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Group V: Whose Turn Is It to Polish Apple

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Case 3 - Whose Turn Is It to Polish the Apple?
Analysis Prepared by Group 5:
Espinosa, Melissa Katherine
Francisco, Marvin
Importante, Marlyn
Magtibay, Roxanne
Nito, Orenz
Rosapapan, Jennifer

Synthesis
At the time of the case, Gilbert Amelio is the fourth CEO of Apple after Splinder; the
loyal Mac users, shareholders, employees, and the board all looked to him to "polish the
apple". He creates a simple vision and pulls people together to back it no matter what it
takes and cut cost and reduced workforce by one third.
Apple has been quoted by mismanagement by Business Week. The Apple's founders,
Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak created the culture Do your own thing, defy the
pessimists and ignore the Establishment. The result of this culture was their
groundbreaking machine- the Insanely Great Mac. Later the two founder developed
disagreements and led to Wozniak's withdrawal from Apple. There are also clashes
between Jobs and Sculley in creating Macs ultimate design; the latter came out on top.
John Sculley chooses to ignore the culture created by Jobs and Wozniak. He fostered
consensus, which make key decisions postponed, reversed or avoided. Sculley has
been replaced by Michael Splinder, who also did massive layoffs and moved the
company toward a new, low margin business model. Apple was able to have four-
quarter growth and a rebound in stock price. However, he was caught in the cycle of
delay, reversal and missed opportunities.
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Point of View
The point of view of Apple CEO, Gilbert Amelio
Statement of the Problem
How will Gil Amelio reconstruct the corporate culture of Apple?
Statement of Objectives
1. To move from extreme organic processes towards external positioning.(note: not
mechanistic processes.)
2. To introduce positive culture that everyone is part of the team that will foster
growth teamwork, and the company as leader of innovation.

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Case: Whose Turn Is It to Polish Apple
Group V: Whose Turn Is It to Polish Apple

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3. To develop and Implement an organizational reconstruction and develop a
strategic plan on how to disseminate changes that all levels in the organizations
will understood and embrace.

Areas for Considerations and Assumptions
Gil Amelios Perspective:
He wants to address all the problem of Apple Company not only the chaotic
corporate culture. He cut cost and reduced workforce by one third
Many people rely on him to change the company but not everyone is
cooperative.

Steve Jobs Perspective:
He needs more smart and aggressive executive to keep the business going and
give them authority on the job.
He is demanding and perfectionist that often resulted to disagreements.

Michael Splinder Perspective:
Focus more on invention, innovation and technology stuffs
He has no skills in managing people and company

John Sculley Perspective:
Growth driven and lead the company to new direction
He caught into indecision that result missed opportunities

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
In the case of Apple, the two founders have created a culture that will keep them the
leader of innovation in the technology market. The leader of the company is the key
element to actualize the corporate culture. Deshpande, Farley, and Webster model
have shown that a model of culture types can be derived. The model they develop and
use is defined by two key dimensions, which represent a merging of two major
theoretical traditions from the organizational behavior literature: The systems-structural
perspective, and the transaction cost perspective, which is grounded also in
economics.
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The Adhocracy culture in the model of Deshpande, Farley, and Webster is
very applicable in polishing the existing culture of Apple. Apple should maintain its
competitiveness in the fast pace of technology market and its the responsibility of its
leader to stay innovative and risk taker in making decisions and prevent indecision.

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An Exploration Study of Organizational Culture in The Philippines,2005
Group V: Whose Turn Is It to Polish Apple

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Alternative Courses of Action (ACA)
ACA 1: Retain the existing culture determined by the company.
Pros Cons
1. No disruptions of business
operation, business as usual.

2. No add on cost for the company to
introduce new policies and system.

1. Chaotic environment and
mismanagement kept repeating.

2. Massive layoffs of employees,
which might lead to profit loss in the
long run.

ACA2: Create a systematic plan to change totally the existing culture.
Pros Cons
1. Brand new positive Apple culture

2. It will attract new talents that are full
of creativity.
1. Time consuming

2. The negativity of existing
employees will restrict new comers
to be creative.

Group V: Whose Turn Is It to Polish Apple

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ACA3: Partially modify the existing culture and implement them gradually.
Pros Cons
1. No drastic change and business
operation continuity.

2. Employees can take advantage of
the existing culture and with positive
environment.

3. The modification will avoid the
mistakes and continue the positive
attributes.

1. Need additional head as task force
to implement changes

2. Possible resistant to existing talents

3. Research may not really identify the
strength and weakness of the
company

Recommendation
The group decided to recommend alternative course of action 3, to partially modify the
existing culture and implement them gradually. There is a need to modify the existing
culture and reserve the identity of Apple and its positive strength. The current culture is
identified as chaotic but we should not forget that Apple has the passion to create new
things even no one believes that its possible.
In the model of Deshpande, Farley, and Webster; the Computer/Software and IT
companies fall under Quadrant 2-Adhocracy. Adhocracy emphasized on mechanistic
processes and its external positioning towards market. In the case of Apple, they are
currently in the same quadrant but extremely high on adhocracy; they need to move
towards external processes. It will give them the edge of its dominant attributes like
competitiveness, decisive and goal orientation.

Group V: Whose Turn Is It to Polish Apple

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Implementation Plan
Gil Amelio and the top management should identify the Apples strength and
weaknesses.
a. Gil Amelio will and its team will set a meeting to address the identified current
issues within the organization. To set a systematic strategy on how to move from
extreme organic processes towards mechanistic processes.
i. They can hire a third party that specializes in strengthening organizational
culture.
ii. They can use Gantt chart and some tools to help them track the
implementation.

b. The HR will create strategy on how to reach out with the employees to prepare
them to the process of reconstructing the culture.
i. Team Building
ii. Seminar
iii. Advertising within Organization
iv. Set up Helpdesk to assist queries of the employee


c. The Management will implement the change gradually and create a post
evaluation from time to time to monitor the implemented changes.

Learning Insights
Culture plays an important role to the growth of the company. An organization is
sometimes forced to change its culture to address the existing issues within the
company. However, changing is very difficult, the larger the company the more difficult
to manage and change.
As a group, we have learned that managers plays a vital role in creating culture and
making crucial decisions. No matter which quadrant we belong and An organization is
not only influenced by system and its people but also by culture reinforced by their
manager and they regard them as a leader. A leader is a person who changes the
current organizational culture and creates a new culture to take its place (Schein, 1992).
In this respect, good management and implementation is a key component of creating,
changing and modifying organizational culture.

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