Introduction of the Organizations Background and Nature Business Essay

Organizational behavior. IntroductionA ofA theA organization’sA backgroundA andA natureA ofA itsA business.AppleInc.,A previouslyA Apple Computer, Inc.,A is an AmericanA multinational companyA headquartered inA  CaliforniaA that designs, advances, and sellsA consumer electronics, computer software and individual computers. Its best-known hardware products are theA MacA line of computers, theA iPodA music player, theA iPhoneA smartphone, and theA iPadA tablet computer.

Its software includes theA OS XA andA iOSA operating systems, theA iTunesA media browser, theA SafariA web browser, and theA iLifeA andA iWorkA creativity and production suites. The company was founded on April 1, 1976, and incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977.[6]A The word “Computer” was removed from its name on January 9, 2007, reflecting its moved focus toA consumer electronicsA after the introduction of the iPhone. (Simon, 2007) Apple is theA world’s second-largest information technology corporationA by income afterA Samsung Electronics, and theA world’s third-largest mobile phone makerA afterA SamsungA andA Nokia.A FortuneA magazine named Apple the most well-regarded company in the United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012.A Though, the company has acknowledgedA disapprovalA for its contractors’ labor practices, and for Apple’s own environmental and business practices. (Simon, 2007) Apple started existing on April 1, 1976, byA Steve Jobs,A Steve WozniakA andA Ronald Wayne A to retail theA Apple IA personal computer kit. The kits were hand-built by WozniakA and first revealed to the community at theA Homebrew Computer Club. The Apple I was sold as aA motherboardA (withA CPU,RAM, and basic textual-video chips), which is fewer than what is today reflected as a complete personal computer. The Apple I exited on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66 Steve Jobs began at work on theA Apple LisaA in 1978, but in 1982, he was pressed from the Lisa team due to bickering.

Jobs took over Jef Raskin’s low-cost-computer project, theA Macintosh. A battle broke out between the Lisa team and the Macintosh team over which invention would ship first. Lisa won the race in 1983 and became the first personal computer sold to the public with a GUI, but was a commercial catastrophe due to its high price tag and limited software designations. (Simon, 2007) In 1984, Apple next launched the Macintosh.

Its entrance was publicized by the now famous $1.5 million television commercial “1984”. It was directed byA Ridley ScottA and was proclaimed during the third quarter ofA Super Bowl XVIIIA on January 22, 1984.A It is now greeted as a watershed event for Apple’s success and a “masterwork” TheA Macintosh PortableA was presented in 1989 and was designed to be just as dominant as a desktop Macintosh, but weighed a hulking 7.5 kilograms (17A lb) with a 12-hour battery life. After the Macintosh Portable, Apple publicized theA PowerBookA in 1991. The same year, Apple offeredA System 7, a major upgrade to the operating system which added color to the interface and presented fresh networking capabilities. It stayed to be the architectural basis forA Mac OSA until 2001. The accomplishment of the PowerBook and other products brought increasing profits. For some time, Apple was doing extremely well, introducing fresh new products and generating increasing profits in the progression. The magazineA MacAddictA titled the period between 1989 and 1991 as the “first golden age” of the Macintosh. (MacAddict, 2010) On August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new state of the art computer significant of theA Macintosh 128K: theA iMac. The iMac design team was led byA Jonathan Ive, who would later design theA iPod and theA iPhone.A The iMac featured modern technology and a unique design, and sold approximately 800,000 units in its first five months.

Over this period, Apple purchased some companies to create a portfolio of professional and consumer-oriented digital production software. In 1998, Apple declared the purchase of Macromedia’sA Final CutA software, gesturing its development into theA digital videoA editing market.A The following year, Apple released two video editing products such asA iMovieA for consumers and, for professionals,A Final Cut Pro, which has gone on to be a noteworthy video-editing program, with 800,000 registered users in early 2007.A In 2002, Apple boughtA “Nothing Real”A for their advanced digitalA compositingA applicationA Wobble,A as well asA EmagicA for their music productivity applicationA Logic, which led to the expansion of their consumer-levelA GarageBand application.A  (Simon, 2007) AnalysisA ofA  organizationalA behaviorA  aspectsA suchA asA  individualA differences,A  valuesA andA attitude.A The philosophy of Apple was based on an ideal that self-motivated individuals will effort harder if they do not have a boss controlling every action. The distinctive structure of Apple had allowed it to nurture and react more quickly to changes than its opponents. The purpose for the quick responsiveness is simple; it is much easier to get a project started if there are only a few people to obtain authorization from. Apple initially grew fast, because choices were made at the lowest possible level. Company headquarters made policy and oversaw all activities, but the local employees made the day-to-day conclusions on the ground in countries all over the world.

