Culture

I wanted to make my last post reflect what we have recently seen in Chapter 15. Our notes say that Microsoft has been described as having an aggressive culture. From everything I have read and studied about Microsoft this semester, I see them as a people-oriented culture. They very much focus on making their employees happy. Flexible hours and being able to work outside of the office please many workers by giving them a great balance between their job and their family life. They also offer many facilities within their offices like a place to workout, a  place to play games, or a place to get any office supply you could possibly want! Diversity is another value Microsoft focuses on. Diversity encourages employees to be more creative and get along with different types of people that they may not have previously been used to.
When Microsoft produces employees that are happy at work, they are more likely to produce employees that are happy TO work. These employees are enthusiastic about coming in ever day and doing what needs to be done in order to make Microsoft the best it can be. The more they build up the company, the better their job will be. This also makes Microsoft extremely stable. As long as things keep moving forward, Microsoft will be here for years and years to come.
Alivia Lindbeck

After reading Chapter 15, I thought more about Microsoft's culture and how it affects their motivational techniques. Chapter 15 classifies Microsoft as an aggressive culture that values competitiveness and outperforming others. While this is true, after learning more about Microsoft, after reading the section about "innovative cultures" I found this to be more accurate.

Innovative cultures are flexible, adaptable, and experiment with new ideas. This is exactly how Microsoft operates. They treat their employees with respect and make sure they have the flexibility to obtain all of their goals. Telecommuting is one way I believe they foster an innovative culture. They give their employees the freedom to work on their own time as long as they are still productive and keep innovating. This innovation leads their employees to be aggressive because they are employees because of their drive and desire to accomplish new things.

Overall, Microsoft has a great mix of the Innovative and Aggressive organizational cultures. They have the aggressiveness to pursue high goals and are incorporating more and more corporate social responsibility to manage their image at the same time. Microsoft should work on their public relations more, with their sometimes extreme aggression, yet highlight their innovative/flexible culture to the public as much as they can.

-Team 4
Kelsey Van Gieson

         Creating a positive environment is the first step to developing loyal and motivated employees. Microsoft creates this environment by developing great practices of diversity. Our textbook points out the positive aspects of diversity including: higher creativity in decision making, better understanding and service to customers, a more satisfied workforce, higher stock prices, lower litigation expenses, and higher company performance.


           Microsoft lists on their website their diversity and inclusion statement which says "To be led by a globally diverse workforce that consistently delivers outstanding business results, understands the various cultural demands of a global marketplace, is passionate about technology and the promise it holds to tap human potential, and thrives in a corporate culture where inclusive behaviors are valued". It is obvious that they understand diversity and how it contributes to their environment as well as their bottom line.


           Microsoft does not just have a statement about diversity, but they also practice it. They have relationships with many different organizations that foster diversity, such as American Association of People with Disabilities and the Society of Women Engineers.  They spend money on organizations that are diverse as well, their spending on women and minority owned businesses has increased by more than 250% over the last few years.


           Cultural intelligence, or "a person's capability to understand how a person's cultural background influences one's behavior" is a huge part of how diversity affects an organization. Microsoft, since it is a larger company, has the resources to truly understand different cultures and how they work. Their diversity training can show managers how different cultures tend to act and this will help them nurture these relationships.


           Microsoft's inclusion statement goes hand in hand with our textbook's positive aspects of diversity, showing that not only is it important fundamentally, but it is instrumental to a business' 
growth. 


-Kelsey Van Gieson
Team 4

Motivational Techniques used by Fortune 500 Companies

Hey!

I thought I would mix it up a bit for this post, and instead of focusing on Microsoft, I thought I would share an article I came across regarding motivational stategies used by Fortune 500 companies:

Fortune 500 companies often promote a healthy work/life balance to motivate employees. Companies may offer employees more personal days, unlimited sick days or additional vacation time to ensure a strong balance between their personal life and work time. This technique can be used to create a positive overall environment in the workplace.  Additionally, many Fortune 500 companies provide educational reimbursement packages to employees. This may allow employees to finish earning a college degree or obtain a new degree to advance their career. By using a competitive reimbursement package to advance their educational background, employees improve their understanding of the business environment. 

