...Organizational Leadership and Structure at Apple Inc. Steve Jobs began Apple Inc. with the notion of “One person- One computer” in hopes of having a personal computer that could be easily used by anyone. As of September 2010 with 46,600 full time employees and 2,800 temporary employees and contractors, this notion holds true today (Apple Inc., 2010). Over the years of Apple Inc. development changes in organizational leadership and structure occurred. Apple’s mission of “changing the world by bringing computers to the masses” brought multiple changes within the company that became a hindrance and a benefit to the company’s growth (Freedman & Vohr, 1989). Under co-founder Steve Jobs and CEO A.C. Mekkula in 1983, then Apple Computers Inc. was under a centralized organizational structure. The authority to make decisions was restricted to higher level management and these managers would still report to Markkula (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn and Uhi-Bien (2010)). Apple’s structure consisted of five product divisions, four product support divisions and numerous administrative departments. These divisions would report to Jobs and Mekkula and final decisions would rest with them. This division created divisions within the company, and newly hired CEO John Schulley stated “As a member of the executive staff, I came away with a clear impression that there wasn’t a common understanding of the company we were trying to build. In fact, there were many, competitive fiefdoms...
Words: 659 - Pages: 3
...Management Organizational Behavior Prof. Agatep Hope Individual Assignment HE YUTIAN (Stephen) Content Page Page1----------Introduction of Apple Page2--------- Organizational culture, design, structure Page3--------- Management of conflict and motivation of employees & Conclusion Page4------- Recommendation& Referencing List If there is a survey about which business you believe is the most valuable and has most revolutionary influence on the society last ten years, it must be true that most of the people will choose Apple. From some professional evaluation about Apple, it describes Apple as an enterprise which has ability to take over the world one bite at a time and is already doing it. As of July 2011, Apple is the largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization with 357 retail stores in ten countries and 60,400 permanent full-time employees and 2,900 temporary full-time employees around the world. (Profile: Apple Inc, n.d.)At the same time, its revenue and profit is more than Google and Microsoft combined, and its annual revenue is totaled $65 billion in 2010 and is growing to $108 billion in 2011 miraculously. (Harry Wilson, 2012) Apple not only is one of the most successful enterprises in the world nowadays, but also already is a creative, miraculous and revolutionary company which is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976 during its starting stage. (Cyrus Farivar...
Words: 2404 - Pages: 10
...Fatima Calderon Professor Rob Freeborough MGT231 Organizational Behavior 20 June 2015 TERM PAPER Apple Inc. has without a doubt revolutionized the world of consumer electronics in the 21st Century. As the company became more customer-focused and improved its lean manufacturing model, it has to rise to the organizational challenges of becoming a leading global company in its industry. As Apple has reinvented its products, it has reinvented their organizational structure as well. The following is an analysis of Apple at an organizational level: its culture, leadership, ethical practices, and the use of power and political behavior. It is important to understand these factors because they represent a real-life learning opportunity for anybody involved in organizational management, based on one of the most recognized and successful companies of our time. Innovation is definitely at the core of Apple’s success. It was the first company to introduce a Personal Computer and the first and currently the leading company to introduce mobile technology such as the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad (CITE). However, Apple was not always the leading company in profitability. It struggled behind the more affordable Microsoft. It is interesting to note that as Apple struggled or succeeded with selling its products, it also made changes within their organizational structure. Throughout its history, Apple’s success has been influenced by its leadership, most famously of its co-founder,...
Words: 1599 - Pages: 7
...Answer for Case 1A: Trader Joe’s 1. How does Trader Joe’s design jobs for increased job satisfaction and higher performance? Job satisfaction has positive relationship with higher performance. The satisfied employees will produce organizational citizenship behaviors which will impact on the higher performance workforce. Trader Joe’s has designed jobs to increase job satisfaction by showing appreciation in providing more benefits to their employees than other chain grocers. Trader Joe’s provide benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance, company paid retirement, paid vacation and 10% employee discount. Through these benefit, Trader Joe’s achieve its objective to give 100% job satisfaction to its employees. In relation with the job performance, when the employees happy with such benefit, they are willing to work hard to achieve higher performance. Traders Joe’s also recruits people with the effective managerial skills which are the combination of technical skills, human skills and conceptual skills. Trader Joe’s train its employees to perform specialized tasks using knowledge and expertise gained from the experience. Each of the employees are very good in product knowledge because they have been encourage to taste and learn about the products first before they ready to sell to the consumers. Means, the employees can share the experience using or taste the product and to convince the consumers. As a result, the knowledgeable and responsiveness of the employees meet...
