With reference to the basic motivational theories, assess the extent to which you

think Microsoft meets the needs and expectations of its employees.

Motivation can be described as the direction and persistence of action. It is concerned

with why people choose a particular course of action in preference to others, and why

they continue with a chosen action, often over a long period. The underlying concept of

motivation is some driving forces within individuals by which the attempt to achieve

some goal in order to fulfil some needs or expectation. The latter can be categorised in a

number of ways such as physiological and social motives, or into intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation.

From the beginning Bill Gates realised that his employees were his greatest assets, shown

by his quotes including “It is the effectiveness of our developers that determines our

success” and “take our 20 best people away, and I will tell you that Microsoft will

become an unimportant company”. But under the leadership of Mr DiPietro, Human

Resource Chief, he moved away from Microsoft long-standing practices of awarding

employees such as stock options and numerous perks.

Employee motivation can be related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. This theory

has the top level of the needs theory as self-actualisation needs, which is a persons needs

to be self fulfilled. It is described that the way to achieve this is to” provide people with

opportunities to grow, be creative and acquire training for challenging assignments and

advancement” People are focused 100% on performing their job as successfully as

possible. Based on the Gallup poll survey report, the top motivational factor at workplace

is recognition and reward performance, but at Microsoft managers rated a certain number
of workers as sub-standard and they're feeling trapped in an organization whose past

successes seem to stifle current creativity.

A person’s motivation, job satisfaction and work performance will be determined by the

comparative strength of these sets of needs and expectations and the extent to which they

are fulfilled.

Herzberg stated when hygiene needs are not met by outcomes, e.g. not comfortable

working conditions, workers are dissatisfied. The decision to scrap the free towel service

in 2002 became a lightening rod for employee dissatisfaction and bemusement over

Microsoft's cost-cutting initiatives as it led to deteriorating morale thus making them less

efficient.

Linked with the above is the theory developed by McClelland who studied the extent to

which an individual has strong desire to perform challenging tasks well and to meet

personal standards for excellence. Microsoft HR strategy is not employ skilled people

and expect them to be motivated; they employ intelligent and driven individual and give

them the environment and the opportunity to develop beyond their current level.

However, this is not true as the “top talents” is moving away to competitors, thus it is no

more the most wanted and ideal place for a young intelligent graduate would like to join

in. The fit between the employee and the organisation is important as its only individual

needs become satisfied through efforts that also serve organisational objectives.
Discuss the extent to which you think that organisational success is the cause or the

effect of meeting employees’ needs and expectations.

The business environment has changed in recent years; these changes have had a

significant impact on organisational effort to be successful. Many organisations have

realised that their likelihood of sustained success is most dependent on learning to get the

maximum out of their employees. Therefore it is clear that effective management of

organisation Human Resources is a major determinant of performance over a long period

of time.

Every person has different reasons for working. The reasons for working are as individual

as the person. But, we all work because we obtain something that we need from work.

The something obtained from work impacts morale, employee motivation, and the quality

of life.

Although employees might leave one job for another with better pay, their cause for

leaving might not be salary at all but a myriad of other reasons - often more than likely

having to do with mistrust of the company, feeling unappreciated, not respected or not

recognized for the time and effort they have put into their work. The primary implication

is to emphasize the importance of employee-employer relations and the need for

organizations to really demonstrate that they are serious about their workers in fairness,

quality of supervision and support for employees to successfully achieve a work/life

balance.

Commitment is one of the factors that can help "inoculate" an organization against

turnover, at a time when there is an increasing need for companies to find and hold onto
their most talented employees. These days, the success of an organization is even more

dependent on having a stable and committed workforce whose contributions coalesce into

productive group actions. It is becoming more difficult to replace employees because

their knowledge and skills are often more refined and specialized than in the past.

In order to achieve and maintain success, organizations need to recognize the following

three components of building and managing a truly committed workforce:

1. Attracting qualified employees

2. Developing those employees over time

3. Building a bond of trust and commitment with those employees

If an organization treats employees well, they will give back as much or more in terms of

both physical and emotional commitment. Corporate respect for employees is manifested

in a wide variety of ways, including fairness in the application of company policies,

opportunities for growth and development, recognition of employee needs and a clean,

safe working environment. A good relationship is exciting and it develops and grows.

Organisation must determine how their company's values and mission fit with those of

their employees and how strongly employees are committed to the company's current

strategic direction. Understanding the extent of employee commitment is critical to

maximizing the success of a company.

What does the experience of Microsoft reveals about the “Psychological Contract”

between the company and its employees?

According to Levinson and associates (1962), a psychological contract is a process of

exchange between employees and organisations in which both parties create mutual

expectations of each other that govern their relationship. Ironically, both sides are often

unaware of the expectations of other party and assume that their own view of the

exchange is shared by the other party.

Microsoft is considered by many to be the ideal place to work. The company won several

awards for innovation, for their commitment to diversity, and for their flexible work

arrangements. It has always been a leader in the market with regards to its compensation

with exception of few years where cost cutting programme were set up.

Microsoft employs people who will be motivated by the environment they are provided,

the HR department at Microsoft take great care to understand such needs and try fulfilling

them for their employees. Opportunities and environment allow the employees to

progress and self develop is part of the work culture that the HR staff is expected to

adhere to. The fit between employee and organisation is important to motivation and this

is what Microsoft ensures.

Motivation can be described as providing a work environment in which individual needs

become satisfied through efforts that also serve organisational objectives. Microsoft

achieved this by incorporating their goals into their human resource management
programs. The people recruited and the systems within the organisation all serve to

motivate the type of people that Microsoft values.

From the beginning Microsoft team-based reward system encouraged team members to

work together and cooperate to meet team goals whereby contribution of exceptional

team members were recognized. But in 2006 with the introduction of individual

performance contributions it hurt the team performance, which led Microsoft ran into

serious problem with the development of Windows Vista and was delayed to spring 2007.

It was the slow beginning to talent erosion from Microsoft to other blue chip companies.

Globalisation, downsizing, restructuring, increasing use of technology and other realities

of the modern corporation have forced Microsoft to change it employment relationships.

With reference to the study by Robinson and Rousseau (1994), where they defined that

there a breach as where an “employee believes that their organization has failed to fulfill

its promises”. Hence it resulted in negative consequences such as reduced productivity

and diminished loyalty.

Eventually Microsoft did present a plan to overhaul its performance-review process,

increase stock awards, boost on-campus perks and address a wide range of additional

concerns. The plan dubbed “myMicrosoft”- "will help us continue to attract, develop and

retain great people, drive success and stay competitive," said Lisa Brummel.