微軟重組只是第一步
????微軟(Microsoft)傳聞已久的重組終于到來了,接下來的問題變成了這次巨大的變革能否足以讓公司實現CEO史蒂夫?鮑爾默 “同一個微軟”的愿景。 ????重組后,這家位于華盛頓州雷德蒙德的科技巨頭旗下的各團隊將把精力集中于操作系統、應用服務、云技術和設備方面,同時還將致力于從Windows到Xbox的公司所有核心產品。幾名高管也從中受益。Windows部門的前領導朱莉?拉森?格林將成為硬件部門主管——該部門近期曾由如今社交游戲公司Zynga的CEO唐?馬特里克領導,Windows團隊則將由Windows Phone的副主管特里?邁爾森將接管。其他高管如薩蒂亞?納德拉將領導公司的云服務,Skype董事長托尼?貝茨將管理業務拓展和宣傳部門,負責公司戰略和開發業務的范圍。如此調整,鮑爾默不僅旨在讓微軟變為“設備和服務”公司——就像他去年秋天承諾的那樣,也旨在促進整個公司史無前例的合作。 ????弗雷斯特研究公司(Forrester)分析師大衛?約翰遜認為,通過這些調整,微軟在公司內部認可和獎勵了優秀的領導?!按蠊咀钪匾氖悄軌蛘喜煌I域的資源來做好事情,這就是微軟正在嘗試做的?!彼貏e以納德拉來舉例。作為微軟服務和工具部門的前總管,納德拉帶領這個年盈利190億美元的部門在最新季度使銷量提升了11%?!驹谶@之前,他還負責必應(Bing)搜索部門和廣告業務?!?/p> ????高管領導戰略公司Kotter International的執行副總裁蘭迪?奧廷格稱:“這是個開門紅,不過尚不足以實現‘同一個微軟’的目標。真正的問題是,這次重組之后,如何真正改變公司文化。重組不會改變他們的行為方式,因為多年來,他們在經營理念上一直各自為政?!?/p> ????奧廷格指的是微軟臭名昭著的“強迫排名”系統。它要求每個單位都按照一定比例給員工的表現評級:頂級、優秀、一般和糟糕。根據去年夏天《名利場》雜志(Vanity Fair)披露的公司檔案,這個機制讓員工滋生了“適者生存”的心態,最終阻礙了微軟的腳步。(一名軟件工程師回憶道,員工們花費了大量時間來準備應付半年的檢查,而不是專注于產品開發。) ????約翰遜對此表示贊同:“它對創新而言不啻于癌癥?!彼麑ν菩袕娖扰琶麢C制的首席運營官凱文?特納在這次人事變動后仍居原位表示驚訝。“一旦員工們明白,無論如何,他們當中每年都有人要遭殃,自然就會開始彼此競爭。我認為,這讓公司內部滋生了不當行為。不過顯然,史蒂夫仍然從中發現了一些價值。”(財富中文網) ????譯者:嚴匡正 |
????Now that Microsoft's long-rumored reorganization is here, the question becomes whether the massive changes are enough to achieve CEO Steve Ballmer's vision of "one Microsoft." ????Under the restructuring, teams within the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant will focus their efforts on operating systems, apps, the cloud, and devices but also contribute to all of the company's core products, from Windows to Xbox. Several top executives also benefit. Julie Larson Green, the former head of the Windows division, will now serve as hardware chief -- a role occupied recently by Don Mattrick, now Zynga (ZNGA) CEO -- with Windows Phone VP Terry Myerson running the Windows group. Others like Satya Nadella will now spearhead the company's cloud services, and Skype president Tony Bates will manage the Business Development and Evangelism group, leading corporate strategy and developer outreach. In doing so, it's not just Ballmer's aim for Microsoft (MSFT) to become the "devices and services" company he promised last fall but to also encourage unprecedented collaboration across the company. ????"The most important thing for a large company is to be able to coordinate resources across a whole bunch of different domains to get something done, and that's what Microsoft is attempting to do," explains Forrester (FORR) analyst David Johnson, who argues that Microsoft has embraced and rewarded good leaders internally with the move. He points to Nadella in particular as one example. As president of Microsoft's Server and Tools previously, Nadella led a $19 billion-a-year division that saw sales climb 11% during the company's most recent quarter. (Before that, he also ran the Bing search group as well as the advertising business.) ????"It's a great first step but won't get them to 'One Microsoft,'" says Randy Ottinger, EVP of the executive leadership strategy firm Kotter International. "The real question is what are they going to do post-reorganization to actually change the culture. The re-org will not change the way they behave and act because it's been years and years of doing business in a different way." ??? Ottinger is referring to Microsoft's notorious "forced ranking" system which mandates that every unit declare a certain percentage of employees as top performers, good performers, average, and poor. According to a revealing Vanity Fair company profile last summer, it's a program that has bred a survival-of-the-fittest mentality among many employees and ultimately slowed Microsoft down. (To wit, one software engineer recalled employees spending much of their time planning for their six-month reviews instead of focusing on product development.) ????"It's a cancer for innovation," agrees Johnson, who expressed surprise that COO Kevin Turner, the executive behind forced ranking, kept his role after the shuffle. "When employees know that someone on their team is going to take a bullet every year regardless, competition between people is a natural result. I think it fosters the wrong behavior within the company but Steve obviously still sees some value within that." |