COURSE PROJECT PROPOSAL

MGMT 591 LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR JULY2015.

PROFESSOR: DR.ANITA SPECTOR
SUBMITTED BY TEAM D.

Introduction and Overview.

Microsoft was founded as a partnership in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by William H.
Gates and Paul G. Allen in 1975. In the following years, Microsoft released software
versions of BASIC, FORTRAN, and COBOL. When the company moved to Washington
in 1979, 30 employees generated annual revenues exceeding $3 million. In 1980,
Microsoft developed versions of BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and PASCAL for the IBM
personal computer. Later that year, Microsoft signed another contract to provide the
operating system for the IBM personal computer. Microsoft released DOS 1.0 for the
personal computer industry and Microsoft have grown at astonishing rates since 1981.
In 2011, with revenues of over $72 billion, Microsoft was the worlds largest producer of
software for the personal computer. Over the years, the company has introduced not
only a series of operating systems (e.g., MS-DOS in 1981, Windows 3.0 in 1990,
Windows XP in 2001, Windows Mobile in 2003, Windows Vista in 2005, Windows 7 in
2009, and Windows 8 in 2012), but also numerous software applications.
My role in this organization as an organizational consultant will be to analyze the
change effort in Microsoft and write a detailed solution for the current problems which
occurred after the changes were done. The changes which I would like to describe are
mentioned in the preliminary problem statement and then also a proposed solution is
included.
Preliminary Problem Statement.
The change in leadership of Microsoft's CEO brought many problems. Our
focus will be on Organizational, technology and market-related issues
after this transformation.
1. CHANGE OF TECHNOLOGY: In February 4, 2014, Bill gates brought
his Harvard schoolmate Steve Ballmer to assume the dual responsibilities
in both enterprise and consumer business across the company. He
stressed continuously on cloud computing and its advantages and he
converted all the database of Microsoft into cloud, such an innovative
idea.
2. CHANGE IN THE MARKET: In the beginning of Ballmers era, Microsoft
saw a tremendous change in services and products. There was in an
increase in devices like tablets, phones, video games like X box and
personal computers. This had an impact other company's product.
3. CHANGE IN PRODUCTS: Once again, Microsoft has made a fairly
significant changes to office's interface. Many of them are cosmetic but

there are also some changes to the way the suite operates.
4. CHANGE IN THE PRICE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: The price
tag may hit Microsoft's margins, but the company could very well make
that up in quantity terms. There is going to be a lot of people upgrading,
and that is going to help the software giant draw developers to its windows
store. This is really important, windows 8 was designed with good
enough touchscreen computing devices in mind, and strong initial
success may improve Microsofts chances of finally mastering in tablets
and smart phones.
5. TIME CHANGES, TECHNOLOGY CHANGES: Software upgrades are
facts of life, but they are not the only or always the cheapest route to
newer technology and improved functionality. The withdrawal of support
for Microsoft XP in April 2014 and windows server 2003 in July 2015 is
prompting a lot of firms to ponder with this rhetorically: Do we follow the
upgrade path and remain with our old ERP system or is it the right time to
invest in broader improvements across the organization.
Description of Solution.
We discussed some problems which are being faced by Microsoft, Now
lets discuss about the solution for all those minor problems. As an
Organizational Consultant I would like to describe minor solutions for the
above problems which helps the organization to overcome or modify their
difficulties.
Overcoming Technology Problems:
As computer programs grow more complex, extensible, and connected,
users have more trouble understanding what makes their computers
behave differently. Network connectivity lets computers download
programs automatically. Then, the computers can install the programs
automatically. Because of browser extensibility, components can be added
to the browser in sophisticated ways that change the browsing experience.
Users cannot always understand the programs and their interactions.
Therefore, troubleshooting can be a very difficult task.
As an Organizational Consultant, I will recommend the manager or CEO
to make people use the devices of the company.
For example if a new product is released in market, the company have to
take care about its promotion and its used.
By following the above strategy, people will not feel any kind of difficulty
in using a new product that was released.
This can be done in several ways like releasing sample usage of the
product in the form of videos or providing instant demos to the customers.
By following this, although a new technology change happened, the
organization can take care of everything.

