APPLE INC.

STRESS SUBMITTED BY:

MOHD UZAIR KHAN

AND STRESS
(ROLL NO 106)
PRABHAT PAL
(ROLL NO 134)

MANAGEMENT VAIBHAV SHARMA

(ROLL NO 132)

WORK STRESS AT APPLE INC. AND STRATEGIES FOR

STRESS MANAGEMENT
 APPLE INC. STRESS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Apple was by two college dropout students: Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs with the motto of
“Think Differently”. In the early 1980s, Steve Wozniak left the company and Steve Jobs hired
John Sculley as the President of the company. After facing many failures, Apple
launched its Macintosh computers for house hold users. In mid 1980s, Steve Jobs had to leave
the company because of his controversial relations with the president. At that time John Sculley
rejected the offer of Microsoft„s CEO, Bill Gates to license the Macintosh operating system to Microsoft.
After this refusal, Gates developed DOS operating system and in late 1980s, t h e
competition between DOS and Macintosh decreased Apple‟s sale, workforce and
resignation of John Sculley. So, Apple‟s current CEO planned to purchase NextStep operating
system of Jobs in order to improve the Macintosh operating system. In late 90s Jobs again
became the CEO of the company and be started surprising relations with Microsoft by developing a
Macintosh version of office software.

Apple also took cost saving measures like streamlining the product line, production of printers.
Steve Jobs brought Apples‟ focus on two concepts of consumer series with the prefix “I” for internet like
iMac, iBook laptop and professional with prefix “power” such
as PowerMac desktop and PowerBook laptop series. Under Jobs, Appl a g a i n became the
innovator of computer market. His leadership leads the company to USB and Fire wire ports,
introduction of iPod and iTunes website put Apple in the digital computing age

Apple manages its business on geographic locations having offices in Americas,

Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific. Apple‟s sale is continuously growing. In the era
of 2000, Apple opens 86 retail stores in USA and two international stores in Tokyo and Osaka
which increases its sales. It introduces eMac line of cathode ray screen, but its most impressive
and fastest growing market is of iPod line of digital music players and iTunes music store website.
The three major competitors of Apple are Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM,
however Apple also competes with Microsoft in software industry. Dell is the largest
computer manufacturer with extremely low cost production strategy. Dell has entered the in
theline of music against Apple by its Jukebox. Hewlett Packard is a big brand name and leading
provider of technology. Apple combined with IBM enjoyed profit jointly but now Lenovo took
over IBM and become a competitor of Apple. Apple‟s new products like speech recognition program
will help take industry into a new age of computers and is according to the company‟s
motto and it is hoped that it will double the profit margin in the near future. Overall, Apple is
continuously growing and its future seems bright. With the slight change in their strategies, they can
become giants in technology industry

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In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor. Though it was initially
treated, he reported a hormone imbalance, underwent a liver transplant in 2009, and appeared
progressively thinner as his health declined. On medical leave for most of 2011, Jobs resigned in
August that year, and was elected Chairman of the Board. He died of respiratory arrest related to
his metastatic tumor on October 5, 2011.

In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, but remained with the company as chairman of
the company's board. Hours after the announcement, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares dropped
five percent in after-hours trading. This relatively small drop, when considering the importance
of Jobs to Apple, was associated with the fact that his health had been in the news for several
years, and he had been on medical leave since January 2011. It was believed, according
to Forbes, that the impact would be felt in a negative way beyond Apple, including at The Walt
Disney Company where Jobs served as director. In after-hours trading on the day of the
announcement, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares dropped 1.5 percent.

Tim Cook was appointed as the new CEO of Apple following Steve Jobs‟ death. Since cook took over, the value
of apple as a company has increased by $270 billion. Whilst Apple‟s new product development has been
less ambitious in the last year, the upgraded iPhones and iPads have all been very well received
by the market.

