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The HRM Best Practices: A Case Study of Strategic Human Resource

Management of APPLE Inc.

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 วารสารวิทยาลัยบัณฑิตศึกษาการจัดการ มข 9 (2) ก.ค. - ธ.ค. 59 1

การบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์ที่เป็นเลิศ : กรณีศึกษา
การบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์เชิงกลยุทธ์ของ บริษัท แอปเปิล
The HRM Best Practices : A Case Study of Strategic
Human Resource Management of APPLE Inc.
ดร.
วาทิต อินทุลักษณ์ (Watit Intuluck)*
บทคัดย่อ
งานชิน้ นีพ้ ยายามทีจ่ ะศึกษาแนวทางการบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์ของบริษทั
แอปเปิล โดยมีวตั ถุประสงค์การศึกษาดังนี้ 1) เพือ่ ศึกษาวิเคราะห์บทบาทของนักบริหาร
ทรัพยากรมนุษย์ของบริษัท แอปเปิล ตามกรอบแนวคิด บนพื้นฐานทรัพยากรมนุษย์
แห่งผูช้ นะ โดย เดฟ อุลริช และ 2) เพือ่ ทบทวนบทบาทของนักบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์
ของบริษัท แอปเปิล ในการบริหารจัดทรัพยากรมนุษย์เชิงกลยุทธ์ ด้วยวิธีการวิจัยเชิง
คุณภาพแบบการศึกษาจากกรณีศึกษาโดยการอ้างอิงจากแหล่งข้อมูลทุติยภูมิและ
การวิเคราะห์กรณีศึกษา ซึ่งงานนี้ได้วิเคราะห์บทบาท ออกมาเป็น 4 บทบาท ได้แก่
หุ้นส่วนกลยุทธ์ ผู้เชี่ยวชาญงานบริหาร ผู้ชนะใจพนักงาน ผู้บริหารการเปลี่ยนแปลง
บนพื้นฐานทรัพยากรมนุษย์แห่งผู้ชนะ โดย เดฟ อุลริช แห่งมหาวิทยาลัยมิชิแกน การ
อภิปรายนี้ได้เปิดโอกาสให้ได้เรียนรู้แนวทางการบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์ขององค์กร
ธุรกิจที่ได้ช่ือว่าน่ายกย่องที่สุด และค้นหาความจริงที่ซึ่งสร้างการบริหารทรัพยากร
มนุษย์ที่มีประสิทธิภาพ ในตอนท้ายของบทความนี้ได้น�ำเสนอข้อสรุปและการน�ำผล
ไปใช้ ผลการศึกษาพบว่า บริษทั แอปเปิลให้ความส�ำคัญอย่างมากในบทบาทของ หุน้
ส่วนกลยุทธ์ ขณะที่บทบาทอื่นๆ ท�ำหน้าที่สนับสนุน

ค�ำส�ำคัญ : หุ้นส่วนกลยุทธ์, ผู้เชี่ยวชาญงานบริหาร ผู้ชนะใจพนักงาน ผู้บริหาร

การเปลี่ยนแปลง

*Instructor of MBA, Graudate School,

Faculty of Hospitality Industry, Dusit thani College
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Abstract
This paper attempted to study the Apple’s secret of HR practices.
The Objectives of the study were 1) to study and analyze the roles of HR
administrators at Apple Inc on the basis of Dave Urich’s Human Resource
Champion and to review the roles of HR administrators at Apple Inc in
managing strategic HRM. This study is a qualitative research using a case
study-based approach which secondary data and case study analysis
were mainly adopted. The paper analyzed the four roles of human resource
administrators in Apple Inc. on a basis of Human Resource Champion by Dave
Ulrich namely Strategic Partner, Administrative Expert, Employee Champion
and Change Agent. The discussion has provided the opportunity to study the
HRM practices of the most admired business organization and to find out the
facts which created the effective HRM. In the last part of the paper conclusion
and some implication were provided. The finding showed that Apple Inc. has
paid more attention on strategic partner role in order to serve the business
needs while other roles serve as supported functions.

