ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CHANGES

Assignment- 02
RESEARCH BASED GROUP ASSIGNMENT
Submitted by:
Ishita Pandey – 20021321052
Khush Batra – 20021321064
Shahu Dighe - 20021321122

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ANALYSIS OF

MICROSOFT’S CHANGE MANAGEMNT

ABSTRACT
The report's objective is to delve into the company's adoption of new concepts
and analyse how it adapted to local and global needs. Due to variations in
market situations, large organizations are pursuing different aims and
objectives. Businesses should keep competitive and up to date on trends. The
most notable example is Microsoft, which has been unable to maintain its prior
levels of activity and popularity among the general public during the past ten
years. Analysing the new CEO's leadership style, organizational culture,
employee involvement and support, resistance to change, and communication
efficacy is vital to comprehend the results.

INTRODUCTION
The 4th of April 1975 marked the founding of Microsoft, an American global
enterprise in the field of computer technology. Microsoft, today is the largest
software corporation, was founded by childhood buddies Paul Allen and
Harvard College dropout Bill Gates. Moreover, it is among the most valuable
corporations in the world.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen established Microsoft to create and market BASIC
interpreters for the Altair 8800 (the name is a combination of "microcomputer
software"). In the middle of the 1980s, MS-DOS and Windows helped it ascend
to the market leadership position for personal computer operating systems.

Microsoft creates, licenses, and provides support for various software services
and products to meet various needs. Steve Ballmer was chosen to take over as
Microsoft's new CEO in 2000. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates had previously
interacted at Harvard University. Despite some reservations about Ballmer's
aptitude, Microsoft dominated the commercial and consumer computer
industries. The business side of Microsoft was where it found its main
advantages and the majority of its earnings. Even yet, the business
acknowledged that, as technology developed, it had a significant position in
consumer markets.

Microsoft successfully gained a significant market share after entering the

gaming and mobile phone markets. Many vendors, including HTC, LG, and,
Samsung run Windows Mobile. Microsoft introduced the Xbox in 2001,
followed by Xbox Live in 2002. Microsoft came in second in the video game
industry because of the popularity of both of its releases. When it first debuted
in 2005, the Xbox 360 was a highly potent gaming device with plenty of
rivalries. Due to competition, Microsoft had to lower the cost of its game
consoles to increase its market share.

One of the world's biggest and most successful technology firms, Microsoft's
global income has grown fairly steadily since its founding, hitting a new high of
over 168 billion dollars in its 2021 fiscal year.

REASON FOR THE STRATEGY CHANGE

Even after the remarkable and prolonged success of both Windows and Office,
Microsoft still found it difficult to compete with other businesses, mainly as
Google grew to be the market leader in search and software and Apple, the
market leader in smartphones.

The IT giant was in a state of stagnation. He was riddled with internal conflicts
among significant departments, frequently seeing one another as rivals than as
allies inside the same organization.

As a result, the corporation was becoming increasingly reliant on Windows and

Office, stifling innovation. Despite the popularity of both products, the
company's stagnation put it in a risky "comfort" zone.

Microsoft's corporate structure was causing major internal issues. It was not
until the new CEO, Satya Nadella, gained control that this enormous firm began
to undergo some significant restructuring. Looking at Microsoft's stock price
allows us to observe some of the results of Nadella's proposals at a very high
level.

CHANGING CULTURE AT MICROSOFT

Satya Nadella underlined the value of culture and his role in influencing it in an
article promoting his then-upcoming book "Hit Refresh": "The CEO is the
curator of an organization's culture. Anything is feasible for a business when its
culture values are heard.

Satya Nadella said, “I am bringing individual abilities and passions to bear on

the firm's mission. My primary responsibility as CEO is to develop that kind of
culture.”
The performance management system, which was to blame for the teams' low
morale. Individual managers received more power, which gave them more
freedom to collaborate or create their products. The new performance system
should produce fewer "bright jerks" in favour of a more inclusive environment
where "people of all backgrounds" can thrive.

