Leadership Assignment: How Steve Jobs Systematically Cultivated Apple?

Question

Task: Case Scenario:
Choose either your current place of employment or a company that you have researched. You are consultant who has been appointed by an organization to create a report that researched and reviews the leadership strategy and needs of the organisation. The organization also expresses the concern that they must develop a more 21st century approach towards leadership that better incorporated faster communication between departments to make better use of the network dynamics that exist within their organization.

Leadership Assignment Instructions:

• Write a report describing an organisation’s leadership practices.
• Critique the leadership practice of that organisation.
• Propose a new leadership style strategy plan that includes better communication and more effective use of the organisation’s network based off request from the organisation. The plan must include the following:

a) An evaluation of the current leadership style in the organisation and a revision of the current leadership policy that will help the company to move forward.
b) An explanation of how your chosen leadership style will influence the company’s culture.
c) A better departmental communication plan that utilizes 21st century technologies.
d) A detail summary of the networks that exist within the organisation and how they may be better utilized by the leadership in the future.

Answer

Introduction
Leadership plays a major role in the success of any company as proper leadership leads to increased productivity of any organization. Leaders pave the path of the followers to success. Followers follow the path of the leaders as leaders set an example for their followers to increase their motivation (Veliuet al., 2017). Leaders motivate the employees to work in a team and reach the aims and goals set by an individual as well as a team and on an overall basis achieve the goals set by the organization as a whole (Ceil, 2018). Leaders set the roadmap to success and set the direction to success by applying the management skills. Apple Inc. is the best example of innovation and the Late CEO Steve Jobs has cultivated Apple Innovation through his leadership qualities. Steve Jobs has brought in great changes in Apple Inc. with its innovative capabilities and have led the company to great success and now Tim Cook is following Steve Jobs footsteps and incorporating new leadership qualities in Apple Inc. (Kim, 2020). The main role of a leader is to achieve the goals and objectives and lead the organization to victory by paving meaningful strategies by following which the employees and staff can easily reach to its destination.

Apple Inc. Leadership practices
Apple Inc. is driven by innovation and making innovative products that are known all over the world. The product developed by Apple Inc. is renowned throughout the world for its security mechanism and unique smartphones and its operating system (Strielkowski&Chigisheva, 2018). This is achieved by its unique leadership practices that are being followed in the company.

Apple Challenge the process
Various researcheshave found that great leaders always challenge difficult processes and create their own processes to reach success. Steve Jobs is one of the examples who has changed the working procedure of Apple and has changed the mind-set of the company to accept any kind of challenge and bring out the desired results. Steve Jobs’ leadership was autocratic leadership that means Steve Jobs’ decision was final in every aspect and has brought in new changes in the previous working process (Heracleous&Papachroni, 2016). Steve Jobs has made Apple Inc. into an organization that strives to live on adversity and thrive in difficult situations. This has led Apple Inc. to thrive in the most difficult situations and bring in new innovations. Apple Inc. has a tendency to seek challenging opportunities in order to grow personally and also on the organizational level. More importantly, Apple Inc. allows its employees and staff to implement innovation by experimenting and encourage them to take risks to bring in new innovative ideas.

Shared Vision
Tim Cook after the death of Steve Jobs as a CEO has implemented the same vision as that of Steve Jobs and has the shared vision in bringing in new innovations in the products of Apple Inc. The main objective of Steve Jobs was to create a vision that will inspire and energize the future generation to be productive and bring in new changes in the flaws that are present in the existing processes (Sharma, 2016). Apple Inc. enlists candidates in the organization that have the same view, dreams, hopes, values in making better innovation.

Enable others to Act
Leadership does not deal with the achievement that is being achieved solo instead successful leaders achieve success with others and allows others to implement attractive thoughts and leaders guide to achieve the objectives as a team (Perry, 2016). Apple Inc. allows collaboration such that a proper bonding can be developed between the leader and the team members through co-operation. Sharing of ideas and thoughts helps in creating a team that can easily succeed and achieve the overall goals and objectives.

Model the way
Followers don’t follow leaders based on what they speak instead they follow their footsteps by the actions the leaders take (Kunnanatt, 2016). Steve Jobs has proved himself to be the best leader by achieving new heights and followers have followed Steve Jobs for his incredible behaviour and incredible personality to achieve the goals by him and by letting teams to victory.