Keywords : Strategic Partner, Administrative Expert, Employee Champion,

Change agent

1. Introduction
The aspects of traditional human resource management (HRM) have
been the focus of attention by many scholars for last several decades. Both
an academic theory and a business practice of HRM have addressed the
theoretical and practical techniques of managing people in the organization
(Ahmed, Tabassum, & Hossain, 2005-2006) and HR become the essential
function in acquiring organization success. However, many researchers have
attempted to confirm that overall traditional HRM practices are still necessary
but not sufficient.
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According to Price (2007, p.257):

while exponents of HRM emphasize the importance of an
organization’s people in achieving its overall business objectives,
strategic HRM (SHRM) takes a long-term perspective and is
concerned with issues such as corporate culture and individual
career development as well as the availability of people with the rigth
skills. It incorporates redundancy and recruitment planning and is
increasingly focused on decisions about maintaining the internal
capability of an organization’s workforce to perform specific functions
or to contract out (outsource) an activity to an external provider.
In the other word, the different between HRM and SHRM is that HRM
does not concern about the working knowledge of the strategic goals of the
organization. Instead SHRM refers to the pattern of planned human resource
deployments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its
goals’ (Wright and McMahan, 1992). As it was summarized by Ulrich (1998),
HR should not be defined by what it does but by what it delivers - results that
enrich the organization’s value to customers, investors and employees.
Owing to both internal and external forces, the human resource
management perspective has been shifted from personnel management
to strategic human resource management and recently to strategic human
capital management in which does not only pay attention to employees,
but also involves other stakeholders such as organizational leaders, human
resource department, middle managers and employees (Wedchayanon,
2010, p.185). The extension of human resource management perspective
has raised the importance of overall organization stakeholders in supporting
the organizational capabiliy building for competitiveness. According to Ulrich
(1997), he proposed four types of HR roles in buiding a competitive orgaization
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4 การบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์เชิงกลยุทธ์ของ บริษัท แอปเปิล

including management of strategic human resources (or strategic partner),

management of firm infrastructure (or administrative expert), management
of employee contribution (or employee champion) and management of
tranformation and change (or change agent). These four proposed roles
have now become more and more accepted in many well-known companies
worldwide such as Hewlett-Packard, AT&T which allow them to gain more
competitive advantage. Although these roles have worldwide accepted,
many companies have not intentionally applied. In the other word, they have
employed them without being aware of it. Apple Inc is one of those companies
that do not explicitly present those practices, therefore this study makes an
effort to capture them based on the basis of Dave Ulrich’s Human Resource
Champion from many sources of secondary data.
As IT industry has been a major player in accelerating globalization
which the companies throughout the world have encountered today. Some
perceive it as a threat and not many firms see it as a challenge that would allow
them to benefit from its sake. The several years’ long success of Apple Inc,
with a turnover of 36,537 billion USD, worldwide annual sale of US$42.91 billion
in 2009 and 284 retail stores in ten countries in 2011 have proved that Apple
is one of a few firms who enjoy the rise of globalization (APPLE INC, 2011).
What is more, Apple Inc, have been named as the most admired company
in the US and in the world since 2008 to 2012 (the fifth consecutive year) by
Fortune’s ranking (Fortune Survey, 2012).
Due to more than 46,600 full-time employees in 2010, a wide range
of outsourced employees and other temporary workforces (approximately
2,800 employees) around the world (APPLE INC, 2011) and the overall
excellence that has dominated its success particularly in terms of human
resource management (HRM), Apple Inc is an excellent case study that will
provide an detailed information about how has Apple Inc performed human
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resource management practices to maintain the standard of its excellence?

This paper focuses on presenting current and historical background as well
as an analysis of case study of Apple Inc. Based on the secondary sources
of data, the study offers practical insights and bridge strategy and human
resource management with the Apple Inc context that can inspire other
organizations.

