Shamefully not having known too much about Apple and Steve Jobs, watching our group’s film ‘Jobs’ left me shocked- I had learnt so much…
The syllabus states that on the blog posts I should explore my personal views in the field of organizational behavior (OB). I guess watching and analyzing a film so directly related to OB gave me a lot to think and write about. First of all, I think it was an exceptional film and if you’re reading this and haven’t watched it- please make sure you will!
Moving beyond my recommendation, watching this film completely changed my perspective of Apple and Steve Jobs. I’m very fond of Apple and I had heard many times that Steve Jobs was flawed when it came to his leadership style but I always filtered this piece of information out due to my respect for him.
Where a company like Google have autonomy and some amounts of decentralization, Apple was very centralized and autocratic- Steve Jobs demanded that everything needed to be the way he wanted. Based off what I have learned from high school and so far in Comm 292, I know that autonomy and democracy allow staff to flourish in the workplace. Hence, I learned that employees in Apple may suffer from abuse, alienation, and a generally disconnected chemistry throughout the workforce.
Personally, this shocked me as I had always assumed Steve Jobs to be a perfect human being, including leadership. Little was I aware that he exhibited traits of psychopathy and narcissism. I had further assumed that because Apple is a technology company, they would be very similar to Google in terms of OB, hence it’s very important that I got a greater insight into the structure and operations of Apple.
At first, I was very confused as to why Steve Jobs behaved so stubbornly, hence my main takeaway regarding why he behaves the way he does can be explained through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This theory states a hierarchy of five needs, including physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization, arranged in an increasing order. Before motivating people, the leader should possess these needs. However, studies have shown that family support is essential towards the motivation at each particular level of need. Since Jobs was an adopted child, he demonstrated a lack of fulfilment regarding the different levels. Particularly, he was lacking self-esteem. His background of being an adopted child shape him to think the whole world is against him. His lack of esteem let him try to jump from social hierarchy stage to self-actualization stage.
References
Foster, J. D., & Trimm, R. F. (2008). On being eager and uninhibited: Narcissism and approach– avoidance motivation. Personality and Psychology Bulletin, 34(7), 1004-1017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167208316688
Taormina, R. J., & Gao, J. H. (2013). Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: Measuring satisfaction of the needs. The American Journal of Psychology, 126(2), 155-177. http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.126.2.0155
Jobs.: Danny Boyle, (2015.) DVD.