Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational organization that manufacturers and develops computer products and provides computer services. In addition, the organization licenses and supports different kinds of computer products and services. The company headquarters are located in Redmond Washington, united states. The company was established in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft is the biggest software maker in the world based on revenue. The organization is also the most valuable firm globally.
The organization was set up to develop basic interpreters for Altair 8800 and also sell them. The organization dominated the personal computer operating system market in the mid 1980s after manufacturing MS DOS. Also, the development of the Microsoft windows operating systems gave the company a competitive advantage unlike other organizations in the industry. The company has diversified its market since 1990 from operating systems as it has made several corporate acquisitions. The company acquired Skype technologies in 2011 at a cost of $8.5 billion. This is considered the biggest acquisition that the company has made. Microsoft has dominated the PC operating system market and office suite market up to date.
The Microsoft office has enabled the company to remain the leader in the office suite market. Moreover, Microsoft produces a vast range of software for servers and desktops. It has also ventured in other areas like internet search by creating its search engine the Bing. Additionally, it has expanded into the videogame industry as it offers Xbox console and Xbox. It also operates in other markets like the digital service industry and mobile phones industry. The company offers MSN services and windows phone operating system to customers in the industry. The company planned to venture into the PC vendor industry in 2010 by launching the Microsoft surface tablet computer (Microsoft, 2012).
Microsoft has performed well financially since it was founded in 1975. The company revenue in 2012 was $73.72 billion. The operating income and net income in 2012 were $21.76 billion and $16.97 billion. The total asset and equity in 2012 were $121.2 billion and $66.36 billion. In order to understand the organizations operating environment one has to use different perspectives of organizational theory. Examples of perspectives used to study organizations like modernism, post modernism and symbolic- interpretivism. The symbolic- interpretivism and modernism will be used to study Microsoft organizational environment in the final project. Modernists believe that knowledge is what one is able to know using the five senses.
The modernism perspective gives the researcher an opportunity to gather data using the five senses. Using the modernism perspective will make it easy to collect data using the five senses by examining the internal and external environment of the organization. The symbolic-interpretivism will be useful in the final project. This perspective has expanded the definition of reality to incorporate experiences outside the five senses such as emotions and intuitions. As an investigator, I will examine forces and threats in the organizational environment based on the current condition. The symbolic interpretivism perspective gives one a chance to examine each situation based on the current condition (Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006).
In symbolic interpretivism one attempt to understand how organization operates and what characteristics of the organizational structures help the organization maintain its standards. Symbolic interpretivism in the organization is aimed at getting first hand knowledge. That is lived concepts, intentions and meaning through the involvement of the investigator in daily activities of the organization (Hatch, 1997).
The two perspectives differ greatly in terms of research methodology. The symbolic- interpretivism and modernism differ when it comes to data collection methods. In symbolic interpretivism, I will be able to collect qualitative data by studying the organization. I will use different methods to collect qualitative data like interviews and observation. Unstructured interviews will be effective in collecting data as they do not limit the participants when providing responses. Also, observation method is important in gathering data from the participants. The modernism perspective employs quantitative method.
The quantitative method allows the investigator to gather quantitative data. The data obtained is analyzed using statistical methods. The investigator is able to show the relationship between variables. Quantitative methods are used in data collection such as questionnaires. There are two kinds of questionnaires that can be used such as closed and open questionnaires (Michael, 1996).
There are various variables that contribute to a firm’s effectiveness. Organizational culture contributes a lot to the effectiveness of an organization. Organizations that have a strong organizational culture perform better than organizations that do not. This is because the organizational culture influences employee values, beliefs and their performance. This in turn affects the organizational performance. Also, the organizational structures determine the effectiveness of an organization.
Organizations that have good organizational structures perform excellently than those that do not have. The organizational structures influence employee performance differently. Poor structures influence the employee performance negatively and thus the overall organizational performance and vice versa (Shafritz & Ott, 1996)..
Reference
Hatch,M.J.(1997).Organization Theory. Oxford University Press
Hatch, M. J., & Cunliffe, A. L. (2006). Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
Michael, O. J. (1996). Social Science. Studying organizational Symbolism. University of California.
Microsoft.(2012). Welcome to Microsoft . Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx on 30/07/2012
Shafritz, M. J. & Ott, S. J. (1996). Classics of organization theory. Harcourt Brace CollegePublishers.
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