Comprehensive Report on Work and Employment Relationship at Microsoft

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the work and employment relationship at Microsoft. It begins with an introduction highlighting the importance of a healthy employer-employee relationship and sets the stage by focusing on Microsoft as a case study. The main body delves into the value and significance of employment relationships, exploring various employment laws and how Microsoft adheres to them. It then outlines the rights, duties, and obligations of both employers and employees within the workplace, providing specific examples relevant to Microsoft's operations. A crucial aspect of the report is the stakeholder analysis, which identifies key stakeholders such as employees, owners, suppliers, and the government, and assesses their influence and interest using a power-interest grid. The report further examines the positive and negative impacts of employee relations on different stakeholders. Finally, the report concludes by summarizing the key findings and insights regarding the employment relationship at Microsoft, including recommendations for improvements to foster a more positive and productive work environment. The report emphasizes the importance of communication, grievance management, and compliance with employment legislations in fostering a healthy and productive workplace.

Work and the Employment
Relationship
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Value and importance of employment relationship and various employment laws....................3
Different types of rights, duties and obligations of employers and employees within workplace
.....................................................................................................................................................5
Stakeholder analysis for the organisation and stakeholder engagement.....................................6
Positive and negative impact of employee relations on different stakeholders...........................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
Smooth relationship between employer and employee forms the basis of the healthy
working environment in an organisation. This relationship between employer and employee is
mutual obligation of both the parties (Lansbury and et.al., 2020). Maintaining employment
relations is duty of human resource department of an organisation. To have a good understanding
of employment relations and various related concepts, Microsoft has been chosen as the case
study. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational company with its headquarters in
Washington. It is a technology company and offers computer software, consumer electronics,
personal computer and related services. This report discusses the value and importance of
employment relationships in the company as well as positive and negative of employee relations
are also covered in this report. Different rights, duties and obligations of employers as well as
employee in the company are also discussed. Stakeholder analysis of Microsoft has been
performed with a view to analyse positive contribution of positive employment relationship in
stakeholder engage.
Main Body
Value and importance of employment relationship and various employment laws
Employment relationship refers to the mutual relationship between employers and
employees. It collectively works together to form organisational culture. Active and effective
employment relations help organisation develop efficient workforce and maximise production of
the organisation (Marginson, 2016). Microsoft promotes the likes of developing safe and healthy
working conditions, monetary and non-monetary appraisals, motivating employees, etc. to
improve employee relations and create and maintain conflict free environment.
Value and importance of employment relations
Better Communication channels – Effective communication channels provides clarity of
instructions and feedbacks to employee which help them improve their productivity. HR of
Microsoft understands the importance of clear communication channels in developing good
relations with employees and has developed a clear communication channel which only provides
command instructions and encourages employees to develop creative ways to implement those
commands. This way they have been able to convert communication channels into a base for
their effective employment relations.
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Better grievance management – Organisations strive to develop effective work culture in
their organisation so that they can encourage their employees to work without any problem.
Microsoft has laid down clear code of conducts for their employees in compliance with local
laws and humanitarian grounds so that there are less conflicts and grievances among the
employees. When employees feel that their grievances are addressed properly, they feel more
committed to the company and put their best foot forward.
Employment legislations
Every organisation is subjected to certain legislations according to the law of land
(Howell, 2020). Of all those legislations, certain legislations are related to employee rights:
Employment rights Act, 1996 – This law concerns all the rights that an employer is
supposed to be providing to its employees. To ensure that all of its employees know their
employment terms, Microsoft enters into a written legal agreement with all its employees which
has clear terms like wages, working hours, duties and responsibilities, fair treatment, etc. Such
terms are not demoted against employees in normal situations which gives a sense of security to
all employees of the company.
Health and safety at work Act, 1974 – This law specifies the minimum conditions that an
employer is needed to maintain to ensure that its employees work in a safe and healthy
environment (Olsen and et.al., 2016). Microsoft has implemented adequate safety measures in its
system, not only for its employees but for all visitors, clients, associates, help-staff, etc.
Employees are provided required training before inducting them in a new process and are
allowed full freedom to develop new technologies that can help company grow.
Suggestions to improve employment relations
 Microsoft has a divisional structure. Inside, a division they follow, they follow functional
structure in their departments. They have to work in teams and it is up to team leaders to
give them task, responsibilities and authorities. Team leaders shall allow more flexibility
to their members and allow them more liberty to hone their talent and carry out routine
work differently so that they feel more aligned to company. They shall also be provided
adequate training to improve their skills.
 Microsoft has a written code of conduct and uses appraisal method to encourage and
motivate employees. They shall develop system of appraisal on the basis of performance.
