Management Principles of Microsoft - Term Paper Example

?Microsoft Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 History 3 Empowerment 5 Self Managed Teams 7 References 9 History In the year 1975, two friends PaulAllen and Bill Gates from Seattle with fervor in computer programming developed a company named Microsoft. The idea of establishing Microsoft aroused after viewing Altair 8800 microcomputer by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System (MITS) in the issue of Popular Electronics. Then, they thought of implementing a programming language, ‘Basic’ for the system. Microsoft began its journey with the Altair 8800 microcomputer, which was a small, rectangular box with no keyboard or screen. Soon after, Microsoft branched out from the Altair 8800 microcomputer to prepare software for computers made by other manufacturers, such as the Apple Computer Inc., the Commodore Business Machines, and the Tandy Corporation. This company has helped to alter the living, working, and recreational behavior of hundreds of millions of public around the world (History link.org, 2000). Additionally, Microsoft entered the operating system (OS) business in 1980 with its own version of UNIX, called Xenix. However, Disk Operating System (DOS) ultimately proved the company's dominant power. After the breakdown of the discussion with Digital Research, IBM granted the contract to Microsoft in November 1980 to provide a version of the CP/M operating system. It was set to be utilized in the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC). By December 1982, Microsoft approved DOS to 50 additional manufacturers. Millions of IBM "clones" were being sold, and were powered by MS-DOS. Soon after, in 1983, the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which facilitates representation of computer programs and files through icons and other graphics on the screen of the computer, was launched. The success of MS-DOS led to invention of a new operation system OS/2 in 1984 and also release of Microsoft Windows (United States Securities And Exchange Commission, 2011). Subsequently, Microsoft introduced its Office collection, ‘Microsoft Office’, in 1990. The software bundled distinct office use applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. As the early versions of Windows were unsuccessful, so Windows 3.0 was launched with an efficient graphics user interface and superior ‘protected mode capability’ for the Intel processor. This idea made both MS Office and MS Windows foremost in their respective areas. The company also diverted into software applications, by creation of certain programs that allow computers to perform specific tasks, such as word processing and spreadsheets. It also began producing Compact Disk--Read Only Memory (CD-ROMs) (United States Securities And Exchange Commission, 2011). In the year 1995, Microsoft redefined its assistance and extended its products into ‘networking’ along with the ‘World Wide Web’ and also with ‘Windows 95’. Windows 95 was an entirely innovative user interface with a narrative start button. It also provided 32-bit compatibility as well as the MSN, an online service, and Internet Explorer for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), a web browser. In 1998, Microsoft enjoyed its monopoly in the field of operating systems. Moreover, by 2001, Microsoft established Windows XP. It became very successful and also acquired a reputed position in the market. In 2004, new version of Windows XP was developed and later in 2007, Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 came into existence (History link.org, 2000). Thus, it can be stated that Microsoft, with its immense inventions marked its path as an industrial giant. Empowerment Human Resource Management (HRM) includes the administration of people in an organization in order to form a collective relationship between management and employees. This approach focuses on the proper functioning of the organization. Human resource management includes various processes such as work force planning, training and development, empowerment and employee appraisal among others (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). Empowerment is a part of human resource management. Empowerment can be identified as the management practice of distributing information, rewards, and authority to employees so that they can take initiatives, and formulate decisions to resolve problems and improve services and performances. It is based on the idea of providing employees’ skills, authority, resources, opportunity, motivation, as well as sharing the responsibility and the accountability of various outcomes of actions thereby contributing to the competence and satisfaction of the employees. It is a process of change in both internal and external perspectives. Thus, it can be stated that empowered and talented workforce is the primary ingredient of organizational success (Empowerment and Community Planning, n.d.). It has been almost twenty years that Microsoft is striving to make computers easier for use for individuals. The objective behind is to provide an accessible technology to everyone. In order to fulfill this, Microsoft is empowering people with more tools and training resources such as user guides, CD, Internet Explorer, accessibility guide among others. It also announced free online training and resources for corporations and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) among others (Green Growth, 2007; Microsoft, 2011). Moreover, to make the personal computers (PCs) accessible, Office 2010 was introduced with improved features of navigation and convenience. It also introduced DAISY in Microsoft which enables the users to access any type of data with XML files. In addition, Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) was introduced to provide technical support to the IT individuals. Internet Explorer 8 released in 2008 contains numerous additional improvements such as cadet browsing, accelerators and zooming among others. Furthermore, 2007 office system was developed for preparation of documents, spreadsheets and presentations easily. The company is not only empowering the individuals but also the vendors with the Microsoft Vendor Program (MSVP) to make working with Microsoft valuable for all. It also empowers learning programs for partners through low cost software and training programs and innovation suites including Windows XP starting edition to make the products accessible worldwide. It has also been observed that Microsoft was awarded as the leader for constant efforts of promoting accessibility for everyone including the disabled as well (Microsoft, 2011). Self Managed Teams Self managed teams refer to individually-organized, semi-autonomous collection of employees who decide, plan, and manage their everyday activities and duties under reduced or almost zero supervision. These are also called ‘self directed team’ or ‘self-managed natural work team’. It is also a component of human resource management. Self managed teams are directly linked with the concept of employee empowerment which entails the employee with the requisite power and capital to carry out the responsibilities (SUNRISE Information Services, 2011). Microsoft is a globally renowned organization creating technology that is accessible to people around the world. The objective of Microsoft is to hire smart people who are interested to learn on the job. Thus, it can be inferred that Microsoft has been employing individuals with appropriate knowledge and then enhancing the skills through learning to improve the employees as well as their job performance in a self managed manner, making it accessible for everyone. This type of understanding is known as broadening of knowledge base. Once it is developed in the organization, then the employees take their own decisions regarding goal setting, performance objectives and scope of jobs. Thus, it facilitates the higher management of Microsoft to devote extra time in improving the quality of the services and products and also to look at the competitors’ services and to conjure new ideas. Microsoft has a flat organizational structure, with ideas at times flowing towards downward hierarchical level and occasionally curving upwards (SUNRISE Information Services, 2011). In Microsoft, any individual can detect problems related to operational process and can e-mail it to other co-employees for rectifying the problem and to find solution. In this way, the solutions of the problem can also be attained by an individual employee. Microsoft empowers employee to take their individual decisions. The objective of Microsoft is to provide sufficient freedom to the employees in order to achieve the goals of the organization in a smooth way rather than in a rigid manner. Moreover, every individual in Microsoft are recognized as coordinators, mentors and experts instead of bosses and everybody shares information with one another with a wide communication network to learn and discuss about the products or the services. Thus, it can be stated that Microsoft supports self-management in the organization in order to make its products more accessible to the world (SUNRISE Information Services, 2011). References Empowerment and Community Planning, (No Date). Empowerment: Definitions and Meanings. Empowerment. Retrieved Online on November 28, 2010 from http://www.mpow.org/elisheva_sadan_empowerment_chapter2.pdf Green Growth, (2007). Microsoft Unlimited Potential Enabling Sustained Social And Economic Pportunity For The Next Five Billion People. Microsoft Unlimited Potential: Empowering the Next Five Billion. Retrieved Online on November 28, 2010 from http://www.greengrowth.org/download/green-business-pub/Greening_of_the_Business/Private_Sector/Microsoft_Inc_Unlimited_Potential.pdf HistoryLink.org, (2000). Microsoft Corporation. Home. Retrieved Online on November 28, 2010 from http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=2294 Microsoft, (2011). Microsoft. 2011: Empowering Individuals with More Tools and Training. Retrieved Online on November 28, 2010 from http://www.microsoft.com/enable/microsoft/history.aspx Microsoft, (2011). The Microsoft Vendor Program. MSVP: Exceptional Vendors, Exceptional Value. Retrieved Online on November 28, 2010 from http://www.microsoft.com/about/companyinformation/procurement/diversity/en/us/default.aspx Mathis, R. L. & Jackson, J. H., 2010. Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning. SUNRISE Information Services, (2011). Self-Management. Microsoft - An Example of a Self-Managed Organization. Retrieved Online on November 28, 2010 from http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/selfmana.htm United States Securities And Exchange Commission, (2011). Microsoft Corporation. Form 10-K. Retrieved Online on November 28, 2010 from http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789019/000119312511200680/d10k.htm Read More