A Brief Overview of Apple Inc. and its HRM

Apple Inc. or Apple computer Inc. was found on April 1, 1976
by Steven Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The first product sold was the machine
named “Apple I”. In the next following year, “Apple II” was introduced to the
personal computer market which was called “microcomputer”. At that time,
this computer was the newest innovation that lifted up the standard of the
personal computer market. However, the company’s strategy was focused
more on its operating system rather than its hardware because IBM, its major
competitor, could offer better quality of personal computer. In 1980, Apple III
was released and there were several major events that change the company
including the expanding of the company and its sell (APPLE INC, 2011).
In 1983, the need for business professional in expanding the
company, Jobs appointed John Sculley who was the president of Pepsi-Cola
Company as president and CEO at Apple computer Inc. The next year later,
Macintosh was introduced and sold well. It was developed by a team led
by Jef Raskin who later said that he was inspired by technology that was
developed by Fuji research and development center.
Because of well success of Macintosh, Apple decided to stop
producing Apple II and to promote Macintosh instead. This has become the
company core business since then. The major events occurred again in 1985
when there was the conflict of interest between Jobs and Sculley. As a result
 การบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์ที่เป็นเลิศ: กรณีศึกษา
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of it, Jobs was discharged from the present position and he later decided to
resign from the company and Steven Wozniak returned to college, leaving
Sculley as the head of Apple. After he left the company, he started his own
company named NeXT but due to many constraints, the product like NeXT,
a high quality personal computer could be offered with high cost, thus only
limited group of customers could afford. However, Jobs still showed his
capability by creating NeXT Cube, an inter-personal computer, the computer
that can communicate and collaborate to another computer and other powerful
functions that were the important progress in developing a personal computer.
In 1997, Apple bought NeXT Company but the real intention was to
bring Jobs back to the company. The series of technologies created by NeXT
improved Apple’s products specially Mac OS X and iMac in which initiated
from the NeXT program named NeXTSTEP. In a few years later, Apple Inc
has opened a number of retail stores across America, selling not only Apple
computers but also many digital products from various third-party companies
such as PDAs, video cameras and others which were under the concept of
“Apple experience”. With innovative character and strong leadership style,
Jobs have brought the company to reach its achievement for example iPods,
iPads and iPhones, the must-have products that shifted company to the
position of temporary monopoly when they first introduced (Gallo, 2012).
According to Apple Inc, their vision, mission and objectives are:
Vision: “Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above
systems and structures, and not subordinate to them”
Mission: “Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing
experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers
globally through innovative, hardware, software, and internet offerings”
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Objectives: “Company Annual Revenue: Increase revenue with new

products and updated product to 65 million. Number of Employees: Increase the
number of employees in all departments and expand the number of Apple store
location wide and the main concern of Apple is to be environmentally safe”
In the HRM aspect, Apple’s human resource department has followed
the above vision, mission and objectives in regards to quality, efficiency,
responsiveness and innovation. According to Apple Computer Inc., Annual
report (2003), the department’s activities have been in line with the following way:
“Provide the company with the necessary personnel to assure
superior performance. Employees should at all times strive for the highest
quality in all they do. Ensure proactive internal career progression.”
The recent HRM objectives have still followed the same principles
of business conduct, apple policies and complied with laws and regulations.
In 2004 to 2010, Apple had continuously promoted the active participation of
its employees in its development. By engaging its employees in all aspects,
Apple encourages employees’ commitment, flexibility and adaptability.
This is aimed at motivating employees and ensuring superior performance.
According to Iliev et al. (2004), Apple creates an incentive program to retain
skilled human resources for a competitive advantage. The company also
expects its employees to work efficiently and to share competencies and
experiences which was found to have directly assosciation with profitability
(Pallast & Fini, 2010). Other HR practices include the creation of open lines
of communication, to raise pride for the brand, to formerly decentralized
(autonomy), and to create homogenous across countries.
With those HR intentions, it has been found that many young
intelligent people love to work for the company and others consider it as their
dream company due to its HR excellent practices. But in recent years, many
business scholars and practitioners have raised concerns over the HR practices
 การบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์ที่เป็นเลิศ: กรณีศึกษา
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provided by Apple Inc. which is different to those provided by other companies.

