Investigation of Apple Inc. and Blackberry Limited to Deem as Being Successful Or Unsuccessful by Utilising Fayol’s Four Functions of Management

Smartphones have become a more and more indispensable device in people’s lives. Not only it is increasingly popular but also brings people to a variety of new possibilities in areas such as information exchange, mobility, entertainment and more.

Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. is an American multinational company, it has evolved from a personal computer manufacturer into a global “empire” for mobile devices and entertainment. BlackBerry Limited, known as Research-In-Motion (RIM) was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis. The Canadian multinational company specialised in mobile devices, software, and services. This essay examines the two companies Apple Inc. and BlackBerry Limited to deem as being successful or unsuccessful by utilising Fayol’s four functions of management: Planning, Organising, Leading and Controlling.

Planning is the first function in the management process, including identifying and selecting appropriate goals, building the overall strategy to achieve that goal, and establishing a system of plans to coordinate the activities. It allows businesses to identify where the organisation wants to be in the future and how to get there. If there is no proper planning, it is easy to lead to failure in management.

Apple Inc. is a company that succeeds in the smartphone industry. Over the three decades since 1976, the company has risen and grown rapidly. Apple Inc. planned effectively as they have a clear strategy and set of goals which are focused on giving out the best customer experience. This can be seen through continual in investment in marketing and advertising as well as expand applications through the iTunes Store. They also developed their own operating system, software, hardware and services for customers. Within their strategy of research and developing innovative products, they let customers to download third party applications through the app store, using an “iOS device”, like iPhone, iPod, iPad. Steve Jobs began a concept called “store within a store”. Evident through the partnership with CompUSA to create an entire department in their 148 stores in which only sells Apple products. They also introduced a new Apple Power Mac computer line plus a market place where customers can customize and purchase Apple computer system. These strategic initiatives were successful and sales of Mac drastically increased as it surpassed 12 million within the first month.

BlackBerry Limited did not have a clear plan as opposed to Apple Inc. They did not understand the changes in the market so they couldn’t design the right products for the consumers, they had no long-term plan to be up against the competition. When the iPhone was introduced, the company was disrupted “It allowed Apple to reset what the expectations were. Conservation didn’t matter. Battery life didn’t matter. Cost didn’t matter. That’s their genius”, said Mike Lazaridis. Blackberry didn’t consider it as a threat. As they didn’t clearly identify a strategy, while Apple increase market share of 16.7%, Blackberry decreased by 14.8%.

Organising is reflected through strong working relationships in a way that allows organisational members to work together to achieve organisational goals. This is determining tasks to do, who has to do, coordinate activities. Proper organisation will create a favourable internal environment that promotes smooth operation and bad organising would cause the company to fail, despite good planning.

Blackberry Limited had rifts among the executives and the board, relationship in workforces was not strong. According to an employee, the company was disorganized, there were conflict in opinions and a lack of direction. Specifically, when a dissolution started, top management members did not want to step down as they wanted to stay in the leadership position.

On the other hand, Apple Inc.’s success is partly for their organisational structure which is a traditional hierarchal structure. Before, Steve Jobs was a top leader, therefore senior vice presidents directly reported to him. Now, Tim Cook, a successor after Jobs also runs Apple pretty well. Their organisational structure enhances business performance allows them to achieve goals. They create a good working environment with proper incentives so that employees can have a long-term contribution to the company. Relationships between employees within Apple Inc. is strong as they work together efficiently by interacting with each other to come up with new features and ideas. With a team size of twenty-five members, they remained closed to collaborate on a project. Portions of work were section out to each person so they know what they responsible for. Benefited from a small team size, employees interact and consult with each other to consider alternative options. As a result, the working environment promotes smooth operation for the design of Mac.

Leading is the use of influence to motivate employees to achieve organisational goals. It involves using power, influence, vision, persuasion and communication skills. An organization has many people, each with individual personalities, separate circumstances and different positions. The manager must know how to motivate and energise organisational members so they understand the part they play in attaining organisational goals. Excellent leadership is capable of bringing the company to success despite planning and organising didn’t go really well.

In late 2008, Apple Inc. had a problem due to the health conditions of Steve Jobs, but that did not stop him from accomplishing their goal. During the news and rumors of his health conditions, the founder and CEO of Apple at the time posted a message at headquarters in Cupertino, California to his employees in regards to the current situation. It said that they have no intention of firing employees during difficult times and remain to be an innovative company to increase shareholder wealth. Apple Inc. determines to get way ahead of their competitors, they increase spending on R&D. Steve Jobs used transformational leadership as he motivated workers to work for the good of the organisation, not just themselves. He successfully influenced organisational members and clearly communicate the company’s vision by openly sharing information with employees so that everyone is aware of problems.

The leadership of Blackberry was lack in directions. They hired external people, it discouraged employees and make them lose confidence in their skills and trust in the company. Leadership is about taking responsibility, however, leaders in Blackberry did not focus on things related the core of the business, but instead shifted focus into external activities that are unrelated to the company. For example, the CEOs pay more attention to their non-profit organizations and invest more time in it. So, that action did not motivate their employees. Furthermore, communication between top management and employees in the organization were not present. Such as internal deadlines were not met by team members, and since they did not take it seriously, deadlines cannot be fulfilled. Failure was under the leadership of the new CEO Thorsten Hein. He tried to imitate other competitors and targeted the wrong customers.

Controlling means monitoring employees’ activities, evaluating how well an organisation is achieving its goals and taking action to improve performance. The result of this process is the ability to measure performance accurately and regulate efficiency and effectiveness.

Apple Inc employees’ are self-organizing, staffs often join impromptu discussions. “Steve [Jobs] allowed us to crystallize the problem and the solution simultaneously”. As said by one of the engineers in Mac team, Jobs only set up the fundamentals, the project members developed further ideas (Guterl, 1984). Apple Inc was able to control their employee’s activities. Apple not only knows how to work in a good manner but also interested in how consumers use their products. From there, Apple made their decision on how they would pursue the next goal.

On the contrary, Blackberry Limited has poor control. After the rise of iPhones, they let chaos to over run the business. BlackBerry did not acknowledge the iPhone as a big threat. Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis, Jim Balsillie and even the new CEO John Chen as decision makers in the organization with the board of directors did not positively influence their employees. In order to revise and improve their strategy, they hired external experts like JPMorgan and RBC Capital Markets for help. It affected the performance and productivity of employees. Because it discourages workers, make them lose trust and confidence in managers as they don't have an adequate knowledge to perform the job. It is necessary that a company balance between control and chaos. Moreover, BlackBerry decided to change their product line from six to four devices which is opposite of what their competitors are doing, increase their product lines to attract as many consumers as possible.

In conclusion, Apple Inc shows effective planning under the management of CEO Steve Jobs by committing to organizational goals and encouraging teamwork among employees. The company has a clear vision and goals, they heavily invested in their research and development process so that they can get ahead of competitors. Personnel were motivated by effective communication from top managers. The hierarchal structure allows Apple Inc. to do that, as well as control and manage business performance. BlackBerry Limited showed poor organisation and planning. They did not have a clear plan in the long run. As a result, they were swooped aside by an opponent they have been underestimated, Apple. Leadership in the company was lacking, under weak management of two CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. The firm was unable to be innovative with their products as they reluctant to follow new trends which cause them to fall behind. Therefore, Apple Inc. is successful while BlackBerry Limited is unsuccessful according to the use of Fayol’s four functions.