Encouragement
Apple Inc. always encourages upcoming talents to take risks and bring in new ideas that can be fruitful or it might fail but does not demotivate the future generation from experimenting as a result it is possible for Apple Inc. to develop innovative products (Bassellet al., 2019). Apple Inc. acknowledges individuals as well as team success and achievements.

Critical Analysis of Apple Inc. leadership
Apple Inc. administration under Steve Jobs micro-managing had a broad variety of corporate activities and it was autocratic during Steve Jobs’ period of leadership from 1997 to 2011. Steve Jobs was in control and it all poured. Practices in Apple management under Tim Cook have drastically improved. Tim Cook has demonstrated his efficacy from different angles and being recognized as the World's Best CEO by Fortune Magazine (Salicru, 2018). Furthermore, Tim Cook is profoundly applauded by staff for empowering administration and inspiring his subordinates to reinforce themselves. Tim Cook practices and energizes majority rule initiative in contrast with Apple author and late CEO Steve Jobs to the extremely independent administration model. As indicated by Tim Cook, it is essential for senior administration to discover an agreement on essential business decisions.

Moreover, Tim Cook started to lead the team and he gave another product improvement group and more prominent control and diminished the CEO's immediate contribution in new item advancement. Tim Cook was praised for his cool yet efficient style of management. Cook is regarded as a silent kingas per some of the observers from the industry (LugoSantiago, 2020). Cook's dynamic predecessor Steve Jobs is entirely different. A significant leadership challenge is faced by Apple Inc. and it has rightly been recognized that Cook developed such a high financial success standard that it could not be replicated in the future. In comparison, Apple has been blamed for the lack of diversity by senior management teams (Lleoet al., 2020). In fact, it has been observed that 81% of the senior officials of the organization are dark and 82% are white. The organization's 107 chiefs have ten Asian men, four Asian ladies, two individuals of black origin, one person of white origin, and two Hispanic men. Tim Cook who has been Steve Jobs' replacement is regularly accused by pundits and market analysts for the absence of aspiration and energy (Alameeriet al., 2020). For instance, Tim Cook is viewed as a traditionalist in joining new item classifications as per an examination by a BGC monetary administrations gathering. The Apple Watch, which was delivered in April 2015, is the No 1 Smartwatch. Apart from becoming a low-margin company in June 2015, Apple Music has risen exponentially to 15 million subscribers.

Leadership strategy plan proposal
In order to achieve the overall goals and objectives of any organization, it is important for a leader to have the capability to communicate properly and must have the capability to make use of the network properly. Tim Cook as a democratic leader brings in transformational changes in the company where the managers follow transformational leadership. The democratic leadership strategic plan needs to follow certain steps.

Need to provide Inspiration
The desire to inspire others around the workplace is a good leader who can communicate properly. As a leader to gain the support of the staff, one must have a vision of success. It is up to the leader to get the team together to accomplish this mission and make them accept the vision. Inspiration is the main key point and great leaders know it that keeps everybody working hard to achieve the final target. The reason for achievement is an inspiration. Inspire greatness for tomorrow's progress.

Leaders need to Listen
It is critical that every leader should have strong listening skills for proper communication, as communication is a two-way operation. Before a leader starts talking, the leader must be a good listener and hear the team's interests and get a sense of how one can accomplish targets. Effective listening can allow a leader to create bonds, solve challenges, increase comprehension, and precision. Listening for a moment will help a leader to lose less time and make them more effective in the long term.

Proper Feedback must be provided
Feedback is one of the most important items that a leader can give more than a salary to the staff. The trick is to applaud where necessary and to critique constructively when needed. Feedback is a more constructive purpose as a supportive tool. Employees would enjoy the time by asking them how they can change, and a leader can see their potential.

Clarity
Good dialogue on leadership is transparent and concise and a leader should not be ambiguous when asking about what the team wants and they should make sure that they know exactly what the team expects and when a leader expects that to happen. A leader will not know what they can do if the leader does not hear what the team members tell them. When they loop back to explain crucial facts then the leader loses productivity.

Prioritization is needed
A good leader understands that time is worthwhile and communication if poorly performed will take on a lot of time. Prioritizing correspondence is crucial because it would be less effective if a leader loses time with employees. It is important to communicate the team with precisely what they want by specifying the mission objective and how long it will take to plan the required support and eventually any information that can lead to the simplification of the process.

Leaders should set an example
The characteristics a leader wants to see in the staff must be outstanding as a leader as it is important to show them by setting an example instead of suggesting what a leader wants workers to do so. Since leaders are in an important role they must meet challenges with faith, dedication, and a good outlook and a leader can set the tone for the rest of the team members.