But how much of the success achieved by Apple in the last 12 months is down to Tim Cook?
The Forbes article suggests that much of the success might be attributable to the legacy plans put
in place by Jobs:

“While Cook wins high marks from investors and generally favorable reviews from employees
and partners, the conventional wisdom is that the current success of Apple continues to be
attributable to the plans put in place by Steve Jobs.”

SWOT ANALYSIS

a) Strengths:

(i)Produce innovative products by using innovative technology

(ii)Produce aesthetic / stylish products

(iii)They make diversified products

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(iv)Customers of Apple computers are brand loyal

(v)Have technology of interacting with computer using human senses

(vii)They have virus free systems

(vii) First company which adapt calligraphic font style

(viii) Introduce USB and fire wire ports for digital connection

(ix) Make music website

b) Weaknesses

(i)Apple has high manufacturing and inventory cost

(ii)Management is not stable

(iii)\Has low market share in software industry

(iv)Majority of retail stores located in U.S.A.

(v)No compatibility options in their soft wares

(vi)Decline in sales of iMac

(vii)Less emphasis on marketing issues to create awareness for their innovative products

c) Opportunities

(i)Should expand on the basis of sales

(ii)Should open retail stores in different countries

(iii)Should target government and educational institutions

(iv)Should make compatible softwares

(v)Should capitalize on the basis of virus free systems

(vi)Should introduce the speech recognition program

(vii)They should focus on customized products for customers

(viii)Should start making their own microprocessor chips

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d) Threats
(i)Merger & acquisitions of competitors

(ii)High cost can be a limitation in future

(iii)High market share of Microsoft Windows

(iv)Competition increases in music downloading sites

Organizational Culture at Apple

Apple Inc. is a global computer manufacturing company that is going through major changes in
its organizational culture and it‟s organizational structure due to several events of the past few
years. This is a company that grew extremely fast in little time, that their management found
themselves not being able to keep their operations and finances under control. Apple Inc. has
been forced to reevaluate and redesign its organizational culture and organizational structure to
avoid bankruptcy. The organizational culture of Apple is one of change; with the drive to
outperform and succeed as their major objectives. The organizational structure of the company
has also transformed to be more competitive in a critical juncture in the company‟s
history. Apple is going through major restructuring to regain control of its operations and
finances in order to stay competitive on the global market. This paper will describe the
organizational culture and structure of Apple. The culture of Apple was based on an ideal that
self-motivated individuals will work harder if they do not have a boss micromanaging every
action. The unique structure of Apple had allowed it to grow and react more quickly to changes
than its competitors. The reason for the quick responsiveness is simple; it is much easier to get a
project started if there are only a few people to obtain approval from. Apple initially grew fast,
because decisions were made at the lowest possible level. Corporate headquarters made policy
and oversaw all activities, but the local employees made the day-to-day decisions on the ground
in countries all over the world. This type of top-down philosophy allowed for quick
responsiveness and resolutions to situations without involving the corporate headquarters, thus
avoiding corporate red tape). The organizational structure of Apple was almost non-existent and
focused on placing decision making in the hands of the people in the field. Apple was doing
incredibly well and had gotten the attention of many people because the company worked well
and was very responsive to change. However, things took a downward turn and Apple found
themselves in a financial nightmare. Apple suffered problems in regional areas, specifically in
the accountability of spending and in fiscal decision-making. The same "top-down" ideology that
helped Apple grow also opened the door for some serious financial losses. With employees at
different levels making decisions, it became difficult for the corporate office to keep track of
spending and purchasing.
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Work Stress at Apple

The stress at Apple Inc. is surprisingly high considering the fact that it is one of the fastest
growing companies.

