Apple Inc Change of Leadership

When they were both working for Hewlett-Packard, Steve Job and his friend Steve Wozniak came up with the idea for Apple, Inc. (Gallo, 2010). In 1976, the pair created the first Apple computer, and from that point on, they went on to transform how people used computers, browsed the internet, made phone calls, and listened to music. After the company's founder passed away in 2011, the company's leadership underwent significant changes (Gallo, 2010). The following essay reflects on the type of change experienced in the leadership of the company, the introduction and reason for the change, an analysis of the change including how it was communicated as well as the people involved in the changes.

Introduction and Reason for Leadership Change at Apple Inc

Apple Inc. has witnessed different changes in the executives who run the firm in the past several years. During the era of Steve Jobs, the company's leadership was known for Steve Job's autocratic style of leadership. Jobs micro-managed a cast range of business units; everything went through him. Unfortunately, following the death of the originator and CEO, the company was left looking for new direction and leadership. Subsequently, the firm announced a change of leadership at the company following the demise of Jobs in 2011 following cancer complications (Lashinksy, 2013). Thus, the change of leadership stemmed from the concern of the enterprise over its future direction. The company had named Tim Cook- a long-serving Apple executive at the firm as the new CEO several months before the demise of Jobs. However, there were concerns regarding the sustainability of the firm’s innovative culture, which had been closely attributed to the former CEO.

Communication of the Change

Apple announced the change of leadership at the company a few months before the decease of Jobs. The top executives at the company were involved in communicating the change at the corporate. Since then, the firm's leadership practices have changed drastically. Simplicity is a key attribute of the enterprise's communication and structure model (Lashinksy, 2013).The top executives communicated directly with the relevant departments with no matrix relationship. The company's approach of communication approach is clearly a centralized decision-making structure. The relevant departments and the board of directors glued all determinations together and made the decisions necessitating change at the company.

The Effectiveness of Leadership in Communication

Since being delegated the CEO post in Apple following the demise of Jobs, Cook has exhibited a different style of management from his predecessor on diverse instances. For example, he fared well in a survey on employee satisfaction. Cook appears calmer and approachable towards the staff. Furthermore, he motivates workers by having an open door policy based on effective communication and a united organizational culture. He listens carefully, and this makes him an excellent communicator (Beasly, 2014). Just recently, he communicated effectively using a memo addressing Apple employees and praising their efforts out in the novel products that opened a new chapter in the history of the company (Beasly, 2014). An important aspect of this open letter is the way he does not overuse ‘your’ and ‘you’ but rather addresses the customers and employees as ‘our customers’ and ‘our employees’.



Change Model of Leadership at Apple Inc

Lewin (1947) coined the first model of change. The model posits that it is more significant to pay attention to the phases of implementation as opposed to the needed conceptual tasks. A successful change process would go through three steps of unfreezing, moving, and then freezing. To initiate change, a firm has to unfreeze its present condition in a bid to adopt new practices effectively. Individuals then get ready to leave the current state after which change is implemented by using driving forces. People need to get off their comfort zones. Upon the implementation of change, the organization refreezes into the new state as illustrated in Figure 1 below.



Figure 1: Lewin change model

Changes in the business cannot occur unless someone suggests about adopting different objectives, goals or framework. Leaders have a critical aim of attaining the organizational changes. They do not just ensure enhanced job productivity but also attempt to drive encouraging change. In a bid to generate a successful change, the most significant factor, which leaders need, is leadership. The behavior of the leader is vital because it influences the processes of change. In the current business environment, democratic or participative leadership is better than autocratic leadership and is the most successful in effecting changes in the organization.



Figure 2: Lewin’s Leadership Framework

In the case of Apple, the former CEO Steve Jobs was an authoritarian leader who undertook command and did not delegate the responsibility of making decisions to his team members (Finkle, & Mallin, 2010). He made independent decisions without considering the input of his team members. The Lewin considers that the appropriate leadership style is that which entails a participatory environment. In this case, as opposed to simply pressing on with Steve Job’s autocratic style of leadership, Cook considered his strengths and emphasized on establishing cooperation among Apple's team members comprising Eddy Cue, Phil Schiller, Ive Jony, and Craig Federighi.

The style is tremendously indicative of the democratic management style that supports consensus creation, especially among high-ranking workers before arriving at a mutually consented decision (Lashinksy, 2013). Overall, under the participatory leadership, there is more collaboration and cooperation. The participatory leader is often likable by the other members because they are considered as one of the group.

To sum up, Apple, Inc. started as an idea from Steve Job alongside his friend Steve Wozniak to innovate and develop the company. However, the company experienced critical changes in its leadership following the death of its founder in 2011. The death of the CEO had left the company looking for new direction and leadership, but it later announced a change of leadership at the company following the demise of Jobs in 2011. The firm named Tim Cook as the new CEO a few months before the death of Jobs. The top executives at the company were involved in communicating the change at the company. Regarding communication, Cook appears calmer and approachable towards the staff. Furthermore, he motivates workers by having an open door policy based on effective communication and a united organizational culture. Based on Lewin’s change model, the democratic or participative leader is better than an autocratic leader in effecting changes in the organization. In this case, Cook’s participatory leadership style is more appropriate as opposed to Steve Job's authoritarian style of leadership.























References

Beasly, M., (2014). Tim Cook’s memo to employees: I am excited about this new chapter this new chapter in Apple story. 9to5Mac. Retrieved 29 March 2017 from, https://9to5mac.com/2014/09/09/tim-cooks-memo-to-employees-i-am-excited-about-this-new-chapter-in-apples-story/

Finkle, T. A., & Mallin, M. L. (2010). Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 16(7), 31.

Gallo, C. (2010). The innovation secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely different principles for breakthrough success. McGraw-Hill Professional.

Lashinksy, A. (2013). How Tim Cook Is Changing Apple. Fortune, May, 24, 110-118.

Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method, and reality in social science; social equilibria and social change. Human Relations, 1(1), 5-41.