Introduction
Roles of the Managers and Leaders of Microsoft will be analysed in this blog. Microsoft Corporation is a multinational technology company in the US which is the largest software maker and one of the big technology companies in the world. The company produce, develop, supports, licenses and sells consumer electronics, computer software and hardware, personal computers and other technology services. 35% of revenue Microsoft is generated through selling personal computers (Vault, 2020). Microsoft operates business in 210 countries of the world (Vault, 2020). The company generated revenue of $125.8 billion and 51% revenue is generated from the US and the rest of the revenue is generated from other countries (Vault, 2020). The revenue of the company has increased by 15% in the last two years (Vault, 2020). The market value of Microsoft is $1,359 billion (Forbes: 1, 2020). It has 163,000 employees globally (Macro Trends, 2020). Apple, Google, IBM, Sony, Mozilla etcetera are the top competitors of Microsoft in 2020 (Whatcompetitors, 2020).
The management structure of Microsoft has been stated in Appendix: A’s figure 1. The management structure of the company is divided into divisions on the basis of engineering groups and business functions (Business Research Methodology, 2020). CEO Satya Nadella is the head of engineering and business function groups (Business Research Methodology, 2020). Engineering groups are divided into three divisions, and business functions groups are divided into nine divisions. Heads of both groups directly report to the CEO.
In this report, the roles of leaders and managers of Microsoft will be evaluated with the definition of both positions. Differences between management and leadership will be highlighted. The interrelation of the business functions of Microsoft will be also evaluated in the conclusion.
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Roles of Microsoft’s managers:
Block (2016) has stated in his research that a manager is a person who manages or controls a company and organizes people and resources of the company to accomplish the purposes, mission and vision of company. The managers of Microsoft are responsible for managing the company, and they make efforts to maintain the world-class position of the company. Different types of managers in Microsoft and their roles are stated beneath:
Product Managers develop products for their company. Product managers of Microsoft develop products for the company, build a roadmap, work cooperatively with design, and customer support, interrelate with customers to collect feedback, etcetera other important things (Medium, 2020). They ensure the best hardware, software and technological services for the customers and solve customers’ problems by collecting feedback. Because of the best effort of the product managers, Microsoft has become capable of increasing its revenue by 15% (Vault, 2020).
HR managers appoint employees, develop them and take the initiatives to utilize the power and talent of employees in order to achieve organizational objectives. HR managers of Microsoft appoint the best eligible employees, ensure employee development and motivate them to ensure the best performance from them (Inside HR, 2020). The managers provide digital tools for employees, which increases flexibility and employee retention within Microsoft. As a result, the company get the best output from the employees, which has made the company the number one software provider in the world.
Marketing managers ensure effective promotion to increase the revenue of their companies. The managers of Microsoft utilize their data analysis skills to realize customers’ behaviour to do more effective advertisement and promotion, which increases the revenue of the company (Microsoft: 1, 2020). As a result, Microsoft generates $125.8 billion in revenue, and it is the highest revenue generator among all software companies in the world (Vault, 2020).
Except for all the managers stated above, Microsoft has many more managers and all of them perform functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling effectively within their departments in order to hold on to their company’s success.
Roles of Microsoft’s Leaders:
Zaccaro, Dubrow & Kolze, (2018) have revealed that leaders are the person who has a dominant position in their field and has high control over others and they can influence others effectually. Leaders of Microsoft lead their employees to get the best output from their work which helps the company to achieve its organizational objectives and goals. The roles of leaders are evaluated beneath:
Providing vision: Leaders provide a vision of their company toward employees to ensure employee engagement to fulfil the vision. The vision of Microsoft is empowering everyone and every company in the world to accomplish more and the CEO of the company shares this vision with their employees (Geek Wire, 2020). As a result, employees have become more focused on accomplishing the vision of the company and realize how their role will foster the prosperity of Microsoft; therefore, they work hard.
Finding out customers’ preferences: Leaders find out customers’ preferences and share them with their subordinates to make sure of delivering the best services. For instance, CEO Nadella has found that customers are not happy with Windows 8, Windows phones and the Bing search engine and informed the Microsoft employees (Forbes: 2, 2020). As a result, the company have become capable of improving the quality of its current products and Microsoft successfully regained lost market share.
