Organizational Change and Leadership: A Microsoft Case Study Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Microsoft's organizational change management, focusing on the transformative leadership of CEO Satya Nadella. It examines the context of change, including the shift from a competitive to a growth-oriented culture, and the reasons behind these changes, such as adapting to industry trends and fostering employee empowerment. The report delves into the diagnostic information, applying Kurt Lewin's change management model to illustrate the unfreezing, change implementation, and refreezing stages of the transformation. It further explores the role of the change agent, highlighting Nadella's influence in shaping the organizational culture and implementing initiatives like diversity programs and employee workshops. The report also discusses the process of organizational change management, including the implementation of a growth mindset and the use of innovative projects. The analysis includes a review of the resistance to change and the various models used to implement change, such as Lewin's three-step model and Kotter's eight steps. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of change management in maintaining Microsoft's competitive edge and the crucial role of leadership in driving successful organizational transformations.

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Executive Summary
The report is based on the analysis of the ways by which change management has been able
to affect the operations of a major organization like Microsoft. The changes that had been
implemented in the organization under the leadership of its CEO Satya Nadella have been
discussed in the report in detail. The impact of the changes on the operations of Microsoft in
the highly competitive technology based industry has been analysed in report in detail. The
report has been concluded with the statement that the organization was able to maintain its
operations in the industry with the support that is provided by the CEO and the employees as
well.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
1. Context of change in the organization.......................................................................3
Reasons behind the implementation of change in Microsoft.....................................5
Diagnostic information based on the change implementation...................................6
2. Process of organizational change management process.............................................7
Role played by the change agent in the organization.................................................7
Process of the construction of change in Microsoft...................................................8
Implementation of the change management model...................................................9
Resistance provided to implementation of change...................................................10
Conclusion....................................................................................................................11
References....................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
As discussed by Agote, Aramburu and Lines (2016, p.42), change management can be
defined as an approach that is based on the ways by which an organization is able to deal with
the transformation and transition of the goals of the organization, technologies and the
processes as well. The change implementation process is considered to be highly important in
the modern business environment in order to maintain high levels of profitability
(Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015). The organization that has been taken into consideration for
analysis in the report is Microsoft. The change that has been implemented in the organization
in order to maintain its operations in a sustainable manner will be discussed in the report in
detail.
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational technology based organization that has its
origins in the US. The headquarters of the organization are located in Redmond, Washington.
The company mainly operates in the development, manufacture, licensing, supporting and
selling computer based software, personal computers and different related services as well
(Microsoft.com 2019). The operating systems that are developed and offered by Microsoft
are able to support the effective business operations of different organizations all over the
world. The flagship hardware based products that are offered by Microsoft mainly include,
Microsoft Surface lineup of the touchscreen computers and the Xbox video games as well
(Microsoft.com 2019).
1. Context of change in the organization
Microsoft is an organization that has been able to affect the technology industry in
huge manner. The CEOs have been able to play a major role in the ways by which the
organizational operations are developed and the culture of an organization formed as well.
Satya Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft has been able to bring a major change in the

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culture of the organization in the last few years. The deal that had been made by Microsoft to
acquire Nokia was not considered to be highly effective by Satya Nadella (Basole, 2016, p.
24). On the other hand, the development of Microsoft for Apple iPad was also a major step
that had been taken by the organization. The collaboration had affected the reputation of
Microsoft in a huge manner due to the development of software that will be used in the
products of the rival organization Apple (Nadella & Euchner, 2018, p.12).
Satya Nadella is a CEO who had quite different characteristics in comparison to the
previous CEOs of Microsoft. The first step that had been implemented by Satya Nadella in
order to manage his first event was based on the shortening of the height of the stage in order
to provide an image to the employees that he was a part of them. The major aim of the CEO
was to make Microsoft the most valued organization in the whole world (Binci, Cerruti &
Braganza, 2016, p.559). The share prices of Microsoft had shown a huge rise after the
appointment of Nadella as the CEO. The organization had been able to make some major
levels of acquisitions under the leadership of Satya Nadella. The CEO however aimed at
changing the direction of the organization that had more than 100000 employees. Nadella
aimed at changing the culture of the organization with the help of different decisions that
have been made by him (Cameron & Green, 2015).

