Performance of employees
In this assignment, an employee of Apple Inc. was interviewed on the leadership strategies that have been implemented in the organization. The organization selected for this assignment was Apple Inc. This organization was chosen because it is among the leading organizations globally. It is essential to find the leading strategies that make the company among the top in the market. The other reason for choosing this company is that the company has had experiences of different leadership styles. For instance, during the era of Steve Jobs, the company was using an autocratic kind of leadership, which later changed under the leadership of Tim Cook.
The organization’s senior leadership strategies reflect the best practices identified in the Baldrige Criteria. For example, according to the interviewee, Tim Cook, the company, the leader has been praised for his inspirational leadership style and focusing on the growth of the company’s workers. One of Baldridge’s criteria for a winning company includes engaging the workforce. Apple’s senior leadership integrates some of these elements in its leadership style. For example, the company uses a democratic leadership which fosters open communication. Contrary to the previous leadership style under Steve Jobs, the company currently involves its employees in decision-making processes. For instance, this participatory leadership style is exercised in the product development department. Under the leadership of Tim Cook, the product development team has been given the autonomy to make decisions regarding the product development processes by reducing the direct participation of the CEO in the process.
According to the interviewee, this participatory kind of leadership has been useful in the organization since it has encouraged innovation and creativity in the workplace. This is attributed to the fact that participatory leadership encourages employees to share new ideas in the workplace. Apart from creativity and innovation, the employee claims that the engagement of employees has encouraged the growth of employees and their commitment. This because this kind of leadership makes employees feel valued by the organization.
The organization has succeeded in implementing effective communication strategies. However, according to the interviewee, there is a gap in the organization’s in the promotion of an environment that fosters legal and ethical behaviors as one of Baldridge’s criteria of a winning company. Among the current legal requirement of the organization includes ensuring there is a diversity of the workforce. However, Apple has failed on this. For instance, the interviewer claimed that the company has been unable to achieve the gender balance legal requirement. A large percentage of companies are male workers with very few female employees. Moreover, the company has failed to balance its workers in terms of racial backgrounds. The most significant percentage of its senior leadership team consists of whites.
In conclusion, through this interview, I have learned that, indeed leadership style affects the performance of employees and the overall performance of an organization. For instance, in Apple’s leadership strategy, I learned that employees are more satisfied and committed to the current leadership, which fosters effective communication and participatory leadership strategies. In the contemporary market world where innovation is vital, participatory leadership is essential. In the company’s previous autocratic leadership, employees were not encouraged to participate in decisions making processes. I learned that for a company such as Apple, which strived in the market based on innovation, this is not an effective leadership strategy. I have also learned that it is vital for a company to promote an environment that fosters legal behavior. The public criticizes Apple for failing to meet its legal diversity requirement.