Executive Summary
The world today is constantly changing. The change is so fast and drastic that industries and companies are forced to maintain the same pace so as to remain relevant in the world today. This is done through various strategies and plans that are made by the management of the organization. These plans and strategies are meant to be understood by all the employees and members of staff in the organization. They should also be willing and ready to achieve the same goals. There are many ways to ensure this understanding is mutual. Ideally, this research attempts to explain the various ways in which the organization can ensure the members of staff are in the same page. The research starts by outlining the background information regarding Microsoft Corporation. Further, it provides analysis of the company’s communication, and rewards and compensation. In addition, the research focuses on the ways that these strategies and plans are implemented in Microsoft Corporation.
Introduction
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational software corporation that is the United States that is involved with the development, manufacturing and supporting a wide range of services as well as products that are computer related (Richardson, 2003). The company was founded by Bill Gates in the year 1975. Over the years Microsoft has made the attempt to ensure they remain on the limelight. These attempts involved the employees of the company so that everyone gets to pull in the same direction.
As for this research, it will attempt to see the manners of setting and achieving strategies with the use of open communication amongst the members of staff as well as the management of the same company. Another means of achievement of these strategies is through compensations and motivation of the members of staff. The system is usually guided by various guiding principles such as focus on the customer as we are considering their needs and desires, change, knowledge, value creation and integrity among others. This paper will mainly focus on the open communication and compensation and motivation systems of management strategy with Microsoft Corporation in mind.
Communication
In a company, the people who are always doing the dirty work are always the members of staff. This means that if there is anything new that might come up in a company or an improvement in any of the company’s activities, the first people to see it are most likely to be the employees. This can be attested to the fact that they have the most contact with this item or activity. A company must be ready to listen to and tap the wide knowledge of the employees to succeed and make it in the current competitive and innovative environment in the globe today. This need has created the urge for the introduction of various management ideologies and strategies so as to achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors.
This knowledge and experience can only be shared through communication with the employees in the company. Employees will feel like what they say and do is appreciated by them being given talk time or opportunities to have a say in the decision making process. The excellence of major companies in the world today lies on the way they would be able to source for information from the employees (Guffey 2010).
Not being left behind, Microsoft Corporation has also developed a management strategy whereby the process of making decisions is solely based on the knowledge that the whole company sees as the best (Koch, 2012). This was done with the intention of involving the employees and invoking the members of staff to come up with new innovative ideas. Microsoft has the knowledge that most of their employees have friends and families. This is to say that they are more in contact with the customer base if compared with the owners, founders and management department
With the wide spread of the new world’s market economy in the global economies, there is great need to establish a decentralized mechanism in which the people in the company are allowed to engage and be part of the decision making board so as to tap the maximum potential.. The company, therefore takes it upon themselves to ensure that the members of staff get a say and contribute in the decision making process and the development of the company at large. It encourages generation of ideas as well as dispersion of knowledge amongst members of staff. These ideas are then sieved by the superiors in the management of the company, Microsoft Corporation, through the hierarchy to capture the ideas that can be used to the advantage of the organization.
Rewards and Compensation
In the world today, everyone appreciates a little reward for a job well done. A system for the motivation of the employees who assist in the process of achieving the organization’s set goals and objectives is appropriate in this current market system. A working person is motivated by the fact that at the end of it all there will be a reward for the hard work; this is the driving force. High rewards in most cases would mean that the work done will most likely be of high quality (Kumar, 2011).
On the lines of rewards, customers are always willing to reward those companies or even people that they perceive to be satisfying their needs. Profitability aspect has been seen to be a short term objective of a company whereas the company has the need to have long term perspectives (Gable, 2013). In most companies rewards have been a very challenging aspect since there has never been a standardized way that a company can use to reward its employees. This concept has been explained though in numerous theories.
Creativity and innovations are embedded in the value system of Microsoft Corporation so as to enable the organization to encourage competitiveness through innovations and development of new knowledge. The employees are allowed to make decisions regarding the operations and activities they are involved. For example, the engineering department encourages and allows engineers engage in various experiments, which can lead to the development of innovations through their own creativity (Koch, 2007)
There is need therefore to come up with an effective way in which the company can reward its employees. However, it has been realized that the best motivation behind most companies leading to their tremendous success is the intrinsic motivation. This is the type of motivation that comes from within, the employees for instance, rather than from any external factor or outside rewards (Thomas, 2009).
This is achieved when the individual goals of the employees are harmonized with that of the company. This will drive the member of staff to better their results because in the long run they view the success of the company as their very own success thus a natural adhesion of the employees to the company’s code of conduct, principles and personal characteristics.
A clear incentive, motivation and compensation program, should be based on both the monetary and non-monetary mechanisms. These programs should be administered sensibly, in a way that makes the employees recognize that they added value to the employees. However, there is a need, for the organization to ensure matching of people with the most appropriate duties, roles and responsibilities.
Microsoft Corporation has a very costly human resource management department that ensures that the members of staff in the organization are matched with their respective skills. This is essential in the organization as it creates motivating instincts in an employee since such employees also get to advance their skills .
In addition, it improves the decision making processes of the organization, as well as facilitating effective allocation of resources within the organization. It also facilitates career development of the employees since the duty and role are given to the person with the best knowledge, interest and judgment of the process. Incentives and rewards within the organization should be based on merit and performance of such employees (Koch, 2007). There have been various arguments from psychologist, arguing that incentives based on performance and merit makes people work harder because it makes people feel better about their work.
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft was founded in the year 1975 Bill Gates and has been running and operating for the past 38 years. To exist through these years from the time when it was mainly interested in the development of BASIC interpreters to the times when it ended up being the dominant personal operating system market.
The company also dims it fit to start several programs in the college and university settings that are intended to provide the students with a chance to improve their technological skills to increase the range of selection for the very best. Microsoft Corporation is also focused in the creation of relationships with their customers. These include schools, professors and the various groups in the world example the disabled, gay, lesbians and the straight education network.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can rationally be argued that the world is changing drastically. This creates the need for the various companies and organizations to develop numerous strategies that will help them stay afloat. Some of these strategies may be achieved through open communication, motivation and compensation.
Microsoft Corporation has made use of these principles so as to get to their members of staff so that the production is optimized. With improved communication, the employees are able to share their ideas and perspectives thus ensuring reach knowledge in the company. The company is also making use of motivation and compensation to make the employees work harder to achieve more.
References
Gable, W., & Ellig, J. (2013). Introduction To Market Based Management. Retrieved April 28, 2013, from
Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2010). Business communication: Process and product. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Koch, C. G. (2012). Introduction To Market-Based Management. Retrieved April 28, 2013, from http://www.huizenga.nova.edu/5012/textbooks/mbm.htm
Kumar, V., & Reinartz, W. (2011).Customer Relationship Management: Concept, Strategy, and Tools. Berlin: Springer Berlin.
Richardson, A. (2003). Microsoft. North Mankato, Minn: Smart Apple Media.
Thomas, K. W. (2009). Intrinsic motivation at work: What really drives employee engagement. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
