Apple's Organizational Culture: The Challenges And Characteristics Of Steve Jobs

2018 Words5 Pages

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955 is San Francisco, California and was given up for adoption. As a boy, he worked with his dad on electronics in their garage. He enjoyed this hobby because it allowed him to take apart and reconstruct electronics. At the age of thirteen, he met Stephen Wozniak, an electronic whiz kid. In 1975, when they were both 20 years old, they decided to set up shop in Steve Parent’s garage in which they developed the prototype of the Apple I Computer. In order to raise the $1350 that they needed to start the company, they decided to part ways with things that meant a great deal to them. For Jobs it was his Volkswagen microbus, and for Steve Wozniak, his Hewlett-Packard calculator Two years later, they introduced …show more content…

However, this organizational culture also presents some challenges to Apple in optimizing its human resources. Features of Apple’s Organizational Culture
Apple’s organizational culture is effective in supporting the firm’s leadership because of key features that is specific to the company. All business has varied requirements as it pertains to their culture. In this instance, there are several characteristics that prove to be most significant in its organizational culture: Top-notch excellence. Apple’s organizational culture selects only the best of the best workers. Employees who were not up to par were easily fired by Jobs. Excellence is emphasized as a critical success factor in the business, especially in product design and development.
The importance of creativity is highlighted in the organizational structure. Employees are hired not just due to skills and knowledge but most importantly because of their creative abilities, particularly those employed in the fields of product design and development processes. This characteristic of Apple’s organizational culture helps the firm maintain the capacity to develop solutions to business needs and consumer …show more content…

As a matter of fact, the company is frequently appraised as one of the most innovative companies in the world. In terms of individual work performance, the entire staff is trained and encouraged to innovate and to contribute ideas to the firm’s product development processes. That way, the culture succeeds in facilitating rapid innovation, which is at the heart of the business.
Secrecy was of key importance to Steve Jobs when he developed Apple’s organizational culture of secrecy. This was important in that it was a strategy that would aid in minimizing the theft of intellectual property and proprietary information. It also protected the company from possible corporate espionage and the negative effects of employee poaching. Employees were required to agree to this culture of secrecy as it was reflected in the company’s rules, policies and employment contracts.
Apple’s organizational culture was one of moderate combativeness, due to Job’s combative approach to leadership which involved randomly challenging employees to ensure that they have what it takes to work at

More about Apple's Organizational Culture: The Challenges And Characteristics Of Steve Jobs

Open Document