Evaluation of the current leadership of Apple Inc.
As CEO of Apple Inc., Tim Cook is a pioneer in democracy and follows democratic leadership by providing staff the ability to exchange more thoughts about developing the company. He also follows the style of Laissez-faire leadership by inspiring the workers. Tim Cook's even more silent and confident as he concentrates on what people around him suggest and listens attentively. It is regarded as Tim Cook's chief who trusts the thoughts and voices of his staff. He has several senior administrators who can help share the business' workload. He recognizes that such people are successful individuals with creative and revolutionary ideas, and often encourage these administrators to take over (Maryatiet al., 2020). Apple is a leading tech organization that needs different people to help shape the future. As a leader in an innovation-based business, Tim Cook knows that he wants thinking people who have diverse experiences. Strong leaders need to be mindful of the errors and accept them so that they can move forward. Tim Cook is deeply persuaded that you confess if you're mistaken. It teaches you to have the confidence to accept that you are mistaken and to prevent errors in the past. Apple is a corporation set up to do and do what they do. It may be surprising to believe, but only a few items are made by Apple. Tim Cook insists that this emphasis is essential to the ongoing achievement of Apple. Cook is patient and knows that there will be fresh and unique concepts.

Meanwhile, Apple is focused on improvements and goods that customers enjoy (Drummond, 2020). A leader's popularity does not mean that one would need to leave their self as a leader and try to keep true to oneself and become a powerful leader. Due to his cool and quiet behaviour, Tim Cook did not have the right disposition to excel in working as an Apple CEO. Yet he's more than proven that he's the right one. Whereas Steve Jobs was a much more aggressive person.

Revision of the current leadership policies
The New Year has begun with Apple's first failure in 17 years which disappoints the investors. The company has published its reports and low iPhone revenues led to its first financial quarter's weakness from September to December 2018 (Marnell, 2020). Now Apple is expecting a turnover of $84 billion and a gross profit margin of 38 percent of $89 billion and $93 billion respectively. Apple earned $ 88.3 billion in the same period last year, with a gross margin of 42%. In the last 21 months, the company's stock dropped by 10% to its lowest level.

Apple needs to revise its current leadership policies and adopt new approaches to innovation which are as follows. Apple needs to follow democratic leadership rather than following multiple leadership styles for the better transformation of the company.

• Apple is well-positioned to build on-board traffic analysis software to help recognize and warn around the clock when suspicious data trends that mean that any malware is at risk are identified (Hussain& Hassan, 2016). Network Security monitors traffic to determine when vulnerabilities exist much more successfully than traditional perimeter security models. AI-led security software for platform-based surveillance will be a gift to business customers.
• Enterprise clients could use new alert systems for the users such that when an automated machine message is received then it automatically replies such as "I am on my way" or even to inform managers when field service technicians are on site. A little automation could save business staff and everyone else just as technology told everyone it would do, from the tedium of repetitive demands.

Advantages of Transformational leadership style
Rather than dictating the team shifts, transformational leaders are encouraging people to adjust their attitudes, aspirations, or motives to move for a shared goal or purpose. This method is politer, confident, and respected. Whereas transformational leaders encourage a greater degree of faith and appreciation that is the rightness of the vision must also be strongly accepted (Pishgooieet al., 2019). The remainder of their Team loses faith if a transformational leader loses faith. Transformational leaders are more likely to keep their staff than most leadership styles. More consumers can also be retained and this is attributable to the charm that this type of leadership requires (Swiergielet al., 2019). Many of the leaders use transformative leadership to aim at the same time to meet the needs of the company. This means that everyone in the team can know that they have a clear role in the organization that keeps them active.

Transformational leaders are able to maximize efficiency by satisfying the needs of their personal motivations. This form of leadership considers current desires and demands. Followers are inspired entirely to fight for the right cause what they believe (?ukowski, 2017). Transformative leaders can do an outstanding job by implementing the new vision. They often identify insufficiencies or issues in the vision cycle that assist them with rolling out pressing improvements or proposals to address the circumstance. Since their charisma tends to sell the vision spiritual to their followers, the acceptance of the new vision easily filters out the organization's leadership, taking them all to the same page.