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Figure 1 – Growth of Microsoft
Source – (Statista.com. 2019)
Reasons behind the implementation of change in Microsoft
The culture that was previously followed by the organization was mainly based on
high levels of competition. The performance review based system that had been developed by
Microsoft had been able to play a major role in the development of a highly competitive
environment in the organization. The scores that were provided to employees by the
managers are considered to be highly important for the development of the competition in the
organization (Cnbc.com. 2019). Microsoft had also not been able to provide support to the
operations of other organizations that are a part of its partnerships. Nadella had started taking
major steps based on the changes that can be implemented in the internal review based
process (Goodwin, 2016, p.185).

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The changes that have been applied in the physical campus has proved to be an
important step towards the improvement of the culture. The CEO had aimed at redefining the
mission of the organization in order to improve the performance levels of the employees. The
company had to be provided with an entirely new north star. The organization aimed at
providing empowerment to employees and other organizations in order to increase the levels
of achievement (Halkias et al., 2017). The major aim of the organization would be to become
a people company and not a product company. The growth mind set had been developed
within the organization in order to develop an effective cultural shift (Higgs & Dulewicz,
2016, p.77).
Diagnostic information based on the change implementation
As discussed by Agote, Aramburu and Lines (2016), the model of change
management that can be used in order to analyse the change that is implemented by Nadella
is Kurt Lewin’s change management model.
Unfreezing – The step based on unfreezing is based on the development of meetings
that were conducted by the CEO every year. The development of proper communication
process is considered to be an important factor that is able to support the operations of
Microsoft in the technology industry. The implementation of communication based processes
have been able to play a key role in the reduction of levels of resistance that were provided by
the employees (Goodwin, 2016, p.196).
Change implementation – The implementation of change is based on the
development of workshops that were based on the formation of different innovative projects.
The projects that were developed by the organization had led to many different inventions
that proved to be highly significant for the proper operations of Microsoft in the technology

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industry. The change implementation process is based on the improvement of the revenues
and profitability of Microsoft (Binci, Cerruti & Braganza, 2016, p. 600).
Refreezing – The last step of the change implementation process is based on the
methods that have been implemented by Satya Nadella in order to help the employees in
order to adapt to the changes that have taken place in culture. The development of a diversity
based culture has played a key role in the formation of the revenues of Microsoft. The
increase in levels of diversity in the organization had been able to play a major role in the
proper development of the operations in the industry (Basole, 2016, p. 25).
The implementation of Kurt’s Lewin’s change management model in changes that
have been developed by the CEO Satya Nadella has depicted that the CEO has been quite
successful in improving the organizational culture. The fast changing environment provides
pressure on the organizations in order to implement changes that can be helpful in
maintaining pace with the changing environment (Van der Voet, Kuipers & Groeneveld
2016, p.850). The cut throat competition that has been faced by the organization has also
been mitigated effectively with the help of changes that are implemented by the CEO (Al-
Haddad & Kotnour, 2015, p. 234). Change implementation and management has been able to
play a major role in the improvement of operations of Microsoft. The long term operations of
the organization are also affected by the changes that have been implemented. The CEO has
played the most significant role in implementation of the changes in different parts of the
operations that have been developed by Microsoft (Basole, 2016, p.31).

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Figure 2 – Change management model
Source - (Basole, 2016)
As discussed by Holten and Brenner (2015, p.8), the psychology based on company
culture that had been implemented by Nadella was quite different from the previously
followed values of the organization. The growth mind-set that had been formed by Nadella
had played a major role in proper development of the operations of Microsoft. The
organization has been able to develop the operations in such a manner that is considered to be
a major factor based on proper implementation of effective cultural changes (Morden, 2016).
Nadella had aimed at developing the organizational culture in such a manner that can help in
proper fulfilment of the objectives and goals. The growth mind set of the organization has
been able to play a major role in product based decisions that are made by Microsoft
(Obolensky, 2017).
As discussed by Schell (2019, p. 191), the process of continuous learning had been
implemented by Microsoft in order to develop the performance review based process. The
innovation based activities have been developed in such a manner that is related to the growth
mind set of Microsoft in the highly competitive technology based industry. The internal

