LEADERSHIP STRATEGY

CASE ANALYSIS – FINAL ASSESSMENT

F21003 – AJAY R
1.What was Nadella's diagnosis of the problems at Microsoft?
Initially the problem with the company was they had stopped following their core
values like innovation. On the other hand, the company’s employees were afraid
to give out their best ideas because of internal management politics. They felt the
company’s internal employee appraisal system is biased as well as ineffective.
Another important problem was employee’s attitude towards the company. They
were eyeing on career growth or climbing the ladder rather than contributing to
the organization. Then a tidal wave of external competition slammed into the
company. By 2004, several of Microsoft's most talented workers had left due to
the rapid expansion of startup companies like Google. They are abandoning ship
faster than they can be replaced. The product development process at Microsoft
was slow. Following that, "People realized" when the tech bubble crashed and the
stock price remained flat. "They were never going to get rich," a former senior
executive said. "They morphed into people attempting to climb the corporate
ladder," says the author. Companies like Google, on the other hand, were paying
their staff well. Satya Nadella, wanted to understand the problems from the roots
and he made an interesting attempt to solve this plight of Microsoft.
2.What actions did he take to address the problems and reposition Microsoft
using Carol Dweck's idea of a growth mindset?
Nadella announced a new company mission at Microsoft's global sales
conference in Orlando in July 2015: "To empower every person and every
organization on the earth to achieve more."
He talked about his children and what it was like for him and his wife, Anu, to
learn about each of their specific needs. He also discussed how to live in a
"dynamic learning culture" that is founded on a growth attitude. "It's about each
of us having that mentality – that mindset – of being able to overcome any
constraint, stand up to any obstacle, allowing us to grow and, by extension, the
firm to grow."
His wife had given him Carol Dweck's best-selling book Mindset: The New
Psychology of Success in early 2015, which she had found helpful in thinking
about how to create conditions for success for one of their daughters with learning
disabilities. People who have a fixed mindset are more prone to adhere to things
that require abilities they've already mastered rather than risk embarrassment by
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failing at anything new, according to the hypothesis. People who are committed
to personal development make it their mission to master new skills, knowing that
they will fail at some of them at first.
For this he formulated three key elements, namely:
a) Finding an idea that resonates with the people
b) Being committed towards the process
c) Be a part of the transformation
Also in an offsite meeting, Nadella gathered a culture cabinet to make sure the
transformation is effective. As a result, fresh ideas came forward like customer
obsession, diversity and inclusion etc. Final result was “Microsoft actually
became ONE”.
3.How would you describe Nadella as a leader? Discuss his leadership traits
and style(s) of leadership you observe?
Nadella is also a believer in the growth mindset theory, which focuses on how
people and teams can grow and prosper rather than what is holding them back.
He believes that success, or critical learnings, may be found in any setting because
of this mindset. In an email to Microsoft staff, he said that a growth mindset
culture "needs us to genuinely comprehend and share the feelings of another
person.
Key Characteristics:
a) Clarity
b) Energy
c) Success mindset
Result:
In 2014, Satya Nadella became the new CEO of Microsoft. The stock price of the
mega-corporation had stalled at the time, as mobile technology eroded the
dominance of traditional PCs, while Apple and Google reaped record profits. By
no means was Microsoft losing money, but it was on the verge of losing some of
the clout it had gained over the previous three decades.
On the technology front, Nadella stated right away that he intends to focus mobile
and cloud. "From day one, he issued a proclamation—the world is cloud first,
mobile first," Microsoft Chairman John Thompson remarked. "He never once
mentioned Windows.
Alongside this critical change in item center, Nadella additionally set assumptions
around how he needed the Microsoft administration culture — and, hence, the
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way of life of the association — to move. He put a deliberately more prominent
accentuation on sympathy, individual strengthening, inspiration, and
development.
Supposedly, Nadella's systems have more than paid off. Today, Microsoft has
filled in esteem by $250 billion and is the world's fourth-most significant
organization.
4.What additional challenges do you expect Nadella to face?
The road ahead for Satya Nadella's leadership depends on the team’s agility to
change according to the dynamics of industry as well as the business
environment. These people often get influenced by anchoring bias and the
possibility of such individuals sticking on to past behaviours is high. Nonetheless,
forming alliances strategically is very important, and this process can lead to the
old toxic internal politics back in the workplace. Therefore, the main challenges
for Satya Nadella's new ideologies are that a good chunk of the employees may
not be that welcoming for the ideas of the CEO. It is his duty to make sure that
the company is following the ‘learn it all’ strategy rather than being complacent
or ‘know it all’. Satya Nadella's contextual investigation shows how an authority
style zeroed in on development outlook, and client relations can address basic
working environment issues, for example, those accomplished at Microsoft.
Nadella's residency as CEO of Microsoft significantly began with various
hierarchical issues that affected the organization's presentation. The principle
issues were working environment governmental issues, absence of satisfactory
worker joint efforts, question, absence of responsibility, and the plan of action,
which zeroed in on understanding rather than client relations. His authority style
rehashed the organization the board strategies, thusly re-establishing the
assurance and trust in the association. The centrality of the progressions is
exhibited by the expanded deals and development which happened after Nadella
was designated CEO.