Businesses today are faced with many challenges in order to be competitive in our global economy. These companies need to follow the laws and legislation while incorporating and managing diversity into their marketing campaigns and the workforce. In 1976, Apple was founded by two college dropouts. The founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs used their talents to build what is now a world renowned company with some of the most innovative technology devices. In 1980, the company went public and by 1988 they reorganized the company into four divisions globally. This reorganization reduced the layers of management which encouraged their employees to become even more innovative. The competition in the technology sector was growing at an …show more content…
They are known for their passion for cutting edge products that have changed many of our lives. Additionally, Apple was forced to review not only their diversity practices but also that of their suppliers. They have made a commitment to transparency. Apple has taken diversity beyond the traditional definition. They insist on including an individual’s personal qualities. They want individuals from all areas of the globe. This inclusion provides them with backgrounds and experiences that will provide them with many benefits. Some of those benefits are an increased adaptability and flexibility, a large variety of viewpoints, and increased innovation and creativity.
Apple is making the most of diversity and inclusion by relying on the benefits of their employees’ different background and perspectives in order to create new opportunities for generations to come. Apple has focused their recruiting efforts in order to create a more diverse workforce. The website provides percentages of new hires over the past year. The have hired, “35% Women (globally) and in the United States 19% Asian, 13% Hispanic, and 11% Black.” ("Apple - Diversity - Inclusion inspires innovation," 2015) Although these numbers seem like a significant amount of progress, it really hasn’t changed their workforce make up. According to an article on Wired, “In 2015, a vast majority (69 percent) of the company is still male, a figure that
Throughout the years companies have come to realize that there is a distinct advantage to diversity within their business, both in the corporate world as well as the retail environment.
Apple as explained above was founded by Wozniak and Jobs who began with the first edition of the Apple computer where for startup cash, they sold a van and used Job’s family garage as their shop premises in Los Altos, California This same garage harbored the great development of ideas and innovation techniques that resulted in the success of Apple till today (Mittan, 2010). Wozniak was the brilliant mind that invented the Apple computer while Jobs advertised and located a buyer for their first computer. From the same garage, they made and sold fifty computers that represented the commencement of Apple’s product line
As diversity and inclusion gain more attention in the society, more research has been done on their impact to organizations. Not too long ago, organizations implemented diversity management initiatives, such as affirmative action and equal employment legislations, just to fulfill their legal requirements (Jayne and Dipboye, 2004). However, diversity and inclusion have since then become a business imperative.
Another part of Apple’s diversity initiative is their partnership with the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). Through this partnership, Apple is helping introduce and encourage women to join the technology industry through the Aspirations in Computing program, which serves to “give support, scholarships, and career opportunities to young women,” (Inclusion & Diversity, n.d.). While this may seem like an altruistic program, Apple stands to benefit from this partnership. By engaging young women in the tech industry to further their knowledge and careers, Apple is enlarging their pool of talented employment candidates. In an industry marked by who is the greatest innovator, being a key facilitator in creating the next pool of highly talented and capable employees, just sets Apple up to tap this workforce in the future.
The concept of diversity has broadened in scope in the recent past, evolving from the concept of mandated quotas and affirmative action, to the reality of a diverse workforce being capable of providing quantifiable business value. A variety of external factors have influenced the conceptual evolution of diversity within the workplace. For example, globalization of markets has provided the concept of diversity with an opportunity to demonstrate a clear competitive advantage. A native understanding of the cultural values, norms and business practices of a foreign market can give an organization a clear advantage over their competition. Another area where diversity offers advantages is in the
Apple believes there is a correct way to making the product and then there are the right people who make the product. Apple has more than 1.6 million employees that work for them around the world. The company has very high standards and want all of the workers to be able to keep those standards high. They also say that the workers have human rights and they want everyone to be treated fairly and paid fairly no matter what the race and or gender of the person is. It is also important for them to make sure that their employees are prepared for success no matter if it is with them or someone else to see them succeed. Everyone is the Apple company is treated like family. Apple makes sure its employees are happy and love working where they
The Apple Company was founded by Steven Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. Apple has been very successful over the years and is on Forbes Innovative Companies list coming in at number 79. (Forbes, 2016) Due to their diligent work on innovation, globalizing the company they were able to have a market cap of $741.8 billion as of May 2015.
