Daniah Gama
Amena Gehlan
Rawan Tammar
Leenn Ajam Oghli
University of Dubai
Yaprak Anadol
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Microsoft, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, is a multinational corporation that is well known for its remarkable software products such as Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. Microsoft is a very substantial company. The company tends to build, create, license, and produce many different types of software, computers, and electronics. Microsoft is everywhere all across the globe. The company’s headquarters is in Redmond, Washington, United States. Many individuals in their everyday life use Microsoft. For example, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Xbox, and much more are used by many individuals.
Whether it is college students, professors, employees, managers, or individuals that enjoy gaming, seemingly, Microsoft targets more than one market consumer segment at the same time with different products and services. For example, a demographic segment is where they attract and target based on gender, education, and employment. Behavioral segments are where they target individuals who are motivated, ambitious, and work efficiently. Microsoft wants to have loyal customers, and they managed to succeed at that.
Microsoft designs their products in a way that makes them accessible and easy to use and understand; they avoid complexity as they want their customers to use their products and services freely. Currently, Microsoft is known to be one of the largest software producers and a valuable and cherished company, as the company itself is very well appreciated by many individuals. Microsoft's corporate social responsibility is “to serve globally the needs of communities and fulfill our responsibilities to the public.”
Microsoft has a strong responsibility to provide the best technology out there that benefits all types of people worldwide with the most accessible access. Microsoft believes in helping and supporting the world with its strong technology by acknowledging many of the world’s challenges. Microsoft focuses on four main key areas in which technology can grant and help humanity, the future, and the planet.
The first key role is to support inclusive economic opportunity that applies to all countries, communities, all types of business, and every individual, no matter who they are—the second key role in protecting fundamental rights. Microsoft supports human and fundamental rights with the help of technology that has a positive impact. This includes defending democracy as their technology was designed to help prevent any hacking from occurring and falsified information and, most importantly, safeguard the privacy of the individuals. Moreover, Microsoft is acting upon racial injustice and inequality.
The third key role is committing to a sustainable future, so they took climate change into consideration to develop goals for a better perceived sustainable future. Microsoft set some impressive and highly motivated goals to be achieved within years. One of their goals is that by 2030 they aim to be carbon negative from their own emissions, supplies, and value chains. By 2050 they are aiming to be carbon-free as they will be removing all carbon from the environment that the company has produced.
Finally, the fourth key role is to earn the trust of their stakeholders, from consumers to students to governments to managers. Microsoft commits to ease people’s lives, have privacy, security, and transparency.
Microsoft is an innovative company by nature. It is constantly adapting to new projects and technological breakthroughs through its innovation development hub. The company provided a home for many scientists and knowledge seekers to exercise their expertise and bring scientific and engineering projects to life. The Innovation Developer Hub includes many interesting stories; however, the most relevant to this time that we found was the Microsoft Premonition. It is a robotics network that can detect potential pathogens and disease-carrying animals before they cause an outbreak. In the linked interview, we gain insight into the company’s culture and how they can execute such crucial projects.
During our conversation with Mr. Abdullah Jalees, we found out that Microsoft runs its daily activities because of the creative and innovative projects that are executed and modified by their teams. The company takes every opportunity and idea into consideration and provides its teams with the creative freedom that does not go unnoticed. Mr. Abdullah expressed his gratitude to the company by saying, “Microsoft takes those ideas that you once had as only a thought in your mind, and brings them to life; you see them in the store, online, and in the streets.” This is a major highlight for employees in the company as it makes them feel engaged and appreciated, which increases their sense of connectedness to the company and the work they put into it.
Furthermore, Microsoft has a diverse company culture that accepts people from all over the world. This means that the company promotes an accepting environment where discrimination is not only unacceptable but also frowned upon. Microsoft promotes an inclusive image, where every person is accepted no matter where they are from or their skin color. The company is also trying to eliminate the stigma around people of determination by allowing them to join the team and work in retail stores where their skills are noticed and appreciated. Another important point we observed during our interview is how the company eliminated the idea of a traditional office.
There is no check-in and check-out system in the company or a set of working hours that an employee is required to fill. Employees are expected to come into the office, do what they have to for the day, and leave. Their creative input is what the company is looking for, not their physical presence. This way, the company ensures the mental relief and happiness of their employees, which boosts the employee's efficiency and productivity. The company caters to the employee's needs by allowing them to work independently to put out the most efficient work possible.
Microsoft enforces an expressive environment by getting rid of the traditional office practices that limit the employee’s sense of individuality and creativity. This is especially important as it strengthens the quality of life for their employees and society on a bigger scale. If you achieve happiness at work, you promote happiness outside of work. We learned that Microsoft is launching innovative projects and innovative ideas that promote a more positive life through our conversation.
