Evaluating Organizational Change Strategies in Microsoft

The focus of this assignment is to explore different strategies for implementing organizational change, such as user-centric, corridor-centric, and network-centric approaches, among others. Students are expected to review existing literature on the subject and critically assess how these methods influence a company's structure, culture, and performance. The analysis should include discussions around resistance to change, leadership roles, employee engagement, and measurement of change outcomes. Additionally, students will apply theories from selected readings like 'The Psychology of Organizational Change' by Oreg et al., and 'Crafting the Change' by Petrou et al., to support their arguments. Finally, they are tasked with recommending best practices for successfully managing organizational change in today's dynamic business environment.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN MICROSOFT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

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Table of Contents
Answer to Question 1:.....................................................................................................................2
Lewin’s Force Field Analysis:.....................................................................................................2
Answer to Question 2:.....................................................................................................................5
Organizational change in Microsoft:...........................................................................................5
Answer to Question 3:.....................................................................................................................7
Advantages of SWOT analysis....................................................................................................8
Disadvantages of SWOT analysis:..............................................................................................8
Answer to Question 4:.....................................................................................................................9
Key ideas as well as conceptualizations of role of change agent in Microsoft:..........................9
Answer to Question 5:...................................................................................................................11
Critical analysis of dialogic and problem centric approaches to change:..................................11
Benefits and drawbacks of dialogic and problem centric approach:.........................................13
Dialogic Approach:....................................................................................................................13
Problem Centric Approach:.......................................................................................................13
References:....................................................................................................................................15

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Answer to Question 1:
Organizational changes refer to the process through which the strategies, processes,
procedures, culture and technologies of the business are varied. The techniques or process
through which the changes take place affect the organization’s operational activities (Cullen et
al., 2014). The various theories that are involved in changing the organizations as evaluated and
further known as those specific methods through which the upcoming changes are systematically
planned so that the firm’s short-term and long-term objectives and goals can be achieved.
Lewin’s Force Field Analysis:
The analysis of Lewin’s Force Field is used to give an outline of the issues that is linked
with the change in the business organization. Change management is crucial aspect for
management that makes the business efficient enough in the environment in which the firm
operates (Jabri, 2015). Management further has to develop strategies so that the change can be
implemented. In this model there are various forces that drive changes and the existing forces
that restrain it. The equilibrium present in between these two forces further does not lead to any
other in the organization. For bringing the desired changes in the business organization the
desired forces present in the firm must be greater than the restraining forces of the organization.
The Lewin’s model is also used to analyze various other objectives that include scrutiny of
balance of the power related to the problem (Hankir, Cowley & Fenske, 2016). It is further used
for the identification of key stakeholders on the related issue and the opponents or rivals in the
business competitive market. Furthermore, the strategy to influence or affect the target groups is
also evaluated.
The force responsible for the changes includes:

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Internal forces responsible for change that is present within the organization:
 The betterment of the organization as an outcome of the change.
 The need for the business organization to rapidly grow the efficiency, profitability and
other performance related measures.
 The necessary requirements for reorganizing the business operational activities to raise
the level of competitiveness.
 The natural ageing as well as declining in the firm’s machinery and products of the
machines.
 The demand for increasing flexibility in the structure of the business organization.
 The overall concerns related to the organization for ineffective communication, poor
business relationship or de-motivation in the organization (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).
 The increasing conflicts within the department are also a vital factor responsible for
change.
External forces for change beyond the control of the organization:
 The overall increasing demands for efficient quality and higher customer service levels.
 The uncertainty related to the market economic condition.
 The increasing competition in the current market.
 The legislation as well as taxation.
 The political interests in the business market, where the operational activity takes place.
 The advanced changes in technology.
 The globalization activities in the organization.
 The increasing scarcity of natural resources in the business.

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 The changing nature and composition of organizational workforce.
The increasing pressure that is related with the changes in the business is caused mainly
because of the external forces than the existing internal forces present in the organization. The
business firm should be well-prepared to tackle the ever increasing demands caused due to
external environment, which is changing constantly at a rapid rate.
The restraining forces are the crucial factors responsible for the changes in the business
environment and therefore making the business process more tough (Oreg, Michel & By, 2013).
The reason responsible for the resistance to changes in the organization are low tolerance level,
absence of understanding for the required changes, employees self-interest.
The Force Field Analysis of Lewin is the theoretical ontology as it helps the corporation
for analyzing the organizational changes. This provides the mapping of the different
organizational changes. Proper reviewing of various forces is vital in form that brings adequate
flexibility in the corporation. This further strategizes the various operations that would provide
the strengthening of the existing different forces.
The forces driving and resisting the changes are the two ontologies or the theoretical
approaches that are related to the organizational changes are as: Problem centric Approaches (Scientific objective mode)
This approaches mainly focuses on the environmental and organizational issues, which
tends to make a practical and positivist approach to the changes. This includes depersonalized
systems, strategies and structure. Dialogic Approaches (Social constructionist mode)

