Microsoft Profits and Employee Empowerment

Microsoft Profits and Employee Empowerment and Training

With 89,809 employees in 105 countries and with revenues as high as $60,420 billion (Official Website of the Microsoft Corporation, 2008), Microsoft Corporation is the ultimate epitome of corporate success. But is their success somehow related to the human resource strategies linked to employee empowerment and training? To answer this question, several steps must be taken.

The first one refers to a brief analysis of the company, in terms of history, current status, major achievements, mission and vision statement and financial highlights. To retrieve this information, several sources should be analyzed, such as the official website of the corporation, their annual reports as well as tertiary sources, such as Hoovers, which present the issues from an objective standpoint. For ratios on profitability and managerial capabilities, one could read the data from the Forbes financial analyses. The paper could then continue with a closer look at the Microsoft employee. The 2007 annual report would help identify any human resource strategies and policies implemented by the corporation. Tertiary sources that reveal the benefits of working within the largest it producer should also be studied. The most subjective responses to these questions would come from the corporate website, but articles and forum discussions should also be read. Then, the paper should also shed some light regarding the negative aspects of being a Microsoft employee. The suggested materials could include Troubling Exits at Microsoft, Microsoft - "Good, bad and ugly - it is all here," or Working at Microsoft.

When reading the above mentioned articles, it can easily be observed that the common advantage of being a Microsoft employee is that of an increased freedom, comparative to other organizations. Microsoft employee Michael Brundage for instance states: "One thing that's worth losing touch with is the strict work environment. Microsoft gives software developers a lot of personal freedom over both the work and the work environment. I order my own supplies, customize my office as I see fit, schedule my own trips and meetings, and select my own training courses. I choose when I show up for work and when I leave, and what to wear while I'm there. I can eat on campus or off, reheat something from home in the kitchen or scavenge leftovers from meetings. I can even work remotely from home (within reason)." Then, in Microsoft - "Good, bad and ugly - it is all here," the author lists employee empowerment as the primary advantage of working within Microsoft. "It is an empowering organisation to work for where you are not 'managed' and you can choose your professional growth path - including training courses" (Glass Door, 2007).

But can this increased freedom and empowerment be attributed to have contributed to Microsoft's tremendous successes? Can this situation even be explained? To answer these questions, one should take a look at the specialized literature in order to form an objective idea. The suggested bibliography in this sense includes Reward Management: A Handbook of Remuneration Strategy and Practice, Corporate Success Through People: Making International Labor Standards Work for You and the Business of Employee Empowerment: Democracy and Ideology in the Workplace. This part of the paper will deal with the most relevant theoretical concepts relating to employee empowerment. Also, the expected outcomes of implementing employee empowerment should be presented.

The Microsoft employee in the article previously quoted stated that the employer empowers him even to select the training programs he desires. But the training as a human resource strategy has a wider application, in the meaning that it can easily be considered as an incentive. In today's world, where change occurs on daily basis, the human resource feels the need to constantly adjust to the new requirements. Ergo, they feel the need for training programs and this need is even more stringent in the it industry. At this point of writing the paper, one should analyze the specialized literature in order to identify how training programs can contribute to the fruitful financial outcome of an organization. To reveal an answer to these issues, one could pay attention to Employment Practices and Business Strategy, Continuous Quality Improvement: A Manufacturing Professional's Guide or Managing Human Resource.