MBA (IB) 2021 -23

Human Resource Management

Term Project Topic -

Human Resource Policies at Microsoft

By

Faozia Quraishi (16B)

Submitted
In fulfilment of the Human Resource Management term project

To
Dr. Priyanka Jaiswal

Faculty, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi

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 CONTENTS

Sl. No Topic Page No

1 Introduction 3
2 Manpower Planning Methods 3
3 Recruitment and Selection 6
4 Compensation Structure 8
5 Orientation Plan 9
6 Embracing Virtual onboarding 12
7 Staff Development Guideline 13
8 Training Plan for New Employee 14
9 Designing Training module for Product Manager 16
10 Basic Instructional Format 19

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 Introduction

MICROSOFT: KNOWLEDGE FUEL OF THE TECHNOLOGY W ORLD

Microsoft is considered by means of many to be the best location to work. The enterprise
has gained a number of awards for innovation, for their commitment to diversity, and for
their flexible work arrangements. It has constantly been a chief in the market with regard to
its compensation. With a whole energy of about 80,000 personnel throughout the globe,
and a total income exceeding $15 billion, it is one of the biggest and best‐known technology
groups in the world.

Employees have admission to the most current resources, from an intranet with source
code libraries to periodical libraries to state‐of‐the‐art research labs. Their work is
individually challenging and on the reducing facet of technology. The organisation believes
in providing the personnel equipment and technologies they need to gain the high-quality
results possible; and the employees are predicted to create software and leisure products
that could sell thousands and thousands of copies worldwide. The office campuses at most
places are viewed the benchmark of science hubs, with fir trees, forested trails,
snow‐capped mountain vistas, basketball courts, and even shuttle buses for personnel to
make use of. Employees at Microsoft are identified as the intellectual gas and are furnished
with more than a few gain plans and resources, which are designed to keep them. Lisa
Brummel, who joined as the Chief of Human Resources at Microsoft, in 2005, started out
reshaping the company's HR strategies to make them more modern and personalized to
individual worker needs. The focal point was once to venture Microsoft, from an HR
perspective, as an employee‐driven organization. As an organization, Microsoft affords a lot
of flexibility to employees – the flexible work preparations and flexible benefit plans
supplied at Microsoft are regularly viewed Best Practices by means of many employers.

MANPOWER PLANNING METHODS USED BY THE COMPANY

The "Performance Culture Model" was introduced by Microsoft Corporation as the right
way to fuel its growth. All vital human measurements are classified and calculated
according to the Growth Pyramid seen in the figure. The amount of investment made in
external and internal surveys is very high and Microsoft ventures are a pioneer in this
respect across the sector.
Some of the categories across which the surveys are done, analyzed, and the results
published are mentioned below

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 Figure 1: HR Growth Model

1. Organization: Organization size, open positions, line HR ratios

2. Organization Health: Workgroup Health Index, Microsoft Pulse Index, Microsoft
Culture Index
3. Staffing: Hiring stats – types of hires, channel sensible hiring stats, positions
closed internally, hiring spends, lead time, % of hiring plan, internet adds,
provide acceptance rates, motives for offer decline
4. Talent Management: Good attrition, bad attrition, YOY and Quarter‐on‐Quarter
tracking, motives for awful attrition, % retention of excessive positions, percent
of promotions, succession planning indicator, succession planning usage
5. Diversity: % of women (target vs. actual), % of women hired, motives for bad
attrition, % of women in leadership succession slate, percent of Managers and
personnel completing MS Diversity training programs, % of different range hiring
6. Manager Capability: Span of Control, Organization Depth, % of Managers
7. Learning and Development: Field Readiness Index, quantity of employees
educated on employee improvement programmes, range of managers skilled
through management excellence framework (that provides for administration
improvement via profession events, continuous studying and building
connections)
8. Leadership Development: percent of management hires, percent of leadership
attrition, succession planning index (% of successors in degrees of readiness for a
Leadership role)
9. Rewards: % of budget used on rewards

In addition, they frequently conduct industry analyses to ensure their favorable positions
on pay. Although monitoring the above indicators has seen more comprehensive action
planning to boost scores for both of them, there are two that have made their People
Review process even more meaningful in maintaining both organizational preparation

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 and talent management. Both are the SPI and the SPU:

The Succession Planning Indicator (SPI) which is structured to better measure how well
the company is positioned with the weightings allocated to Ready Now and One Step
Away successors for leadership roles.

