In 2013, Microsoft recognized that the company would have to make some fundam...
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In 2013, Microsoft recognized that the company would have to make some fundamental changes to compete in an industry that rewards fast-paced innovation. At the time, there were several product groups at Microsoft that not only operated in silos, but also viewed each other as competitors for resources and bonuses. An engineer on a product team in one division might discover something that could be useful in another division's product, but there was no incentive for the engineer to share what was learned with the other product team. To address this problem, and to promote teamwork across the organization, Microsoft replaced the product groups with four broad divisions based on functions that absolutely need to collaborate to get anything done. For example, a team responsible for developing a new Xbox would now likely include engineers from the devices and studio engineering division, the operating systems division, the applications division, and the cloud division. To support Microsoft's new structure and emphasis on teamwork, the company redesigned two buildings at corporate headquarters. The corridors and private offices that once filled these buildings were completely torn out. Now the buildings are filled with large open shared rooms called neighborhoods, which teams can customize using stipends provided by the company. There are smaller "focus" rooms and cozy alcoves that employees can use when privacy is needed, but there are no private offices. The buildings are light and airy, and are decorated with art and interesting objects that encourage employees to walk around and to meet and communicate. Rather than e-mailing, employees are encouraged to engage with each other in person and to connect in ways that are more spontaneous and rich. Employees who may have never met face-to-face may run into each other at one of the coffee bars and discover they're working on similar projects. Of course, the redesigned buildings may present the company and its employees with certain challenges. For example, some employees likely have a strong preference for privacy, or may be bothered by the distractions and interruptions from teammates. As another example, limited private space may make it less likely that employees speak up and challenge others on the team for fear that conflict will be exposed. Finally, because employees play an important role in the design and development of their neighborhoods, they may not be as open to changing teams as projects evolve and the needs of the company change.
How is the building redesign is likely to influence process gain and process loss in the teams at Microsoft?How are the changes at Microsoft have likely influenced team states?What are the advantages and disadvantages of the building redesign with respect to communication? What can be done to mitigate potential disadvantages?
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Answer & Explanation
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The building redesign would encourage employee interaction as they will have the ability to see each other and inquire on the ares that they need more information. This increases more efficiency on the way these teams conduct their operations something that leads to high productivity meaning that there will be process gain. In terms of the process loss, the building redesign reduces the privacy levels that some of the employees require in order to be productive. This therefore means that the building redesign would have created some inefficiencies to them and this may lead to discomfort in how they work something that may affect their productivity levels negatively.
Step-by-step explanation
The changes at Microsoft have influenced team states positively. This is because the redesign of the building to incorporate all the employees in one area without restrictions increases efficiencies in these teams. This is because team members would have the ability to easily access each other and work together when accomplishing various tasks. The redesign also brings team members together and this creates unity in these teams. A united and collaborative team has the ability to achieve it's set goals and objectives given the fact the the united team efforts by each members makes it possible for team to achieve it's set tasks.There are various advantages and disadvantages with respect to the building redesign. One advantage is that the building redesign enables easier communication among team members and among the company's employees in general. This is because it removes the restrictions that were in place that would have hindered communication among employees and the concentration of all the employees in one open place makes it easy for the employees to communicate among each other. The other advantage is that employees will have easy access to their supervisors or the upper management. This will make it easy for them to communicate anything that requires the attention of the management easily something that increased the efficiency of the processes in the company.There are also disadvantages related to this, one disadvantage is that there is no privacy to communication. Given that employees work in one open place, communicating some issues that may only require the attention of only a few members may be a challenge and this may create a hindrance in the efficient execution of the team's strategy. The other disadvantage is distraction. Given that all the employees are working in one open place, various teams discussing their issues may distract each other leading to decreased productivity something that may affect the company negatively. Mitigating potential disadvantages can be easy, all the company has to do is to create confiscated areas where teams that require privacy can work in and discuss their issues privately. These areas can also be effective when it comes to the employees that require privacy in order to be effective and productive. By doing this the company would have solved the issue of distraction as well as creating an open space ideal for teams to work in.
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