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The approaches are relational in nature that focuses more on the relations between the
individuals and their relevance of communications and conversations among people that is to be
identified to resolve several issues. The employees may change their understanding of the truth
related to situation as per with the conversations with other. It is subjective in nature and involve
negotiation and collaboration.
Answer to Question 2:
The organization taken in consideration for analyzing the changes that have occurred is
Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corp. is a multinational organization founded in 1975, in
Albuquerque, New Mexico (Microsoft.com., 2018). The two founder of the Company were Bill
Gates and Paul Allen. The company deals with computer software and hardware, consumer
electronics, social networking services, video games, cloud computing, internet and social
networking services (Huang, Xing & Wu, 2013). The former CEO of Microsoft Corp. was Steve
Ballmer was succeeded by Satya Nadella during 2104. Steve Ballmer has a different
management style and brought changes in the organization.
Organizational change in Microsoft:
Bill Gates served the organization till 2008 as a chairman encouraging innovation and
creativity in the organization. His leadership style was authoritarian in nature and is a leading
and most admired business leader, who believes in team achievements and recognizing
individual potentials (Agote, Aramburu & Lines, 2016). In the year 2014, Satya Nadella became
the CEO of Microsoft replacing Steve Ballmer. This change in the leaders of the organizations
brings major changes for the corporation and its culture. Microsoft corporate culture under the
supervision or leadership of Steve Ballmer was innovative in form. Steve Ballmer is regarded as

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an unconventional leader with the power of demanding higher level of staff excellence and
power of associating with all the stakeholders. This decision making power was completely
executed by Steve Ballmer and employees have to meet their expectations. His first priority was
always to delegate authority and order to the people. He also emphasized the need to pursue new
or advanced technologies to rise in the competitive business environment against its rivals Apple
and Google in the smart phones sector.
The change occurred in Microsoft Corporation was in the year 2014, when Satya Nadella
was appointed as the CEO major changes took place in the same year. Satya Nadella had earlier
led the Enterprise and Microsoft’s Cloud division. In the same year, John W. Thompson took
over Bill Gates for the Chairman’s role. Microsoft acquired its rival company Nokia in the year
2014 for $7.2 billion. Later Microsoft also acquired Mojang, video game company for $2.5
billion. Moreover, in the year 2015, the organization lost $7.6 billion due to its mobile phone
business and thus firing 7,800 employees (Microsoft.com., 2018). Later in May 2106, the
organization announced its strategy technique of laying off 1850 workers and further making
restructuring and impairment charge of $ 95 million. The organization has expanded its business
in the last few years and is considered as the largest business corporation. Furthermore, due to
rapid increase in globalization, Microsoft Corp. is also practicing diversity in the workplace.
Though at first the new organizational changes were resisted by the employees but later
on the changes were completely accepted by its employees, which led to the growth of the
organization in the business market. Due to the change in the leadership the organizational
culture and management style of Microsoft Corp. also changed affecting the profitability and
sales of the organization.

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Answer to Question 3:
Strengths Weaknesses
 Microsoft was highly successful
under the control of Bill Gates.
 The organizational culture was
considered to be powerful and
innovative in nature.
 The demanding nature of
Microsoft’s CEO helped in bringing
the excellencies of Microsoft’s
employees.
 The Corporation had also acquired
highest place in the software market
due to Microsoft Corp. innovative
culture.
 The demanding and autocratic nature
of Bill Gates was a major drawback
in the changing environment.
 The increasing competition level in
the market is also vital reason for
change.
Opportunities Threats
 Microsoft has huge brand loyalty,
thus providing the organization with
the required mileage vital for
growth.
 The corporation also has its target
customers as their market base.
 The company frequently offers
innovative product in the market for
sales improvement.
 Microsoft major aim is expand its
existing market raising profitability
and sales.
 The ever increasing competition is a
matter of great concern for the
Microsoft Corp.
 The changes in the organizational
culture and processes can help
Microsoft in overcoming the fierce
competition in the market.
 Customer’s selective approach is
also a massive threat affecting the
company’s profitability.
SWOT analysis is a strategic tool for planning and analyzing the competition
as well as opportunity for the business organization. This analysis is used as a major tool for
formulation of the brainstorming session (Sune & Gibb, 2015). Through the SWOT analysis the
major organizational changes necessary for the organization is ascertained. The change in the

