Business Report
[Name of the writer]
[Name of the institution]
Business Report
Introduction
Every organization strives to create the best working environment for its employees so that its employees can enjoy working in the company and produce the best results. These practices are necessary to keep the employees fresh and charged as well, in order to keep them aligned with the company’s organizational goals. The employees of any organization are strongly bound to its vision and mission statement and are expected to comply by the rules and regulations defined strictly in accordance with that mission and vision statement.
In order to get these tasks done and create a culture of peace, harmony and recognition in the environment of the organization, every organization establishes some specific policies, rules and regulations which are needed by every employee to be followed. It will help in the betterment of the culture of the organization and build up an environment of trust among the employees for the higher management and the company as a whole (Abdel-Razek, and Alharbi, 2017, p. 45). Same is the case as seen in the business report crafted below. This business report is about Apple Inc., its practices, its cultural environment and the strategic human resource management policies it needs to design and implement in order to achieve a better level of efficiency and productivity.
Background
Policy formation and rulemaking is an important aspect of the life of an organization. It is an integral part which needs to be carried on so that the operations of the business can keep running in a smooth manner and the company may achieve its strategic goals. Proper policy making, strategy designing and implementation of these strategies help an organization to achieve its pre-defined goals and objectives in a much efficient and effective manner (Van der Steen, and Van Twist, 2013, p. 36).
Two of the major issue recently going on in the current global scenario of the business are diversity and stress (Banks, 2014, p. 05). Organizations are devising smart strategies to address both these issues. For this purpose, various kinds of policies and rules are designed in the organizations to help cope up with the issues arising out of diversity and management of stress at the workplace (Quick, Henderson, 2016, p. 09). Hence, the underlying report will address multiple such issues and discuss designing regarding two of the most debated topics in the current times
Managing Diversity
Managing stress and improving workplace health and well-being.
Description of the Organization
Apple Inc. is a big name in the field of technology all over the world. It is an American multinational technology organization that specializes in the area of consumer electronics, computer software and online services. It is an expert in designing, developing, marketing and selling a number of consumer electronics, which are its specialty products. Apple Inc. is also considered a part of Big Four family along with Facebook, Google and Amazon.
Founded by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Woznaik in April 1976, the headquarter of the technological giant lies in the Cupertino, California. The prominent hardware products produced by Apple Inc. include iPhone smartphone (on the top), iPad tablet computer, iPad portable media player, the Mac personal computer, Apple Watch Smartwatch, Apple Air pods wireless earbuds, Apple TV digital media player and the Home Pod smart speaker.
Analysis of the Context
Although Apple Inc. is a huge organization which is spread not only in the United States of America but all over the world, and it has already established much better policies and strategies to cope up with its various issues and problems, still there is a room for improvement. No matter how perfectly an organization is working, there is always a chance for the betterment and it should avail that chance to bring an improvement in its overall internal and external environment.
Apple Inc. is an already well-established organization that has spread its operations globally and is currently working in a number of countries with respect to the production and distribution of its products. The need for the designing and implementing some better policing regarding diversity and stress management would only mean to bring refinement in its working procedures and help it in addressing it various employee-related matters in a much better way (Barak, 2016, p. n.d).
Purpose of Each Policy
Each and every policy, designed in every organization, whether it is working on a local level, national level or an international level is equally important and carries some important purpose behind it. The issue would have posed some importance, which is why a separate and specific strategy was designed for it so that it can be resolved and avoided in the future. Whenever an organization spreads its wings in new skies, it faces some difficulties, especially related to culture. Same happened with Apple Inc. When it decided to go out of the United States and start its operations in other countries, the biggest concern in the minds of the higher management was the issue of diversity (Bawer, 2014, p. 94). The runners of the company were worried that how will the company cope up with the cultural differences in the other regions. To address this issue, the company devised multiple intelligent strategies and policies so that it can provide the best working environment for its employees.
Another major issue that is being faced by the employees working in the corporate sector of the modern world is stress (Mellor, Smith, Mackay, and Palferman, 2013, p. 13). The issue of stress, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders is not only faced by the employees of Apple Inc. but most of the workers working for any corporates in any organization or any country (Antoni et al., 2011, p. 367). The second policy will help the managers at Apple Inc. to understand the importance of mental well-being and to adopt the procedures in order to reduce the stress and anxiety levels among the employees of the organization (Kanste, 2011, p. 752).
Evaluation of Policies
This section will evaluate each and every policy in detail and will check whether every policy, that has been suggested, fulfils its demand and purpose or not. This section will also look in the detail that whether every policy is completely aligned with the missions and mission statement of the organization, i.e. Apple Inc (Fazlollahtabar, Mahdavi, and Mahdavi-Amiri, 2016, p. 394). and is in alignment with its short-term and long term goals. The policies of diversity and stress management will help significantly in creating a better workplace environment for the employees working at the organization and reducing the burden off the minds of the workers of Apple Inc (Cioletti, and Patton, 2014, p. 220).
