HRM Policies of Microsoft Incorporation - Essay Example

HRM Policies of Microsoft Incorporation Introduction Human Resource Management (HRM) is very broad in its application and touches the vey root of the organization structure. Every company runs with some objectives and missions and expansion in sales and reputation is one of the prime objectives. On the other hand, every company comprises of a cluster of people with different potentials and limitations. An unorganized workforce will never allow individuals to demonstrate their true potentials and that will push back the growth of the company. The role of HRM is significant in this respect, where it synchronizes employees’ potential with company’s objective. The sales team looks from a perspective of sales generation alone however, the HR team looks through a broader window to cover customer intentions and corporate environment to synchronize the company’s strategy with the market needs (Kandula, 2005). As said earlier that HRM is a very diverse and broad subject therefore, the fields of supply chain management, promotion and marketing strategies, recruitment and employee satisfaction all fall in the domain of HRM. Therefore it can be said, that no matter what the size and nature of the company is, the unit of HRM cannot be separated from the management as it is integrated with all the functional units of the company (Kandula, 2005). Moreover, factors of globalization and inflation crisis have intensified internal and external competition for a company. The internal competition is between employees battling for higher posts and benefits. This has further augmented the role of HRM in the internal matters of the company, to ensure sound working environment and ethical practices. This illustrates that the bigger the company the more will be the need for proper HRM. This paper is design to exemplify the role and influence of HRM in a company by taking into account HRM practices of a real organization. The research done in the paper will highlight the HRM practices of the company and its role in resolving crisis and challenging situations (Kandula, 2005). The Company: Microsoft Incorporation Microsoft is the leading name in the IT world that changed the trend in computing through its tremendous technology of Windows Operating System. It has set many landmarks since its date of foundation in 1975, by Bill Gates (Chairman) and Paul Allen. The key aim of the company is to provide computing solutions that are accessible and handy for all. Their technology, following this mission, has been able to earn huge acceptance and has taken Microsoft to heights that no other company had ever touched (Microsoft, 2013). HR Policies of Microsoft This section will cover facts and practices carried in the organizational framework of the Microsoft Incorporation and how the HR policies fit into those frameworks. 1. Business Strategy The prime mission of the company is of continuous advancement and user friendliness in its technology. This mission directs the business strategy of the company in reaching beyond the expectations of users and giving them a taste of freshness in their computing tools. Practices of the HRM of the company support this strategy by giving freedom to think and express. Many ideas of advancement and modification have not been generated from the top level designers but from basic programmers who have equal liberalism to propose innovative ideas (Stross, 1997). Being the top manufacturer of Operating Systems, the company has followed the strategy of being creative and first in the market. For this reason, it is necessary that employees, managers and owners are able to think in a perspective that no other is thinking to design something unique. The tremendous switch from MS- DOS to Windows operating system is a good example for this. For this reason, the HR of the company has always put given great emphasis on grooming of the intellectual and thinking ability of its personnel. For this reason, all the company’s employees have access to private databases which contains information regarding the latest inventions in electronic and IT world, so they can comprehend the one to acquire for the development of the company’s product (Stross, 1997). In 2005, Dave Gartenburg, the Director of Microsoft HR of the UK, realized that the policies of HR can be modified to give additional benefits to the organization. Microsoft has given less importance to increasing its network of business partners. For this reason, many potential clients switch to other companies for their mutual growth. Therefore, the HR policies were changed to incorporate more business networks within the network of Microsoft, to address the barriers to success and retaining the previous market share. This enables the company to identify key errors in its design and distribution units which were decreasing customers’ interest (Holbeche, 2009). A Six Sigma tool was adopted by the company in this process, with the objective to reduce virus and compatibility issues in the company’s product and decrease the time waste on error fixing and troubleshooting. With this change in HR mechanism, the innovation of the company got a good pace and soon operating systems of Vista and Widows 7 were launched in the market. The failure of W-Vista was compensated by the launch of W-7 in a very short span of time which maintained a grip on thousands of Microsoft potential customers (Holbeche, 2009). 