With a shift in demographics in the last decade, workplace diversity has become one of the main concerns for companies. Diversity is now based upon race, gender, ethnicity, disabilities, and sexual orientations. A diverse company will seek individuals who bring “unique perspectives or outlooks to the organization” (Shackelford, 2003). Workplace diversity allows for each individual to have an equal chance no matter what his or her demographic is. Diversity in the workplace also shows that the company is not discriminatory.
70 percent of Google's employees are men, 61 percent of its total workforce is white, another 30 percent are Asian, three percent are Hispanic and two percent are African American (McGregor). Diversity allows there to be a substantial amount of innovation and influence to take place so the question that many have pondered is why Google’s employment diversity is indeed so limited? Google is a successful company in terms of marketing numbers along with business and public status so what is the cause and consequence of their diversity issues? In consequence Google is only inviting the strong potential to create an environment of low applicant diversity, implicating bias non-typical career path institutional barriers and effecting Google’s dominate and non-dominate group ratio (O’Brien, 3). With Google having such a track record with their trending dominate choice of gender and race the influence of desired employment by the public is affected. Google could strike up controversy by singling out, advertising and encouraging women and African Americans to apply to make their diversity numbers seem more appropriate however this would be affirmative action. How should Google go about broadening their variety of employees? To avoid any punitive approaches to this issue Google could revise their diversity paradigms. AT&T revised their diversity paradigms by opening up a set team
While it would make sense that the most productive businesses would be made up of likeminded individuals, the opposite appears to be true. Having a diverse group of employees not only makes the company more productive, but diversity in the office also makes employees happier overall. These positive effects of a diverse workforce are not being taken lightly by companies. In fact, many have adopted policies that attempt to create more diverse workforces. AT&T is one of the companies that understands the value of diversity, which has greatly impacted both their hiring procedures and the way the company is managed.
Diversity in the workforce nurtures innovation and competitiveness in industry, commerce and business, as well as consistently illustrating that diversity drives innovation and fosters creativity. In a Forbes survey, 85 percent of respondents said diversity is an essential part for their businesses. Approximately 75 percent indicated that their corporations will put more emphasis during the next three years to influence diversity to accomplish their business objectives (Sophia, 2012). The undesirable element of all this is that many third world countries scowl upon uniqueness in social and scholastic settings, inhibiting workers from obtaining success in the U.S. market or even worse, discharged for not contributing to the corporations growth
Future trends for a diverse society will become more evident. As a result, the workforce and to a greater extent, the marketplace must increase diversity. Globalization of corporations begat a global economy increasing the marketplace, and enlarging a diverse workforce. The reality is diversity will become less of a social issue and more of a business concern linked to competitive strategies. Upper management will become more involved in diversity issues because diverse workforce needs to be better utilized in order to remain competitive. Diversity training will be integrated into other types of training. Corporations will continue to explore demographic changes in our society and link them more closely to global changes.
Stephen Woziniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer in 1976, which was called the Apple I, then in year 1978 just two years after, Apple II was introduced. More than 10,000 units were sold which relatively was a success, Macintosh (Mac), which dramatically change personal computer. iMac, iBook, iPod, iPad, iPhone, and other come from the lineage of Apple.
Diversity in workforce “include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience”(Thomas 1992). Diversity in the workforce is initially perceived as a response toward the increasing diversity of the consumers in the market (Agocs & Burr, 1996). From there, it has been observed that capitalizing on existing differences among the employees provide benefits to the organization. Diversity in workforce fosters and encourages
In its infancy, Apple Computer Inc. began with the Macintosh personal computer. The company was founded on April 1, 1976. The founders were Steve Wozniak and Steven Jobs. They incorporated the company in 1977, on January 3rd, in Cupertino, California. In the twenty years that followed, the company produced personal computers. Besides the Macintosh, Apple Inc. made Apple II, and the Power Mac lines. Although they lasted for decades, during the 90’s the company experienced some turbulent times with low sales and market share. Steve Jobs left Apple Inc. and came back in 1996 when his company, NeXT was purchased by Apple. In 1997, Jobs became the interim CEO. In later years it became a permanent position for him.