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.