Organizational structure and culture

Introduction to Apple

(Source: http://www.dewebsite.org/logo/apple/apple.html)

Apple Inc. was established in April, 1976 by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The company has become the leading manufacturer of consumer electronic products since its inception. It is currently based in the United States of America. The company is engaged in manufacturing different kinds of electronic products such as media players, personal computers, mobile phones, computer hardware, and software (Chung et al. 2019). The company is focussed on developing products, which offer high class and quality to the consumers. Despite the tough and narrow market, the company has been able to witness growth in its course of operations. This is because the company takes care of its customers and offers world-class software, internet services, and other hardware parts all over the world.

Introduction to Samsung

(Source: https://1000logos.net/samsung-logo/)

Samsung was first established in March, 1938 by Lee Byung-Chull and has gradually developed itself as an eminent producer of electronic devices. The company was first founded in South Korea. It offers a large variety of electronic devices to the consumers, consisting of electronics for personal and professional use, digital media devices, semiconductors, integrated systems, memory chips, and other appliances (Varma and Ravi 2017). The company has been popularly recognized in its industry and has contributed about a fifth of the total exports of South Korea in the sector of technology.

Organisation structure of Apple

The organisation structure of Apple Inc. Company has a notable hierarchical division but a weak functional matrix. The structure is considered a bit traditional as compared to the modern structures of the organizations. The head position of the hierarchy is occupied by the Chief Executive Officer, who controls the functions of the senior vice presidents, chief design officer, chief operating officer and vice-president (Kim et al. 2017).  The senior vice president is responsible for controlling the operational activities of various departments such as retail, internet services, finance, hardware, marketing, counsel, and hardware. The vice-president is in charge of various other departments, such as User Interface design, communications, industrial design, and human resources. On the whole, the organisation structure of the company shows an interrelation between the workforce groups and the resources, which are utilized in the business. It has been noted that Apple Inc. maintains such as structure to cope up with the current global market and the demands of the industry.

The organisation structure of Apple follows a hierarchical structure and a weak functional matrix. In this hierarchical structure, every group of employees is guided and controlled by a distinct supervisor. There is a clear division of function among the employees concerning various departments such as finance, technical, administration, marketing, and human resources (Arocha 2017).  The matrix structure is not established by the company as in a single department, more than one manager is not observed. No grid-like structure is found that is required for reporting relationships among the personnel.

Organisation structure of Samsung

The organisation structure of Samsung Company is product-based and shows a clear division between the departments. The company uses its category of products to structure the divisions according to the allocation of resources and business operations. The company follows a corporate hierarchy, which is centralized. The company is divided into three significant divisions, that is, IT & Mobile Communications, Consumer Electronics, and Device Solutions (Tsygankova 2017).  Each of these segments is managed separately by their respective heads according to the characteristics of the products of each department. The characteristic features of the products include development, marketing strategies, and selling options that widely impact the business. Apart from these three segments, the organizations’ structure integrates the corporate management office, which functions as the administrative department and SAIT (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology). SAIT acts as the research and development department for bringing out innovative technologies for the development of products.

Analyzing the organizational structure of Samsung, it can be found out that the company follows a conglomerate organisation structure and design that includes different markets and industries. The structure is segmented based on product features such that the company can optimally utilize its technologies for bringing up innovation in the market (Singh 2016). A conglomerate structure consists of independent entities belonging to the company, which are recognized as separate units and run as independently of other divisions of the business. However, there is the involvement of a centralized authority or senior management in the parent company who takes care of the reports from all the entities.

Organisation culture of Apple

The corporate culture of Apple is made up of its business philosophy, values, beliefs, and behaviors of the employees. The top-line of the organizational culture of Apple Inc. is creative innovation. The company believes in coming up with new versions of innovative technologies that will challenge the traditional conventions and standards of technology. This objective is composed of several elements, such as top-notch excellence, creativity, innovation, secrecy, and moderate combativeness (Kodama 2017).  Top-notch excellence defines the company’s policy that supports the recruitment of the best people in the market. Creativity determines the ideas that make the products of the company stand out from its competitors. Innovation leads to the development of creative technologies for the market. Secrecy helps the company to prevent itself from theft or illegal activities from outsiders. Finally, combativeness has helped the company to challenge its employees to be aware of their technical skills.

Through an analysis of the organizational culture of Apple Inc., it can be observed that the culture is related to the adhocracy model of organization culture. This is because the adhocracy model talks about embracing innovation and creativity into the business model of the organization (Jeločnik et al. 2019).  In this kind of model, the companies believe in hiring the right people such that they can come up with innovative ideas that would consequently drive the business of the organizations. The company also believes in secrecy and combativeness, which do not precisely fall under any kind of culture model. However, the company believes in incorporating all these elements into its corporate culture to encourage further growth and development of its business.