Inspiring and motivating: One of the most important roles of a leader is inspiring and motivating others. Leaders of Microsoft communicate with employees through modern business tools and make flawless communication to keep them inspired and motivated by giving them constructive feedback about their performances (Microsoft: 2, 2020). As a result, employees of the company become able to improve their performance which increases the profitability of Microsoft every year.
Differences between management and leadership:
Management refers to the way of managing employees of an organization to achieve their organizational goals (Podsakoff & Podsakoff, 2019). Whilst, leadership refers to the ability to influence and motivate others to give their best in order to make their organisation successful (Connors, 2011). Differences between management and leadership are analysed beneath:
Firstly, Management reviews the work quality and output of employees to find out the problems and asks employees to prevent the problems by informing them (Boin, Stern & Sundelius, 2016). The management of Microsoft evaluates the work quality of their employees and show their mistakes which helps employees to improve their work quality. As a result, customers of Microsoft get the best quality products and services that increase revenue. On the other hand, Leadership inspires and motivates employees by showing examples of successful people or leading them to give quality work. Because of the effective leadership of Microsoft, employees became able to develop the quality of Microsoft’s products and gain lost market share again (Forbes: 2, 2020).
Secondly, management uses its power to manage employees and give them direct instructions (Mládková, 2012). Management of Microsoft dominates employees and gives them commands to bring desired output for the company. Whilst, leadership, does not use its power except to influence the employees to contribute to the company’s success proactively (Ham et al., 2011). Because of leaders’ inspiration, employees of the company work hard. As a result, Microsoft has accomplished a profit of $46.3 billion (Forbes: 1, 2020).
Thirdly, all managers cannot be leaders because they may not have the ability to influence and inspire others to give their best (Ackerly et al., 2011). All the managers of Microsoft are not leaders because they just give instructions and cannot influence others positively. On the other hand, all leaders can be managers because they have the ability to influence others which will help them to manage employees effectively (Kyriakidou, 2011). Leaders of Microsoft have the ability to fulfil the responsibility of managers because they can influence others positively to contribute to Microsoft’s success.
Finally, management has the power to make rules, standards, operating procedures and processes for their companies (Morison & McMullan, 2013). Management of Microsoft makes rules, standards, operating procedures and processes and employees are obliged to follow them in order to maintain discipline in the work environment. Whilst, the leadership, does not have the power to make rules, standards, operating procedures and processes for companies but encourage employees to follow and maintain them (Zaccaro, Dubrow & Kolze, 2018). Leaders of Microsoft encourage the employees to follow and maintain the rules made by management which helps the company to keep the work environment disciplined and maintain peace in the workplace.
Conclusion
Leadership and management, both business functions, are interrelated, and one of the most common relation is leadership, and management ensures employees’ best effort to achieve organizational goals. Relation of management and leadership helps Microsoft to coordinate human, material, technological and financial resources of the company to achieve its goals efficiently. Through leadership, Microsoft become capable of managing its 163000 employees effectively because they follow the leaders’ instructions willingly and stay energetic (Macro Trends, 2020). Leaders of the company encourage employees to maintain the rules and regulations made by management which will make management’s work easier.
Scientific management theory refers to the theory that analyses workflows in order to enhance labour productivity by simplifying tasks and giving the stuff to employees of which employees have good knowledge (Spender & Kijne, 2012). Leadership also supports this philosophy that employees should not be pressured with the work they have no expertise in. Microsoft follows scientific management theory and breaks down stuff; therefore, employees fulfil their stuff effectively and increase the productivity of Microsoft.
The human relations theory of management emphasizes employees’ gratification by providing a flexible work environment in order to increase productivity (Bratton & Gold, 2017). The concept of this management theory is also similar to leadership because leaders also emphasize employees’ gratification by providing a flexible work environment. Microsoft delivers all experiences and needs of their employees, which makes the employees highly satisfied and employees bring the best output for the company (Microsoft: 3, 2020). As a result, only 43% of employees plan to quit Microsoft and the rest of the 57% stays in the company and productivity increases (CNBC, 2020).
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