Contents
The contents of the first and the foremost policy, which is related to diversity would be based upon mutual respect and corporation. It would be used to establish a culture of more stable and popular values within the environment (Hillman, 2016, p. 1407). The policy will be focused on pure learning and respect, intending to provide everyone with some knowledge to gain from the other culture and utilize that knowledge in bringing positivity in the organization.
The other policy that is related to stress management and mental well-being is purely focused on a healthy and positive mindset of an employee (Weiss, et al., p. 312). It contains the message of mental strength and relaxation and encourages the employees to positively participate in the process of creating a stress-free environment (Magtibay, et al., 2017, p. 392).
Accessibility
The managers at Apple Inc. should make sure that the newly devised policies are easily accessible for all. For this purpose, the first step that should be taken in this respect is to clearly announce in the departments that some new policies are being implemented in the organization and employees should keep themselves up to date with these policies. The controllers of the organizations should then state these newly formed policies or the improved and better policies on the company website. One another way to make sure that every employee gets his or her hands on the new policies is to send them directly in their mailbox. The supervisors and the line managers should draft an e-mail keeping all the employees in the department in the list and sending them all at once. This is a method used by most of the organizations to convey information nowadays to specific employees.
Efficacy
The improved policies related to the aspects of diversity and stress management will assist significantly in the achievement of short-term and long-term goals established by Apple Inc. The policies will help in creating a much balanced and stress-free environment, which will ultimately lead toward better productivity and improved concentration.
Legal Compliance
The newly crafted policies of diversity and stress management are completely in accordance with the laws and regulations introduced at the state or national level. Apple. Inc. should also convey the facts to its employees regarding the legal implications of diversity and the consequences if any person does not follow these laws and regulations.
Consistency with other Policies
The policies of the diversity and stress management and well-being are already consistent with the already established policies in the organization i.e. Apple Inc. These are just a little improvement and up gradation in the already existing policies so that they can be polished and better results can be obtained out of them in a much better and efficient way.
Implementation Issues
Although these policies have been designed pretty easily and their implementation may also sound very smooth but this is not the case. Apple Inc. may face some serious hurdles while implementing or bringing changes in both the areas and may face a little difficulty while implementing the policies related to both areas. Talking about diversity, Apple Inc. may face some difficulties whole implementing the changes related to a different culture and ethnic values. Moreover, some communication problems may also arise while communicating the efficacy of the newly devised policies to employees. Apple Inc. may also face some issues while implementing stress management practices. It can be difficult for some of the employees to understand the importance of these policies and they may consider it a totally useless effort to participate in such activities.
RecommendationsApple Inc. needs to take careful steps while bringing a change in its policy structures, once it has identified that there is some gap in some specific areas regarding policy outlines and implementations. While considering the implications and implementation of the diversity policies, Apple needs to consider the cultural and the ethnic factors in the specific region where the business is running. It needs to carefully scan the external cultural dimensions and then focus on implementing the diversity-related strategy so that the employees may not feel any difficulty while accepting it.
Moreover, regarding the policies of stress management, the tech giant needs to take multiple steps in advance to create awareness about various mental ailments first, before introducing its employees to the new policies regarding the stress management and mental well-being. The department head, line managers and the supervisors should instill a sense in the minds of the workers at Apple Inc. that stress is not a bad thing and it is nothing to worry about if the employees are stressed out due to work or any other reason (Selart, and Johansen, 2011, p. 133). The company should assure them that the employee's well-being whether physical or mental is very dear to Apple Inc., which is why the improved policies and strategies regarding their mental well-being have been crafted, so that they can concentrate on their work totally stress free (Wood, Braeken, and Niven, 2013, p. 623).
Conclusions
In short. It can be concluded that the intelligent designing, and smart implication and implementation of various policies are crucial for the proper working of any organization, no matter where it is working or no matter what is doing. Proper crafting and application of policies are very much necessary for every organization to run its functions smoothly. If the case of Apple Inc. is considered, there are certain areas which need a little improvement, which is why certain and specific policies are needed so that these areas can be improved and made functional to the level of perfection. These areas are related to diversity and stress management.
Apple Inc. needs to revamp or upgrade its diversity policies a little bit so that the employees can enjoy a safer and healthier workplace to work and they can feel more comfortable while sharing their ideas at any platform within the organization. The other area that needs addressing is the stress management department. Promoting the values of mental well-being and stress management will help the employees working at Apple Inc. to work with a more relaxed mind and give more input towards their jobs.
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