Transformational crisis management in organization development: the case of talent loss at Microsoft

Citation

Keeffe, M.J. (2009), "Transformational crisis management in organization development: the case of talent loss at Microsoft", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 17 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2009.04417cad.010

Transformational crisis management in organization development: the case of talent loss at Microsoft

Article Type: Abstracts From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 17, Issue 3

Keeffe M.J. and Darling J.R.Organization Development Journal (USA), Winter 2008, Vol. 26 No. 4, Start page: 43, No. of pages: 16

Purpose - Discusses management of a talent-loss crisis at Microsoft. Design/methodology/approach - Submits that crises can be seen as opportunities, emphasizes that the key factor is to recognize an approaching crisis, and uses the term transformational crisis management to indicate seeing, and management of, crises as opportunities. Differentiates between leadership and management, sees managers as controllers of resources, procedures and routines, and leaders as communicators, people co-ordinators and organizational guides, assigns primary responsibility for crisis management to leaders, but recognizes that managers can also be leaders dependent on how they understand and carry out their responsibilities. Documents Microsoft’s loss of software engineers to other companies such as Google and Yahoo, traces change in Microsoft’s corporate culture to one of professional bureaucracy, notes Microsoft’s focus on personal computers, operating systems and web-browsers, compares this to the view of software engineers that the Internet presents more opportunities for technological innovation, and refers to Microsoft employees’ internal communications indicating that the organization has become more bureaucratic since the departure of Bill Gates. Lays out four phases of a crisis, i.e. preliminary, acute, chronic and resolution, asserts that Microsoft’s talent crisis is entering the acute phase, and advises Microsoft managers to make contingency plans, think creatively, communicate with stakeholders, limit bureaucratic work, consider the self-actualization needs of talented individuals, and devise plans to recruit talented people currently studying at colleges and universities. Originality/value - Suggests that Microsoft’s talent crises could, through a ripple effect, initiate further crises.ISSN: 0889-6402Reference: 38AA679

Keywords: Experts, Human resource management, Microsoft, Organizational development, Recruitment, Retention, Software engineering