Apple Organizational Behavior

Organizational Leadership and Structure at Apple Inc.

Steve Jobs began Apple Inc. with the notion of One person- One
computer in hopes of having a personal computer that could be easily
used by anyone. As of September 2010 with 46,600 full time employees
and 2,800 temporary employees and contractors, this notion holds true
today (Apple Inc., 2010). Over the years of Apple Inc. development
changes in organizational leadership and structure occurred. Apples
mission of changing the world by bringing computers to the masses
brought multiple changes within the company that became a hindrance and
a benefit to the companys growth (Freedman & Vohr, 1989).
Under co-founder Steve Jobs and CEO A.C. Mekkula in 1983, then Apple
Computers Inc. was under a centralized organizational structure. The
authority to make decisions was restricted to higher level management and
these managers would still report to Markkula (Schermerhorn, Hunt,
Osborn and Uhi-Bien (2010)). Apples structure consisted of five product
divisions, four product support divisions and numerous administrative
departments. These divisions would report to Jobs and Mekkula and final
decisions would rest with them. This division created divisions within the
company, and newly hired CEO John Schulley stated
As a member of the executive staff, I came away with a clear impression
that there wasnt a common understanding of the company we were trying
to build. In fact, there were many, competitive fiefdoms. A group called
PCDS (Personal Computer Systems Division) was responsible for the
development and marketing of the Apple II. Within that division was a
smaller splinter group in charge of the Apple III. There was the Lisa
computer division, and Steves Macintosh team, which hadnt yet
introduced a product (Freedman & Vohr, 1989).
This observation caused Scully to re-organize and re-structure
management and reduce the number of apple product divisions to three.
Each of these divisions was responsible for its own function and could
manage independently (Freedman & Vohr, 1989). Schulley designed this
new structure in such a way that he could have as many people as possible
report to him. A hierarchy was formed within the organization and two
competing companies arouse. This re-design also caused internal
problems for Apple. Jobs was still head manager over the Macintosh
division and was accused of favoritism towards that department which had
a demoralizing effect on the other Apple divisions (Freedman &
Vohr, 1989). Schulley had to re-organize the structure again, because he
noticed things were not working. As a leader under that structure and the
division that was occurring, he was losing control of the company. Steve
Jobs was overseeing the Macintosh division and communication about this
major division was not given to Schulley, yet handled by Jobs. Schulley
was not involved in key decisions of the day to day operations.
Schulley re-organized Apples organizational structure in 1985 and brought
in a new general manager to replace Jobs. Schulley converted the three
product divisions into one called Product Operations (Freedman &
Vohr, 1989). He re-organized Apples structure three more times and in
1988 the organization became decentralized. Since Schulley left Apple as
CEO, several other CEOs have changed the structure several times until
Steve Jobs returned. New divisions were formed such as international and
upon Jobs return created many more projects for him. The organization
went back to five main divisions with six other divisions for administrative.
These increased divisions are one of the causes of excess and redundant
projects created within Apple Inc.
Reference
Apple Inc (2010). Apple Inc. Investor Relations Retrieved December 3,
2010 from http://www.apple.com/investor/
Freedman, R. D. & Vohr, J. (1989). Apple Computer, INC. NYU STERN .
Retrieved December 3, 2010
from http://www.stern.nyu.edu/mgt/private_file/mo/rfreedma_ca/apple.pdf
Schermerhorn, J. R., Hunt, J. G., Osborn, R.N., & Uhi-Bien, M. (2010).
Organizational Behavior (11th ed.). : John Wiley & Sons, Inc.