Succession Plan Usage (SPU) is an index intended to determine both the consistency of
previous years' succession plans and whether a company is successfully leveraging its
succession plans while replacing vacant leadership roles. It displays the percent of the
leadership team roles that have been occupied over the last year by those on the
succession slate of last year.

In these periods of stagnation and corporate change, what companies are finding from
HR is:

a) Recognizing the workforce needs of business;

b) Helping to create strategic plans for employees;
c) Discovering talent problems prior to their impact on business;
d) helping to define potential business initiatives.

At Microsoft, the HR department is responsible for leveraging the importance of its

people's assets to fuel market growth. Core HR tasks, procedures and activities are split
into vertical tower systems.
The flow of information is faster and clearer. Relatively autonomous functions often
allow market demands to be more precisely matched and evaluated from a functional
unit viewpoint.

1. Talent Acquisition & Development

2. Management Development
3. Leadership Development
4. Management of the evolution of the Microsoft Culture

At Microsoft, the corporate culture is also referred to as management-facilitating – there

are substantial investments made in the advancement of workers, and most existing
assistance is given for maximum job growth. Goal is to receive the best talent that is
passionate, competent, and growth-oriented.

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 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION: ATTRACTING THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST

Beginning from its initial days, Microsoft has believed in recruiting extremely smart staff,
favoring Genius over experience. Co‐founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen shared a choice for
hiring extremely intelligent, no longer necessarily experienced, new university graduates
dated from Microsoft’s start‐up days. Microsoft’s recruitment techniques reflect their
philosophy – Microsoft is an aggressive recruiter and is frequently the first enterprise to
provide jobs to elite graduates at campuses and career fairs throughout the world.
At the beginning, the recruitment techniques at Microsoft blanketed sourcing human beings
from the elite academic facilities such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Carnegie‐Melon and Stanford.
Microsoft recruiters would go to these universities “in search of the most brilliant, pushed
students”. Experience used to be no longer required and it used to be in fact, desired that
new employees had no experience. The chosen recruits would bear a resolution method
which was focused extra on hassle solving and thought‐process & composure‐testing
workouts instead than the authentic technical interviews. This interviewing process was
once viewed as one which would push the interviewees to the restrict of their creative and
analytic abilities rather than their familiarity with a pc programming language. The
importance of hiring the proper human beings is additionally proven in Microsoft’s ‘n - 1’
approach which potential less humans are employed than are required. This coverage
reinforces that hiring the proper people is greater essential than hiring just to fill a position.

Microsoft retains the same basic principles as they have improved but had to change their
techniques when the number of new personnel required could no longer be
sourced only from universities. The recruiting practices continue to be energetic as a
substitute than passive, with Microsoft ‘head hunting’ the first-rate staff. These group of
workers are found, monitored and recruited from other companies through over 300
recruiting experts. These staffs actively recruit suitable employees and center of attention
on the proper kind of person rather than the right type of talent level.

Recruitment and Selection –

Since Microsoft is a technology-driven organization, hiring highly intelligent employees,

preferring intelligence over experience, is the right approach. Bill Gates himself believed in
this aspect of choice for recruiting incredibly smart, not necessarily seasoned, young college
graduates from Microsoft's start-up days, when he and co-founder Paul Allen hired the
smartest people they met from school—their smart mates.

PHASE 1 – HEADHUNTING

The recruiting plan should rely on the top-tier procurement of prestigious educational
institutions such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Carnegie-Melon and Stanford. Microsoft recruiters

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are supposed to tour these colleges in search of the most brilliant, ambitious students.
Experience should not be needed and, in fact, it was preferable for new hires to have no
experience. Top-tier MBA and engineering schools recruit candidates with both managerial
and engineering expertise.

PHASE 2 – TESTING

Once chosen, 10-15 applicants should be subject to a rigorous screening process. The first
stage should be at least 3 interviews, and often up to 10 interviews with Microsoft
employees. These interviews should not be to test expertise, but to test thought processes,
problem-solving skills, and work patterns. Functional interviews can be based largely on
problem-solving, with interviewers presenting problem scenarios. In order to assess the
candidate's composition and also his innovative problem-solving capabilities, unpredictable
questions should also be included.