The technology used to enhance communication
The way businesses communicate has totally changed technology. Technology has allowed us to interact everywhere and at all times with people. This strengthened relationship gave a high degree of collaboration versatility that helps staff, peers, and managers to collaborate effortlessly. The technical growth of the companies has totally reshaped and simplified their corporate processes.

• A modern level of connectivity has introduced messaging applications like chat apps. Employees of Apple Inc. can make use of the chat apps in order to contact or subordinate management or management has become swift, instantaneous, deliberate, collective, and united.
• Systems such as project management tools can help to create, assign, analyse, and evaluate projects (Gandolfi& Stone, 2017). Workplace tasks can be handled effectively and can be monitored by employers and administrators in Apple Inc. It sets the duties, liabilities, and quality of the jobs entrusted to people and provides timely delivery.
• Technology for organizational productivity offering several means of solving competitive issues every day. It helps management to trace success more accurately at all levels of the aim and offers immediate strengthening or guidance to maintain their success and deadlines.
• By automating a process wherever possible, Apple Inc. can minimize manual handling by SaaS tools and concentrate on the integration of multiple tasks. Not only do automatic systems deliver more detailed outcomes and help to maintain all documents with their stated date and time (Gehani, 2016). This makes it easier to remember them for some business reason. This total cost control at multiple stages delivers increased sustainability by reducing prices.
• Enhanced teamwork has created a high degree of communication versatility that makes connection possible for staff, co-workers, and managers. Since workers can now collaborate and interact regardless of where they are, this helps foster collaboration, empathy, and relationships between employees (Dolata, 2017). Enhanced teamwork further strengthens the interaction between leaders and administrators and increases the supervision of their staff. Enhanced project coordination has helped organizations to inform their customers about their work and development.

Networks present implemented by Apple Inc.
Leadership networking in Apple Inc. seeks to create and use networks to establish ties and strengthen partnerships with the work and priorities of the organization. In today's workplace, it is critically critical that individuals be able to manipulate others informally rather than just exert their positional or hierarchical control (Megheirkouni, 2017). The management must establish strong working relationships with people who can support them with their jobs. This kind of networking is meant to ensure communication and collaboration between those who must know each other and trust each other in order to meet their immediate tasks (Huertas-Valdivia et al., 2019). It can achieve a strategic advantage by early notification of the opportunities and through personal contacts which can help to put your foot into the door by establishing professional partnerships with individuals employed in a number of businesses and industries.

Apple Inc. under the leadership of Tim Cook has initiated recent strategic networking. Apple has a strategic partnership with the IBM and CISCO to develop networking hardware and software tools which provide a competitive edge for Apple Products in terms of security and performance. Strategic networking should not only be primarily focused on establishing new ties beyond the enterprise (Tortorellaet al., 2018). While external ties are significant-good partnerships within organizations are vital to professionals in an organization. Leaders can accomplish many aims by creating a stable internal network and good partnership with key stakeholders may promote the acceptance and improvement of a project by providing a promotional opportunity (Choi et al., 2017). In addition, it is possible to maintain an open line of contact through the creation of links with decision-makers in the organization and to be mindful of structural developments that can affect the position. Apple Inc. has a well-developed network of practitioners with a high degree of experience is a talent pool that businesses can use in the recruiting of new talents who can promote innovation in the company (Khan & Nawaz, 2016). This can be especially useful when Apple Inc. has the luxury of going with normal recruitment say for example when any creative or talented employee leaves unexpectedly or when a new mission or program is quickly emerging.

Effective leaders are excellent as they align themselves into a network of other leaders. The leadership network should include those hired for the teams and those who are supported by the leaders as they are the ones they look to and the people the leader is developing for the next generation (Fontana & Greenstein, 2020). Independent committees and boards need guidance as well as the opportunity to identify and grow other leaders. They also prefer to solve tough situations as such they provide the best setting to test the depth of character and abilities of individuals with whom they work.

Conclusion
Great leaders drive the productivity of staff by building employee spirit and building up a profitable profitability atmosphere. Representative proficiency and work fulfilment endure when they feel overpowered or occupied. At the point when administrators create virtues, they can assist with boosting maintenance, increment the steadfastness of staff, and have a beneficial outcome. In order to be successfully aligning employee expectations and corporate needs, one of the most important tasks and management must do. A company can benefit or diminish employee skills, desires, and scheduling expectations based on how effectively a manager manages to balance certain aspects with the needs and priorities of the organization. The strongest bosses would find a way to put the desires and strengths of each individual person into line with the company's objectives.

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