This type of top-down philosophy allowed for quick reaction and resolutions to situations without involving the company headquarters, thus avoiding corporate red tape (Travglione). The organizational structure of Apple was almost non-existent and focused on placing judgment making in the hands of the people in the field. Apple was doing amazingly well and had gotten the attention of many people because the company worked sound and was very responsive to change. However, things took a downward turn and Apple found themselves in a outlandish finance. Apple underwent problems in regional areas, specifically in the accountability of expenditure and in fiscal decision-making.

The same “top-down” philosophy that helped Apple grows, but also opened the door for some serious financial losses. With employees at different levels making judgments, it became difficult for the corporate office to keep trail of spending and purchasing (Offerman).Behavior at work (personality traits), personality has both internal and external fundamentals. The external characters are the observable behaviors that people trust on to identify someone’s personality. Personality is both inherited and shaped by the environment. Some examples of personality personas are quiet, aggressive and ambitious.

While working overtime late one night, you accidentally overhear a coworker called Fathimath having a telephone conversation in which she states that she had stolen ideas from a co-worker and close friend of yours called Ahmed. Fathimath recently received a high-status promotion on the basis of stealing Ahmed’s ideas, while Ahmed has been reprimanded by his manager for not performing up to the organization’s expectations.

Values, perceptions and personality traits are the key ideas that shape an individual’s behavior and way of doing things in day to day life as well as in organizational aspects and issues. That is why the study of these concepts is vital in the setting of organizational behavior theory. In the following, the issue talks about a dispute about a staffer named Fathimath stealing another staffer named Ahmed’s idea and later Ahmed got reproved. In a situations like this, it is to be resolute how an honest employee who had known about the theft and misdeed towards Ahmed should react in an organizational setting reliant on the employees own values, perception and personality. (Offerman) DiscussionA onA theA A  relationshipA betweenA A  organizationalA behaviorA  aspectsA suchA asA  individualA differences,A  valuesA andA attitudeA withA  ProductivityA (JobA  SatisfactionA andA  Motivation) Self-Esteem is a personal decision of ones worth and the satisfaction or dissatisfaction with ones owns self. By this meaning Self-Esteem is how each individual person views themselves as a person both attitude and physical status. Self-esteem involves only one psychological perception of their own qualities and their physical appearance. Self-esteem plays a significant role of which people are and starts at a very young age.

There are both positives and negative series of self-esteem. Self-esteem is the one of the most important characteristic in psychology because it can either give confidence or accept defeat .Similarly Self-efficacy is an appliance that explains an individual’s behavior and perceived ability to perform a behavior. It is associated with a positive self-concept, and self-appraisal. It is the personal control that comes from grasping new experiences with anticipation of successful. It is the protection of a behavior until success is seen. Self-efficacy varies in its strength and the level of self-efficacy is jammed by the experience of success or failure related to the risk of taking actions toward change. It evolves from a person’s perception of capability in performing behavior and having positive results. Self-esteem and self-efficacy both is essential to influence a person’s work behavior. Values of the company These are the values that govern Apple’s business manners: Empathy for Customers We offer superior merchandises that fill real needs and provide lasting worth. We deal fairly with opponents and meet customers and vendors more than midway. We are honorably attentive in solving customer problems, and we will not give and take our ethics or integrity in the name of profit. (Offerman) Aggressiveness/Achievement We set forceful goals and drive ourselves hard to achieve them. We identify that this is a unique time, when our products will change the way people work and live. It is an adventure, and we are in it self-possessed. (Offerman) Positive Social Contribution We build products that extend human ability, freeing people from labor and serving them achieve more than they could alone. But beyond that, we envision to make this world a better place to live. As a corporate citizen, we wish to be an economic, intellectual, and social asset in communities where we function. (Offerman) Innovation/Vision We made our company on innovation, providing products that were new and needed. We accept the risks essential in following our vision, and work to develop headship products that command the profit margins we strive for. (Offerman) Individual Performance We expect individual pledge and performance above the standard for our industry.