By the use of qualitative method, the study would like to shed light into the
roles of HR administrators at Apple Inc on the basis of Dave Urich’s Human
Resource Champion.

The objectives of the study

1. To study and analyze the roles of HR administrators at Apple Inc
on the basis of Dave Urich’s Human Resource Champion.
2. To review the roles of HR administrators at Apple Inc in managing
strategic HRM

2. Literature Review
The literature review covers the concept of Human resource
champion, the roles of human resource administration roles of Apple Inc,
as well as other relevant literature.

The concept of Human resource champion

Wright and McMahan (1992) mentioned that HRM has two main
tasks. On the one hand, it should support the top management in defining
the corporate strategy. On the other hand, it should set up all the processes
and tools necessary to put the strategy into action (Boldizzoni & Quaratino,
2011, p. 42). According to the book called “Human resource champion”,
Ulrich has proposed a model for understanding the complex synergies that
a HR professional has to develop to perform the operational and strategic
tasks. He provided information that the HRM function should be able to cover
different roles, defined according to two main variables: 1) the strategic focus,
2) People or processes focus
 วารสารวิทยาลัยบัณฑิตศึกษาการจัดการ มข 9 (2) ก.ค. - ธ.ค. 59 9

Figure 1. The matrix represents the HRM roles (Ulrich, 1997)

First, Strategic partner: the main task of the HR manager is to align the
contribution of human resources with the company’s business strategy.
Second, Administrative partner: the main task is to design and manage
efficient and effective HRM systems including procedures, methods and tools.
Third, Employee Champion: this role refers to managing employee commitment
and contribution to the company. It means monitoring personnel satisfaction
with the working conditions on a daily basis. → Satisfaction has positive
impact on both productivity and company performance.
Fourth, Change Agent: this role implies the involvement of the organization in
change management, HR managers have to identify and overcome resistance
to change, and to generate flexibility and adaptability among the personnel.
 การบริหารทรัพยากรมนุษย์ที่เป็นเลิศ: กรณีศึกษา
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Ulrich believes that the efficiency and effectiveness of the HRM

function depend on the ability to play all these roles at the same time, mixing
them up according to the environmental contingencies and strategic goals.
But it is not easy to do so because most of the time, internal HR professionals
are considered as the rear-guard towards innovation and change and external
HRM tends to be more reliable and competent (Boldizzoni & Quaratino, 2011).
Ulrich also highlighted HR roles in building a competitive
organization that HR professionals have to collaborate with other internal
and external stakeholders including line managers, external consultants,
employees, HR professionals, and outsourced employees and so on. He
elaborated more on the line managers’ responsibility presenting in the figure 2.

Figure 2. HR role in Building a Competitive Organization: Shared

Responsibility (Ulrich, 1997)
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According to figure 2, HR professionals in a business have unique

responsibility and accountability for ensuring that the each role is fulfilled.
It means that a rating of 10 points in each cell representing the complete
accomplishment for each role. The four deliverable roles are (Ulrich,
1997, Pp 43-44);
1. Management of employee contribution which means that HR was
allocated only 2 out of every 10 points for delivery of employee
commitment, 6 points for line managers, and 2 points for
employees.
2. Management of firm infrastructure which means that firms put
5 out of 10 points for infrastructure HR services into corporate or
shared service organizations and the remaining 5 scores
were allocated to 3 points for outsourcing administrative
transactions and 2 points for information technology.
3. Strategic HRM which means that firms were divided between
5 points for HR professionals and another 5 points for line
managers in bringing the strategy to accomplish business goals.
4. Management of transformation and change which means HR
professionals were shared 3 out of 10 points, while line managers
and external consultants were allocated 4 and 3 out of 10 points
respectively in delivering change and transformation.
Moreover, Ulrich provides the survey that can be used in assessing
the roles of HR in the business on a basis of Human Resource Champion.
Apple Inc. went through several changes in their mission, strategy
and management system since it was found. In the past, top personal at Apple
Computers focused their attentions to increase market share and became
more competitive advantage. The Human Resource department transformed
its HR model which put the Vice President of HR in charge of a key role in
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providing a persuasive vision and strong leadership. This brought Human