They should also invite feedbacks from employees to know more about the issues they
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face at work and developments that they want in company processes. Microsoft shall
encourage competitive environment in the company which can drive employees to
perform their best to outshine others. However, competition needs to be healthy and shall
not wedge toxicity in the environment.
Different types of rights, duties and obligations of employers and employees within workplace
Workplace comprises of both employer and employee, both of which have different rights
and duties with a common goal of organisational growth and development (Thornthwaite, 2016).
Various types of rights, duties and obligations of the employers and employees at Microsoft are
below mentioned:
Rights, duties and obligations of employer
Rights – It is right of the employer that employees provide them loyalty and commitment
towards organisation. They are entitled to expect from employees that they provide them quality
work and strive to improve their customer services in favour of organisation. It is both right and
responsibility of employer to change organisational strategies and policies in mid to suit the
present business environmental conditions.
Duties – It is duty of employers to provide safe working environment and adequate
training and development opportunities to all employees of Microsoft. Also, they shall be
allowed enough freedom to develop creative processes to carry out activities. It is also a duty of
employers to motivate employees so that they can grow personally as well while carrying out
organisational objectives.
Obligations – It is legal obligation of the employer to comply with all applicable
legislations (Hebson and Rubery, 2017). For example, they have to be provided workplace free
of discrimination, harassment and abuse. They have to be paid minimum wages guaranteed by
law, cannot be made to work for more than certain hours a day and are provided all holidays
allowed. Maintaining data privacy of employees is also an obligation on employer.
Rights, duties and obligations of employees
Rights – It is the right of the employee to be provided all the facilities and emoluments
that have been promised to them in the employment contracts as well as those which are
guaranteed to them by law. They are to be provided fair opportunities to develop their personal
and professional targets. Also, their working conditions shall be conducive to work in safe and
hygienic environment.
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Duties – It is duty of employees to fulfil all the work conditions that have been
mentioned in their contracts. Employees must follow all the rules and regulations set for them by
employers. They must work in accordance with the targets set by the Microsoft company policies
for them in complete co-operation with their team mates and other colleagues. They shall also
refrain from negative groupings like favouritism and power politics within company.
Obligation - It is moral obligation of employees to be loyal to company and not leak its
confidential information to outsiders. They must work with full dedication to achieve
organisational objectives and not indulge in any activity in professional capacity that can bring
disrepute to the Microsoft. They must adhere to code of conduct prescribed by company for
employee behaviour within organisation.
Mechanisms to manage and improvise employment relationship
Establishing standards that govern employment relations in company are decided by
senior management (Johnson, Rubery and Grimshaw, 2019). All necessary professional
responsibilities and roles of employees are decided according to their designations and
organisational structure of the company. Microsoft has established and clear command chain and
communicational channels. To manage their employee relations effectively, HR department of
the company can get regular feedbacks from employees, their team-mates and team leaders
simultaneously. They can also pan out various appraisal tools and technique that will motivate
employees to perform. They can encourage healthy competition among employees and can also
organise such activities that helps employees unwind and interact with each other. This will
promote employee relations both horizontally and vertically in the company and will reduces
chances of conflicts.
Stakeholder analysis for the organisation and stakeholder engagement
Stakeholders are those individuals, groups or parties which are directly or indirectly
impacted by organisational operations. That process which facilitates their identification,
grouping and communication is referred to as stakeholder analysis. It aims to group stakeholders
in accordance to their involvement, interest and influence to find out suitable methods to
communicate with them (Wood and Horwitz, 2015). Stakeholders of Microsoft includes
employees, owners, suppliers, government, etc. Their grouping in Power-interest grid is
mentioned below:
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Figure 1Stakeholder Analysis, 2020
Keep satisfied: These are those stakeholders which have high power and high interest in
decision-making of the Microsoft such as creditors and suppliers. They have the power to affect
business operations and therefore, must be kept satisfied.
Manage closely: These are those stakeholders which have high power but low interest in
business decision-making such as government (Townsend and et.al., 2019). They have the power
but does not interfere in business operations till all the regulatory compliances are followed by
Microsoft. Therefore, they are only needed to be managed closely.
Monitor: These are those stakeholders which have low power but high interest in
business decision making such as retail investors. They have invested their money in Microsoft
and are genuinely interested in knowing business decision for the sake of safety of their money
but do not have power to influence decision-making. Therefore, they are needed to be monitored
only.
Keep informed: These are those stakeholders which have low interest and low power in
business decision-making such as employees. They are only concerned with what they have to
do and therefore, are needed to be only informed of the decisions taken by management of the
Microsoft.
