ANNA WINTOUR AND STEVE JOBS: TWO MODELS OF MANAGEMENT

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

ANNA WINTOUR AND STEVE JOBS: TWO MODELS OF MANAGEMENT

Anna Wintour and Steve Jobs are two interesting and well-known cases of study in the business world, because of their trajectories as magazine editor and CEO, in such important companies as Vogue and Apple, respectively.

However, they have very different point of view regarding management concepts, like motivation, strategy or decision-making.

On one hand, working is a natural need for the workers in Vogue, because they are sufficiently committed to the objectives of the company. They love their job, and feel admiration for Anna Wintour, but we cannot associate this case with the “Theory Y” of McGregor, because in this thinking, the workers do not need to be controlled. Nevertheless, Anna Wintor is used to revise the work of her employees, so we will identify this case with the “Hierarchy of human needs”, since the workers want to satisfy high needs, and be recognized in the fashion world.

In the case of the strategy, Anna Wintour develops an “entrepreneurial strategy”, since she imposes her vision on the organization, and she has placed her company at the top of the fashion world. Everybody looks at the clothes of Vogue. Meantime, Anna listens to her workers, and she takes account their ideas, but finally, she decides in accordance with the costumers’ likes (Porter Five Forces).

Besides, we can observe that Vogue follows the model of “The expert’s intuition in DM”. Anna Wintor ultimately decides the fashion trend that her company will follow, but, in this process, she uses her experience. For example, she can decide increase the importance of black in winter, because she knows that it is a classic colour which will be successful.

On the other hand, Steve Jobs represents a model of motivation that we can identify with the “Theory Y” of McGregor. The workers are not controlled, they enjoying with their job, and see it like a way to develop their skills.

I can say that Apple fulfills an “Ideological” strategy because the main idea in this organization is to change the world, create a new “Apple Culture”. Currently, this company has fans all over the world, and all workers can participate in this. Not only Steve Jobs generated the ideas, he addressed with his workers.

Therefore, he showed a decision-making of “The technology of foolishness”. Steve Jobs knew that the employees needed freedom to give new ideas, and develop their own-projects, so he applied the technique of “Brainstorming”, and talked with the workers to find new ways for his business.

In conclusion, they are two examples of successful businesses, but in a different way.

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