An article is showcased here based on a book by Ex apple employee Adam Lashinsky : Inside
Apple

Working at Apple Is Brutally Insane and Awful

You might have a stressful job—everyone's is, sometimes. But does your job involve an office
with windows that inexplicably frost, plainclothes agents that spy on you at bars, and instant
firing? Welcome to Apple, says Fortune's Adam Lashinsky.
Lashinsky's upcoming book, "Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired — and Secretive —
Company Really Works," details the lengths Apple goes to maintain its iron wall of secrecy.
Just some of the fascist lunacy: Employees are regularly hired without knowing what their jobs
are—or what their coworkers are doing. Special teams are surrounded by extra locks and added
doors, sealed off from the rest of the workplace without any explanation; there are some rooms
at Apple that nobody claims to have ever been in.
Corporate rumors also say Apple posts up spies at nearby watering holes to catch employees
blabbing while off the clock. This might sound outlandish, but this is the same Apple that does
have its own draconian secret police.
And of course, talking about any of this? Instant termination, even if it's to your wife or kids. No
exceptions ever.
Put this all together and you have what sounds like an entirely petrifying, miserable career. So
why do people put up with it? The knowledge, explains Lashinsky, that you're working on the
world's most desired products: "Sitting in a bar and seeing that 90% of the people there are
using devices that your company made — there is something cool about that, and you can't put a
dollar value on it," explains one former employee.
Sure, there's something cool about it, but is it worth enormously stringent career demands that
span your entire life? Your family is affected, your friends are affected—you can't discuss how
you spend most of your conscious life with most of the people you'll ever know.

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From the Article it is quite evident that there is no scope for errors in Apple. You won’t find the
term ―balance‖ anywhere on the career site; instead, Apple makes it clear it is looking for
extremely hard-working and committed individuals. On the website, for example, it proudly
states: ―This isn’t your cushy corporate nine-to-fiver.‖ It reinforces the ―hard work‖ message
several times, including “Making it all happen can be hard work. And you could probably find
an easier job someplace else. But that’s not the point, is it?”

And: “We also have a shared obsession with getting every last detail right. So leave your
neckties, bring your ideas.”

If you don’t care about getting every precise detail perfect, great work, and a lot of it, Apple
makes it crystal clear that this is not the place for you.

Here is another article from Neil Hughes who is a part of the team inside apple

Former workers of Apple have offered a peek inside the company's secretive corporate culture, with a
glimpse at employee mentality, security, and the difference between a project in which Steve Jobs is
involved, and one without the chief executive's interest.

Purported details about Apple have been shared by some ex-employees who have left the
company on Q&A website Quora. As first reported by Silicon Alley Insider, current Facebook
employee Chad Little and Mint.com employee Justin Maxwell offered a glimpse of their time
spent at Apple.

Little claimed that, like most companies, Apple has its fair share of red tape that can frustrate
employees. But those issues go away and projects take on a "startup level urgency" when
something is given the attention of company co-founder Jobs.

"If you have a project that Steve is not involved in, it will take months of meetings to move things
forward," Little wrote. "If Steve wants it done, it's done faster than anyone thinks is humanly
possible. The best way to get any cross departmental work done is to say it's for Steve and you'd
probably have it the same day."

Maxwell said that Apple's legendary secrecy lives up to its reputation; though he said things
could be different after the lost iPhone 4 prototype incident. Nothing like that happened when he
worked there, he said.

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"It wasn't just the rules, it was the job itself," Maxwell said of security. "The measures that Apple
takes to protect its creative and intellectual environment are unparalleled in the valley, and it's
been a disappointing experience since leaving there. Apple's security policy extends to blogs, to
speaking engagements, to what we talk about with our spouses. Most people get it and respect
it."

He continued: "If I was still at Apple, I would not be responding to this question, nor would I feel
wronged for not being able to.... The general idea is this: You are part of something much bigger
than you. The ideas you talk about in the hall, the neat tricks you figured out in CSS, the unibody
machining technique, that's part of your job, something you are paid to do for Apple's success,
not something you need to blog about to satisfy your ego."

The great lengths that Apple goes to in order to keep projects under wraps was profiled last
year by The New York Times. That report said the company's veil of secrecy began to take shape
around the release of the original Macintosh back in 1984.

