Hrm 310 - Reasons for Change

Reasons for Change

HRM 310

May 10, 2016

Reasons for Change

Change in an organization is imperative to keep up with innovation, technology, public demand, and to have an advantage over the competition. Microsoft is known for innovation and constant change with technology and products. However, some changes, when occurring all too often, can cause negative issues of their own. The article for Microsoft’s reorganization in 2013 discusses the changes needed, the reasons for a change, and the sources that affected the change and can affect several companies to consider reorganization.

Article Summary

Microsoft has reorganized business operations several times in the last decade, and in the article by Goldman (2013), Microsoft is focusing on aligning the company’s “structure with its new corporate strategy” (p.1). The needed changes include the creation of a new structure focused on devices and services, hardware, applications, and web services. The intention is to create online services and applications that work on all devices with multiple Microsoft products. The reorganization will also include several internal groups working together, rather than competing with one another as in the past. The article also discusses the changes in management as a regular occurrence causing morale issues and creating frustration when projects are put on hold or discontinued each time a new manager starts. Also mentioned are the reasons corporate leaders feel change is necessary, but others say that pushing the reset button all the time is just an endless process (Goldman, 2013, p.3).

Needed Changes

Microsoft’s need for change is continuous, but not always clearly consistent. Being a market leader in innovation, Microsoft needs to keep up with the high demand for changes and innovation, especially as quickly as the competition is in creating its own. The company agrees that change is important and the company’s plan to change business structures many times over future years will continue, especially as “times change, and Microsoft has to change with it” (Goldman, 2013, p. 2). Microsoft has made a patterned history of change starting in 2002 with a new corporate structure, 2005 through 2010 the company made several business structure changes, and in 2011 Microsoft changed its marketing business structure. The need for change, this time, seems positive, but with the history of management changes, halted projects, and lowered morale, the company could use some better planned, and more clear consistency.

Reasons for Change

One of the reasons