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PCA Human Resource

Jake Davis

OGL 481

Dr. Charlotte Newman

11September 2022
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As many people know, Apple was founded by two college dropouts, Steve Jobs

and Steve Wozniak in 1976. Their mission was to make a computer that was small

enough to fit in a house or office, they wanted the computer to be user friendly. Apple

continues to grow to this day, and has become one of the most recognizable names in

the industry. They continued paving the way in technological innovations as the years

went by. Before Steve Jobs retired, and Tim Cook (current CEO of Apple) took over,

Apple’s most important resource has been its people. According to the Apple careers

website they say, “Join the team that discovers and develops our most important

resource: our people” (Careers, 2022). Apple has always put a priority on their people

within all departments, and because of this Apple has remained in the top 50 best

places to work for years, according to Glassdoor.

I have always been a lover and user of all things Apple not only for the quality of

the products but the relationships they build. From my first phone, to computers and

even television by Apple. The same goes for my family, however, in 2015 there were a

series of terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, which led the FBI to ask Apple (the maker

of a perpetrators phone) for technical assistance that almost changed my mind. Apple,

in turn, provided the FBI with the data that they had and also sent engineers to the FBI

for advice. However, Apple refused the court order to bypass the 4 digit passcode on

the phone which included a feature that would erase all data after 10 incorrect attempts.

Tim Cook issued a letter that reinforced Apple's decision to refuse the FBI’s request. He

stated that doing such a thing would be the first step towards creating a master key that

would have access to tens of millions of IPhones just in the US alone. A day before the
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hearing, the FBI withdrew its request saying that they no longer needed help accessing

the data.

Tim Cook and Apple had an option to help the FBI and provide access but chose

not to for the sake of maintaining privacy for millions of customers around the world.

This was a difficult dilemma because this particular phone might have contained

information for the attack in 2015 as well as information on new threats. If Apple granted

access to one phone then it could be used against them because they would have then

‘already done it before’. With the way that their organization is centered around both

employees and customers, the wrong choice could have meant the beginning of the end

for the company. Apple’s human resource is what makes it such a reputable company,

within their industry word of mouth is everything. This means that if Cook did help the

FBI it would have led customers to lose faith in him thereby weakening the center of the

entire organization. This highlights the importance of privacy as well as security. Within

our own teams it is important for members to feel a sense of trust. This is also true for

clients and stakeholders as well. Clients must trust that we can keep them and their

personal information safe.

If put in a similar situation, I would have not done anything differently. I believe

that Apple made the correct decision in this scenario. When an organization is based

around its human resources, the first priority is to maintain that relationship with them.

Even in other organizations, as project managers and leaders we must respect both our

clients as well as our team members. Alternatively, if I were to use the human resources

in this scenario to alter the case direction I would issue a formal statement. This

statement would include information regarding the specific circumstances in which

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Apple is required to assist the government in response to terrorist attacks. It would

reassure both stakeholders and employees that this is a ‘one time only’ exception in

which we (Apple) would disclose information of this importance.

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References

Careers at apple: Join our corporate functions team. Apple. (n.d.). Retrieved September

11, 2022, from https://www.apple.com/careers/us/corporate-functions.html

Meyer, P. (2022, June 4). Apple Inc.'s Organizational Structure & its characteristics

(an analysis). Panmore Institute. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from

https://panmore.com/apple-inc-organizational-structure-features-pros-cons#:~:tex

t=Apple%20Inc.%20has%20a%20hierarchical,as%20for%20iOS%20and%20ma

cOS.

This Month in business history: The founding of Apple Computers, inc.. Research

Guides. (n.d.). Retrieved August 25, 2022, from https://guides.loc.gov/this-month

-in-business-history/april/apple-computers-founded#:~:text=and%20Photographs

%20Division.-,Apple%20Computers%2C%20Inc.,in%20their%20homes%20or%2

0offices.

University, S. C. (n.d.). Apple vs. Fbi case study. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/business-ethics/resources/apple-vs-fbi-ca

se-stdy/.