Donna Dubinsky and Apple Computers

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Donna Dubinsky was an impressive woman. She received an undergraduate degree from Yale and a masters from Harvard. Although she had a background in Commerical banking she set her sights and future aspirations on working for Apple in the early 1980’s. She pushed her way into the company and started in 1981 as a customer support liaison. Due to her hard work and success she quickly moved up the ladder receiving numberous promotions. In December of 1984 she became the Director of Distribution and Sales. However, Donna hit a road block that could impact her future at Apple when Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman, vice president and manager wanted to redesign the entire distribution process.

Apple was foundered in 1976 and was one of the leaders in design of the personal home computer. It easy-to-use Apple II was one of the leaders of educational computers. In addition, Apple’s developed and introduced the macintosh computer in 1984. However, the company had a high turn over rate of employees and had grown quickly. The leadership of the company suffered, and organizational charts were not formed thus as the company grew each division created its own mini company concept within Apple. Due to the disjointed structure, Steve Jobs hired John Scully in 1983 to reorganize the company. Mr. Scully flatten the hierarchy and combined sales and marketing. However, issues developed in 1984 with the high overhead of distribution centers and the decline in sales of Apple and Macintosh products. Also, an internal power struggle between Scully and Jobs created disharmony within the corporation.

During the annual presentation of the distrubition center’s plans for 1985, by Donna and her boss, Roy Weaver, they were ill prepared for the at...

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...vercome this issue and find a compromise with senior management or not. Donna has not demonstrated good leadership and cannot see the forest from the trees.

Works Cited

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Dijkstra, M.M., Beersman, B., & Evers, A. (2011). Reducing conflict-related employee strain: The benefits of an internal locus of control and a problem-solving conflict management strategy. Work & Stress, 25(2), 167-184.doi:10.1080/02678373.2011.593344

Gentile, M. (1995). Donna Dubinsky and Apple Computer, Inc (A). Harvard Business School 390-401.

Lang, M. (2009). Conflict Management: A Gap in Business Education Curricula. Journal Of Education For Business, 84(4), 240-245.

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