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practices of Microsoft are developed with the support that has been provided by the growth
mind set of the organization (Storey, 2016, p.18).
2. Process of organizational change management process
Role played by the change agent in the organization
The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella had developed a growth mind-set that had been
implemented in order to improve the organizational operations in an effective manner.
Nadella had started the use of the augmented reality-based glasses that were mainly based on
the moon-shot based project that was based on a high risk of failure. The increase in levels of
diversity had been able to play a major role in the proper implementation of growth mind set
based activities (Van der Voet, Kuipers & Groeneveld 2016, p. 854). The levels of gender
diversity had been able to play a major role in the development of the operations of Microsoft
in the technology industry. The mistakes that had been made by the employees in their work
process had also proved to be a major learning experience of the organization (Yasir et al.,
2016).
The company has to develop the organizational processes in order to develop a
premium position in the competitive technology based industry. The number of female
workers have started increasing in the last few years due to growth mind set development by
Satya Nadella. The annual meeting that had been organized by Satya Nadella is termed as
One Week. The meetings had been organized by the CEO from the year 2014 (Van der Voet,
Kuipers & Groeneveld 2016, p. 854). The meetings are able to play a major role in the ways
by which Microsoft can manage its operations in the future. The workshops that have been
organized by Microsoft in the campus have been able to play a major role in the proper
development of different projects (Schell, 2019, p.200). The different products that are
developed with the help of the workshops include, computer based interfaces that are

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controlled by proper eye movement, artificial intelligence developed for visually impaired
people. The workshops named hackathon had been able to play a major role in the ways by
which Nadella had developed different types of innovative products (Agote, Aramburu &
Lines, 2016, p. 35).
Process of the construction of change in Microsoft
As discussed by Agote, Aramburu and Lines (2016), the operations of Microsoft had
started evolving in a huge manner under the leadership that had been developed by Satya
Nadella. The public appearance that had been made by Satya Nadella that was made in the
year 2014 had led to the proper improvement of the operations of Microsoft. Nadella had
been able to deliver in an effective manner in order to develop the operations of Microsoft in
the technology industry (Nadella & Euchner, 2018, p.12). Microsoft had thereby emerged as
an important vendor of the services based on cloud computing for challenging the big
business organizations like, Amazon Web Services. The development of an open source
based community is considered to be an important factor that had led to the development of
software by Microsoft. The rewards that are provided to the employees are considered to be
important factors that are a part of the steps taken by Microsoft (Cameron & Green, 2015).
The changes that were implemented in the organizational culture had however not
been fully supported by the employees of Microsoft. The changes that have been
implemented in the business model of Microsoft had affected the growth of the organization
in the technology based industry. The average annual growth that been gained by Microsoft
in the technology industry was around the 6.5%. The growth had started in a slow manner
and had started increasing in the next few years (Nadella & Euchner, 2018, p.12). The
organization started increasing the levels of push that had been provided to different new
devices that are offered to the customers. The development of a learning culture had been
able to play a major role in the ways by which Nadella had been able to transform the culture

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of the organization (Cameron & Green, 2015). Nadella provided major levels of importance
to the development of soft skills that are helpful in the proper fulfilment of different
objectives based on future organizational operations. The fast movement of the marketplace
and the environment had affected the changes that have been developed in the organizational
culture (Cnbc.com. 2019).
Ways by which readiness of change has been created
The readiness of change has been created by the CEO or leader of Microsoft Satya
Nadella by providing information to the employees based on changes that will be
implemented in the culture. The cultural changes have been developed by Satya Nadella by
holding meetings on a periodic basis in order to include them in the change management
process (Nadella & Euchner, 2018, p. 13).
Resistance provided to implementation of change
The change implementation process developed and implemented under the leadership
of Satya Nadella is considered to be a major step that is based on the ways by which the
organization has increased its revenues and position in the industry. The leader or the CEO of
the organization has improved the culture of the organization in order to improve the work
environment that has been formed in Microsoft (Basole, 2016, p.30). The innovation levels in
the organization have also been increased in a successful manner with the support that is
provided by different activities of the CEO of Microsoft. The communication in the
organization has also been enhanced in order to develop the position of Microsoft in the
highly competitive business environment by (Agote, Aramburu & Lines, 2016, p. 35).
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that the process of change management has
played a major role in the proper development of the operations of Microsoft. Satya Nadella