Apple Inc. Management Problem: Poor Working Environment

Apple Inc.
Name
Institution Affiliation
Date
Apple Inc. Management Problem
Introduction
Apple Inc. is one the largest companies in the telecommunication industry which have constantly faced management issues. The company is multinational based and offers online services, computer software, and consumer electronics (Apple Inc., 2021). Apple is the largest globally due to its $ 274.5 billion revenue, a record that has been set since 2020 (Apple Inc., 2021). The company was established in 1976 by Wayne Ronald, Wozniak Steve, and Steve Jobs (Apple Inc., 2021). The digital transformation, especially among the millennials, spearheaded Apple’s expansion and increased market share. Apple is known for its consistent research and development team, which considers the consumer’s preferences making it gain a competitive advantage over its competitors such as Samsung. The main operation contents of Apple Company are based on specific products, including HomePod, Apple Watch, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Macintosh.
Regardless of the significant expansion of Apple and its ability to meet consumer expectations and preferences, management is a crucial problem. According to the business press, Apple faced employee unrest as a critical problem with different causative agents such as harassment and the inability to meet stakeholders' expectations (Nicas & Browning, 2021). The poor working environment stimulated unrest among the employees. Nicas & Browning (2021) identified that issues such as discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment, and verbal abuse as the source of employee unrest. Apple’s problem is related to the lack of a powerful purpose statement. According to Blount & Leinwand (2019), an organization should have a valid purpose statement that achieves two significant objectives, workforce motivation, and articulated strategic goals. The management misses the two ideologies leading to employee unrest (Quinn & Thakor, 2018). It also misses ethical leadership. According to Bazerman (2020), ethical leadership and stakeholder involvement give an organization a clear purpose and direction. Whenever employee embraces the organizational purpose, they do not engage in any management malpractices. Therefore, stakeholder analysis is essential since employees are internal stakeholders. The paper strategically correlates Apple’s problem to management problems and offers strategic recommendations for the company.
Analysis
The management problem facing Apple Inc. relates to instrumental stakeholder theory. The theory focuses on the strategic and ethical relationship with diverse stakeholders (Weitzner & Deutsch, 2019). Most stakeholder theorists argue that every manager's critical role is to apply the economic lens in making constructive and valid decisions to resolve moral myopia, as seen in Apple’s case. The crucial problem at Apple involving employee unrest originated from the poor relationship between the employees as stakeholders and the management team. According to Weitzner & Deutsch (2019), healthy relationships are essential in any organization and should be upheld through instrumental motivation. Relationship building can also be explained as an ingredient of competitive...