Microsoft Secrets

Categories: Secrets

In the book Management by Don Hellriegel and John Slocum (1996), decision-making is defined as the “process of defining problems, gathering information, generating alternatives, and choosing a course of action. ” Managers and leaders, and even employees themselves, are faced with the task of making decisions for their companies everyday. In Microsoft Corporation, the middle managers who are proximate to the production line and clients as well that their area of responsibility would encounter.

Microsoft’s unit managers are specially chosen because they are “sufficiently competent” to be left alone without in-depth directions from higher management (Cusumano & Selby, 1995).

According to Michael Cusumano and Richard Selby (1995), in their book Microsoft Secrets, these middle managers need to be equipped with the ability to “respond quickly to new opportunities and threats. ” Microsoft’s view on decision-making is greatly influenced by employee empowerment.

This is what the company practices as people share in the decision-making authority with subordinates. This is very much a process called participative leadership (Gitman, 2005).

Get quality help now
Bella Hamilton
Bella Hamilton
checked Verified writer

Proficient in: Secrets

star star star star 5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

avatar avatar avatar
+84 relevant experts are online
Hire writer

It creates greater commitment among the employees by giving them a sense of “ownership and responsibility” (Gitman, 2005). This is what makes Microsoft flexible and ever adaptive to change. Microsoft Secrets author posed the question to Bill Gates to reveal the key principles behind his company’s product development.

What the author wrote was the Number ten and eleven in his list which specified that these are “Managers who both create the product and make the technical decisions,” and “Quick decision making on technical-versus-business trade offs. ” Indeed, Microsofts’ management is characterized as technically knowledgeable and the managers are in complete understanding of the technicalities of the products since they were former programmers and product developers.

Get to Know The Price Estimate For Your Paper
Topic
Number of pages
Email Invalid email

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy. We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

"You must agree to out terms of services and privacy policy"
Write my paper

You won’t be charged yet!

The other statement refers to Gate’s emphasis on instantaneous decision-making in his company.

Unit managers are required to decide fast if there are questions about both technical and business areas. Since most of Microsoft’s managers were former programmers whose expertise mainly lies in IT, CEO Steve Ballmer assigned the company’s Management Development Group (MDG) to conduct a series of workshop among the unit managers. The idea was to hone these technical people into future leaders as well. Thus, the workshops also contained training for goal setting as well as strategy implementation (Cummings & Worley, 2004).

Updated: Oct 10, 2024
Cite this page

Microsoft Secrets. (2020, Jun 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/microsoft-secrets-new-essay

Microsoft Secrets essay
Live chat  with support 24/7

👋 Hi! I’m your smart assistant Amy!

Don’t know where to start? Type your requirements and I’ll connect you to an academic expert within 3 minutes.

get help with your assignment