Evaluation Strategy - Rather than concentrating on academic subjects, executive

intelligence tests should focus on the particular cognitive subjects associated with executive
work like accomplishing tasks, working with and through others, and judging oneself. The
questions shouldn’t require specific industry expertise or experience. This assures the hiring
manager that the disparities among job candidates are because of differences in their
processing power, not in their knowledge. The question should be configured so that the
candidate will be able to demonstrate the skill in the course of answering the question.

PHASE 3 – POST INTERVIEW

After the interview, interviewers should e-mail their decision to the interviewee with the
words 'Job' or 'No Hire' and feedback about the problem area, and potential interviewers
should also use these comments to further explore any problems with the interviewee.

This interviewing process was basically a 'make or break' process, where interviewees were
forced to their limits whether they thrived and survived, which ensured that they would also
excel and succeed in Microsoft's working climate.

PHASE 4 – SELECTION

In this series of interviews, if the majority of interviewers are in favour, the interviewee can
eventually consult with their senior boss, under whom they will work, and the manager
should make a final hiring/no hiring decision.

PHASE 5 – OUTSIDE INTERVIEW

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The very last move is an interview with someone not in the recruiting community, this
person is impartial and so neutral in their opinion. This person is intended to be a final
confirmation that the person is a decent Microsoft person and also to discourage managers
from recruiting the wrong people when they need to fill a certain role just for the sake of it.

Microsoft should also take advantage of breaking opportunities such as company layoffs
in other technology companies such as Google and Apple.

Compensation details

Designation: Product Manager P1

Elements Monthly (Rs) Annual (Rs)

Basic 71,667 860,000
House Rent Allowance 35,833 430,000
Provident Fund (Employer’s contribution) 8,958 107,500
Total 1,397,500
Reimbursable components
Apparel 70,000
Medical 35,000
Education for dependents 35,000
Total 140,000
Employer’s contribution to NPS and RFB 62,708 752,500
Joining bonus 200,000
Total base pay 207,500.00 2,490,000

The company has decided to contribute 10% of your basic salary as its contribution towards
NPS scheme. In case you feel that the company should not contribute/contribute at a lesser
rate please update the NPS & RFB for. The lesser contribution to NPS will move towards
RFB.
Reimbursable components are subject to fulfillment according to company policy.
All the above amounts are based on a full year of service and the amount payable to you
would be determined pro-rata based on the number of days that you serve with the Firm
during the applicable financial year.
Annual Variable Pay
In addition to the above total base pay, the employee will be eligible for annual variable pay
based on performance up to a maximum of 15% of the base salary. The variable pay will be
subject to deduction of tax at source, in accordance with Income Tax Act, 1961 and all other
central and state legislation applicable to the employees’ base location.

ESOPs
Employee will be eligible to receive company stock through Employee Stock Ownership
Plan. A total of Rs 24,00,000 worth of stocks will be disbursed in 4 years in the following
manner:
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 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total %

Year 1 0 0 0 360,000 360,000 15%

Year 2 135,000 135,000 135,000 135,000 540,000 22.5%

Year 3 165,000 165,000 165,000 165,000 660,000 27.5%

Year 4 210,000 210,000 210,000 210,000 840,000 35%

Total 2,400,000 100%

Designation: Marketing manager

A marketing manager at Microsoft with an experience of 3-4 years earns about Rs 20 Lacs.
Out of this, the base pay is about Rs 13 lac, a performance based bonus of up to 37% and
ESOPs for the remaining amount.

The company has decided to contribute 10% of your basic salary as its contribution towards
NPS scheme. In case you feel that the company should not contribute/contribute at a lesser
rate please update the NPS & RFB for. The lesser contribution to NPS will move towards
RFB.

All the above amounts are based on a full year of service and the amount payable to you
would be determined pro-rata based on the number of days that you serve with the Firm
during the applicable financial year.