Facing merchandise Problems:

As the changes cannot be rolled out all at once, such communications
should be arranged regularly, with updates provided as necessary. They
should also be delivered and authored by the leaders in the respective
areas of the change. For example, if it concerns training on the companys
code of ethics for the employees from the acquired company then the HR
Director/Manager can author and deliver the message. On the other hand,
if the change concerns system access of the acquired companys servers
then the IT Director or IT Manager can author and deliver the message.
Likewise, if the change concerns some employees from the acquired
company joining a department in the main company then the Department
Manager can author and deliver the message. Such messages can be
delivered via newsletters, emails, and department meetings and their
effectiveness can be assessed through the employees feedback and their
support for and compliance to the changes. For example, if the employees
from the acquired employees are having some difficulties complying with
the new rules and policies of the acquiring company then this can mean
that they did not clearly understand the acquiring companys rules and
regulations.
I think that there will be a lot of impact for the products in the current
market when compared to other products.
So it is mandatory for the organization to focus on the price, quality and
the reliability of the product.
Also making the product with ease of use increased its merchandise
levels and makes the product compete with others.
This can be done by only the Manager or CEO as they have rights on
organization, like if a profit occurs, they will be playing a big part, also if
loss is happened, and they will have to take the whole blame.
Amendment of Products price.
When a new product is released, obviously the price of the product will be
so high, for example if we consider Microsofts new Product Microsoft
Note, it costs very high and middle class people cannot afford for it. I think
it is important for them to work on the negotiation of the product and the
price must be decided by the designated authority according to the quality.
With this Microsoft Note sales were average but it did not meet the
required margin of sales and profit. So what they did is they tried to add
some extra featured to the product where they included office 365 for free
and some 15% discounts for college/university students to attract people.
Although it gained some profit but I think because of the price it became
too hard for Microsoft as some other products were available in the market
for lower prices.
Before release of the product, they must focus on the quality of the

product and its various features.

The price will play a major role in the sales, so the concerned authority
must take part in the decision.
Initially if they launch a product for low price and if the product was going
well in the market, then they can increase the price.
So when this happens, although the price is high, due the features and
reliability of product, people will buy it and try.
Time Problems and Factors.
When the efforts are complete or about to be complete than many of these
changes can be rolled out and as such, should be communicated to the
employees for their compliance. Some topics included in these messages
are the changes in business processes, such as changes in meeting
schedules to adjust to the time zone of the acquired company or addition
of bridge numbers for teleconferencing with employees in the acquired
company. These communications can also include company orientations
and necessary training, especially for employees from the acquired
company.
A big problem that the organization is facing is invention of a new product
or services and its time factor.
For windows 7, they took lot of time, money, effort and made it
happen. Although it was sensational, the product was used almost by
everyone because of its ease of use and quality.
I recommend them that to take a decision in an organization or to launch
a new product, follow some certain specific strategies and make it happen.
Without prior plans and goals, it is important to do any task and it takes lot
of time for that change to be implemented. But also there no such belief
that particular decision will click or not.
By following the sample solution for all those organizational problems
which I mentioned, the managers can observe drastic difference in the
company within few days and if they negotiate their problems and
eliminate their difficulties, it is easy for them to manage their troublesome
situations.
Terminal Course Objective.
I think TCO G suits well to my topic because TCO G describes about the
change effort in the organizations and necessary solutions for it. Also, it
describes about the change that happened in the organization and its
impact on the company. It more related to human resources and
organizational change management. As my problem focuses on the
change effort in organization, this well suits because the impacts and
disadvantages which I discussed were mentioned in TCO G.

References:
1. Microsoft corporation(2015). Microsoft corporation swot ananlysis,1-10.

2. Dhillon I, Qupta S.(2015).Organizational restructuring and collaborative creativity: The case of

microsoft and sony.IUP journal of business.
3. Anders, G.(2014).Steve Ballmer is his own man(Finally).Forbes,194(), 64-75.
4. Hachman, Mark.(2015). Microsoft announces windows 10 versions for consumer and
business.
PC world, 33(6), 12-15.
5. Chacos,B. (2015) Microsoft reimagined:Satya Nadella's first year as CEO.PC world,33(3),1621
6. Weber, r. M.,& Hom, B, D. (2014).Is now the time to upgrade your operating system and
personal computer?.Journal of financial service professionals, 68(4), 29-32

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