The role Apple's organizational culture plays in the growth of the company.

Organizational Culture at Apple Inc

Apple Inc. is a global computer manufacturing company that is going through major changes in
its organizational culture and its organizational structure due to several events of the past few
years. This is a company that grew extremely fast in little time, that their management found
themselves not being able to keep their operations and finances under control. Apple Inc. has
been forced to reevaluate and redesign its organizational culture and organizational structure to
avoid bankruptcy. The organizational culture of Apple is one of change; with the drive to
outperform and succeed as their major objectives. The organizational structure of the company
has also transformed to be more competitive in a critical juncture in the companys
history. Apple is going through major restructuring to regain control of its operations and
finances in order to stay competitive on the global market.
Organizational Culture
The culture of Apple was based on an ideal that self-motivated individuals will work harder if
they do not have a boss micromanaging every action. The unique structure of Apple had allowed
it to grow and react more quickly to changes than its competitors. The reason for the quick
responsiveness is simple; it is much easier to get a project started if there are only a few people
to obtain approval from. Apple initially grew fast, because decisions were made at the lowest
possible level. Corporate headquarters made policy and oversaw all activities, but the local
employees made the day-to-day decisions on the ground in countries all over the world. This
type of top-down philosophy allowed for quick responsiveness and resolutions to situations
without involving the corporate headquarters, thus avoiding corporate red tape.
Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of Apple was almost non-existent and focused on placing decision
making in the hands of the people in the field. Apple was doing incredibly well and had gotten
the attention of many people because the company worked well and was very responsive to
change. However, things took a downward turn and Apple found them in a financial nightmare.
Apple suffered problems in regional areas, specifically in the accountability of spending and in
fiscal decision-making. The same "top-down" ideology that helped Apple grow also opened the

door for some serious financial losses. With employees at different levels making decisions, it
became difficult for the corporate office to keep track of spending and purchasing.
Behavior at work (personality traits)
Personality refers to the relatively stable pattern of behaviors and consistent internal states that
explain a persons behavioral tendencies. Personality has both internal and external elements.
The external traits are the observable behaviors that people rely on to identify someones
personality. Personality is both inherited and shaped by the environment.
Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy
Self-Esteem is a personal judgment of ones worth and the satisfaction or dissatisfaction with
ones own self. By this definition Self-Esteem is how each individual person views themselves as
a person both mentality and physically. According to William James, a psychologist, self esteem
involves only one mental perception of their own qualities and their physical appearance. Self
esteem plays an important role of which people are and starts at a very young age. There are both
positives and negative cycles of self esteem. Self esteem is one of the most important aspects in
psychology because it can either give confidence or accept defeat. Similarly Self-efficacy is a
mechanism that explains an individuals behavior and perceived capability to perform behavior.
It is associated with a positive self-concept, and self-appraisal. It is the personal control that
comes from mastering new experiences with anticipation of successful performance. It is the
preservation of a behavior until success is met. Self-efficacy varies in its strength and the level of
self-efficacy is impacted by the experience of success or failure related to the risk of taking
actions toward change. It evolves from a persons perception of competence in performing the
behavior and having positive outcomes. Self-esteem and self-efficacy both is necessary to
influence a persons work behavior.
Perceptual Selection Influence
Perception is "the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory
information." Perception plays a vital role in ones life as it depends on the five senses and
triggers the ability to acquire and mentally interpret information perceived by the brain from the
senses. Everything which we see around us are converted by the brain into nerve impulses, and
these impulses are the only information the brain receives as it has not direct contact with the
external world, therefore creating the real world inside our heads.

Persons ability to perceive correctly the structure of his or her place within an organization is an
important source of power. When it comes down to how well a persons perception skills are I
think it has to do with the persons position in the social makeup of the organization, and his or
her personality traits. People with keen perceptive abilities can precisely structure their
relationships within their work environment to get what they want, since they know which social
associations allow them to access the resources they need; those who skills are not as keen may
not be as successful, because of their lack of perception.
Personnel policies
The adoption by companies led to a lot of benefits the personnel, company and society generally.
Specifically personnel have the opportunity to work from its home a fact that allows dealing with
other facilities too as well as it influence individuals behavior at work. It provides a solution to
the problems of office expansion. Moreover allow people to be more productive by working
from their homes. Another benefit of Personnel policies is the creation of better
communications. Additionally Personnel policies lead to a reduced traffic a fact that creates
better environmental policy. They have to point out personnel through policies. Additionally they
have the opportunity to deal with their family and work to. So these kinds of policies help
employees to work in a better situation.
Innovative and task driven culture
Apple Inc is totally focused on innovation; in another word they always tries make superior and
unique products to gain competitive advantages. For this purpose they are very keen to choose
the best work force available. Hard work and commitment is the main quality that the company
seek from it employees. There is a common saying that there is always more work to do than the
employees. A relaxed and informal atmosphere is created in the working campus, many
researches proved that the employees at Apple Inc is relaxed and at the same time highly
committed to tasks given by the company. The company is always taking keen interest to
entertain their employees after the working hours. As discussed, the company is recognized as
innovator therefore it always prefers workaholic people. In one way the company is adopting
Handy's task oriented organizational culture, in this culture Handy described that organizations
are less formal and highly task oriented.

It is agreed that Apple Inc is adopting an innovative and task driven culture, but at the same time
they have very strong work ethics and very strict deadlines. The best example for this there
working hour, an employee is working 60 to 70 hours per week. The employees believe that
apple is not just for making money.
The innovations helped the company gain market reputation; at the same time it helps the
employee to learn more things every day. That is one of the main things that employees are
seeking for, especially in software and computer related fields. The technology is changing day
by day, and Apple Inc is always trying to innovate something which can surprise the world. It
helps the employees even after they left the organization, the world knows that the employees
coming out from Apple will be highly committed, task driven and hard working, also they can
contribute expertise in to other business in which they are selected for.
Organizations such as Apple Inc. in this case are the dominant cultural foundation of our times;
the study of behavior within this Organization is of active interest to many audiences. Many of
our daily activities are regulated by Organizations called governments. And most adults spend
the better part of their lives working in Organizations. Given the widespread of organizational
influence, there are many reasons to be concerned about how and why Organizations (function.
The value of organizational behavior is that it isolates important aspects of our daily interactions
with people and offers specific perspectives on interrelation of the human context: people as
Organizations, people as resources, and people as people. In conclusion all these lead to an
ultimate goal of improved productivity; have people perform at full potential, and reward
workers for performance. Environmental factors are increasing the need for effective leadership
in todays Organizations. In order to better motivate, guide, and direct employee teams, leaders
require specific skills and expertise in behavioral studies to change their environment.