Only thus will we make the profits that permit us to seek our other corporate goals. Each employee can and must make a change. In the final analysis, individuals define the character and strong point of Apple. (Offerman) Team Spirit Teamwork is vital to Apple’s success, for the job is too big to be done by one person. Individuals are heartened to interact with all levels of management, sharing ideas and recommendations to improve Apple’s efficiency and quality of life. It takes all of us to win. We support each other and share the triumphs and rewards together. We are eager about what we do. (Offerman) Quality/Excellence We care about what we do. We build into Apple products a level of quality, performance, and value that will earn the respect and loyalty of our customers. At Apple, quality management is essential to our continued success. (Offerman) Individual Reward We recognize each person’s influence to Apple’s sucess, and we share the financial rewards that flow from high performance. We spot also that rewards must be psychological as well as financial, and we strive for an atmosphere where each individual can share the adventure and enthusiasm of working at Apple. (Offerman) Good Management The attitudes and behaviors of managers toward their people are of main importance. Employees should be able to trust the reasons and integrity of their supervisors. It is the responsibility of management to create a productive environment where Apple Values flourish. (Offerman) Motivations and Job satisfaction Motivation is the powers within the individual that accounts for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work.

Apple Inc. produces highly driven individuals who work hard at their job. Managers within the organization, including Steve Jobs, lead through incentive to create conditions where employees continually feel inspired to work hard. Apple’s highly motivated staff is one of the major reasons for their high-performance results. The company is rich in both inherent and extrinsic rewards for people whose act helps accomplish the organization’s objectives. Extrinsic recompenses are provided by someone else, usually a supervisor or higher-level manager. At Apple, extrinsic rewards have included: extra vacation time, all employees receiving an iPod Shuffle, and in 2007, all full-time employees received a free iPhone. Jobs is great at celebrating his teams deeds which includes opening champagne to mark success, and educational trips to museums or exhibits. He has taken employees on “havens” to luxurious resorts and thrown parties at popular locations in the cities Apple operates in. The rewards vary in size from large pay bonuses to verbal praise, and acknowledgment. In contrast, intrinsic rewards occur naturally as a person does their job.

The sources of intrinsic rewards such as feelings of proficiency, personal development, and self-control are all practiced by the staff at Apple. Employees have described how they enjoy and are motivated by the high capacity of people they work with, and being able to work on the state-of-the-art of technology.

Due to stock option grants, employees who have worked at the company for many years have large amounts of money secured up with Apple. For majority of the staff, this is a key motivator to safeguard the company’s interests. In regards to motivational theories, it does not appear Apple Inc centers as much on individual needs as do the content theories of motivation, but more on following task ends as does one of the process theories of motivation and the external environment concerns regarding the strengthening theory of motivation. The “goal-setting theory,” which is one of the process theories that relates to the organization, focuses on the motivational assets of task goals. Employees within the organization are highly motivated to achieve task goals, which give direction to people in their work. The proper setting and management of goals within Apple helps clarify performance expectations in the business.

They provide a foundation for behavioral self-management, which helps motivate employees work performance and job satisfaction. Apple relates to the reinforcement theory of motivation because it focuses on the outside environment and the magnitudes it holds for the individual. The organization mostly applies to the positive reinforcement strategy which strengthens or increases the frequency of desirable behavior by making a pleasant importance contingent on it occurrence. Many of Apple’s employees have to contract with stress on a daily basis, which is the state of pressure experienced by individuals facing amazing demands, constraints or opportunities. Much of their strain comes from working factors which includes, long working hours, too many demands, the rush of emerging the next big product, and the fear of losing their job for those who cannot meet goals. Stress can also come from personal factors which includes the “Type A” personality and from non-work factors which include family occasions, economics, and personal matters. Jobs considers in putting a lot of stress on his workers as it acts in a positive way to increase effort, arouse creativity, and inspire great work; known as constructive stress. The stress employees’ face can also have negative effects, known as destructive stress, which damages the performance of an individual. A great example of this was recently, in July of 2009, a man who worked at an iPhone plant in China committed suicide.

This was after the worker lost a fourth-generation iPhone original that he was responsible for. Employees who deal with Apple’s innovative products face great burden in maintaining a high-level of silence over their products. Many of the organization’s employees are continually dealing with the stress of their job and non-work factors; consequently Apple has come up with a few tactics in dealing with stress. The organization’s strict role elucidation helps reduce job worries, conflicts, and work overloads. Employees’ assistance programs are presented, which include: financial education seminars, tuition assistance, personal and family counseling, wellness programs, an onsite fitness center, and commuter programs RecommendationsA on strategiesA thatA willA positivelyA impactA productivity.A At Apple, areas of enhancement could be made by removing the use of intimidating power within the organization.