Overview of the Microsoft New Employee Onboarding hub

Microsoft has made an open source New Employee Onboarding (NEO) hub to improve their
onboarding cycle and experience the advantages of a very much arranged new
representative onboarding measure. The NEO hub point makes a difference:
• Provide new worker encounters and data
• Connect new workers to individuals and culture
• Help partners effectively add to new worker onboarding
• Measure adequacy of new representative onboarding
Deliberately arranged NEO experience can:

Improve fresh recruit execution and time to efficiency - Standard onboarding measure
report half more noteworthy fresh recruit profitability.
Improve new employee retention - 69% of representatives are bound to remain with an
organization for a very long time on the off chance that they had an incredible onboarding
experience. Representatives who have a negative onboarding experience are twice as liable
to search for new chances soon.

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Step 1: Provisioning of NEO

The New Employee Onboarding (NEO) measure requires around 20 minutes to

arrangement. Prior to beginning the provisioning cycle, ensure you have met the
requirements for provisioning.

Enable external sharing for the Pre-onboarding site

The Pre-onboarding site is proposed to be imparted to recently recruited employees when

they sign their offer letter, however before they start their first day at work. Along these
lines, this site should be imparted to outer clients. Outer sharing is off naturally.

Step 2: Customize the onboarding experience

It's critical to cause new representatives to feel welcome before their first day. Before the
NEO experience is tweaked, it is guaranteed that the necessities of your clients and the
business targets of your association are met. Fresh recruits need various types of help and
assets relying upon the onboarding stage and culture of your association.

NEO hub contents:

Pre-Onboarding site: A site for recently recruited employees, who presently can't seem to
formally join the organization, to get familiar with the organization they have joined and to
prepare for their authority start date. Outside visitor access can be utilized for pre-start
recruits who don't as of now have corporate qualifications to give them admittance to the
Pre-onboarding site as it were.

Corporate onboarding site:

A spot for recently recruited employees to visit to get the data they need and make the
associations they need to effectively installed to the association.
Note
The corporate recently recruited employee site is a hub and the departmental site formats
are related destinations. This makes a rational and reliable experience for the fresh recruit
across the corporate and departmental fresh recruit destinations. Get familiar with
SharePoint hub locales.

Departmental onboarding sites:

A spot for recently recruited employees to visit to become familiar with the division they are
joining, its kin, culture, and needs. The new representative onboarding hub point
incorporates two departmental layout locales, one for a designing division and one for an
outreach group. Consider partner departmental onboarding locales with existing office
entrances on the off chance that you have them.

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Step 3: Sharing of NEO sites

In the wake of redoing content, prepare to share the new onboarding experience with fresh
recruits. Various authorizations will apply to the Pre-onboarding site since clients will be
outside visitors. When fresh recruits begin working, utilize inward authorizations sharing
guidelines to offer admittance to the corporate onboarding site.

Pre-Onboarding site:

This is the place where a fresh recruit begins their onboarding venture. This site is for
recently recruited employees who have acknowledged their bid for employment however
have not authoritatively joined the organization at this point. In this stage, recently
recruited employees will be keen on getting familiar with the organization, how to prepare
for their authority start date, and who to go to for questions.

Corporate new hire site:

This is the hub point for the new worker onboarding experience and is intended to give an
elevated level perspective on authoritative objectives, initiative, group structure, and assets.
In this stage, clients are searching for direction, backing, and clearness. Utilize this site to
layout onboarding subtleties and assumptions during the principal long stretches of
onboarding. Guarantee clients approach uphold channels like Yammer, compose FAQs
pertinent to your association, and alter the onboarding agenda to incorporate the exercises
you need all recently recruited employees to do in their initial 30, 60, 90 days.

Departmental onboarding site:

From the corporate onboarding hub point, clients can get to explicit assets for departmental
onboarding. Here, clients need to find out about departmental administration, culture,
objectives, and assets. Utilize departmental locales to give admittance to correspondence
channels, preparing aides, and occasions applicable to fresh recruits. The new
representative onboarding hub incorporates two departmental format locales, one for a
designing division and one for a deal office. Consider partner departmental onboarding
locales with existing division gateways on the off chance that you have them.

