COURSE PROJECT PROPOSALMGMT 591 LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR JULY2015.PROFESSOR: DR.ANITA SPECTORSUBMITTED 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 browserextensibility, 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 ITDirector or IT Manager can author and deliver the message. Likewise, if the change concernssomeemployees 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 completethanmany of these changes can be rolled out and as such, should be communicated to the employees for their compliance.Sometopics 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 necessarytraining, 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.Althoughit 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 problemfocuseson 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),16-216. 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

Bibliography:

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