Apple inc. leadership language

This essay discusses five main leadership qualities that helped Steve Jobs become as effective as he was as Apple’s co-founder and CEO. The skills are summarized, and short discussions of the possible consequences of those skills in an organizational environment are included. According to the writers, the possible effects on a company are comparatively significant.
This is a valuable guide for evaluating the possible consequences of certain critical leadership qualities in a company’s transition. Blom, M. & Alvesson, M. (2015). All-inclusive and all good: The hegemonic ambiguity of leadership. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 31(4), 480-492. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956522115000603

The authors of this article focus on leadership and leadership studies. The authors present an investigation focusing on the popularity of this concept. Part of the answer to why leadership is as popular, celebrated and ubiquitous can be found in how the term is defined and presented.

This source is an important one for the research because it proposes the concept of hegemonic ambiguity as central to capturing the basic problems that are associated with leadership

Heracleous, L. & Klaering, L. A. (2014). Charismatic leadership and rhetorical competence: An analysis of Steve Jobs’s rhetoric. Group & Organization Management, 39(2), 131-161. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1059601114525436

The authors of this article contend that Steve Jobs was not only a motivational leader but also a transformational one. The article analyzes the link between charismatic leadership and rhetorical competence. The authors analyze Steve Jobs’ use of rhetoric as a way of influencing their subjects. Steve Jobs was an acknowledged charismatic leader who used rhetoric in a variety of situations to shape the leadership style in Apple Company.

This article is relevant to the research paper because it creates a clear link between leadership and how Steve Jobs made use of rhetoric as a leadership style.

Razin, M. A., & Kark, R. (2013). The Apple does not Fall Far from the Tree: Steve Jobs’s Leadership as Simultaneously Distant and Close. Exploring distance in leader-follower relationships: Near is far and far is near, 241-273.Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ebc_yq0eiqwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA241&dq=leadership+language+at+Apple&ots=NbR5DDaSfh&sig=CvttB4BoOBEqdabtMJrnW4hcokU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=leadership%20language%20at%20Apple&f=false

This essay analyses leadership theory and the common perception of leaders in today’s contemporary setting whereby leaders are viewed as distant individuals. The author’s focus on Steve Jobs is convenient owing to the important role he played in Apple. The authors contend that he is a charismatic leader who is both close and distant. This was crucial in creating the leadership style in Apple.

This is an important source because it links leadership theory to Steve Jobs’ leadership style that is essential to shaping the leadership style at Apple.

Steinwart, M. C. & Ziegler, J. A. (2014). Remembering Apple CEO Steve Jobs as a“ transformational leader:” Implications for pedagogy. Journal of Leadership Education, 13(2). doi:10.12806/V13/I2/R3

The author presents an insight into the case of Steve Jobs as a ”paradigm case” of an example of a transformational leader. The authors compare the memoirs published at the time Jobs passed on to the theories of transformational leadership. By comparing the frequency of references to the characteristics of transformational leadership that appeared in descriptions of Jobs after his passing on back in 2011, the authors draw a conclusion on the influence Job had to the culture of leadership as practiced in Apple Company. The findings of the article show that Job is remembered as a transformational leader owing to the unique characteristics he possessed as a visionary, creative and passionate leader. Furthermore, Jobs is remembered as an innovative leader who set the tone for others to follow.

The articles strengths lie in the critical analysis of not only Jobs’ contribution to the leadership culture of his company but also the salient characteristics that can be attributed to him. This approach leads to important discussions of how important it is for transformative leaders to engage with their followers.

Bengtsson, A., Jörnlid, S., & Lindskog, M. (2016). The thin line between toxic leadership and transformational leadership: Stories of Steve Jobs.

This article focuses on the thin line that exists between toxic leadership and transformational leadership. The authors contend that there are similarities as well as differences between transformational leadership and toxic leadership. The subject of the analysis is Steve Jobs who is in many ways a pioneer and an elite business leader. The analysis focuses on the ways that the media perceives and portrays Jobs as a both a toxic and transformational leader.

Heracleous, L. & Klaering, L. A. (2017). The circle of life: Rhetoric of identification in Steve Jobs’ Stanford speech. Journal of Business Research, 79, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317301571

The authors’ main aim is to understand the sources of the immense popularity of Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech from a rhetorical perspective. The analysis indicates that the speech was rife with rhetorical sophistication in the way he reinforces the use of established dynamics, canons and rhetorical devices.

This source is important in that it identifies the key characteristics of a leaders’ rhetorical competence is their ability to employ processes of identification. However, the articles weakness lies in it inadequate use of empirical data.

Xue, C. T. S. (2016). Role of Leadership in Achieving Sustainable Organizational Change: Steve Jobs. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 2(8). Retrieved from http://www.imperialjournals.com/index.php/IJIR/article/view/1407/1351

The author of this article analyzes the role played by Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Company and the contribution of his varied leadership styles. The role of leadership played by Jobs both as the co-founder and former CEO that led to sustainable organizational and his unique leadership styles are discussed at length in the article. Steve Jobs is regarded as one of the most revolutionary minds of the twentieth century owing to his immense contributions to the advancement and growth of the field of information technology. As the founder and brains behind Apple Company’s growth and transformation from a mere start-up to one of the leading tech companies in the world, Steve Jobs cemented his status as a transformative leader. At the beginning of the article, the author focuses on debunking what the concept of organizational change is all about.

This article has its major strength in that its main focus is on organizational change with the key subject being Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Company. However, its main weakness is its relatively minimal use of empirical data.

McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117. Retrieved from http://jbsq.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/June_2014_9.pdf

The author of this article identifies the importance of advancing the knowledge of leadership. In the article, the author posits that the study of leadership has been around for more than one hundred years. Three seminal leadership theories are discussed extensively. The analysis follows the development of the said theories. Central to the discussion is the concept of leadership development with a particular focus on the situational, transformational, as well as transactional leadership theories. Furthermore, a brief discussion is included of the history and developments of the theories before further discussing articles that have been published discussing each of the said areas. Key principle of each theory are compared and contrasted while modern leadership challenges and leadership development in the context of all three theories are discussed.

This source is important in that it offers an in-depth analysis of leadership theories which are an essential component of the research. In addition to this, the source offers a practical application of the research findings.

Arnulf, J. K., Larsen, K. R., & Martinsen, Ø. (2015, January). Leadership in language: Differential impact of media language on leadership survey responses. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2015, No. 1, p. 13360). Academy of Management.

The article’s main premise is based on research on sensemaking which indicates that speakers of the same language may use this language to come up with social realities at work. The authors use semantic theory of survey response to explore the differences that arise from quantitive survey research.

The article is an important source because of the unique view to leadership offered therein while its strengths lie in the way the authors employ the use of empirical data to prove their findings.

Auvinen, T. P., Lämsä, A. M., Sintonen, T., & Takala, T. (2013). Leadership manipulation and ethics in storytelling. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(2), 415-431.

The authors of this article focused on exerting influence in leadership and how manipulation is used in storytelling. The argue contend that the use of manipulation in leadership is a more intrinsic phenomenon and is not only an unethical way of acting in leadership. Through an empirical qualitative study the findings indicate that there are various types of manipulation through storytelling.

The article contributes to the research in that through systematic empirical analysis, it offers a new dimension into the question of ethics in leadership and leadership manipulation.