Nadella invited 180 Microsoft executives and their families to an off-site

gathering to achieve this.
The objective was to discuss and develop Microsoft's future corporate culture.
Together, they established three fundamental tenets for the organization's future:

• Client-focus: Research would be done on clients' industries and enterprises to

present solutions that address their demands with a beginner's mentality.
In effort to acquire outside information and apply it to Microsoft, while
to continue surprising and delighting the users, they would innovate.

• Wide-ranging and welcoming: The globe is varied. By enacting the role of

the entire planet, the company will be willing to pick up some new skills.

Prejudices and altering behaviour to harness the potential of Microsoft's whole

workforce. They actively seek out and welcomed diversity rather than just
appreciating them. Moreover, as a result, they have better ideas, products, and
services for our clients.

ACTIONS TAKEN BY MICROSOFT

Microsoft’s culture in based on three core pillars, all three of which are
grounded in the concept of a growth mindset:
1. Being customer oriented
2. Fostering diversity and inclusion
3. Showing up as “One Microsoft”
The software behemoth underwent a significant restructuring when Satya
Nadella was appointed as the CEO in February 2014 to eliminate its fierce
internal competition.

Microsoft platforms and products would cease to exist as separate entities.

Instead, all staff members would begin concentrating on a small number of
shared objectives and bringing them all together. Their new standard functions
include creating an intelligent cloud platform, reinventing business processes
and efficiency, and enhancing personal computing.
By joining their original research team with the Bing, Cortana, and Information
Platform teams, Nadella established a new AI and Research Group in
September 2016. In order to concentrate on artificial innovation across all
Microsoft product lines, this move brought together about 5,000 engineers and
computer scientists.

MISSION OF THE COMPANY

Nadella gave his staff a new sense of goal from the beginning: "To empower
every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more."

Also, in his reflections, he said, "Over the past year, we have challenged
ourselves to think about our core mission, our soul - what would be lost if we
disappeared. What kind of culture do we want to promote to attain these
objectives? Employee involvement was weak, and morale was low prior to the
restructuring since there was no strong feeling of purpose among the
workforces.

Moreover, because of Nadella's plan, all of Microsoft's employees are working

toward a shared objective that gives their work genuine meaning.
The restructuring of Microsoft is still ongoing as of right now. Nevertheless,
because of its fresh, well-defined aim, it still appears that the future is brighter –
possibly even brighter than before.

CONCLUSION
It has been demonstrated that a progressive management style is successful. The
value of the company's shares has doubled and risen to its most significant point
since Nadella assumed the organization's leadership. Once more, consumers are
praising Microsoft as a forward-thinking business with a solid reputation.
Microsoft had resisted releasing a version of Office tailored for Apple's iOS
mobile operating system for years, but Nadella finally did it. Microsoft is a
productivity firm in a world of mobility and the cloud. The long-term goal of
Microsoft is to enable every individual and institution on the planet to do more.
The company wants to develop an intelligent cloud platform, streamline, and
personalize human-computer interaction, and open up new options for
enhancing corporate operations.

The new CEO examined and used aspects that contribute to team performance,
such as creating goals, allocating official and informal responsibilities, planning
methods for intra-team interaction, and fostering interpersonal connections. In
addition, he focused on how the group interacted with the outside world and
other organizations. The case of Microsoft demonstrates that when a business
begins to lose market share to more aggressive rivals, its managers must have
the guts to forgo the development route that generated the customary profit and
opt for the reforms the market demands. Microsoft was able to resolve the
severe crisis and drastically alter the situation thanks to the modification of the
company's development plan and the introduction of new corporate principles.

References:
 Chao, R. O., & Kavadias, S. S. (2017). Innovation Strategy at Microsoft: Clouds on the
Horizon.  Darden Business Publishing Cases.

 McCracken, H. (2017), Fast Company

 Singh, R. (2020). Role of Human and Technical Aspects in Organizational Change.

 www.alexandria.com
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