APPLES ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Apples Organizational Structure

Juliana Hendrix
MGT/230
July 29th 2014
Michael Dillhyon, Jr.

APPLES ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Apples Organizational Structure

For an organization to be successful it needs a strong organizational structure. How the
organization is set up will directly impact the success or failure of said company. They need to be
structured and organized in a way that will best meet their goals and needs. Even though the
organizational structure is focus on the companys goal it also dictates how to report priorities
and strategies of upper management. By understanding a companies organizational structure it
can also reveal cross-functional relationships to coordinate work efforts and optimal results.
Apple Inc. is knows as the company that changed everything by creating the original
Macintosh computer in 1984. At the time most people did not even know how to use a computer
or what a computer was, but the design was simple and easy to understand. One click of the
mouse and you could do the unthinkable. Steve Jobs founder of Apple Inc said: We are just in
the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people as
remarkable as the telephone (Apple.com, 1984). Apple has stand out because is an incredibly
collaborative company, there are no committees and employees share their opinion and ideas for
the progress and success of the company.
Apple functions under a collaborative structure. A collaborative business structure is
designed to bring parties together in a long-term relationship to achieve a common goal (George,
R. 2012). A collaborative work environment supports people in their individual and cooperative
work. In a collaborative work environment professionals work together to achieve goals
independent of their location, and such practices enables an efficient and effective collaboration
among different talents. Collaboration leads to more ideas and innovation, like the saying two
heads think better than one, by attaining to this new structure Apple has open the doors for
innovation and new ideas from their employees.

APPLES ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Microsoft another leading computer company founder by Bill Gates in 1975

(Microsoft.com, 2013) originally had a functional organization structure, the company started
with only 11 positions and expanded throughout the years. Functional organizational structure
usually is better for small companies or those that focus on one product or service because it is
not designed to change quickly and it works well in a stable environment not inclined to constant
changes. Microsoft as of 2010 has a divisional organization, where each division or product
focuses on a specific line of goods and services. Their approach is very different from Apple,
where everyone collaborates to ideas to each division focusing in one thing and not being able to
collaborate in other products or goods.
Some of the advantages of a division structure can include easier cross-product
coordination, more customer focus and reduce functional duplication. Also some disadvantages
include cost, difficulty coordinating between corporate and division objectives and redundancy
among groups.
One example of a big corporation that still uses functional organizational structure is
Dell. Founded in 1984 by Michael Dell the company encourages different departments and
functional components to contribute ideas to strengthen the organization. This structure is very
similar to collaborative; it provides more learning availability to all members or the organization
as the decisions comes from various levels (Essays, UK. 2013).

Apples marketing organizational function focus on mainly three points

Empathy - they will truly understand their customer needs better than any other company.
Focus In order to do a good job of the things we decide to do, we must eliminate the
unimportant opportunities.

APPLES ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Impute The way the products are presented will make them attractive to the customers.
They will be presented in a creative, professional manner so they will impute the desired
qualities (Forbes.com, 2012).

Apples success can be associated also to its Human Resources department. Not many people
think of this but HR does a particularly good job at organizational development. Some of these
strategies include:

Know your roles At Apples Inc. each employee knows their role. They wear different tshirt colors to identify what they are supposed to do. Everyone one from the greeter to the

genius crew knows exactly what his or her role is.

Free up your leadership The workforce is deployed effectively which makes managers
and supervisors have more time to focus on what is really important such as leading,
inspiring and providing great customer service without the need to micro-manage every

single employee.
Make work meaningful When employees know what they are doing matters they will
do their best. If the employee is satisfied with his or her job they will deliver the same

level of work ethic and do a good job.

Retain with growth opportunities Companies struggle to retain great talent, but Apple
offers great opportunities such as promoting from within and allowing employees to
advance within the organization (Suzanne, C., 2012)

The finance departments function is to maximize shareholder value done either over a long
term or short term and determine how to do it the best way possible. They need to know how to
allocate assets to achieve maximum goal and that all the risk is at the right place.
The operational plan is the key to run an entire organization; this includes all areas such as
finance, human resources, manufacturing, marketing, etc. Apple is knows for its lenient business
thinking (Essays, UK., 2013). The operation of Apple is managed in geographic basis such as

APPLES ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

America, Europe, Japan, retail and others. The people are group together on the basis of their
expertise and resources, that way it enables to learn from its functions. Also managers have
greater power over decisions that way there are not so much bureaucracy when a problem needs
to be fix and this avoids the hierarchies.
Organization Design is a formal, guided process for integrating the people, information and
technology of an organization (Autry, R., 1996). The organization designs matches people,
technology, vision and strategy to achieve the companys goal and its focus to accomplish
desired outcomes. Apple collaborative structure is a key part of how the organization is designed.
The collaboration of members of the company helps determines what best design and strategy
needs to be elaborated to achieve the goals, reach more customers and increase profits. Their
collaboration structure allows apple to match people, information and the technology that
customers are seeking.
Overall Apple is a very successful company globally. It has had major success since founded
in 1984 and every day it expands more worldwide. Their collaborative structure allows different
minds and ideas to come together and create beautiful and latest technological gadgets. Every
day Apple becomes stronger financially and the lead on cellular devices thanks to the IPhone.
Even though they had a few set back such as the sad passing of Steve Jobs, Tim Cook the new
CEO has been able to keep the company afloat and the primary choice of many customers when
it comes to cell phones, computers and tablets.

Reference
Essays, UK. (November 2013). Organizational Structure Of Dell Company Business Essay.
Retrieved from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/organisational-structure-ofdell-company-business-essay.php?cref=1

APPLES ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Griffin, D. (2014). Functional Organizational Structure Advantages. Chron. Retrieved from

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/functional-organizational-structure-advantages-3721.html
Windows. (2013). Retrieved from http://windows.microsoft.com/enus/windows/history#T1=era0
Wingfield, N. (2013, July 11). Microsoft Overhauls, the Apple Way. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/technology/microsoft-revampsstructure-and-management.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Suzanne, C. (2012, March 28). HRs Role in Apples Success. First Reference Talks. Retrieved
from http://blog.firstreference.com/2012/03/28/suzanne-c-s-post/
Essays, UK. (November 2013). Business Operational Plan Of Apple Inc Business Essay.
Retrieved from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/business-operational-plan-ofapple-inc-business-essay.php?cref=1