GCU Successful Organization’s Structures and Conditions that Facilitated Creativity and Innovation

apa, no title page at least one scholarly reference.

Initial question:

Analyze and explain a successful organization’s structures and conditions that facilitated creativity and innovation. What structures inhibited creativity and innovation? Give examples and explain.

My answer

Considered as the world’s most innovative technology company, Apple’s organizational structure can be defined as hierarchical. Steve Jobs, the company’s former CEO, adopted the structure, to focus on realizing his innovative and clear business vision. Consequently, the company’s iconic iPhone was created, and other subsequent electronics innovations that since have not been duplicated (Gupta, 2015). However, after Tim Cook succeeded Jobs as CEO, Apple modified its structure and decentralized its decision making to an extent, to encourage creativity and innovation at different levels. Apple’s senior managers define their team products and describe their expectations from any new application. Design teams, in response, choose and generate the most innovative ideas that are ultimately converted to dream products. Also, Apple’s innovation commitment is driven by its cultural conditions, unlike processes (Gupta, 2015). Apple has an effective innovation system that harnesses creativity in its people and stimulates innovations without considering the formal bureaucracy.

Apple’s structure, nevertheless, remains to be significantly hierarchical with several management layers. The company’s massive size of over 130,000 employees requires adherence to the hierarchical structure. This structure compromises the flexibility of the business to allow complete autonomy in controlling projects among employees. As a result, people may not be entirely motivated to be creative and innovative. Moreover, under this structure, communication which is an essential vital organization’s processes including innovation and creativity is to a significant degree, less effective relative to flat organizational structure (Anderson & Brown, 2010). As a result, the need to rely on management’s decision making can hinder innovation and creativity.

References

Anderson, C., & Brown, C. (2010). The functions and dysfunctions of hierarchy. Research in Organizational Behavior, 30, 55-89.

Gupta, M. (2015). Organizational Structure Affected by Strategic Change. International Journal of Advance Research and Innovative Ideas in Education, 1(3), 372-376.

Reply to this:

Apple’s structure, nevertheless, remains to be significantly hierarchical with several management layers. The company’s massive size of over 130,000 employees requires adherence to the hierarchical structure. This structure compromises the flexibility of the business to allow complete autonomy in controlling projects among employees

Knowing this, though, is there really anyway around it? Don’t you pretty much have to follow this structure being such a large company? And since you know this is a weakness, you just deal with it the best way you can?