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