MGM5005 Perspective of Management For Steve Jobs

Question 

Watch the video from the link https://youtu.be/spSCnp4VjXw titled “Steve Jobs' management style. Leadership”.

Identify the leadership style of Steve Jobs and explain it supporting it with suitable examples from some other sources. 

Answer

Apple is one of the most prominent and leading manufacturers of electronic gadgets around the world is the most valuable brand in the world. However, there is someone who played the role of leadership in making the brand of Apple this much as it is today. That man is none other than the Steve Jobs, former CEO and founder of Apple. Inc. Steve jobs have one of the most unique styles of leadership, which enabled the organizations to gather the latest market trend. His leadership styles helped the employees in adjusting with the updated trend in the working environment (Isaacson, 2012). All the stakeholders of the organizations including the customers are being benefited by having the latest and updated information and technology for their access.

Leadership style of the Steve Jobs is more of transformational leadership (Garcia-Morales, Jimenez-Barrionuevo & Gutierrez-Gutierezz, 2012). It is due to the reasons that, he had the power to influence and motivate his employees. In additions, another characteristic of Steve Jobs that can be matched with the transformational style of leadership is following ethical principles. In his tenure, he was known for strict follower of ethical principles. Also, he had the power of identifying the needs or requirements in the market before anyone else. He came up with the idea regarding mobiles and musical devices which has created a new market of their own. Another feature of transformational leadership style is having high expectations and ambitions which are most applicable for him (Garcia-Morales, Jimenez-Barrionuevo & Gutierrez-Gutierezz, 2012). When Steve Jobs founded Apple, it was nothing but a small shop. However, in all these years he made the brand as the most valuable in the world. He is still an inspiration for million and had the power to determine the emotions of the people. These all features made him an ideal transformational leader.

Steve Jobs was not a conventional leader, rather than he preferred more out of the box thinking. Thus, Apple always had the capability to come up with a unique product in the market. Steve Jobs inspired his own employees by representing the organization in his own. Unlike the other organizations, Apple does not have any brand ambassadors other than Steve Jobs himself. During the introduction of new products in the market or solving any issues, Steve Jobs lead from the front. It helped the employees to work and present their ideas without any fear. They have the impression that whatever idea will they come up with; it will be motivated and nurtured by the organization (Allio, 2012). Transformational leadership is not about blaming or pressuring others for the accomplishment of the task, rather than it involves counseling and motivating the others to equip them for the challenges. Steve Jobs was also known for motivating others in the course of work. For instance, during the trail run of the first iphone, it was seen that the plastic display of the phone is prone to scratching. Thus, he planned to install glass interface in the front of the phone. He called the CEO of Corning glasses, which came up with the scratch free glasses. However, at that time, Corning stopped the production of those glasses and asked Jobs to go for other options. However, Steve Jobs pushed the CEO of Corning to restart the production and supply it to them without any fear of business risks. After that incident the rest is history. Today Corning Gorilla glass is the most used glass panel in majority of the mobile brands around the world. This is power of Steve Jobs to foresee the future. Effective management of human resource is also an important aspect of transformational leadership (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). In the case of Apple, employees are given the most preference in the organization. According to Steve Jobs, it is the employees who are responsible for making the product succeed in the market (Isaacson, 2012). Thus, they should be taken care of in order to enable them in providing the highest possible productivity.

Customers also are one of the important stakeholders for Steve Jobs. He always made out the requirement out of the customers from the current market availability (Fassin, 2012). The most unique style of his leadership is introducing the products in the market which are not available with the competitors. Conventional leaders come up with the similar products in the market with having some sort of exclusivity, whereas Steve Jobs has the opinion of introducing products in the market, which will change the entire scenario of the existing market (Isaacson, 2012). This characteristic of Steve Jobs can be compared with the innovative aspects of a transformational leadership. A transformational leader will always try to innovate something new in the market rather than introducing existing products.

Apart from his objectives of making Apple a huge brand in the world, he also had the vision of changing the world with new technologies. This aspect can also be compared with the transformational leadership styles. Transformational leaders have the tendency to imagine a broader picture apart from their organizational objectives. Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple has been able to gain an impression of innovator among the customers around the world (Adjei, 2013). Thus, all these above discussed factors proved that, Steve Jobs is the perfect example of a transformational leader. It can also be said that, Steve Jobs had introduced more unconventional aspects in the traditional approach of transformational leadership. This made him a unique blend of innovator and organizational manager which collectively contributed in the success of Apple.

Reference

Adjei, D. (2013). Innovation Leadership Management. International Journal of ICT and Management, 1, 103-106.

Allio, R. J. (2012). Leaders and leadership–many theories, but what advice is reliable?. Strategy & Leadership, 41(1), 4-14.

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Fassin, Y. (2012). Stakeholder management, reciprocity and stakeholder responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(1), 83-96.

García-Morales, V. J., Jiménez-Barrionuevo, M. M., & Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, L. (2012). Transformational leadership influence on organizational performance through organizational learning and innovation. Journal of business research, 65(7), 1040-1050.

Isaacson, W. (2012). The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs. Harvard business review, 90(4), 92-102.