Words: 1718 - Pages: 7
...© Centre for Promoting Ideas, USA www.ijbssnet.com A study of Organizational Citizenship Behaviours, Organizational Structures and Open Innovation M. Muzamil NAQSHBANDI* Dr. Sharan KAUR Deptt of Business Strategy and Policy Faculty of Business and Accountancy University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia- 50603 E-mail: virkul@gmail.com* Abstract With increasing technological advances, the need to create not only innovations but faster innovation has become a part of sustaining or gaining competitive advantage. Open innovation paradigm answers this need by utilizing larger resources and expertise that firms involved in the open innovation process offer. Given the recency of the concept of open innovation, the factors that influence the creation of open innovation are hazy. Most of the research on open innovation looks at the “hard” aspects of organizations, while the soft issues stand less researched. This conceptual paper draws attention to two such aspects of organization: organizational citizenship behaviour and organizational structure. This paper proposes that practicing organizational citizenship behaviours by the employees enhances the chances of creation of open innovation while not doing so can botch up the whole exercise particularly during the infancy stage. It is also proposed that informal organizational structures favour creation of innovation in the open innovation paradigm more than the rigid formal structures. It is further argued that...
Words: 9354 - Pages: 38
...literature distinguishes trustworthiness (the ability, benevolence, and integrity of a trustee) and trust propensity (a dispositional willingness to rely on others) from trust (the intention to accept vulnerability to a trustee based on positive expectations of his or her actions). Although this distinction has clarified some confusion in the literature, it remains unclear (a) which trust antecedents have the strongest relationships with trust and (b) whether trust fully mediates the effects of trustworthiness and trust propensity on behavioral outcomes. Our meta-analysis of 132 independent samples summarized the relationships between the trust variables and both risk taking and job performance (task performance, citizenship behavior, counterproductive behavior). Meta-analytic structural equation modeling supported a partial mediation model wherein trustworthiness and trust propensity explained incremental variance in the behavioral outcomes when trust was controlled. Further analyses revealed that the trustworthiness dimensions also predicted affective commitment, which had unique relationships with the outcomes when controlling for trust. These results generalized across different types of trust measures (i.e., positive expectations measures, willingness-to-be-vulnerable measures, and direct measures) and different trust referents (i.e., leaders, coworkers). Keywords: trust; trustworthiness, commitment, integrity, citizenship Trust has become an important topic of...
Words: 16513 - Pages: 67
...Organizational Commitment Organizational commitment is the employee’s psychological attachment to the organization. It predicts work variables such as turnover, organizational citizenship behavior, and also job performance. Organizational commitment is the strength or the feeling of responsibility that an employee has towards the mission of the organization, also in which has an important place in the study of organizational behavior. Organizational commitment is related to job satisfaction, employee’s behaviors and performance effectiveness; it describes how content an individual is with his or her job. The happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Commitment itself is considered a psychological state. Organizational researchers and social psychologists view commitment quite differently. Organizational researchers study attitudinal commitment, focusing on how employees identify with goals and values of the organization. Social psychologists study behavioral commitment, while focusing on how a person’s behavior serves to bind him or her to the organization. (http://en.articlesgratuits.com) Some components of organizational commitment are a strong belief in and acceptance of the goals and values of the organization, a willingness to exert (display) considerable effort on behalf of the organization. And a definite desire to maintain organizational membership (belong to the organization). Meyer and Allen (1991) define organizational commitment...
