OB Report on Microsoft

The case is about Microsoft & its operations. Microsoft defined work in the Information age i.e. a 24/7 workweek is the consequence. You'd have heard, of course, that Bill Gates is super smart & that everybody who works for him is super smart too, but maybe not quite as smart as Bill. If by some chance you haven't heard this, then you won't have to spend long at Microsoft before someone sets you right. Microsoft employees will tell you this in any number of ways.

They will say that their colleagues are

But each of these serves mainly to reinforce the point that they are...smart & so they are, at least in the kind of way that enables them to get through (or at least survive) Microsoft's "interview loop," a grueling ritual in which job candidates are grilled by their future colleagues with the famous manhole-cover question & the gold-bar question & other brainteasers dreamed up by their incredibly smart interviewers.

Microsoft employees are markedly smarter than the employees of any other company comes down to whether you believe that any group of 48,000 persons can be smarter in a meaningful way than any other similarly sized collection of souls. Maybe Microsoft employees are smarter, or maybe they're just better at puzzles. Ultimately, what you believe about this makes no difference, because what really matters is what the people at Microsoft believe. The employees of Microsoft are satisfied with their job, workplace & the diversity they face at their work setting. This provides a challenge to the employees of Microsoft to strive for more.

Microsoft on the other hand keeps its employees motivated with monetary benefits & compensation in form of its Stock. It has helped the employees to a greater extant as we’ve noticed that Microsoft has produced more millionaires as compared to any single company in the history of USA.

People from all across the world want a job at Microsoft as mentioned earlier that it’s become the IN-Thing. For its excellent salary policy & benefits employees even ignore the tough working schedule & give in every thing.

The 1^{st activity thats been told in this case is of a former programmer at Microsoft that he worked 20 hours a day to start with & now he is a program manager as he has moved up the hierarchy of the organization hence he’s moved a step or two upward in past few years changing his needs since the time he started that job, so, Maslows hierarchy of needs is applied here with greater impact.}

As the employees are hardworking, creative as they seek responsibility & direct themselves on work we can also see Theory Y” being implied in this case.

With needs of the employees of Microsoft, relatedness in their work & the growth of the business, growth of (Number of) employees & the growth of share of the organization the ERG Theory seem to be in place as well.

Activities like employee’s achievement, lust for power within the organization & the affiliation of the employees of Microsoft relates it to the McClelland’s theory of needs.

When at Microsoft employees don’t feel fragile to a certain task like working 24/7 in order to complete some important project showing their willingness to do something important for Microsoft with a belief that they can DO it. Such activities can be related to the Self-Efficacy Theory.

Employees know that they’re the best in the business & when they compare their performance & rewards with the employees of other firms in the software business they are motivated highly, so, this activity can be related to the Equity Theory.

Employees at the Microsoft work with greater dedication as they know that their input (if in the right way) will turn into the output which will be used by 50 million people, hence they get a push from this all & produce better goods. We can relate this activity to the Expectancy theory.

In my opinion the modification in the motivation practices shouldn’t be made only on the growth of the organization rather it should be a dynamic process all the times as it’s a difficult job to keep the people motivated with the same technique all the time.

If the techniques of motivation are changed from time to time that will be beneficial for the organization. It’ll give a fresh feeling to the employee as it keeps him/her on his/her toes to perform better & to deliver more & more.

So, I think that not only with the growth but also in the normal circumstance the motivation practices must be redefined in order to make it more effective & penetrative within the same organization.

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