Resource Management team to maintain a good job and obtained committed
workforce (Lam et al., 2005). The HR’s mission is to contribute the Apple’s
success by creating an exceptional working environment that would bring in
an outstanding workforce. After went through many changes, Apple derived at
the current Human resource administration structure which presents in figure 3.

The roles of human resource administration roles of Apple Inc

Figure 3. Role and Organization Structure of Human Resource Department

(Lam, Chow, Dabboussi, & Lei, 2005).

According to the figure 3, human resource department structure

starts from a Vice President (VP) of Human Resource as the highest top
management of the department and then there are two positions in the middle
of its hierarchy which are a Business Partners and a Central Service which is
responsible for managing 6 HR functions including Apple University, Domestic
employment, Multicultural programs, HR planning, Compensation and Benefits and
Employee Relations and Services. Apple Inc has encountered many
challenges that forced the company to make several changes such as
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change in the product line, change in corporate direction, corporate

mission as well as corporate strategy and most interestingly change in its
management system. In 1990, Apple Inc realized the needs for change in existing
strategies to respond the intense of competition. At that time, HR department had
helped the company to realize the importance of organization’s transformation
and delivered the change in its business model. The plan was to reduce
its operating expense in order to increase its profit margins. The Vice
President of HR was a major player in providing a persuasive vision and strong
leadership. As the result of this, HR department was able to manage the growth
of employee expense and maintain an aligned and committed workforce and
the use of strategic outsourcing was also initiated.
Equally important, HR department concerned about the use of
technology to facilitating the HR functions. For example, HR department
creates technology-based devices that can be used to improve employee
management such as Employee Help Line which assists employees in many
matters or when it is needed. Another example of the use of technology was
to use internet to distribute online application forms and other HR tasks (Gallo,
2012).
Moreover, as the most admired company in the world, Apple Inc
enjoys an abundance of the world highest quality candidates across all fields
queuing up to gain employment. The innovative incentives and work practices
make Apple Inc one of the most enjoyable and prestigious place to work in
the world. Its employees are proud of their company and will go above and
beyond to serve it.
Other relevant literature
Filippone el at, (2012) found that HR executive is viewed as
a critical leader and advisor to business stakeholders. Almost 62 percent of
respondents felt that human resources department need to serve a leadership
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role in managing skill and talent shortage. There are seven global business
trends driving the need for human resources to transform (Filippone, Youden,
Pennington, & Fersht, 2012, p. 8);
1. Global expansion of Western companies into countries with
developing countries
2. Expansion of leading regional companies from Asia and Latin
America into Western countries
3. Economic hardships of the last decade have left little fat within
organizations
4. Companies operate under increasingly complex regulatory
environments
5. The pace of business has accelerated
6. Organizations are realigning work within their teams to create
nimbler standardized global business processes
7. Simple work has been automated or outsourced-the remaining
work is complex
Therefore, HR executives have been left with the needs for change.
They have been asked to centralize, globalize, cut costs and staff and embrace
new technology. The authors also found six practices that lead company to
failure (Filippone, Youden, Pennington, & Fersht, 2012):
1. Preference for well-known process efficiency tactics over
developing new strategic capabilities
2. Ineffective strategies for handling global requirements
3. Unfamiliarity with the need to predict and adapt to changing
business trends
4. Business partners who were slow to leverage human resources
in new ways
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5. The lack of a burning platform to drive change

