In this assignment, use the Agnihotri (2021) case and resources provided for synthesizing your learning of the change management models (below) and the transformative experiences of the current CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella.
Satya Nadella assumed the CEO role at Microsoft in 2014 when the company was experiencing the adverse effects of a mature business – in the PC sector, its operating system business, and its office productivity software tools. Continuing the then current business model would make Microsoft irrelevant, leading to further declines in its once-vaunted businesses and technologically obsolete. Microsoft needed a new strategic vision and strategic management, innovative technological advances, new businesses, and a culture of innovation and collaboration.
Enter the new CEO of Microsoft. His charter was to transform Microsoft, and he did so through leading, building, and marshaling all resources around a shared vision.
Case Questions
Please ignore the case questions at the end of the case.
– Evaluate the severe challenges leadership faces in an industry that is continually facing disruptive /rapid dynamic competitive changes. Use Denning (2016) and Kotter (2012) in your analysis.
– What are the hallmarks of transformative leaders and how do they overcome institutional resistance to transformative changes? Use Scott 2022) in your analysis.
– When taking on the position as CEO of Microsoft, Mr. Nadella asks a critical question for himself, “what would be lost if Microsoft just disappeared?” We had to answer for ourselves, “what is the company about? Why do we exist?” (Whittinghill (2020)) In your analysis connect these questions and the effort to answer them with Kotter’s steps for successful change management and the hallmarks of transformative leadership.
– Use the financial data provided in Statista spread to analyze the scope and depth of the changes in the business model at Microsoft.
– Kotter (2012) enjoins leaders in hierarchical organizations to build networks of “guiding collaborations”. Can you see evidence of this type of collaboration in Nadella leadership process and for changing organizational culture?
– In the concluding section, address the importance that Mr. Nadella ascribes to an organizational culture of empathy. What leadership style /practice makes this aspect a core element? Does this emphasis encourage people and resources to work across the boundaries of organizations and departments to create sustainable transformations?
Case and Additional Resources
Agnihotri, A., & Bhattacharya, S., (2021). Satya Nadella: Leading Microsoft’s growth. In SAGE Business Cases. SAGE Publications, Ltd., https://sk-sagepub-com.ezproxy.library.berkeley.org/cases/satya-nadella-leading-microsofts-growth
Whittinghill, J (Fall 2020). In First Person: Satya Nadella. SHRM Executive Network.https://www.shrm.org/executive/resources/people-strategy-journal/fall2020/pages/in-first-person.aspx
Report Guidelines
Paper must be in APA style.
You must demonstrate your learning of the assigned resources. Draw from your assigned readings and utilize quality reference sources. In other words, don’t just offer ‘armchair theories’ or ‘off-the-cuff opinions’ that cannot be supported by solid evidence from leadership literature.
You must include in-text citations and a WORK CITED page consistent with the APA style.
