Apple Inc.
Individual Assignment 1
MGMT 419

Contents

Executive Summary
The company that I have chosen to research is Apple, Apple incorporation; an American multinational corporation was established in 1976 in California by two pioneer personalities Steven Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Both of the founders having a unique skill set and both highly interested in electronics (Researchomatic, 2012). The company’s background goes back to when Steve Jobs started in his garage innovating new technologies that would be used everywhere around the world today. Eventually Jobs turned his invention of the iPhone to a corporate empire in 1977 and it has soared till his death in 2011. The research in this paper goes to outline what changes his death brought about in the company, and what the management needed to solve along with impacts it had on the stakeholders.

Introduction
Changing organization is as messy as it is exhilarating, as frustrating as it is satisfying, as muddling through and creative a process as it is a rational one (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009).The company that I have chosen to research is Apple, Apple incorporation, an American multinational corporation was established in 1976 in California by two pioneer personalities Steven Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Both of the founders having a unique skill set and both highly interested in electronics (Researchomatic, 2012). The company’s background is simply put; it soared with increased revenue growth and innovative ideas from 1977 till Jobs death in 2011. My research goes to examine how former CEO Steve Jobs died in 2011 and the change the organization experienced. The company not only lost a great leader but a great innovator who changed the way “technology” was used throughout the world and now the company had to ensure its consumers that the innovative culture was still intact even after the creator was no longer present.

Management Problem
With many new changes, and issues arising Apple’s management had to solve them quickly and efficiently before they lost control. One of the key changes they had to solve was to re brand under the new CEO Tim Cook, ensuring that the product popularity remained high even after Jobs death. I believe this type of change would be considered partially intended change, due to the fact that Steve jobs was dying of pancreatic cancer and in weeks before he expired he resigned and passed his responsibility to Tim Cook (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009) .With that being said the change the company was about to experience was a planned one whether it was short notice, they knew that changes were well on their way and the change intentions were achievable but not entirely. Due to the fact that both intended and unintended consequences could have emerged from the actions of change (death of Jobs, new CEO) and factors may modify what was original intended it was crucial for Apple to let its investors, employees and consumers know that it had capabilities. Unlike Cook, Jobs had no problem breaking into new segments even if they threatened existing ones. With that being said the future of apples success hinged on its companies and management’s ability to remain that posture with whomever is in charge.

With this chain of events apple needed to evaluate their image of managing change. When a Steve job was alive he was change manager as a director, based on an image of management as control and of change outcomes as being achievable. If he decided that he needed to realign the organisation to changes in environment by introducing new technological systems, then he did just that and it was assumed it would be better performing and a better aligned organization (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009) . With a new personality such as Tim Cook, it would be logical to assume his image of managing change was that too of a director being the CEO of apple and all. However after analyzing his