Organisation culture of Samsung

The organisation culture of Samsung Company is similar to that of Apple Inc. The organisation culture of Samsung is entirely driven by innovation. The company believes that its corporate culture should emphasize on the development of the skills, knowledge, and abilities of the employees, such that the technological products of the company can witness innovation (Gardere et al. 2018). The various sub-parts constituting the primary corporate culture of the company include the development of equal opportunities for all the internal people, having a passion for developing excellence with the business, opting for a flexible business model for surviving in the continually changing environment and nurturing ethical culture and prosperity within the industry. All these objectives of the organization come from the customs, core values, and traditions of the organization. The company believes in following this culture throughout its entire divisional structure such that it can achieve long-term success in its business through its various endeavors.

The organisation culture of Samsung Company can be easily related to the Edgar Schein model of organisation culture. According to this model, three key segments set up the foundation of the corporate culture of a business. The first level consists of artifacts, which stresses on the physical denominations of the employees that are easily visible (Andi and Ali 2019). The second level is formed by values that judge the mind-set of individuals belonging to the organizations. The attitudes and beliefs of the employees shape the bases of this level. The last level is the level of assumed values, which form the personal opinions and thoughts of the employees. The internal aspects of the organization are adequately discussed at this level.

Impact of organisation structure and culture on the behavior of leaders and managers

Considering the organisation structures of the two organizations, it can be observed that they have been built in a strategic way to support the functions of the leaders, managers and for ensuring long-term growth and sustainability of the business. The structure of Apple us linked to the innovation and leadership of its current CEO. The organisation structure has been effective in supporting the business performance of the company and to achieve a competitive advantage in its industry. In contrary to this, the corporate structure of Samsung is a manifestation of its diversified multinational business (Soh and Najihah 2019). The corporate structure is set up in such a way that the company can employ various operational management strategies for the markets and industries. The organizational design of Samsung covers the different markets, where the company can efficiently utilize technologies for the development of its products. Other strategies followed by the company through its structure are market penetration and market development.

Considering the organization culture of both companies, it can be stated that the companies have been using their cultures to strengthen their respective positions in the market. The managers and leaders of Apple believe that the corporate culture of Apple would facilitate the mission and vision of the company and maximize the support of its human resources. This is required for the constant growth of the business. The managers use the corporate culture of the industry as a tool for strategic management and success. Similarly, the corporate culture of Samsung drives growth and innovation, making it the leading company in its sector (Chen and Ann 2016). The leaders of the Samsung company aim to create a brand image of the company and enhance the relationship with the customers through the innovative corporate culture of the business.

References

Andi, R.T. and Ali, M.M., 2019. Analysis of the Influence of Lifestyle on Purchasing Decision for Samsung Smartphone Products in Jakarta. European Journal of Business and Management Research, 4(4).

Arocha, J.B., 2017. Getting to the Core: A Case Study on the Company Culture of Apple Inc.

Chen, C.M. and Ann, B.Y., 2016. Efficiencies vs. importance-performance analysis for the leading smartphone brands of Apple, Samsung and HTC. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 27(3-4), pp.227-249.

Chung, D.J., Seo, K. and Song, R., 2019. Does Apple Anchor a Shopping Mall? The Effect of the Technology Stores on the Formation of Market Structure (No. 20-066, pp. 520-051). Harvard Business School Working Paper.

Gardere, J., Sharir, D. and Maman, Y., 2018. Consulting and Executive Coaching on Future Trends: The Need for a Long Term Vision with Apple and Samsung. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 9(3).

Jeločnik, M., Subić, J. and Kovačević, V., 2019. COMPETITIVENESS OF APPLE PROCESSING. Ekonomika, 65(4).

Kim, J., Jun, S., Jang, D.S. and Park, S., 2017. An integrated social network mining for product-based technology analysis of Apple. Industrial Management & Data Systems.

Kodama, M., 2017. Strategy Transformation Based on Holistic Leadership: A Case Study of Apple’, Developing Holistic Leadership.

Singh, B., 2016. Factors influencing brand loyalty for Samsung mobile users in Nepal (Master’s thesis, Universitetet i Agder; University of Agder).

Soh, N. and Najihah, N., 2019. AN ANALYSIS OF AN EXPLANATION OF APPLE INC.

Tsygankova, V., 2017. Corporate culture of Samsung.

Varma, G. and Ravi, J., 2017. Six Sigma in electronics company: A case study on Samsung. International Journal of Research in Management Studies, 2(5), pp.12-25.