At Microsoft, inspiration and innovation go hand in hand. As a company, Microsoft treats its employees as they are the company’s greatest asset, which helps all employees be innovative, inspired to work and work seamlessly among the teams. Microsoft started by moving the whole organization toward a digital workplace to have an interconnected and integrated digital workday environment, to provide the employees with the most productive experience to keep them inspired. Employees collaborate and communicate openly in a team’s mindset, making them more productive and more inspired. Teams use the Microsoft Team software as an example to help in collaboration among the teams. Additionally, the work environment is flexible, and employees don’t have to only work from their desks, and as long as they are done with their work, they are free to go. This work environment creates innovative ideas and inspires workers to work more without feeling confined.
People who have worked at Microsoft have had an excellent experience with this company. Microsoft is one of the world’s top companies. Yet, they provide you with the best working environment and make you feel at home because the company feels that the more the employees are comfortable, the better their thinking ability and the company will be benefitted. The company treats all employees equally, and equal opportunities are given to them to bring their ideas forward. Once those ideas get approved, the employees get to see their own ideas, which were once just a thought in their mind, on the website of the world’s top companies.
The company also discourages discrimination and encourages equality for all employees. The firm gives people who are even physically challenged equal opportunities. This shows that Microsoft's social environment is excellent, and the people who have worked there for a very long time say that Microsoft stands for the anti-discrimination firm. People worldwide are working in the firm, but the firm has never discriminated against people based on their ethnicity, creed, color, or religion.
The roles that each employee is given is purely based on each employee’s skills. Employees feel really relaxed and happy while working at Microsoft because there is no traditional working hours or a specific dress code. Microsoft encourages employees to respect each other based on what work they do and not on what they wear. When all companies worldwide adapt to flexible working hours and no dress code and actually start implementing it, people will spend more time doing what they love, which relaxes them.
Microsoft inspires other companies and businesses to have a good working environment and fight against discrimination regarding what role is to be given to whom and who can work with whom. Microsoft also inspires other companies to give all employees equal opportunities and facilitate them in every way possible so that they benefit the company and add value to the company. There is no check-in and check-out system at Microsoft. You have to perform your duties, and that is it; you are done and can go back home. Employees say that this is really beneficial for them because they can be mentally happy and satisfied and spend time with their families.
This is also beneficial for the company as the employees won’t be overburdened. They can relax, which will boost their creativity and efficiency, ultimately adding value to the business. Especially in the current situation of pandemic, the traditional working hours are not convenient for people. Even when the pandemic is over, all companies should encourage flexible working hours and work-from-home concept. The working hours should suit the employee's need because the employee won’t be mentally at peace; his/her input would drastically drop, which is not good for the company.
Microsoft in Japan implemented a three-day weekend system, and they have already seen a significant boost in productivity. If a company has a culture of making their employees work 9 hours straight and the employee goes back home and has more work to complete, the employee will ultimately become frustrated as he/she will not have time for family, friends, or himself/herself. This will ultimately affect the effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of the firm. Microsoft believes in green management and has taken several measures to conserve the environment. Microsoft introduced pens that could be used with laptops, just like the stylus. The reason to introduce such a thing was to stop the tree cutting to save the environment. Microsoft’s vision is to be as eco-friendly as possible and encourages other firms to do the same as well.
Microsoft Company had achieved many social and environmental benefits. First, Microsoft went as carbon neutral since 2012 across the world and hoping to commit to carbon zero by the end of 2030. Through their sustainable business practices, they are trying to promote low carbon businesses globally to benefit the environment. Microsoft also promotes sustainability and corporate social responsibility and is considered to have the best reputation for CSR.
The company donated around 1.5 billion dollars’ worth of services and software to non-government organizations all around the world, and the company also donated 30 million dollars in cash to companies that are engaged in serving refuges; Microsoft also provided education for young people in computer science to help them be ready for future jobs, also Microsoft has undertaken several projects in Africa to help empower communities and find more self and work growth.
Microsoft also follows environmental policies to protect and sustain natural resources by using digital technology to increase the company’s sustainability. Moreover, all the products, devices, and services Microsoft makes are made sustainably, and they design everything using eco-friendly materials. Additionally, Microsoft Company follows several environmental principles such as using recycled and reusable materials when making products and devices, and reducing and trying to eliminate waste by reusing materials and responsibly sourcing raw materials.
Microsoft benefits society by treating its employees well. This leads to employees being more motivated to work hard, which will reflect in their personal life. If other businesses adapted to Microsoft’s work environment, society would be happier, and people would feel more empowered and inspired to work. This social benefit of Microsoft is what makes it different and more unique than other companies.
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Abdullah Jalees, Marketing Executive, Retail Sales and Marketing
Microsoft, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, is a multinational corporation that is well known for its remarkable software products such as Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. Microsoft is a very substantial company. The company tends to build, create, license, and produce many different types of software, computers, and electronics. Microsoft is everywhere all across the globe.