Step 4: Measure the impact of your NEO hub

Coming up next is an illustration of potential measurements for another representative

onboarding hub:

Objective KPI Data KPI formula KPI target

measure source
Help onboard new New Survey Average score of new 4.25
employees more employee data employee satisfaction
effectively satisfaction with NEO Hub

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Objective KPI Data KPI formula KPI target
measure source
Help onboard new NEO hub Site Number of unique 500 unique
employees more usage usage viewers and visits viewers/month and
effectively report 1,500 views/month
Increase new New HR % of new employee 90%
employee retention employee system cohort that remain
retention retention with the company
data after one year
Improve new New Survey Average score of new 4.25
employee employee data employee engagement
engagement engagement question
score

Embracing virtual onboarding

Microsoft's first historically speaking virtual New Employee Orientation (NEO) meeting for
the initial 250 or so representatives to begin working at Microsoft in the US after the
organization's work-from-home request went out.

New onboarding besides NEO:

To reconsider what the involvement with the room would have been for our virtual crowd in
same energizing way.

Bring Company culture:

To encourage a feeling of association with one another and with our organization culture
that will remain with them when they finish NEO and start their positions. To do that, new
representatives have similar side discussions they would have had on the off chance that
they were there together in a similar room
Talking with one another during our introductions and hold breakout bunches where they
can become acquainted with one another and pose each other inquiries was an appear to
be capable obstacle
Refining of the virtual onboarding measure with the simple to pursue benefits and different
activities for new workers to make things more clear and simpler to follow.

PC installation:

Easily overlooked details like perceiving that not every person will be on similar adaptation
of Microsoft Teams have been worked out.
PCs should have been shipped off the workers to their homes with all the glow and elegantly
composed messages to cause them to feel associated with Microsoft and don't free up on
any experience.
Utilizing Autopilot has decreased the time it takes our representatives to set up their new

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gadgets by 90%—it currently takes them under 10 minutes to get ready for action.

Welcome meeting:
A warm greeting from the supervisor to the representative is booked and, the once-over of
what the arrangement was for work, individuals whom the New worker will be working
with, and an onboarding mate.

Remote Working:
Set up a virtual work area and download the work adaptation of Office 365 for
representatives in locale of India where representatives couldn't leave their homes and
transportation wasn't permitted.
This permitted the new workers to have corporate access, pursue benefits, go to gatherings,
get email. Microsoft Azure records is the place where the worker would chip away at,
started making associations with those they would work with.

Staff development guidelines

• Professionals assess the safety risks of work activities and engage with workers and
management to implement safe work practices, hazard controls, and training to
minimize safety risks and to provide continual improvement for employee health
and safety.
• New and existing workspaces are periodically assessed to ensure they are
constructed with sound design-for-safety principles and that controls are
implemented effectively.
• Microsoft involves employees and managers in Health and Safety Committees
specific to our datacenters, retail operations, and office locations where required.

Incentives

• Microsoft offers performance-based incentives up to 15% of base salary depending

on individual, team and organization’s performance.

Benefits and Perks

• Life insurance - All employees are covered up to two times their annual base salary
in the event of a Personal Accident or death. An employee could choose to enhance
the coverage amount by using the Flex points up to additional 3 times of their base
salary.
• Health insurance - Microsoft offers standard and comprehensive health care options
that include medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their family.
There are no premiums for the plans, meaning that Microsoft covers them, and
nothing is deducted from employee's paychecks.

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 • Health and fitness benefits - For those of who wish to pursue different fitness/sports
activity apart from what is available within the office premises, one could use Fitness
policy and get reimbursed up to ₹ 19K in a fiscal year.
• Travel benefits for office commute and business trips
• Food and refreshments - Free food no need to pay for Lunch, snacks, dinner, and
good quality food. Only snacks, no free lunches. But lunch is subsidized and is usually
paid by your ID card balance. You can get snacks daily.
• Work from home – Microsoft will cover home office expenses for permanent
remote workers. Flexible house will be available.
• Relocation benefits - Those with a family will receive a higher relocation package to
cover expenses for more members. Depending on your level you may also receive 1-
3 months of paid housing, in some cases also car rental is provided for some months.

Training Plan for New Employee

Microsoft is known for its employee centric policies. Caring for the new employee is one of
the major goals of the organisation and it positively reflect on their productivity and
excellence and increase the level of his job satisfaction. Microsoft is known for providing
best-in class in house training to its employees. As a matter of fact, the Induction program
for new employees is deemed to be one of the most important part at Microsoft since it
constitutes the starting point for an ideal work relationship between the employee and his
employer and provides positive work environment. Though Microsoft is a well-known
company but in order to make a good first impression which builds on with the new hires as
it helps boost their passion for work and loyalty to the Microsoft, it puts great emphasis on
designing the best-in-class training module for its employees.