6. Human resources teams that did not upgrade their own talent to
deliver new capabilities
According to Boldizzoni el at, (2011), their paper aims to
understand the progress of companies operating in Italy in their transition from an
administrative approach to new and more challenging roles, particularly those
change agent and business partner according to Ulrich 1998.
It found that business partnership in the Italian context appears to
be a weak concept. The Business partnership companies adopt practices
and actions not strictly consistent with BP characteristics. While there are
many HRM departments defining themselves as business partner, but limiting
themselves to recall a “label” not supported by consistent actions, there are a
smaller number of HRM departments declaring they are adopting the role of
change agent, but these are prevalently coherent in their concrete behaviors
and practices.
Moreover, the evidence from the research indicates that a realistic
possible development of the studied roles is based on identifying specific
useful contributions that the HRM department can give the organization than
on the statement of having adopted an abstract role. These roles of change
agent and business partner have to build over time:
- A sound relationship with stakeholders
- With the aim of analyzing and understanding their needs
- Suggesting coherent interventions and actions
- Answering to organizational needs for change and development
- Offering continuous support to top and line management
to achieve business results
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3. Research Methodology
This section begins with a brief overview of research methodology,
sample size, data collection as well as data analysis. Research methodology:
this study firstly adopts a case study-based approach which is the qualitative
method using descriptive analysis. The company official documents, the
company website, academic journals and related research papers are the
sources of data along with the set of HRM and SHRM textbooks. Due to time
constraints, it is not possible to conduct extensive interview and survey which
can make the study more educative and informative. Furthermore, a case
study-based approach uses the fact of any specific issues and contents of
which require a focus of the social sciences to understand its phenomenon
on the basis of it being an individual problem (Leedy, 1997). Secondly, the
use of the case study-based approach allows the researcher to focus on one
instance of the particular thing that needs to be examined and it involves the
capability of the researcher to describe, analyze and understand complexity
in this certain contexts (Ahmed, Tabassum, & Hossain, 2005-2006). However,
this method still has some disadvantages; for example, a lack of inquiry. The
case study is selected for a number of reasons such as data accessibility,
organizational reputation, and size of the organization and the significance of
its contribution. This study is conducted in the following steps:
1. Reviewing literature for the theories of strategic human resource
management and practices at Apple Inc.
2. Collecting data by visiting a wide range of websites that provides
the relevant information such as company’s official website,
related research articles and so on.
3. Analyzing the data by using the content analysis and drafting
the report and revising the report and then finalizing the report.
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Sample and Data collection: Weber (1990) suggests that when it

is not possible to work with the entire population, the study has to select the
specific source of information and define the type of documents for the study.
With time constraints, the study purposively selected 13 relevant articles which
came from various types of articles such as academic papers, documents
from official source and relevant literatures.
Data analysis: the study employs human resource role-assessment
survey developed by Dave Ulrich and Jill Conner (see appendix 1.) as the
framework for the content analysis. The survey has both content and construct
validity which were confirmed by Conner in 1999 and the Cronbach alphas in
the Conner’s study were all greater than 0.8 which indicated that this survey
has a high reliability and validity was confirmed by approval from three HR
experts. Then, the content analysis was performed including the basic steps
of data collection, coding (the survey framework), analysis of content and
interpretation of results.

4. Finding
According to Ulrich the multi-role model that I use as the criteria for
searching information, the study explores how Apple HR professionals practice
their functions based on specific actions in each of the four roles; strategic
partners, administrative experts, employee champions and change agents.
Firstly, HR professionals at Apple Inc have presented some
characteristics of a strategic partner as the following criteria.
• HR professionals at Apple Inc help the organization accomplish
business goals. For example, in responding to its missions, Apple
has employed the strategy called “strategic outsourcing”.
About 70 percent of its manufacturing costs and components
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were from outsourced employees who allowed Apple to reduce

