Management and Leadership within Microsoft - Essay Example

Management and Leadership within Microsoft of the School] of the A definition of leadership that would be widely accepted by the majority of theorists and researchers might say that "leadership is a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task" (Chee et al., 2001). The major points of this definition are that leadership is a group activity, is based on social influence, and revolves around a common task. Although this specification seems relatively simple, the reality of leadership is very complex. Intrapersonal factors (i.e., thoughts and emotions) interact with interpersonal processes (i.e., attraction, communication, influence) to have effects on a dynamic external environment. Each of these aspects brings complexity to the leadership process. The findings presented in the paper provide discussion of leadership and management within Microsoft organization. Researched applied for the company reflects findings in the organizational culture of Microsoft, leaders' attempts to attempt to meet the retention and productivity challenges facing the company today as well as emphasize the role that organizational managers and leaders play in creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture A primary activity of any type of leader within Microsoft involves motivating and reinforcing others to encourage superior performance (Chee et al., 2001). Following the theories of motivation, managers encourage employees to tie important outcomes to desired behaviors. Thus, whether managers endorse some variant of expectancy theory or reinforcement theory, the message is clear: to sustain motivation, leaders must demonstrate to employees a close link between performance and rewards. When speaking about leadership within Microsoft, it is needed to say that a highly authoritarian, control-oriented executive is likely to centralize the organization. The development of many rules and regulations and manuals also reinforces control, and so they are likely to be present. On the other hand, a participative leader delegates many of the decisions and may even be less likely to demand the development of uniform handbooks. Consequently, the style and personality of the leader are likely to be at least partly reflected in the structure of the organization. It is important to note the reverse relationship: The structure of a firm is one of the factors that influences the choice of leader. Microsoft organization is very informal and decentralized is likely to consciously or unconsciously recruit and select CEOs who have similar philosophies. The company has a leader whose style is known to mirror that of company's founder. The same firm is highly unlikely to select a hands-off manager unless a major crisis occurs, requiring a major shakeup (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report). Microsoft leaders are known for their attributes of high intelligence, their desire to dominate competitors, and their high technical competence. Microsoft business results revolve around moving to the Internet and maintaining software ubiquity. So the integration of Microsoft leadership attributes and business results might create a leadership brand statement such as: "Microsoft leaders embody high intelligence, a desire to win in every industry, as well as superior technical competence so that we can successfully transition to become a dominant Internet player while maintaining our presence in every software market." (Balthazard, Cooke 2004) Organizational culture of Microsoft can be referred to as a cultural web which is a useful tool when considering the cultural context for its business. Culture generally tends to consist of layers of values, beliefs and taken for-granted actions and ways of doing business within and outside the company. Therefore, the concept of cultural web is the representation of these actions taken for granted for understanding how they connect and influence the strategy. It is also useful to understand and characterise both the company's culture and the subcultures in adaptation of future strategies. Microsoft has a very friendly and supporting approach in the routine ways that staff at the company behave towards each other, and towards those outside the company that can make up the ways people do things. The control systems and measurements are constantly under the management review to monitor the efficiency of the staff and managers' decisions. The rituals of the Microsoft's life are the special events, corporate gatherings, which he company emphasises what is particularly important and reinforce the way things are done. On-going meetings and communication at every level of the company's hierarchy represent a strong internal environment (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report). Microsoft's relationship model combines process maturity with flexible, fast-paced small company culture that makes us easy to work with. The delight is enhanced by company's ability to provide ramped-up value and responsibility as the relationship progresses. (Balthazard, Cooke 2004) Microsoft's people are inspired to be open, fair and uncompromising in their efforts to ensure external as well as internal customer satisfaction. Company pays special attention on Integrity because of the trust that its clients place upon it. Ethics, values, reputation are vital to Microsoft's philosophy. Its objective is to be globally respected as a process management company that is truly viewed as a strategic extension of our clients' capacity. Organizational culture of Microsoft also implies people as core strength of the company and thus it is laid special emphasis on hiring and retaining the people that the company believes will make this organization a global leader (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report). To sustain coherent organizational culture and to provide connection between employees and managers, there are types of rewards that employees receive as a result of their work. In general, there are two basic types of rewards within Microsoft that leaders can utilize to positively reinforce performance -enhancing behaviors. The first is money. Certainly pay plays an integral part in rewarding employees and reinforcing positive behaviors. This is especially true of pay-for- performance systems which seek to reward individuals or teams in a direct relation to their contribution to organizational success. Research has consistently noted that when implemented correctly, pay-for- performance programs can be a strong motivator and have a significant impact on the bottom line performance of an organization. Due to this kind of rewards, the manufacturing process is stimulated and productivity is enhanced. The effectiveness of monetary incentives, especially when linked with performance outcomes, seems apparent. However, often overlooked is the importance of providing employees with non-financial rewards such as recognition and attention. (Mulhern, 2004) This second type of reward is very effective within Microsoft because it doesn't cost anything, is available for everyone to use, and no one gets too much of it. "Recognition is so easy to do and so inexpensive to distribute that there is simply no excuse for not doing it." - said one of Microsoft managers. (Ulrich, Zenger, Smallwood, 2005) "We all like to be recognized and appreciated. Just by giving an award or recognition certificate, formally recognizing someone in front of a group or even buying a cup of coffee, we're telling the employee that their work is appreciated." - quoting Microsoft employees (Ulrich, Zenger, Smallwood, 2005) The importance of recognizing individuals for their contributions is clearly reflected in these quotes. In any type of situation, effective leadership depends on reinforcing, motivating, and rewarding value enhancing behaviors in order to spur superior performance. As such, a closer look at the positive impact that recognizing people can have on organizational performance will be taken. In addition, some specific examples of effective recognition programs which have been implemented successfully will be reviewed. As it can be understood from the discussion in above, great leadership and a strong, agile organization are essential to Microsoft's future success. There are some important changes that company's leaders have implemented to serve better employee-manager relations. During 2006, managers took important steps to ensure that the company has the deep roster of leaders and the organizational structure it needs to spur continual innovation and growth. Additionally, managers realigned the company into three divisions (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report): I. The Microsoft Platforms& Services Division; II. The Microsoft Business Division; III. Microsoft Entertainment& Devices Division. Leaders of these departments possess great levels of business experience and technology expertise, combined with a passion for excellence and innovation. Also recently Bill Gates1 announced that in 2008 he will reduce his workload at Microsoft to part time. At that time, he will remain as chairman of the company and continue to play a vital role as an advisor on key development projects. To prepare for this transition, two of company's top technical leaders-and two of the industry's leading technical visionaries-will take on new responsibilities. Thanks to these changes, Microsoft leadership team is stronger than it has ever been, and organizational structure is aligned for great execution in the coming years. (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report) Surveys through the years have supported the importance of non-financials as an effective leadership tool. For example, a survey conducted by the Society of Inventive Travel Executives Foundation found that 63% of respondents ranked a pat on the back as a meaningful incentive. (Balthazard, Cooke 2004) In another survey examining the value of 65 potential incentives, four out of the top five rewards ranked by employees as the most motivating were initiated by their manager, based upon performance, and required little or no money. (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report). Within Microsoft, the following powerful non-financial incentives are operationalized: 1. A manager personally congratulating an employee for a job well done. 2. A manager writing a personal note for good performance. 3. A manager publicly recognizing an employee for good performance. 4. A manager holds morale-building meetings to celebrate successes. Other non-financial reward systems that Microsoft has in its practice include recognition and respect employees in order to retain workers for longer periods of time. Besides, the company anticipates Travel Related Services (TRS) "Great Performers" employee recognition program. TRS began by displaying life-sized posters of famous people performing their greatest feats throughout the company for many weeks. The company then began to picture TRS employees on posters, with a statement of a major accomplishment by each employee. The effects of this employee recognition program were very positive. According to TRS, the "Great Performers" program has helped to increase the company's net income by 500% over an 11 year period. In addition, the company's ROE since the program began has been 28%. (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report) I will further recommend the strategies that managers within Microsoft can use to create and maintain a healthy organizational culture. (this are the strategies that I