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management of Microsoft through the different leadership style has helped Microsoft in
increasing the profitability besides improving the operational activities of the organization.
Advantages of SWOT analysis
The process of SWOT analysis is applicable for both individual as well as organization.
With the help of SWOT analysis, the objectives of the corporation can be supported beforehand.
Both the internal as well as external analysis of business can be ascertained through SWOT
analysis. The relevant information includes both quantitative and qualitative data, which is to be
analyzed (Emoto et al., 2016). The major benefit of SWOT is that special skills or necessary
training is not required for the analyzing the outcome. Moreover, the cost for performing the
SWOT analysis for an organization is comparatively low from the other similar analysis. The
internal staffs of the Corporation generally conduct the analysis without hiring any external staff.
Disadvantages of SWOT analysis:
The major disadvantage of SWOT analysis is that the factors cannot be rated or marked.
The significance of SWOT factors cannot be analyzed with respect to each other. As this is a
one-dimensional framework and the various factors related to the analysis of single factor cannot
be adequately analyzed. After a particular or specific time period, the data obtained to analyze
the SWOT model may become irrelevant (Pavel & Trossen, 2014). The major organizational
Changes of Microsoft Corp. has been analyzed through SWOT analysis. The detailed analysis of
the organization was not possible as through SWOT model, the factors creating an impact on the
organization cannot be adequately rated. SWOT model simplicity helps in clear understanding
of the overall aspects of the business and its various ways or factors affecting the profitability of
the organization are also determined. Microsoft Corp. organizational changes caused due to the
leadership change is analyzed through SWOT framework.

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Answer to Question 4:
Key ideas as well as conceptualizations of role of change agent in Microsoft:
 Clear vision of the organization is essential for the organization and Microsoft should
adopt it goals to communicate its vision in an efficient manner. Proper vision is the
strength for the management of leadership to attain a common purpose.
 The leadership management is vital for the Microsoft Corp. as this helps in analyzing the
consumer demands in a more effective manner that makes the overall process work
concurrently (Rafferty, Jimmieson & Restubog, 2013).
 The change management helps in generating adequate opportunities for the various
management practices that can be controlled properly through the overall process.
 A well and proper change management helps in bringing new changes in the organization
that would help in implementing new and improvised changes in the company.
 The change management is related to individual issues that are required for creating new
changes in the organization to make the business more profitable.
 Ownership creation is important to help the employees of the organization to accept such
responsibility (Chen & Wang, 2014). This would help in creating specific solutions for
such issues that is to be faced by the organization while following the similar leadership
method. The leadership teams of Microsoft Corp. have to involve themselves while
engaging in the various tasks performed by the leaders.
b)
Effective communication is vital in the respective company, Microsoft Corporation as
this would enable the firm in maintain proper connections with the various issues that is

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faced by the employees within the organization (Michel, 2014). Moreover, help to engage the
various staffs for analyzing the company’s overall success rate. This concept of change
management helps in serving adequately the new approaches to be implemented in the
company. Maintain the development of organizational culture is vital in nature as this result
in creating the overall process, productive, innovative and profitable.
Microsoft Corp. has adequately implemented its leadership change management to
help in better understanding the individual’s behaviour by making effective organizational
change. The change management initiated in Microsoft Corp. would provide high return in
investment, which would further make the necessary implementation in a faster phase. The
leadership changes adopted by Microsoft would help in increasing the proper quality of
outcome that would further clarify the various roles related with the change management in
the organization.
Proper or efficient change management is vital for the growth of the organization due
to its different advantages. Microsoft Corp. should implement the change management in the
overall organization to raise productivity (Kuipers et al., 2014). The leadership management
adopted by Microsoft would increase the efficiency of resources by clarifying various roles
and responsibilities to those individuals involved in the management change through their
relevant skills. Furthermore this provides the creative and experienced employees to bring
major changes in the business organization.
Moreover, through implementing the change management in the organization
properly it would help in reducing the activity level by the reduction in the duplication effort.
This will as a result enhance the employee’s morale and reduce the cost of retention as well

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as recruitment (Nie & Ghamami, 2013). Microsoft Corporation has adopted the leadership
change management which has resulted in the quality improvement of the outcome by
ensuring different people, processes and system will involve in the proper and appropriate
responsibilities for maintaining proper change management.
Hence, it can be concluded that efficient or proper change management is vital for the
Microsoft Corporation for increasing the overall productivity and efficiency of the
organization. This would further create a positive influence on the employee’s workload and
would bring huge impact on various departments. Quality of outcome would vary by
bringing the necessary changes as this would improve the change management through
greater realization of the various benefits (Clark, 2016). Moreover, the change management
process helps in reducing the overall issues and would help in creating appropriate and
proper level of change in the overall organization.
Answer to Question 5:
Critical analysis of dialogic and problem centric approaches to change:
The dialogic approaches in an organization provide structure planning and adequate
result oriented of the organization’s stakeholder’s dialogic (Zhang, 2016). This approaches
serves in analyzing the reality besides the organizational relationships that are socially
constructed in form. The various principles related to dialogic approaches include:
 The various organizations are adequately meaning making system.
 The various kind of languages matters in the various organization.
 Adequate transformational change is planned and emergent.
 The overall dialogic process involves different consultants.