Stakeholder engagement – Post grouping the stakeholders in stakeholder analysis,
management of the company indulges in communicating with the stakeholders. It helps company
in assessing their expectations from the performance of the business (Kot, Spanagel and
Belozerova, 2020). Engagement helps in gauging all those changes that management is required
to bring in their strategies to develop effective stakeholder management plan. It includes
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assessing trends in stakeholders’ activities and their impacts over the company. Based on this
assessment, company prioritises activities that it needs to take on according to stakeholder that
wields the maximum impact. Major stakeholders of Microsoft include its employees,
shareholders, customers, suppliers, creditor, owners, market, society, competitors, government,
trade unions, civil society, etc. Active stakeholder engagement would help company retain their
market leader position. It will also help company in realising opportunities that market and
societal trends are expecting and also, being a market influencer, it can start on new trends.
Engagement encourages company to comply with all business, society and legal compliances
which would also help it in saving litigation costs and boycotts of various types.
Positive employment relations – Stakeholder engagement gives management an insight as
to what changes and variations in the company processes, their stakeholders are expecting
(Tackney, 2018). This encourages company to improve its communication channels which helps
in enhancing employer-employee relations as well. Command chains are improved and various
processes are developed to improve relations with stakeholder group – employees. Microsoft is
service based products and service company and understands the importance of productive and
efficient employees for their success. Therefore, they regularly engage with their team leaders
and take feedbacks from employees to improve their organisational culture. Employment relation
programs is also affected by other stakeholders such as government which has passed various
legislations to support employees working in the company such as employment rights, safe and
healthy working environment, etc. Sales and marketing department of company is directly
connected with customers of company and to provide best customer services to its customers,
Microsoft engages in effective management of employment relations.
Positive and negative impact of employee relations on different stakeholders
Stakeholder Positive impact of employment
relationship
Negative impact of employment
relationship
Employees Developing effective employment
relationship helps management in
applying command chain effectively
(Bonau, 2018). It has helped Microsoft
in managing communication between
various levels of management
Ineffective employment relationship
results in inefficient organisational
culture which is characterised by
unclear command chain application
and poor communication channels.
All this leads to conflicts and
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effectively which further helps in
conflict management and reducing
grievances among employees.
It encourages ethical approach in
company and develops a harmonious
organisational culture. Harmony helps
employees work in co-operation with
each other which increases their
productivity as well organisational
growth opportunities.
grievances amongst employees,
seriousness of which can turn culture
of the company into negative or even
toxic (Nienhüser and Warhurst, 2018).
Microsoft must keep this in mind that
ineffective employment relationship
leads to decrease in employee
productivity which can hamper
business prospects to survive, grow
and develop.
Customers Customers’ and clients’ satisfaction
are basic for any organisation to
develop sustainably (Wilkinson and
et.al., 2018). Microsoft has been
enjoying maximum market share in
their field of services from such a long
time because of loyal customers that
trust its quality products and services.
All this is result of active and effective
employment relations management by
Microsoft management. It encourages
its employees to develop new
products, offer honest and quality
services and prompt customer
response which has helped company
manage being market leader from
decades.
Ineffective employee relationship will
result in decreased productivity and
passive customer service by the
employees. Microsoft must take that
their employment relations
management efforts never reduces
otherwise it might lead to competitive
advantage of the company turning into
its weakness, for employees would not
be clear as to what new they should
bring to the table or how to reinvent
already in market products.
Shareholders Shareholders are those who have
invested their money in capital of the
company (Williams and Scott, 2016).
So, their concern is their investment
Ineffective employment relations lead
to decrease in financial and market
performance of the business which is
not in favour of the shareholders.
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and returns on them. Microsoft has
been performing well and provides
high returns to its shareholders all
because of its productive employees,
who work with dedication to achieve
heights for the company. Active
employee management enhances
employee performance which gets
reflected in increased sales revenue
and better profit margins, all of which
are in interest of shareholders.
Ineffective employees with poor or
reduced productivity will lead to extra
pressure over the management of the
Microsoft to improve employee
performance so that business does not
suffer much (Shaw, McPhail and
Ressia, 2018). Therefore, if the
Microsoft does not want a reduction in
their innovative image, market share
and profit margins, they must not let
their guards down and should keep on
efforts to develop positive and
effective employee relations.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above report that for an organisation to be effective and on the
road to sustainable development, it needs to develop its employment relations for employees are
the performing unit for an organisation. This is one of the most important jobs that are needed to
be carried out by human resource department of a company. Provisions and strategies of building
positive employee relations are subjected to various legislations and shall be developed in
compliance of those legislations and regulations. Various duties, rights and obligations of
employers and employees stem out from those provisions. Other than employees’ development,
effective and positive employment relations helps and impact other stakeholders as well.
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Stakeholder Analysis. 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/stakeholder-analysis/#:~:text=A%20stakeholder
%20analysis%20is%20a,of%20these%20stakeholder%20groups%20throughout. >
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