the cost of its products and customers can enjoy the products
with reasonable prices (Quinn & Hilmer, 1994).
• HR professionals are active participant in business plans.
In 1990, the vice president of HR played a key role in providing
a persuasive vision and strong leadership and driving
organizational transformation (Lam, Chow, Dabboussi &
Lei, 2005). Apple HR function takes an active role with
management in developing the philosophies and strategies
that define the working environment.
Secondly, HR professionals at Apple Inc have also presented some
characteristics of an administrative expert as the following criteria.
• HR department help the company develop and manage
guideline, plans and policies for effectively managing human
resources such as “Hire for Smile policy”, The Soul of the Apple
Store. Steve Jobs was the one who acted as informal HR executive
who offered the guideline saying that “We attract a different
type of person, someone who really wants to get in a little
over his head and make a dent in the universe.” It helped company
set its own standard of HR processes (Gallo, 2012, p.5).
• Executive HR at Apple Inc acts as consultant in a field of expertise.
Employee Help Line, for example, which assists employees in
many matters or when it is needed. HR department created the
system of monitoring administrative processes based on
available technology.
• HR department is responsible for creating working environment
that would allow employees to increase productivity. For
example, the creation of working belief that “working at Apple is
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a whole different thing because whatever you do here, you play

a part in creating some of the best-loved technology on the planet.
And in helping people discover all the amazing things they can do
with it. You could call it work, or you could call it a mission,
we call it a blast”.
Thirdly, this can create employee friendly environment and
consequently the company can gain more customers’ satisfaction. Apple
Inc. has shown some characteristics of an employee champion by following
its criteria.
• Apple hires enthusiastic people who want to help others achieve
their dreams and provide them with a plenty of training programs
and career advancement programs. The company follows Jobs’
idea that “customers are not the only ones who get to discover
new things at the Apple retail stores. Every location provides
regular training which counts as work time, to keep up to date
on the latest applications and third-party products” as well as
“You can also get training to help you move ahead as a Genius,
Creative or Manager- or to transition to one of those tracks from
your current position” (Gallo, 2012).
• Employability is another concern that Apple has made an effort
to create its people. Andy Hertzfeld, an original member of the
Apple team and now an engineer at Google said that Jobs taught
him to “follow your heart” and only great work comes out of doing
what you adore (Gallo, 2012). He also created the culture of being
last rather than being fast that inspired many HR activities such
as building a trusting relationship, talk straight culture,
demonstrating respect, creating transparency, showing loyalty,
delivering results, clarifying expectation and so on.
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Finally, Apple Inc also shown the characteristics of the last one,
a change agent by presenting following actions;
• HR executive at Apple Inc have remained up to date about the
tools, techniques, and practices of change in order to effectively
and efficiently manage change and respond to the organization’s
objectives. Many OD intervention techniques were used during
the change in 1990 such as HR management teams which helped
manage the growth of employee expense while maintaining an
aligned and committed workforce and creating the culture
of innovation (Lam, Chow, Dabboussi, & Lei, 2005).
• The Help center is another innovation that consists of a group
of 14 trained employees to give pieces of advice about Apple
policies and procedures as well as providing the line managers
with up to date matters of HR issues.
However, Apple Inc was named as the company where is more
secretive than other companies, as one employee said that Apple is obsessive
in maintaining secrecy. The data used in this study comes from only accessible
information, thus there are more information that could provide more detailed.

5. Conclusion and future work

Many incidents presented here reveal that HR professionals at
Apple Company have, more or less, employed the roles of human resource
administrators in line with the trends and directions of business needs.
Based on the finding, it is presented that Apple Inc’s human resource
administrators have moved toward strategic partner, employee champion
and change agent roles. Moreover, it has paid more attention particularly on
strategic partner role in order to serve the business needs. As for employee
champion, the company focused more on creating working environment
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that it can enjoy benefits of the increase in productivity. Change agent role
normally employs when it is the time for the adjustment of the organization. It
helps company to create, maintain, motivate, and develop existing employees
as well as to adjust employees’ behavior to be ready for the change with the
company.
The aim of the work presented in this paper is to serve as a review
of historical and current HR practices at Apple Inc., based on a basis of HR
champion. For the further study, quantitative methods should be applied in
terms of descriptive and inferential statistics in order to obtain more objective
outcomes. Furthermore, since Apple Inc has authorized many retail stores to
officially sell its products, apart from collecting data from Apple stores, the
further study should emphasize on authorized retail stores.