One employee said that employees working on secret projects at Apple must "pass through a
maze of security doors, swiping their badges again and again and finally entering a numeric
code to reach their offices." Once inside the top-secret areas, employees are often monitored by
surveillance cameras as they work. Those working with the most sensitive projects are allegedly
instructed to "cover up devices with black cloaks when they are working on them, and turn on a
red warning light when devices are unmasked so that everyone knows to be extra-careful."

And in January, a former Apple marketing manager described the company's "controlled leaks,"
which he said the company sometimes relies upon to gauge public reaction, confuse competitors
or encourage partners.

Other information on Apple's corporate culture, from the Q&A:

Launch events provide "probably the single greatest feeling working at Apple," Little said.
Workers work feverishly and pull all-nighters to prepare for the company's public presentation,
then the employees gather in the cafe to watch the event unfold. "It's a great rush and your whole
team feels it."

Apple employees "truly feel they are changing the world with what they are doing," Little said.
"Apple is one of those companies where people work on an almost religious level of
commitment."

Benefits, however, were described as "lacking." Little said most things on campus, including
meals, snacks and the gym, come with a cost. He said one person asked Jobs why the benefits
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were limited, to which the chief executive reportedly responded, "It's my job to make your stock
go up so you can afford these things."

Chad Little a former apple employee adds;

Apple is one of those companies where people work on an almost religious level of commitment.
There are probably a handful of large companies that can command this, such as Disney or
Google. Most workers, no matter how simple their job might be, truly feel they are changing the
world with whatever they are doing. That's not a bad thing; it can just make you blind on the
next point.

And some other factors that enhance the work stress at apple as described by the employees on
glassdoor are as listed below

Very loud stressful environment very crowded somewhat smothering culture and back to back
night and morning shifts.

Lots of managers proves to be cumbersome to some employees

Lashinsky in his book describes how the secrecy is maintained at apple For example, employees
are only allowed in parts of Apple's campus that directly relate to something they are personally
working on. It's not uncommon for an employee to have access to a room even his boss does not,
Lashinsky documents, and it's equally uncommon for any employee to ask about why that is.
What you're not told, you don't ask about.

Stress Management at Apple

The employees currently employed at apple seldom complain about the company or its strict
policies. The reason behind that apple is not just an organization its actually a culture. The
people working over there have religious level of commitment and the feeling that everyone
enjoys working at apple is “they are somehow changing the world”. So the employees are self-
motivated and they are passionate about what they do.

Apart from that there are certain strategies employed by apple to prevent their employees from
getting exhausted.

Apple provides respect to its employees every project is given equal importance and every
employee is given equal oppurtinity

Apples nurtures talents so that great things could be accomplished. Rules were things meant to
be broken, as symbolized by the pirate flags jobs raised before team meetings.

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So that proves that in spite of the tough working conditions the working environment is quite
casual.

The work culture at apple is quite friendly as well. Everyone is ready to offer help and also there
are various recreational activities being planned at apple like Gymnasium, Swimming Pool etc.

At apple one can ask for any gadget or instrument needed for the project development instantly

Free dinners are also provided to the core team.

The management at Apple Inc. also understands that an employee must not be assigned a same
job everyday which makes one‟s mind stagnant and thereby lowering the innovation that is why
each day an employee or a developer is given new things to do.

Apple also provides a 25% discount for its employees on its products annually and also 15%
discount for family and relatives apart from it all the other softwares are given at 50% discount.

At apple one is supposed to pay one‟s expenses for gymnasium, lunch refreshment etc. When
asked why these services are not free to Late Mr. Steve Jobs he replied “my job is to make sure
that your stocks get high and you can enjoy all these services”. And that is the reason why apple
pays hefty amounts to its employees.

A few days back there was a rumour of the exploitation of workers in china manufacturing unit.