Though training module will differ for every employee on their roles and responsibility,
there are certain points which should be followed across organization while onboarding new
employee.

Steps Microsoft Should Include in your New Hire Training Program:

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1. Introductions

On the first day, greet these new employees with enthusiasm, introduce organisation and
tell them about their position in the company. Have them introduce themselves and make it
more fun by asking questions to discover interesting facts, talents or skills.

2. Onboarding Schedule

Onboarding includes a lot of information about the company, industry, product, customers,
and new tools. During the first few days of a new hire training program, lay out an
onboarding plan that is broken up into manageable pieces. Each section of the onboarding
process should include a goal for the new hire..

3. Important Policies and General Procedures

Microsoft functions on various policies laid down by its founders and various leaders, hence
it becomes imperative to inform the new employee regarding hours of operation, dress
code, attendance, security, and technology regulations. Also discuss travel, compensation,
and benefits, and allow them to sign any necessary paperwork at this time. Microsoft
already has video training module about policies and procedures this can be given to
employees during their initial days to increase onboarding efficiency.

4. Company History, Goals and Mission

Microsoft has rich history. It is a dream company for million across the globe, hence It’s
important to offer Microsoft background information, providing a link between the past,
present, and future so that new hires can understand the direction the global tech leader is
heading. Explain who your customers and competitors are, how the Microsoft differs from
other organizations in industry, as well as its vision, values and short- and long-term goals
set forward by its founders.

When new employees have a better understanding of company goals and priorities, this
gives them a greater sense of purpose and helps them feel more connected.

5. Workplace Culture

Microsoft has rich work culture. It is often ranked among the best place to work. Its culture
and norms are hugely important for new hires to learn to be successful. Explaining details
about the Microsoft’s culture during training will give new hires an understanding of their
work environment.

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6. Laws & Compliance

Every organization needs to follow list of laws and Microsoft is no exception. Including
information about compliance and what is expected of new employees will help avoid
confusion as well as any future costly legal problems. Start with a talk about information
security and make sure that they know about the organization’s code of ethics and code of
conduct. Knowing which compliance laws are specific to your organization will not only
protect the company but the employee as well. This area of onboarding is also an
opportunity to utilize videos. When videos are used with an online training platform, HR can
efficiently assign the compliance training to the new hire and track if they have watched it.

7. Performance Management & Performance Reviews

Consistent performance management is an important part of successful employee

onboarding and continued employee satisfaction at Microsoft. Every employee want to get
proper feedback about their job and with millennials the importance of feedback goes a
step further. Millennials are the largest generation of employees in the workforce today,
and they want more frequent performance feedback. With Microsoft looking to attract
young talents it becomes very important for them to investigate feedback mechanism they
have in place. Microsoft can set itself apart from the competition when it creates an
environment of timely, specific and helpful feedback. Introduce one-on-one meetings with
managers, as well as peer-to-peer feedback to new employees from the very beginning.

8. Introduction to Team members and Reporting Mangers

A Product manager need to work with various teams in order to deliver a product. Hence it
becomes very important for Microsoft connecting these new Product Managers with key
people as soon as possible helps encourage a smoother new hire onboarding experience
and help the product manager to gauge the skills of various teams. Each team leader or
supervisor should provide a tour of the immediate work area, introduce the new hire to co-
workers and explain departmental procedures. They should also review the Product
Manager job description, summarize primary job responsibilities, clarify expectations and go
over the first day’s schedule as Product Manager needs to interact with various team, their
days should be planned to keep in mind the availability of other team members.

9. Onboarding Mentors

Have supervisors or leaders match new Product Manager with a mentor in their department
for a few days. The mentor should be an employee who leads by example, helps guide the
new employee and gets them “up to speed” quicker. Mentors can help “break the ice”
between colleagues, ensure that employees feel like they fit in and foster open
communication.