6. Recommendation of the study

On the basis of this research, the study offers a practical knowledge
for both scholars and practitioners. The first knowledge resulting from the study
is a possible benchmark for HR practitioners and for academic studies in the
field of business and other related fields. The second knowledge results from
the study of a specific context which could provide a more in-depth ground for
improving both relevant and other organizations. For HRM recommendation,
human resource department should play a more strategic role in the success
of Apple Inc. With the increase in competition and change in environment,
the HR professional has to evolve to become more adaptable, resilient, agile,
and customer-focused which basically underlies a role of a strategic partner.
HR personnel should be a business driven function with an understanding of
the organization’s big picture, personal retention and talents development.
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7. Limitations of the study

There are a wide range of constraints on this study. The first stems
from the nature of the research design. The case-study approach is claimed
to be subject to increased error due to the way data were obtained which
is a purposive sampling technique and the amount of collected data.
The second limitation is due to a specific focus on a certain case study, APPLE
Inc., which may not meet the generality and replicability requirements. The third
limitation stems from time constraints which may not allow researcher to have
a comprehensive review. The fourth limitation resulting from the validity of the
current data was limited due to the use of a few materials. Another limitation
stems from the use of secondary data which can provide some distortions
and bias. Therefore, the use of research findings beyond given data should
be carefully considered.

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APPENDIX 1.
Human Resource Role-Assessment Survey by Dave Ulrich and Jill Conner
The framework survey explores different roles that the HR function
may play within your business. Considering the HR professionals in your
business entity, the current quality of each of the following HR activities used
to evaluate the extent to which HR activities were used the most.
Strategic Partner
Criteria Indicators
1 HR helps the organization accomplish business goals.
2 HR participates in the process of defining business strategies.
3 HR makes sure that HR strategies are aligned with business strategy.
4 HR effectiveness is measured by its ability to help make strategy happen.
5 HR is seen as a business partner.
6 HR spends time on strategic issues.
7 HR is an active participant in business planning.
8 HR works to align HR strategies and business strategy.
9 HR develops processes and programs to link HR strategies to accomplish
business strategy.
10 HR’s credibility comes from helping to fulfill strategic goals.
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Administrative Expert
Criteria Indicators
1 HR helps the organization improve operating efficiency.
2 HR participates in delivering HR processes.
3 HR makes sure that HR processes are efficiently administered.
4 HR effectiveness is measured by its ability to efficiently deliver HR
processes.
5 HR is seen as an administrative expert.
6 HR spends time on operational issues.
7 HR is an active participant in designing and delivering HR processes.
8 HR works to monitor administrative processes.
9 HR develops processes and programs to efficiently process documents
and transactions.
10 HR’s credibility comes from increasing productivity.

Employee champion
Criteria Indicators
1 HR helps the organization take care of employees’ personal needs.
2 HR participates in improving employee commitment.
3 HR makes sure that HR policies and programs respond to the personal
needs of employees.
4 HR effectiveness is measured by its ability to help employees meet
personal needs.
5 HR is seen as a champion for employees.
6 HR spends time on listening and responding to employees.
7 HR is an active participant in listening and responding to employees.
8 HR works to offer assistance to help employees meet family and personal
needs.
9 HR develops processes and programs to take care of employee
personal needs.
10 HR’s credibility comes from helping employees meet their personal needs.
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Change Agent
Criteria Indicators
1 HR helps the organization adapt to change.
2 HR participates in shaping culture change for renewal and transformation.
3 HR makes sure that HR processes and programs increase the
organization’s ability to change.
4 HR effectiveness is measured by its ability to help an organization
anticipate and adapt to future issues.
5 HR is seen as a change agent.
6 HR spends time on supporting new behavior for keeping the firm
competitive.
7 HR is an active participant in organization renewal, change, or
transformation.
8 HR works to reshape behavior for organizational change.
9 HR develops processes and programs to help the organization
transform itself.
10 HR’s credibility comes from making change happen.

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