2. Workforce Workforce is an important factor of success for any organization and so is for Microsoft. The workforce in Microsoft is quite diversified in its nature comprising of people from diverse ages, cultures and social and economic backgrounds. To maintain this diversity in the workforce, the HRM has made the policy of workforce ratio to be implemented in the company. In the contemporary time of competency in the workplace, many organizations only look for intellectual and potential competency in an individual. However, in Microsoft the HR pays a high attention to the cultural background of every applicant (Stross, 1997). Kelly Chapman, the IT recruiter, states that the vision of the company is to attract customers globally. This includes customers in the less developed regions of the world, those in their old ages and those are weak financially. For this reason, the HRM not only sees the qualification of its employees but also evaluates that how they will help the company in understanding needs and perspectives of diverse customers from all over the world (HR Management, 2013). For this reason, the HR of the company encourages the hiring of women personnel, teenagers and highly experienced people in IT, finance and other sectors. This creates a cluster of cultures and knowledge which enables the company to design and market its product with a broader perspective. The CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, mentions that Microsoft focuses more on the right type of the person and less on the right skill level (Microsoft, 2013). The HR of the company follows a job rotation policy. This serves the dual purpose of knowledge enhancement of the employees and ensuring that employees are not frustrated due to task repetition and lack of company exposure. The HR pertains the company motto that employee should be happy to make the customers happy. Therefore, a high attention is paid on hiring qualified, charismatic and versatile people, who can add to the value of the workforce of Microsoft (Stross, 1997). 3. Technology The competitive advantage of Microsoft lies in its technological advancement and low pricing ability. For this reason, a high emphasis is put on the IT and finance team to make sure that the product is beyond customer’s expectation but within their reach. Departments of IT roadmap, IT advisor and Technical Solutions are added in the functional units of the organization to speed up the company’s technological knowhow and advancement. The Regional Director of Microsoft HR department in Australia, states that the job of HR is taken very seriously in Microsoft and every activity is directly reported to the HR department whether it is internal or external (Borger, 2007). Employees in the HR department are supposed to be well equipped with market trends, customer needs, employees’ ideas and ideas coming form external sources. It is then integrated with the knowledge of the technical and IT team to filter out innovative and applicable ideas. The HR of the company is aware of the activities of each department, particularly of the IT department and acts as a bridge between the outside and the inside world of the Microsoft. It also builds networks with other organizations from which Microsoft can outsource services and also with its distributors. The HR policy mandates the technical unit to have a good idea about the technology of PC and mobile manufacturing companies, so to ensure the compatibility of Microsoft products with the market technology (Borger, 2007). Successful companies are not the ones which do not have challenges but those who have the skill and ability to deal with even the most serious challenges. Microsoft’s recent technological expansion is exemplary to deal with the market competition. For a long time, Microsoft has remained as the top corporation in terms of revenue. Apple In. for the first time has taken this spot from Microsoft due to its Iphones and Apple computers. This has limited the sales and profit of Windows operating system, resulting in a great decrease of its overall revenue. Many companies might have collapsed or would have struggled to get back the market hold in such a furious completion, but Microsoft had some other plans. Relying solely on its operating systems would have hurt badly to the company, due to the growing trend of Cloud computing and mobile phones, which does not need a Windows OS. For this reason, Microsoft HRM expanded its technology in the field of video games and Internet browsing apps. These opened many new ways of revenue generation for the company and sustaining its stand in the market competition (Arthur, 2012). A big challenge that the company faced recently was the transformation of the computing world, from hardware domination to software domination. Narayanan (2007) remarked in his book that Bill Gates and his HR team were smart enough to adapt with the changing tend in the computing world. Bill Gates stated that the time has long gone when one software was compatible with only one machine. In present time, any application design has to be compatible globally, as the number and types of devices and computers have increased significantly over the years. For this reason, the HR of Microsoft adopted the strategy of increasing compatibility of its Windows and other software rather than adding unnecessary features to the product. With this strategy and technical compatibility, the Windows operating system was bought by Nokia for their new cell phone devices. This move of the HR made Microsoft a very strong competitor of Mac and Android OS used in other cell phones devices (Narayanan, 2007). 4. Environment The HR policies carried out in Microsoft gives enough freedom to each employee to work with his or her own style of working. The HR does not force people to work, but creates an environment to encourage enthusiasm for working. The environment in Microsoft is not very demanding but straightforward. Any person, irrespective of his post and qualification, has equal chances of growth and promotion on the basis of his quality of work and dedication. Moreover, by satisfying all the needs of employees by providing good food, entertainment and several other facilities, employees are encourage to focus on their quality of work only. The concept of designation and power game is demolished with the environment on trust and team work build in the organization (Holbeche, 2009). The race for innovative type of environment in the Microsoft is maintained by the “Synch and Stabilize” strategy initiated by the human resource department of the company. The purpose of this strategy is to ensure that each and every task is assessed during its process and not after its completion. The methodology adopted by HR is of making small groups for each task and direct coordination between R &D and testing groups. Synch and Stabilize adheres to the principle of product development in different phases or sub-phases after synchronizing ideas and procedures of each group. This reduces the chances of diversion of outcome from the predicted outcome and helps the marketing unit to be fully equipped with the understanding of the product (Narayanan, 2007). 