Human Resources Management in Apple Company Essay

Human Resources Management in Apple Company - Essay Example Microsoft was the prominent competitor of Apple from tis beginning itself. In 1980’s and 1990’s Apple struggled to counter the competition faced from Microsoft. Microsoft pushed Apple yards behind with the introduction of their Window based operating system. However, Apple was able to bounce back at the beginning of twenty first century with the help of their innovative â€Å"i† series products such as iMac, iPhone, iPad, iPod, iTunes etc. Kim (2010) has pointed out that Apple Inc, is currently the second largest company in the world in market capitalization, second only to Exxon Mobil. Moreover it is believed to be the most valuable technological company in the world at present, again pushing Microsoft far behind (Kim, 2010). (Warren, 2010) Even though Apple succeeded in achieving top spots in international market, many people believe that their organizational culture and human resource management needs drastic changes to maintain their top spot in the market. E ven though Apple employees are getting competitive salaries, increased workload, lack of work-life balancing, lack of motivation, prejudices and biases in deciding promotions etc are some of the major complaints of the employees. Moreover, Apple’s success and failures revolve around the charismatic leadership of Steve Jobs. This paper critically analyses Apple’s human resource management policies at the individual level, group level and organizational level. Individual Level Work Motivation The topic of employee motivation in Apple Company is a controversial one. On one side, Apple is able to motivate the employees and on the other side some of its HR strategies are demotivating the employees. It is a fact that Apple provides ample opportunities to the fresh employees to grow under the wings of experienced employees (Qumer, 2009, p.3). The above strategy is a big blessing for the fresh employees to take advantages of the immense experience and talents of the experience d ones. The above work culture helps Apple to blend fresh and the experienced hands in a judicious manner so that neither the employees nor the organization faces any problems in completing their works. Fresh employees may bring new ideas to the organization which will be critically analyzed with the help of experienced ones. Thus the fresh people will get immense support from the experienced hands in shaping their ideas and concepts useful to the company. The compensation and benefits offered to employees of Apple are very competitive and it includes product discounts, vacation time, healthcare, training courses, casual dress codes on jobs etc. In 1995, Apple created the Apple Fellows Program in order to recognize its best employees who had made extraordinary contributions to the company. Funny, brilliant, relaxed co-workers and modern spacious beautiful offices filled with comfortable equipments etc are some of the major benefits of working in Apple Company. Apple workforce includ es diverse employees from different countries which enable them to utilize the expertise from different regions. It provides equal opportunities to its diverse employees irrespective of their ethnic background (Qumer, 2009, p.3-9). In short, Apple is keen in recognizing outstanding performances with rewards which is definitely a motivating factor for the employees. At the same time there many complaints also about some of the controversial HR policies of Apple. Employees often forced to work overtime and thereby they are facing troubles in achieving proper work-life balancing. Moreover Apple provides no information about the new products which are going to be developed in the company. The above policy demotivated the employees since no organization can capture the employee