Furthermore, companies may offer a variety of incentives to motivate employees. While common incentives may include performance-based bonuses or compensation increases, other incentives may be less traditional. Non-traditional incentives may include telecommuting, a compressed workweek, on-site gym or gym discounts, and on-site childcare or childcare reimbursement. Aflac, Monsanto, Microsoft, Whole Foods, Mattel, Marriott International and Qualcomm are just a few of the Fortune 500 companies that offer these types of incentives to their employees.

By doing all of this, not only does it create a less-stressful work environment, it creates a more productive work enironment as well.  I also wanted to share it because it showed that across the board companies are behaving similar to Microsoft; which is beneficial to all stakeholders of these companies.

Check it out!

http://thinkup.waldenu.edu/management/hr-management/item/11953-motivation-techniques-used-by-fortune-500-companies

Thanks for looking!

Katelyn Fisher
Team 4

From the Outside

Hey there! It's Alivia from Team 4. I recently looked directly into what Microsoft is putting out for their customers to see about what they find important in their company. Their website states that being the world's largest software company, they help in making 'social and economic opportunities wherever (they) work, live, and do business.' The company strives to make their new technology, their workers, their partnerships and their day-to-day business have a genuine contribution to the betterment of communities and sustainability of the planet.
In order to create such a successful, innovative company, Microsoft needs to make sure that their employees are motivated and willing to work and hard in order to achieve that!
Microsoft finds it important to 'create a respectful and rewarding work environment' for their nearly 90,000 employees. Having a diverse and talented set of employees really puts things in motion for a great workforce. Microsoft finds this important in order to fuel creativity- leaving their employees feeling included, accepted, and also as a productive part of a team.
Microsoft knows that their employees are of the utmost importance, because of course, they fuel everything behind the company. Keeping them satisfied is a top priority. Every year, employees are encouraged to fill out a survey so that Microsoft can gage the satisfaction that employees feel within their job and the company.
In 2010, Microsoft found: 89% of employees feel proud to work for Microsoft, 91% feel they are treated with dignity and respect by their managers, and 83% feel that their work groups value diverse perspectives.
All in all, Microsoft knows that the key to a great company is great employees with a positive feeling towards their job.

Alivia Lindbeck

http://www.microsoft.com/About/CorporateCitizenship/en-us/
http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/operating-responsibly/our-people/

An interview with a current Microsoft employee

Hey guys check this out!

http://professionaldevelopment.sqlpass.org/Blog/entryid/177/An-Interview-with-Microsoft-Employee-Cindy-Gross.aspx

This is an article written about an interview held with Cindy Gross, a current Microsoft Employee.  She is a DSE (Dedicated Support Engineer). The main point of the article is to promote Information Systems and computer programs, but I got a lot out the article than just that.  Cindy is so happy in her career and she has a great company like Microsoft to encourage her and help her along the way.

Microsoft facilitated Cindy's passion for working on computers, and allowed her to grow and prosper through the company.  She also talks about how she enjoys a conference that Microsoft sends her on once a year to meet with fellow "geeks."  She says she has made many friends and colleagues that also attend the event each year. 

This is just yet another example of how Microsoft encourages success and happiness within the company, and shows that is has such a positive Organizational Behavior!

Thanks for looking!

Katelyn Fisher

Team 4

Microsoft listed a top employer

"With its developers earning on average $106,000 a year, Microsoft pays well, according to Fortune, but also dangles some healthy perks. The company provides 100 percent health care coverage, an on-site gym, and subsidized gym membership. Telecommuting and the option to compress your work week also are available. Job growth for this year is pegged at 2 percent."

This is a quote from CNET, a Business Tech website, that was talking about how Microsoft earned its spot as 51st best company to work for. 51 doesn't seem like a high number, but compared to every company out there, 51st is amazing. Microsoft uses their treatment of employees to motivate them and inspire them to enhance the company day after day.


Our textbook often talks about how autonomy is a way to motivate employees and telecommuting is a way to avoid this problem. Microsoft gives their employees this flexibility in order to get them to be as productive as possible during their work day. Organizational climate is another way to produce autonomy for employees, so by having such a great healthcare, gym, and work day options, they are creative a great organizational climate.


The book showed us Zappos, and how their culture is influenced by treating employees well. Zappos has treated their employees well, by providing health care and flexibility similar to Microsoft's and have increased their customer satisfaction greatly. The CEO, Tony Hsieh, believes caring is what motivates employees to do well, and I think Microsoft is putting this same idea into action.


-Team 4
Kelsey Van Gieson