recommend for Microsoft to be implemented in order to maintain their organizational culture - see Assignment e from your instructions - e. Recommend at least two strategies that organizational managers and leaders can use to create and maintain a healthy organizational culture within Microsoft. Support your recommendations.) Lewin change management theory states that all forms of learning and change start with some form of dissatisfaction or frustration generated by data that disconfirm our expectations or hopes. So the first step in propoting te strategy is disconfirming the current situation in the Company to the benefit of setting the higher goals in the future. In order to become motivated to change, the company must accept the information and connect it to something it cares about. The disconfirmation must arouse what Microsoft can call survival anxiety or the feeling that if anything will be changed the company will fail to meet the needs or fail to achieve some goals or ideals that has been set for themselves. In order to feel survival anxiety or guilt, the company must accept the disconfirming data as valid and relevant. Learning anxiety is the fundamental restraining force which can go up in direct proportion to the amount of disconfirmation, leading to the maintenance of the equilibrium by defensive avoidance of the disconfirming information. It is the dealing with learning anxiety, then, that is the key to producing change. The next step in the chosen theory after creation of sufficient psychological safety and denying disconfirming information, after no survival anxiety is felt, and no change takes place it is needed to balance the amount of threat produced by disconfirming data with enough psychological safety to allow the change target to accept the information, feel the survival anxiety, and become motivated to change. This part of the strategy in accordance to Lewin's strategy refers to creation of psychological safety or overcoming of learning anxiety. The true artistry of change management lies in the various kinds of tactics that change agents employ to create psychological safety. For example, working in groups, creating parallel systems that allow some relief from day to day work pressures, providing practice fields in which errors are embraced rather than feared, providing positive visions to encourage the learner, breaking the learning process into manageable steps, providing on-line coaching and help all serve the function of reducing learning anxiety and thus creating genuine motivation to learn and change. The next and the last step of the strategy refer to cognitive redefinition. First, it is needed to re-define teamwork as the coordination of individual activities for pragmatic ends, not the subordination of the individual to the group. If teamwork as individual subordination is redefined, as treating the group to be more important than the individual, all the defenses that lead to quips like camels being horses constructed by a committee, negative images of "group think," lynch mobs, etc arouse. Second, the redefinition of teamwork also will allow Microsoft to redefine individualism in a way that preserves its primacy, not to substitute groupism for individualism. This process of redefinition in effect enlarges the concept of individualism to include the ability and obligation to work with others when the task demands it. In other words, helping a team to win is not inconsistent with individualism. And, third, Microsoft can change the standards by which individual performance is rewarded. Instead of rewarding "rugged individualism" or the competitive winning out over others, individuals can be increasingly rewarded for their ability to create, lead, and participate in teams. The best individual, then, is the one who can be an effective team player. In summary, the research and practice highlighting the effectiveness of Microsoft leadership, organizational culture, employee recognition programs and current strategies at the management-employee level has been provided in this paper. Results of research offer further support for the importance of recognizing individuals for their work contributions, providing coherent organizational culture and enhancing leadership within the company. Implications from these findings have found its reflection in specific recommendations given in the end of the paper. Bibliography: 1. Microsoft Corporation Annual Report, 2006. https://www.microsoft.co.ke/msft/reports/ar06/ 2. Chee W. Chow, Graeme L. Harrison, Jill L. McKinnon, Anne Wu (2001). "Organizational Culture: Association With Affective Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Propensity to Remain and Information Sharing in a Chinese Cultural Context". http://72.14.221.104/searchq=cache:2GjDl9xlnMMJ:www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/ciber/111Chow.pdf+organizational+culture,+Kerr,+Slocum+pdf.&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=1 3. Mulhern Kristi. (2004) "Motivating Employees". http://72.14.221.104/searchq=cache:4xEuE0nGgVwJ:www.slais.ubc.ca/PEOPLE/students/resumes/K_Mulhern/Projects/motivation_taskforce.pdf+motivating+employees,+nelson,+pdf&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=1 4. Pierre A. Balthazard, Robert A. Cooke (2004). Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management Success: Assessing The Behavior-Performance Continuum. http://csdl2.computer.org/comp/proceedings/hicss/2004/2056/08/205680239a.pdf 5. Ulrich, D., Zenger, J. and Smallwood, N. (2005). "Building Your Leadership Brand." Leader to Leader, Winter: 40-46. See: Chapter 10: Leadershiphttp://72.14.221.104/searchq=cache:jx2BG4uFDHcJ:python.rice.edu/arb/Courses/750_04chapter10.pdf+leadership,+Ulrich,+Zenger,+Smallwood+pdf&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=3 Read More