Aligning Organizational Needs with Business Strategies

Aligning Organizational Needs with Business Strategies

Structure of the Organizational Chart

Apple’s organizational structure can be said to be hierarchical and functional. Organizations with a functional structure group positions by following similar roles, which is the case in Apple. Every part has defined responsibilities, authority, and promotional opportunities. Besides, workers in every department fill duties not taken elsewhere in the company, reducing overlapping roles (Tasnim, 2018). The work is divided by expertise, skills, resources, and activities.

According to the Apple organization model, the company is led by a CEO alongside an executive group. The power is divided into senior vice president, CFO, COO, and other vice presidents at the second level. The executive committee comprises all senior vice presidents who communicate directly with the CEO. At the second level, the functions are divided further into sub-departments, and the senior vice presidents distribute authority to the vice presidents in the third level. The CEO’s intervention is taken when making important decisions and actions (Tasnim, 2018). The operations of the organization are divided into several units. The CEO heads all the organization’s responsibilities. The functions are divided into numerous sectors, such as Global Outsourcing, Control, Apple Care, Apple Online Store, Marketing, and Communications. Thus, the organization is divided into many functions headed by the senior executives in each position.

An additional feature of Apple’s organizational structure is the product-based grouping. The company divides its operations into various product-based categories such as services, for instance, App Store, ApplePay, and Apple Music, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and other products, for example, Apple TV, headphones, cases, watches, and displays. Intensive and functional coordination exists among the different groups and divisions of the organization (Meyer, 2019). Every product from the Apple company portfolio, such as iPhone, iPad, watch, and Apple TV, results from the collaboration of groups based on products.

Analysis Based on Porter’s Five Forces

A Five Forces analysis of Apple in the technology sector indicates that the bargaining power of buyers and industry competition are the two major marketplace forces that can affect the profitability of Apple. The supplier’s bargaining power, new entrants to the market, and the threat of buyers opting for substitute products are all minor elements among the leading industry forces.

Effectiveness of the Leadership Model

The current leadership model at Apple is democratic. Unlike the leadership of former CEO Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, today, the CEO implements and encourages democratic leadership. According to Cook, it is critical to build harmony among top leadership concerning tactical decisions for the firm. The CEO seeks the input and perspectives of the employees, although he has the final say.

The above leadership style is effective since it promotes transparency, teamwork, and calmness. Mr. Cook has been described by his employees as a quiet and calm leader. In addition, the employees have praised him as an inspirational leader who helps his juniors become better people (Meyer, 2019). However, considering several challenges that the company has encountered, such as the rapidly decreasing technology products’ life cycle and reducing sales of the company’s products, one could argue that a different leadership model can be more impactful. For instance, during the autocratic days of the former CEOs, the company introduced iconic products and services. Then, the CEO made all the decisions and expected perfection from all employees, ensuring that they were always at their best.

Determining Effective Leadership

Effective leadership entails portraying a solid character. Leaders exhibit integrity, ethics, trustworthiness, and honesty. Leadership effectiveness is based on diverse sources of power. The first is coercive power. Coercive power is often the least effective but most implemented type of power. It involves forcing a person to take actions against their will. The second type and, similarly, the second ineffective form of power is reward power. Reward power entails the notion of doing this and getting that (Bratton, 2020). The third is legitimate power. That is the power of a role or position.

Next is the referent power, a person’s ability to attract other people and establish loyalty within them. Referent power can occur when a leader thrives and has a prominent success record. In addition, there is informational power, which is among the top three most effective types of power. It involves having information that other people lack to effect change. Lastly and closely related to informational power is expert power (Bratton, 2020). This is when an individual possesses deep knowledge in an area for which they are responsible.

Recommendations

Apple’s leadership model has a downside of low flexibility since it prevents lower levels of the structure from effectively responding to current business and market demands. Thus, the company needs to improve by increasing collaboration among leadership and different levels of the organization. In addition, the company needs to ensure a strong connection between the organization’s mission and its resources of operation. Furthermore, the Apple company ought to address the issues around internal efficiencies and functionality of the firm.

References

Bratton, J. (Ed.). (2020). Organizational leadership. Sage.

Meyer, P. (2019). Apple Inc.’s organizational culture & its characteristics (An analysis). Retrieved June 15, 2019.

Tasnim, M. (2018). An Organizational Analysis on Apple. European Journal of Business and Management, 10(11).

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As a recent hire, you’d like to become familiar with the current organizational structure in your company. This organizational chart (org chart) has not yet been created, so you decide to make your own.

Create an org chart of your company. This high-level information about the organization is typically found on the company’s website or other websites. The organizational chart should include key leadership and levels of responsibility. If the information is not public, base your decisions on a similar organization and research. You may use any Microsoft® program or web-based program.