An article by Mr. Maninder Pal Singh who did a case study on this topic clarifies the allegations
put upon on apple. Mr. Maninder Pal Singh is an Industrial Automation Entrepreneur and had
several encounters in Shenzhen, China.

Apple is the most successful company of our time. It has created new products, new benchmarks
and new economies. All this is being done not by following conventional management wisdom
but by evolving its own success mantra. One unique policy was contract manufacturing.

Apple’s major contract manufacturer is Foxconn

Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.) is a Taiwanese company – yes it’s not a Chinese
company. Foxconn has 13 factories in nine Chinese cities, more than in any other country. That
is the reason it’s normally referred to as a Chinese company

Foxconn’s largest factory worldwide is in Longhua, Shenzhen. Shenzhen is the electronics

manufacturing capital of the world & Foxconn is the poster boy of Shenzhen. Foxconn factory in
Shenzhen is spread over 3 square kms and houses more than 300,000 employees. Their impact is
such that the area is normally referred to as iPod city or Foxconn City. It has all the facilities of
a sub-city: Its own TV network, worker dormitories, swimming pool, grocery store, bank,
restaurants, bookstore, and hospital.

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There have been a lot concerns and protests over the worker’s conditions in Foxconn factories
and I am trying to put some facts together.

Foxconn plant is an electronics factory where the work is divided between state of the art CNC
machines and workers.

A typical process when manufacturing is CNC Milling machines working on a piece of metal and
carving out the exact frame e.g. in a MacBook Air, the base is carved out from a single piece of
aluminum. Thereafter components move on a conveyor and workers sitting along the conveyor
pick those components and do their required operation which could be a simple soldering or
mounting a chip and place it back on the conveyor which is then picked by another worker to
perform his set of duty.

Now examining the allegations on Foxconn.

US media says that some workers who work for hours standing, drop a nut so that they can
pick it up and stretch their legs
My Take: In any assembly line workers are sitting along a conveyor, they pick up a component
from the conveyor, put it on their work station and put it back after the job is done. If someone
knows a different process then I am from Mars. Samsung, LG name a company and this is the
assembly line process. In Walmart a typical worker stands for hours at the cash register and
even their rest room breaks are rationed.
Foxconn exploits its workers by making them work for long hours
My Take: If this was the case, why would the Chinese workers travel thousands of kms and
queue up in a hope of getting a job at Foxconn? Most of the Western Media admits that is 1-2 km
queue when Foxconn has an opening. Moreover a lot of manufacturing has moved to second tier
cities, but still workers travel to Shenzhen to work at a reputable name like Foxconn.
The Suicides are on the rise
My Take: The media never brings up the news that there were 46 suicides at France Telecom, 9
at Foxconn is the only stuff they are interested in. Mexicans working in meat industry in
Colorado are the worst exploited lot.
Foxconn underpays its workers
My Take: Minimum wage in Shenzhen is RMB 2,000 per month (1RMB = INR 8) (1 USD = 6.2
RMB) and this is in addition to benefits including free or subsidized housing and meals, medical
coverage, and other government required insurance and trust funds. Minimum wages as per
government notifications in New Delhi is USD .60 per hour and For Foxconn it is USD. 1.24 per
hour and unlike the meat processing plants in the US, drugs are not distributed to the illegal
Mexican workforce just to avoid work place injury compensations.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
 http://uxmovement.com/resources/8-things-to-know-about-the-company-culture-at-apple/
 http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/07/former_employees_shed_light_on_apples_inte
rnal_corporate_culture.html
 http://www.quora.com/Apple-Inc-2/What-is-the-internal-culture-like-at-Apple
 http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Apple-Reviews-E1138.htm
 http://onlygizmos.com/is-the-foxconn-apple-criticism-justified/2012/02/
 http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/leadership-at-apple-tim-
cooks-first-year#extended
 http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Human%20Resource%20and%20Organization
%20Behavior/HROB124.htm

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