Words: 601 - Pages: 3
...Crіtіcаl Еvаluаtion Of Rеѕеаrch Mеthοdѕ Аррlіеd Tο А Hοѕріtаlіty Cοntеxt Dеductіvе vs. Іnductіvе Based on dеductіvе vs. inductіvе techniques whenever researchers conduct research in hospitality and tourism research proejcts they dіѕtіnguіѕh bеtwееn twο bаѕіc kіndѕ οf аrgumеnt: іnductіvе аnd dеductіvе. Іnductіοn іѕ uѕuаlly dеѕcrіbеd аѕ mοvіng frοm thе ѕреcіfіc tο thе gеnеrаl, whіlе dеductіοn bеgіnѕ wіth thе gеnеrаl аnd еndѕ wіth thе ѕреcіfіc; аrgumеntѕ bаѕеd οn еxреrіеncе οr οbѕеrvаtіοn аrе bеѕt еxрrеѕѕеd іnductіvеly, whіlе аrgumеntѕ bаѕеd οn lаwѕ, rulеѕ, οr οthеr wіdеly аccерtеd рrіncірlеѕ аrе bеѕt еxрrеѕѕеd dеductіvеly. А dеductіvе аrgumеnt іѕ οnе whοѕе cοncluѕіοn fοllοwѕ frοm thе рrеmіѕеѕ аѕ rеquіrеd. Thіѕ fеаturе іѕ cаllеd vаlіdіty аnd іѕ whаt dіѕtіnguіѕhеѕ іt is frοm οthеr аrgumеntѕ, ѕuch аѕ thе іnductіvе аnаlοguе. А nеcеѕѕаry rеlаtіοnѕhір еѕtаblіѕhеd bеtwееn рrеmіѕеѕ аnd cοncluѕіοn іѕ cаllеd vаlіdіty. Dеductіvе rеаѕοnіng іѕ rеаѕοnіng thаt іnvοlvеѕ а hіеrаrchy οf ѕtаtеmеntѕ οr truthѕ. Ѕtаrtіng wіth а lіmіtеd numbеr οf ѕіmрlе ѕtаtеmеntѕ οr аѕѕumрtіοnѕ, ѕtаtеmеntѕ thаt аrе mοrе cοmрlеx cаn bе buіlt uр frοm thе mοrе bаѕіc οnеѕ. Іf-thеn dеductіvе rеаѕοnіng іѕ hοw ѕcіеntіѕtѕ (аnd οthеr реοрlе!) cаn tеѕt аltеrnаtе hyрοthеѕеѕ. Mаkіng dеductіοnѕ іѕ іmрοrtаnt whеn wе cаnnοt dіrеctly οbѕеrvе а cаuѕе, аnd cаn οnly οbѕеrvе іtѕ cοnѕеquеncеѕ. Thіѕ kіnd οf rеаѕοnіng cаn bе mοdеlеd by thе fοllοwіng: Іf ... Thеn... But... Thеrеfοrе... On the other ahdn inductіvе rеаѕοnіng...
Words: 6601 - Pages: 27
...Organization Citizenship Behaviour RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS, EFFICIENCY, AND CUSTOMER SERVICE PERCEPTIONS IN TAIWANESE BANKS HsiuJu Rebecca Yen Department of Business Administration College of Management Yuan Ze University 135 Far East Rd. Chung Li, Taiwan Email: hjyen@saturn.yzu.edu.tw & Brian P. Niehoff Department of Management 101 Calvin Hall Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506 Phone: (785) 532-4359 FAX: (785) 532-7024 e-mail: niehoff@ksu.edu Running Head: OCB and Effectiveness MIDWEST ACADEMY of MGMT OB/OT Track RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS, EFFICIENCY, AND CUSTOMER SERVICE PERCEPTIONS IN TAIWANESE BANKS ABSTRACT Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) describe actions in which employees are willing to go above and beyond their prescribed role requirements. Prior theory suggests and some research supports the belief that these behaviors are correlated with indicators of organizational effectiveness. Studies have yet to explore whether relationships between OCB and organizational effectiveness are generalizable to non-U.S. samples. The present study examined relationships between OCB and two indicators of organizational effectiveness -- the efficient use of human resources and perceived service quality – for bank branches in Taiwan. The results supported a relationship between the OCB dimension of altruism and the efficient use of human resources...
Words: 3044 - Pages: 13
...and Counterproductive Behaviors An effective business, along with productive employees within an organization means one things; achieving organizational goals and objectives. Like any organization it is vital that guidelines are in order for employees to follow. Guidelines will help ensure productive behaviors. The paper will define productive behavior and counterproductive behavior. The impact these behaviors have on job performance and the general performance of an organization will be described. Followed by recommendations from the author in regards to strategies that will increase productive behavior and decrease counterproductive behaviors in organizations. Productive Behavior An Employee who is displaying behavior that illustrates acclimation in his work will most likely be able to succeed in productive behavior. Productive behavior is the behavior that is associated with someone’s contributions that help achieve goals and objectives for the company or organization. In the text the definition of productive behavior is described, “ as employee behavior that contributes positively to the goals and objectives of the organization” (Jex & Britt, 1. 2008). Job performance is the way employees engage behaviors in the workplace. It is a representation of their behavior while working as it contributes to the goals of the organization. Productivity, effectiveness and utility all represent job performance. Job performance is a common productive behavior. Another aspect of productive...