5. Culture The HR policies nicely fit in the culture of the company too. To maintain liberal and open-minded culture, the HR has taken a middle root between formal and informal appearance. The unique thing about Microsoft is the dress code followed in the company. Mark Newton, the regional Director of Microsoft HR department in Australia, defines that Microsoft is not just an office to work, but a reason of life for many. For this reason, many of its practices are different from other giant organizations including its informal dress code. Each employee of the company is free to wear whatever suits them and that alone make a big difference in the attitudes of people. It is also one of the HR practices to discourage grouping in the organization by shuffling people in different activities and campaigns of the company. This makes a mix of ideas and interests and nourishes employees in several aspects (Borger, 2007). “People is what that make the Microsoft unique”, says the CEO of Microsoft (Microsoft, 2013). This explains that the organization is very concerned with its employees and their impression of the company. For this reason, the HR of the company holds a significant place to ensure a relation of trust between employer and employees. The process of hiring an employee is done with great consideration and that gives a competitive advantage to the organization. The HR of the organization has been quiet consistent in filtering the best personnel and assigning the right person for the right job. Jean Courtois, the President of Microsoft International, remarks that the Great Place Work Institute has awarded Microsoft as the number 1 organization. This depicts the success of Microsoft in maintaining a friendly and workable culture in the organization throughout its history. The HR of the company has bee able to take out the best from each individual by its employee and workplace policies. People in Microsoft know that their potential and talent would be valued so they feel themselves a part of the organization and serve to the height of their competency (Microsoft, 2013). The HR strategy is very flexible and allows a person to manage and schedule their work as per their ease. These strategies are the main reason that employees in Microsoft are never frustrated by the work pressure or deadlines. As Mullich (2008) illustrates that, for giant companies it is very important to keep continuous a check on employees’ performance and dedication. If the factor of accountability and performance measurement is weekend, then it is near a probability that company would lag behind in meting the high pace of market needs and technology change. In this regard, he exemplifies Microsoft HR strategies by highlighting its performance management and accountability of employees’ strategies. The “Performance Culture Model” adopted in Microsoft is one of the best in business. It not only evaluates a person on the number of hours he has worked but also on the quality of work he has provided to the company. This model assesses the performance of employees in team work and individually, their motivation towards helping others and involvement in the company’s running objective. Microsoft focuses more on self grooming than on score readings. Moreover, this culture fosters accountability of tasks in each employee and that boosts the time management and decision making capability of its employees, discovering a leader inside each individual (Mullich, 2008). Conclusion It can be summarized that the HR policies directly impacts the entire functioning of the organization. Microsoft is still considered a giant in the IT world which has the capability to adapt quickly to the corporate trends and technology change. One important reason for this adaptability lies in the flexibility and management strategies of the Human Resource department. It is quite difficult to pick workers that are qualified and place company’s interest over their interest. However, the HR of Microsoft has made it a habit of finding the best personnel and grooming them through best management practices. This has helped Microsoft in maintaining its mandate of innovation and customer compliance. The future success of Microsoft is highly dependent on the policies and strategies of its HRM, which currently is highly structured and capable of bringing Microsoft again to the top rank in the computing world. List of References Arthur, C., 2012. Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft: Battle for digital supremacy. [Online] Available at: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226374/Apple_vs._Google_vs._Microsoft_Battle_for_digital_supremacy [Accessed 21 February 2013]. Borger, H., 2007. Human Resources (Australia Wide). New South Wales: Career FAQs Pty Ltd. Holbeche, L., 2009. Aligning Human Resources and Business Strategy. 2nd ed. Oxford: Elseivier Publishing. HR Management, 2013. Microsoft's diverse workforce. [Online] Available at: http://www.hrmreport.com/article/microsofts-diverse-workforce/ [Accessed 2` February 2013]. Kandula, S., 2005. Human Resource Management in Practice: With 300 Models, Techniques and Tools. New Delhi: Prentice Hall. Microsoft, 2013. EMEA Press Center- A Reginal Gateway To Microsoft. [Online] Available at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/emea/presscentre/pressreleases/June2012/19-06BestWorkplaceAward.mspx [Accessed 21 February 2013]. Microsoft, 2013. Microsoft Accessbilty. [Online] Available at: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/microsoft/mission.aspx [Accessed 21 February 2013]. Mullich, J., 2008. When It Comes To Performance Management, Culture Is Everything. Research Report. New York: Microsoft. Narayanan, M., 2007. Managing Technology and Innovation for Competitive Advantage. New Delhi: Pearson Eduacation. Stross, R., 1997. The Microsoft Way: The Real Story Of How The Company Outsmarts Its Competition. New York: Graphic World Inc. Read More