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 Designing Training Module for Product Manager

IDENTIFY THE NEED OF TRAINING

1. Talk with the learner or with the learner's manager or supervisor to assess the
learner's skills, knowledge, and experience. Ask questions about what they would
like to improve. What are their goals for the training?
2. Observe the Product Manager planning a product roll-out or applying what you've
taught.
3. Review his output and results, including customer/ client/supervisor/ Teammates
feedback.
4. Determine where there is a gap between what the learner needs to be doing and
what he or she is doing. Or is there a gap between the goals or standards of the
Microsoft and what the new product Manager is doing?

ASSESS THE NEED OF INSTRUCTOR OR NON- INSTRUCTOR LED TRAINING

Determine whether instructor-led training is the best strategy for addressing the Product
Manager’s need, as program manager needs to work with various teams across vertical it
becomes to focus on building the soft skills as well. Alternatives to instructor-led training
could be reading assignments, Web-based training, self-study plans, cross-training by a
colleague, or even enrolling them in online courses. Depending on the current skills and
knowledge of the product manager we can decide upon training.

DEFINE THE TRAINING OBJECTIVES

1. Define your objectives clearly and list them in writing. (Training objectives help you
stay focused and avoid trying to cover too much.)
A. For product manager, technical skills and soft skills both are important hence
keep in mind the objectives.
2. Write simple statements of what, specifically, the manager will be able to do, know,
believe, or understand after the training.

Examples:

o Enter the data generated by assessing various skills of Product Manager.

o Asses the coding skills.
o Asses the data management skills
o Asses the marketing, finance and other knowledge the product manager
need to possessS in order to deliver on the job.
o Provide effective constructive feedback to direct reports.
3. Identify which questions your training is intended to answer.

Examples:

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 o How do we create effective working relationships with our clients?
o How do you maintain effective relation with your colleagues?
o How do you make people deliver on project if they are not directly reporting
to you?
o Why are these changes necessary?
4. Identify what the learner needs to know in order to achieve the learning objective.
5. Identify what the learner needs to be able to do to achieve the learning objective.
6. Organize the learning content in logical steps.
7. Design ways for the learner to demonstrate what they are learning.

DEVELOP THE TRAINING

1. Create, or bring together, any supporting materials needed to do the training:

o Handouts
o Job aids
o PowerPoint slides
o Overhead transparencies
o Leader's guide
o Videos
o Software
2. Arrange the logistics of the lesson or program.
o Reserve facilities.
o Identify, and make arrangements for, the equipment you need as an
instructor and your learners will need:
▪ Projectors
▪ Projection screens
▪ Carts/ tables
▪ Flip chart easels
▪ Work stations
▪ Tools
o Visit unfamiliar locations ahead of time whenever possible.
o Design the layout of chairs and tables.
3. Deliver the lesson or course.

PRODUCT MANAGER

Product Manager lessons could include one or all of the following-

• Teaching core skills that make up the entire Product Management process. From
ideation to market research to wireframing to prototyping to user stories to
leadership.
• Lessons on how to become an Agile Product Owner and learn how to use
industry-standard tools like Pivotal Tracker, Axure, and Popplet
• Discover the secret method behind how Apple creates laser-focused products
• Build your product portfolio with 10 step-by-step exercises that will take your

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 product idea from concept to spec
• Solving case studies like the NASA app (over 10 million downloads) and
Getaround ($0 to $200 million valuation in 5 years)
• Lessons on Analysing the market landscape, discover weaknesses in your
competitors, spots trends that will hyper-grow your product
• Teaching them how to Quickly test and validate product idea
• Effectively lead developers / designers and manage stakeholders
• Teaching them how to bring in new people in the team. Some insights on product
management team interview process and how to attract best talent in the team.

EVALUATE THE TRAINING

Ask employees for honest feedback of the training. Issues to address include:

1. Achievement of course objectives

a. Relevance of topic to learner needs
b. Satisfaction with the trainer and the materials provides
c. Satisfaction with the facilities
2. If someone asked you to provide the training, that person is also your client. Ask
them for feedback about how well the training met their needs and about what it
was like working with you.
3. Use the feedback you get to improve your instructional design and delivery.
4. Also, it is important to know if further training is required or not, hence the honest
feedback would help Microsoft to understand the employees skills and accordingly
assign responsibilities.

Examples:

o Small group discussion with debriefing

o Case studies on current Product management trends
o Building mock product keeping all timelines in mind
o Hands-on practice
o Q&A

Important: The typical workplace training involves too much bookish knowledge or "telling,"
and too few ways for the learner to apply the skills they have learned on real time problems.
Since product management requires building new product for the organization it is very
important that participants are given ample time to use the skills, they have learned to
demonstrate their abilities.

