Microsoft Case Study Harvard Business School - 3008 Words

Bill Gates Believed Microsoft’s core source of competitive advantage was the ability to attract, motivate and retain superior people. In attracting employees Microsoft mainly targeted the stars. Stars are the core employees that can add value to the organization through their knowledge, skills and abilities (Boselie, 2010). At Microsoft there has been a hands on mentality made for ambitious people. Lepak and Snell (2007) built a theory about different employees and its HR strategies. Microsoft has an internalized and relational focus with its employees. Strategic value of employees is high because employees are given high autonomy. In general all employees are highly unique. This is why Microsoft has always wanted to hire young and†¦show more content†¦Therefore Microsoft in the present culture scores low on goal and should increase this in the future. Procedure The growth of Microsoft has negatively influenced the freedom of the employees. The introduction of regulation has increased bureaucracy. Microsoft scores high on checking, documentation, measurement and rationalization. The desired culture would be to score lower on procedure to enhance creativity and flexibility. How does it fit with the strategy and culture? The strategy of Microsoft is to have a computer on every desk installed with Microsoft. A high performance culture plays a key role in Microsoft. In this culture excellent performance, knowledge, commitment, motivation, autonomy, teamwork and loyalty are only a few of the important norms, values, habits and routines important when desiring and maintaining a high performance culture. Mutual investment should keep employers and employees happy and help maintain the environment and culture Microsoft is in. There are four major culture types within an organization, namely the Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy and the Market (Kim amp; Quinn, 1999). These four cultures are translated into a model, named the Competing Values Framework. This framework shows the cultures, organized between two dimensions. The framework shows which culture coincides with which dimension, to show the effectiveness of the organization and the organizational culture. (source: Kim amp; Quinn, 1999) WhenShow MoreRelatedBill Gates and Microsoft1662 Words   |  7 PagesBill Gates and Microsoft â€Å"Microsoft was founded based on my vision of a personal computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software,† Bill Gates once remarked (Stevenson). Everyone has their own dream but this was Bill Gates dream when he first co-founded Microsoft. This dream came to haunt him 12 years later when he was caught. Microsoft was charged with using its power to eliminate its competitor in the Web-browser market in the mid-90s (Stevenson). 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