- People and Organisations Case Study 2012-2013 Essay

- People and Organisations Case Study 2012-2013 - Essay Example With respect to the given case in point, that of Microsoft before and after the fateful year of 2006, there are a number of points that this analysis will seek to make as a means of better informing the reader as to why such a shift in outcomes were noticed within this specific year (Dodds 2011, p. 33). Whereas group work and the performance review process had previously helped to elevate the level of overall output, profitability, and performance, the firm seemed to reach a type of critical mass in which the given formula of success that had set the firm on such a path of growth and rapid development seemed to fall apart. However, it is obvious from a study of business management theory that it is not possible for a given approach to merely stop working (Hult 2012, p. 5). Instead, one must assume that key personnel factors, dynamics of business, culture, or other factors have affected the ability of the previous system to continue to promote the high level and degree of success that the firm had formerly experienced. ... As a result of the high level of emphasis on groups and the way that the performance reviews ranked these groups and their individual members, a type of opportunism developed. This opportunism is a trait that can be linked to both management theory as well as human psychology; however, for the purposes of this brief analysis, the author will focus upon the level and extent to which the emphasis on group formation, recognition, and personal performance sought to develop a type of self-interested dynamic that quickly gave way to something of an extent culture within the Microsoft organization (Maddox 2005, p. 3). The fact of the matter was that the group dynamics that had given rise to such a high level of success within the organization were the very same dynamics that eventually would prove to be a net negative. It is a well known fact that a company’s culture is not something that is developed and implemented overnight (Muller et al 1999, p. 90). Rather, it takes many years, and the actions of management to solidify. In this way, the reader can quickly infer the that the true nature of the issues associated with Microsoft, as indicated by the case study which was reviewed in writing this brief response, stem not from the fact that the individual management or organizational style which was employed was fundamentally wrong; rather, the key errors only developed many years later as a function of the negative cultural developments associated with opportunism, selfishness, and the gradual shift from operating as a true group should and seeking only to maximize a sense of personal gain from each and every situation that the members of