Assessing the Roles of Structure, Management, and Leadership in Organizational Performance

Question

Paper details:After completing this unit, you should be able to:

Determine a company business structure.
Describe the management by objectives model applied in your company.
Describe leadership in your company.
Describe the team concept and using teams in your company.
Course outcome(s) practiced in this unit:

MT499-4: Assess the roles that structure, management, and leadership play in organizational performance.

Assignment

For this project, in a 3 to 4 page paper, describe the structure of your company. In addition, describe, as the leader, how you will manage the business in order to realize the vision, promote the mission, and achieve optimal organizational performance.

Assignment checklist

Determine a company business structure.
Describe the management by objectives model applied in your company.
Describe leadership in your chosen company.
Describe the team concept and using teams in your company.


Answer

MT499-4 Assessing the Roles of Structure, Management, and Leadership in Organizational Performance

The key to positive organizational performance is the creation of appropriate approaches in terms of structure, management, and leadership. Organizational performance refers to the aggregate input-output ratio as expressed through outcomes derived after certain tasks are undertaken. Various approaches may be used to evaluate the overall performance of an organization, including the return on asset, return on investment, sales growth, and gross profit. In this project, however, the focus is on an assessment of the role that the business structure, management by objectives, leadership, and the team concept play in determining organizational performance. This assessment will be undertaken with a specific focus on Apple Inc. as the target company. To achieve optimal performance, leaders should strive to create the best organizational structure for their business organizations, employ transformational leadership, and apply team concepts with a focus on management by objectives. This approach will also enable them to realize their organization’s vision.

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Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company that designs, manufactures, produces and sells different electronic devices and online services. The American-based company is world-renowned for its products which include the iPhone, the iPad, the Mac personal computer and the iOS operating system. Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, it is now under the leadership of Tim Cook who is its Chief Executive Officer. As of 2015, Apple Inc. registered total assets worth $305.277 billion, an operating income of $71.230 billion, total equity worth $174.820 billion, a net income of $53.394 billion, and a workforce of 115,000 employees. These statistics have earned it the title of the largest information technology company in the world (Apple Inc., 2015). To achieve such success in today’s difficult economic times, a lot of organizational discipline has to be employed at the leadership level.

Undeniably, organizational performance largely depends on organization structure. The business structure of a company defines the relationship between the way the tasks are allocated, how people are organized and how authority in the organization is configured (Askarny, 2011). Under the new leadership of Tim Cook, Apple Inc. has portrayed three main characteristics in its organizational structure: spoke-and-wheel hierarchy, product-based grouping and function-based structure. The spoke-and-wheel hierarchy is designed to allow for collaboration among the different teams within the company under the leadership of the senior vice presidents (SVPs) while still reporting to Tim Cook at the center, thereby giving considerable autonomy to the vice presidents of the company. Under the function-based grouping, all SVPs that report to Tim Cook are in charge of specific functions while the product-based grouping ensures that all products are properly handled through the chain of command within respective departments. 

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At the same time, management by Objectives (MBO) makes the company’s employees committed and result-oriented leading to positive organizational performance. Drucker (1954) defines MBO as an approach that requires managers and subordinates within an organization to discuss and set the objectives to be achieved within a specific timeline. Apple Inc. appears to apply the MBO approach in a highly effective manner. As mentioned before, every SVP has a specific product function at the company. All SVPs have vice presidents (VPs) operating under them. The VPs in turn oversee the activities of various employees and subordinate members. They all meet very regularly to set objectives and goals that have to be met within specified timelines.

The leadership style applied by the leaders in any company directly influences organizational performance. Several theories of leadership have been proposed, among them situational theory, path-goal theory, contingency theory, and the transformational theory (Hurduzeu, 2015). Apple Inc. uses the transformational theory as their main leadership style, which is the kind that is characterized by intellectual stimulation, individual consideration, strength of character and inspiration (Hurduzeu, 2015). Incidentally, many transformational leaders tend to incorporate other leadership theories in order to ensure that they direct, delegate, coach and participate in various workplace activities in synchrony with their subordinates in order to motivate them intellectually and to allow for high levels of innovation.

Moreover, ssigning different roles and different team leaders to different sectors of the company makes the company more efficient which in turn affects the overall organizational performance of the company positively. Apple Inc. uses the spoke-and-wheel hierarchy to facilitate collaboration among the different teams of the company including the hardware team and the software team. This way, there can be no overlaps when problems arise or cases where the wrong information is passed on to a team. The separation of different teams’ activities minimizes the number of errors reported at Apple. Besides, working in a team in itself is an effective corporate strategy as ideas and information can be shared and developed to bring up better products and services.

Overall, various factors contribute to the overall performance of a business organization. Organizational structure, management by objectives, leadership style and team concepts are the main variables that set Apple Inc. apart from other multinational technology l companies. As a leader, I would put this knowledge into consideration in my efforts to enhance organizational performance. in this regard, I would create the best organizational structure for my company, employ transformational leadership and apply the team concept in an MBO context in order to realize the stipulated vision, promote the mission of my company, eventually achieve the desired level of performance.

References

Apple Inc. (2015). Apple Reports Record Fourth Quarter Results. Apple Inc. October 27, 2015. Web.

Askarany, D. (2011). Factors Affecting Organizational Performance. Paradigms: A Research Journal of Commerce, Economics and Social Sciences, 5(1), 14-31.

Drucker, P. (1954). The practice of management. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Hurduzeu, R.E., 2015. The impact of leadership on organizational performance. SEA-Practical Application of Science, 7, 289-294.

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