Words: 560 - Pages: 3
...DrainFlow Leading and Managing Organizations Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Addressing the six questions 3. Conclusion Questions: 1. Although it is clear employees are not especially satisfied with their work, do you think this is a reason for concern? Does research suggest satisfied workers are actually better at their jobs? Are any other behavioral outcomes associated with job satisfaction? 2. Using job characteristic theory, explain why the present system of job design may be contributing to employee’s dissatisfaction. Describe more way you could help employees feel more satisfied with their work by redesigning their jobs. 3. Lee has a somewhat vague idea about how reward the cash reward system. Describe some of the specific ways you would make the reward system work better, based on the case. 4. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using financial incentives in a program of this nature. What, if any, potential problems might arise if people are given money for achieving customer satisfaction goals? What other type of incentives might be considered? 5. Create a specific plan to assess whether the award system is working. What are the dependent variables that should change if the system works? How will you go about measuring success? 6. What type of hiring recommendations would you make to find people better suited for these jobs? Which Big Five personality traits would be useful for the customer service responsibilities and...
Words: 1654 - Pages: 7
...Consultancy Report Index Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................................1 Organisational Context ...............................................................................................................................................2 Social and Economic Contexts ...................................................................................................................................3 Theoretical Overview .................................................................................................................................................3 Methodology ..............................................................................................................................................................8 Data Sample ...........................................................................................................................................................8 Measures .................................................................................................................................................................9 Control Variables ...............................................................................................................................................9 Abusive Supervision (AS) ............................................................................................................
Words: 7865 - Pages: 32
...employee behaviors that contribute to organizational goal accomplishment. It has three components: 1) task performance, or the transformation of resources into goods and services; 2) citizenship behaviors, or voluntary employee actions that contribute to the organization; and 3) counterproductive behaviors, or employee actions that hinder organizational accomplishments. This chapter discusses trends that affect job performance in today’s organizations, as well as practices that organizations can use to manage job performance. LEARNING GOALS After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions: 2.1 What is the definition of job performance? What are the three dimensions of job performance? 2.2 What is task performance? How do organizations identify the behaviors that underlie task performance? 2.3 What is citizenship behavior, and what are some specific examples of it? 2.4 What is counterproductive behavior, and what are some specific examples of it? 2.5 What workplace trends affect job performance in today’s organizations? 2.6 How can organizations use job performance information to manage employee performance? CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Job Performance A. Defined as the value of the set of employee behaviors that contribute either positively or negatively to organizational goal accomplishment 1. Behaviors are within the control of employees, but results (performance outcomes) may not be 2. Behaviors must...
Words: 1132 - Pages: 5
...Organ (1988) defines OCB as “individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promote. OCB includes three critical aspects that are central to this construct. First, OCBs are thought of as discretionary behaviors, which are not part of the job description, and are performed by the employee as a result of personal choice. Second, OCBs go above and beyond that which is an enforceable requirement of the job description. Finally, OCBs contribute positively to overall organizational effectiveness. Organ’s (1988) definition of OCB has generated a great deal of criticism. The very nature of the construct makes it difficult to operationally define. Critics started questioning whether or not OCBs, as defined by Organ, were discretionary in nature. Organ (1997), in response to criticisms, notes that since his original definition, jobs have moved away from a clearly defined set of tasks and responsibilities and have evolved into much more ambiguous roles. ------------------------------------------------- Multidimensionality The construct of OCB, from its conception, has been considered multidimensional. Smith, Organ, and near (1983) first proposed two dimensions: altruism and general compliance. These two dimensions serve to improve organizational effectiveness in different ways. Altruism in the workplace consists essentially of helping behaviors. These behaviors can both be directed within or outside...
Words: 1326 - Pages: 6
...with many instances where Fester’s initiative to achieve results causes Knowlton to feel threatened and aggravated. Instead of acting as a leader and confronting the distracting nature of Fester’s behavior, Knowlton simply nods his head and agrees with everything that transpires. Fester is simply continuing his prevalent path because he feels that he is contributing progress to the project. This entire scenario could be remedied if Knowlton were to step up to the plate and act in a fashion that is consistent with his job title, leader. No one is going to hold Knowlton’s hand and correct the Fester dilemma, because it is Knowlton’s job to administer action. THEORY When provided the opportunity to confront Fester’s theories and group cooperation, Knowlton became a victim to his own passive behavior. Instead of taking charge and correcting the discrepancy of Fester’s action towards the team and himself, Knowlton allowed unspoken tensions to break down the cohesiveness of the group and ultimately lead to his own resignation. According to theory; collective identity, group cohesiveness and organizational citizenship behavior directed toward their leader and co-workers are significantly affected by their high need for affiliation as enhanced by a charismatic leader's empathic behavior...
Words: 530 - Pages: 3
