Organizational Structure of Microsoft

Organizational Structure of


Brittney Marksberry
Kelly Cooke
Cayela Young
Ace Clark
Juliana Barber As of 2010 Microsoft has a divisional organization. Each division, or product group focuses on a specific line of goods and services. Microsoft Staff 1978 http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/microsoft Interactive organizational chart for Microsoft Disadvantages of Division Structure Advantages of Division Structure Each group has its own R&D, Sales, and Customer Service Staff. Customer Service Customer Service R&D Sales Customer Service R&D Sales R&D Sales Customer Service R&D Sales Customer Service R&D Sales Entertainment & Devices Microsoft Business Online Services Server Software Windows & Live Windows Steve Ballmer Similar to Product Structure
More customer focus
Reduce functional duplication
Easier cross-product coordination Some redundancy among groups
Can be expensive
Can create coordination difficulties between corporate and division objectives Two factors which help managers decide how to structure an organization:

1. External environment
2. Corporate strategy Original Structure Would you have invested? The original organizational structure of Microsoft was Functional.

The company started with only 11 positions and continued to expand over the years. Flat Structure Tall Structure Businesses usually start flat and gradually
expand to a tall organization. Why businesses move from flat to tall

Implementing and managing flat structures can be challenging

Narrow Span of Control

Job Complexity

Greater Coordination Flat organizations function better

So why not stay flat?

Product/service gets complicated

Must have strong managers

Non routine tasks

Business starts to become more stable The name originated as Micro-Soft

3 original employees

First generated revenue was $16,000

Bill Gates wanted to create a "family" work environment

Five Factors to Success History of Microsoft's Structure
1974-1990 If you were Bill Gates what would you do?

Co-founder
Project Manager
1st Technical Writer
Bookkeeper
Office Manager
Co-founder
Production Manager
1st Employee Programmer
3 Additional Programmers

1991: E 8,226 REV $1,843,432,000 Expanded to Dubi-5 employees

1992: E 11,542 REV $2,758,725,000

1993: E 14,430 REV $3,752,701,000 3/23/93 Microsoft announced the availability of Microsoft Encarta, the first multimedia encyclopedia for a computer

1994: E 15,257 REV $4,648,981,000

1995: E 17,801 REV $5,940,000,000 20th Anniversary

1996: E 20,561 REV $8,671,000,000

1997: E 22,232 REV $11,360,000,000

1998: E 27,055 REV 14.48B

1999: E 31,575 REV $19.75B75B

2000: E 39,170 REV $9.42B

2001: E 48,030 REV $25.30B

2002: E 50,621 REV $28.37B

2003: E 54,468 REV $32.19B

2004: E 57,086 REV $36,84B Microsoft's History
1991-2004 Sources:
http://www.ehow.com/about_6711983_microsoft_s-organization-structure.html
Management Third Edition Michael A. Hitt, J. Stewart Black, Lyman W. Porter
Wikipedia (images)
http://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/sample/DOMIS/orgchart/sample/orgchart.html
http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/microsoft
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-1978-photo-2011-1?op=1 Questions? 2008