keep an eye on the activities of the employees. This was perhaps when Apple Incorporation started giving importance to human resource management. Link between the Strategic Goals of the Organization and the Human Resource Management (HRM) A total of about 60,400 employees are working at Apple Incorporation from retails stores to its research and development department. 5 percent of the employees actively take parts in designing and identifying customer need to implement it in their products. The designer and the developer have much role in the worldwide success of Apple Incorporation and also in generating revenues for the firm. It is the whole workforce of Apple responsible for the positive brand image of Apple. It’s the sales, marketing and the distribution staff that is responsible for generating the interest of the public in Apple’s product. There are many feature of the Apple Incorporation which has helped the firm to emerge as a market leader. One of its features that have not been paid much attention is that Apple has been successful in running smooth operations in all its retail stores. This is because its employees know their specific parts, they play their respective roles with generosity, and the outcome to this is exactly what the customers want from such a powerful brand. This is the result of excellent brand alignment, clearly defined business goals and employees which are been selected by brilliant recruitment process. The human resource department of apple incorporation is responsible for the arrangement and organization of its employees. They brief the new employees about the objective of the firm. The human resource department of Apple plans, staff, manages and trains the employees before letting them experience the real world of Apple Incorporation. The role of every human resource department functional in an organization is to make sure that the activities of every individual employee coincide with the goal and objectives of an organization [Nic13]. Apple Incorporation uses human resource management as the backbone of the firm’s structure. Apple has the three major human resource strategies that it implies to the employees, these are; hiring, developing and training the new entrants and using their fresh minds and innovative ideas. The management of Apple tries to make them work and devote themselves at full potential so that they may be helpful in designing new and innovative product targeting a specific social class. Although Apple Incorporation is a successful firm now but it has performed many mistakes in the past. The mistakes performed by the management made Apple cost a lot of resource and time. There was a time when the employees of Apple were leaving the firm because they were accepting better packages and offers from other companies. Apple took a lot of time to understand that the main goal of an organization is to include and maintain skillful and experience people in the workforce of their company. Apple Incorporation then incorporated this with their goal that they will develop a sturdy human resource system within their organization. The whole Apple incorporation depends upon the strength, intelligence and skills of their employees. Therefore it was very important for them to declare human resource department their backbone. Most of the human resource strategies applied by Apple has been associated directly with its success. Apple Incorporation has an effective procedure of recruitment which helps them to hire key employees that are experts in their respective fields, while the other employees selected via recruitment are assigned for performing various other duties within the firm. This helps Apple Incorporation to push productivity to a next level in comparison to its competitor organizations. Conclusion As new brands are being introduced in the industry, more capable players are giving tough competition to Apple. The implementation of human resource management has helped Apple Incorporation to systematically coordinate the duties of each and every employee working in the firm. The HRM of Apple makes sure that employees of the firm are reflecting the objectives and goals of the organization. Keeping in mind the history of human resource management of Apple Incorporation, it’s better for the management to implement a mechanism that governs and organizes all the employees working for Apple Incorporation. The human resource management of Apple is a success as it has been effective in attracting customers and gaining a large market share. This success of Apple Incorporation is the result of the efforts of its employees. It has been successful to give friendly service to its employees by placing the right person at the right job. Apple Incorporation will definitely maintain the top market position as it is implementing the correct human resource strategies. The human resource management of Apple is continuously coming with new strategies that would help them to indulge skilled people as their employees. Apple in the next five years will definitely be able to maintain its current market position because of its human resource management. References The13: , (The History of Apple Inc. 2013), Anj11: , (Khurana 2011), Cor08: , (Bohon 2008), App12: , (Apple Incorporation Annual Report 2012), Nic13: , (Anderson 2013), Read More