Basic Instructional Format

TIME MEDIA DESCRIPTION

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 90 PPT Greetings and instructor introduction
seconds • Establish your credentials and credibility.
90 PPT Why this course is important.
seconds to
• For example: facts, statistics, story, very short video, quote
3 minutes
etc. to bring home the value.
10 to 20 Participant Introductions and/or Ice Breaker
minutes • People tend to feel more comfortable participating if they
know who’s in the room or their group and what they have in
common, e.g., why they are there.
• You can combine the ice breaker and the introductions. If
you do them separately, then it may take more time,
depending on the number of people in the class and what
you do.
5 minutes PPT Role of Product Manager in Microsoft
Guidelines for Learning (participant conduct)
10 to 15 PPT Content introduction related to course objective
minutes Checking the current skills of participants
Varies Varies Activity to demonstrate understanding or grapple with the material. A
On current typical activity involves:
skill set of • Explanation (5 minutes)
candidates - Make explicit with written instructions whenever possible.
- Provide ample time to go through content
- Allow time for questions and clarification
• Activity (time varies)
Depending on technical or soft skills lessons time may vary
• Debriefing
- A chance to talk about what was learned, challenges that
came up, questions they had, what they valued, concerns they
had, etc.
• Summary of learnings for this section

TIME MEDIA DESCRIPTION

60 Varies Wrap up
minutes • Review objectives (yours and/or theirs) and what was learned
- You can do this or you can get them to help you do it.
• Review available supporting resources
- courses, reading, videos, central services, etc.
• Closing remarks
• Thank learners
• Provide and collect feedback forms

Considerations

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Start and end on time, technical difficulties permitting.
Following guidelines should be given importance as they may substantially increase the
outcome of training:

While designing the training module Microsoft should consider the following:
• Is classroom training or instructor led training the best way to meet this need?
Microsoft may also explore:
o Providing Reading Materials
o Online training
o Online job aids
o Executive coaching
o One-on-one consultations
o Departmental interventions
o Listservs or other communities of interest
• For each training session or module, do you want to use PowerPoint (PPT),
flipcharts (fc), videos, the web, overhead transparencies (oh) or other medium
as you deem fit.
• Though technology has helped to increase the effectiveness of training it is
recommended to avoid using more than 3 complex technologies in a class to
keep the logistics and choreography to a manageable number.
• For each activity, do you want it to happen in a big group, small groups,
pairs, or individually?
- Some options which can be explored: case studies (prepared by
instructor or created by participants, role plays, fishbowls, problem-
solving, quizzes, self- assessments, table talk, reading reflection, big
group discussions, brainstorming, hands-on, etc.)
• What is the best way to debrief a particular exercise? Debriefing reinforces
learning and creates a climate to discuss questions or concerns. Some options
include:
- Individual writing or reflection
- Small group table talk
- Pairs
- Big group discussion, instructor lead
- Big group pop-up, where they stand when they feel ready to talk
- Tests or quizzes
- Provocative questions to reflect on (prepared in advance)
- Games
- 3x5 card anonymous questions or “unfinished business”

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 But one way or the other, you will usually want them to communicate
about their experience to you.
• How do you want to set up the room?
- In rows
- At long tables
- At individual tables
- Conference style at one big table
• How many people can you reasonably train given the space and the
goals of the course? What is the minimum and maximum effective
number?
• How much time will your target audience be willing to invest in this training?
• Will there be any costs associated with the materials for the class and
who will pay them?
• Are there videos or other training media available to support your instructional
design?
• Do you need to provide a break?
- For a 2-hour class, probably not.
- For a 3-hour class, one 10-minute break.
- For a four-hour class a) two 10-minute breaks OR b) one 15-minute
break and one 5-minute break.
- For an all-day class, in the morning follow the guidelines for the four-
hour class above; in the afternoon, same as the 3-hour class above, with
one hour for lunch.
- The best time to take the first break is one hour and fifteen minutes
after their last snack or meal.
- Some instructional designers recommend taking a 5-to-10-minute
break once every hour, since retention and networking happens
during the breaks.

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