Coercive power is inducing an individual through punishment. Employees have reported that they have coerced to do something through verbal warnings. This only hurts the organization by making employees not want to work for management out of liking for their job, but out of fear they are going to be rebuked in some way. In respects to leadership and power, I believe Apple can develop in empowering other people. Empowerment is the process through which managers enable and help other individuals to gain control and have more influence within the company. This would improve the organization by not making it a “one genius that leads the company” model. It would help relieve Steve Jobs’s work and when people are empowered to act, they are generally more committed to their task and producing high-quality work. It would show the self-assurance management has in their employees, and their respect for the talents and creativity they own. (Essay bank, 2013) I believe Apple could improve stress management by not putting as many demands on employees, lessening the amount of work hours a week and not putting stress on workers to increase effort and inspire great work. As it is hard for an organization to limit personal and non-work factors of strain, Apple can improve in dropping the amount of work factors of stress.

The organization needs to focus on preserving constructive stress, but removing destructive stress. Detailed Plan of Improvement Apple Inc. does not emphasis as much on the individual wants of their employees, which relates to the content theories of motivation, but more on the achievement of task goals and the external environment consequences, which relate to the process and reinforcement theories of motivation. One of the content theories of motivation, the “Hierarchy of Needs Theory” developed by Abraham Maslow, is a great theory to appliance into the organization to improve motivation.

This theory states that there are two categories of needs: “Lower-order needs”- include physiological, safety, and social concerns, and “higher-order needs”- include esteem and self-actualization concerns. The serenity of lower-order needs, which desire social and physical well-being, and higher-order’s needs, which desire psychological expansion and growth, leads to great behavior and attitudes of people at work. (Offerman) Maslow’s theory describes two principles enlightening the effects of needs on human behaviour. The first is the “deficit principle,” which states that “a satisfied need is not a motivator of behaviour”. The second is the “progression principle,” which states that “a need at one level does not become stimulated until the next lower-level need is already satisfied.” The goal of Apple in applying this theory would be to allow all employees to spread through the hierarchy until they reach the level of self-actualization. At this level, employees begin to be motivated by opportunities of self-fulfillment. If managers within Apple followed this theory, employees would not have rundown needs which result in negative attitudes and behaviors, which in turn affect the organization in many different aspects. There are many different ways managers can use Maslow’s ideas to better meet the necessities of their staff. (Offerman) A detailed plan to apply this theory would first begin by looking at the order of the needs in the hierarchy.

The hierarchy of human needs is, from first to last: physiological, safety, social, esteem and lastly self-actualization needs. Below is an example on how Apple can fulfill each of these individual needs. (Travglione) Physiological needs Providing rational work hours, rest and refreshment breaks, and physical relaxation when working. Safety needs Apple already does a good job in providing for some of these needs, such as safe working settings, base reparation, and benefits. It could still improve in job security, which is eradicating the threat many employees feel of losing their jobs because of their performance. Social needs Refining the group atmosphere between managers and workers, by having friendly co-workers and amusing supervisors. Allowing all individuals to feel a sense of fitting in is important. This need is important to satisfy within the Apple organization as it has many team-based projects. More communal events could help improve the serenity of this need. Esteem needs Apple can fulfill employees esteem needs by giving them more duties for important jobs, allowing the opportunity for promotion to a higher job rank, and more compliment and recognition from Steve Jobs and other managers.

Ensuring workers know their involvement helps in reaching the organizations goals and making certain they receive credit for what they have done results in good self-esteem, leading them to be more productive and effective. Self-actualization needs As Apple already offers creative and challenging work through the products they improve, and participation in decision making, they could further help in satisfying this need by allowing more job elasticity and independence. Apple should allow employees to feel that they have touched the place they want and by fulfilling the self-actualization need more and more, the individual is supposed to grow stronger. (Travglione) Conclusion Apple inc is still improving with developing their culture to be more broad and colorful then it already is. Though there are some adjustment that needs to be attended, nevertheless the company has been thriving with its glory to achieve a certain level of excellence, for example their way of motivating their staffs to think in an innovating way is completely remarkable compared to other technology companies. Due to these factors there is a sense of serenity and temperance in their work environment which allows them to think in a broader manner, which hence forth leads to new types if innovating products such as the Mac os X tiger is one of the most powerful desktop operating systems in the apple computer world. Due to the fact that their motivation system is robust, after an employee has introduced an innovation the incentives received by the company to the staff is also very luminous, which in fact lifts up the employees self-esteem, thus a more satisfied employee A satisfied employee is always a gold mine to any company. It will affect his/her ability to engage in between communications with their customers in a healthier manner. That’s why the company values include empathy for its customers.

Because the company is open for many drastic improvements now it become the most leading and inspiring company of this century which creates state-of-the art ground breaking technologies, thus improving its faithful customers life and integrity.

Bibliography

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