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While issues of organizational structure and corporate policies as related to costs, revenue, profit and market structure are inherent in the study of any company or organization, it is important to recognize the unique aspects of Microsoft. Microsoft, undeniably, has a larger presence throughout the computer software industry and the users of its many products since its operating system defines, to a great degree, how work is done in the modern business world. With a company that has virtually always been in a "near-monopoly" situation such as Microsoft, it comes as no surprise that there are many who believe the company should be split into two (or more) independent organizations. However, that has little to do with the organizational design reality that actually is the Microsoft Corporation. Most companies grew out of their perpetual search for profit and how to make that profit grow bigger each year and Bill Gates and Microsoft are certainly no exception to that rule. In fact, they are the personification of the rule! Such a determined search for ever-increasing profits has resulted in large, vertically integrated organizations. But it is essential to keep in mind the fact that economic growth does not end in profit accumulation. In the case of the computer and software industry, growth came in the form of reliance on external economies, that is, keeping apace with the technological progress of other companies in the same industry rather than each company going its own way. Microcomputer companies that remain active to this day are the ones that view computers as open ended machines, ready to be upgraded and improved from time to time, at pace with the current technology advances. Again, Microsoft presents the definitive example of such a company. Organizational Design for the 21st Century Any business or business process has had to face a certain level of re-engineering or reconstruction in order to fit into the managerial revolution of the 1990s and the move into the 21st century. Even the world’s most major companies, such as Microsoft, have had to deal with such issues. It is important, however, to understand that change, just by virtue of being change, cannot be considered as an innovative approach to organizational design or planning for the future. In fact, true innovation and planning for the future requires the most fundamental concepts of business process to first undergo a critical re-evaluation before actual changes are implemented. Microsoft then faces the additional challenges associated with the courts’ decisions regarding its status as a monopoly and its perceived unfair business practices. Evaluating and designing business processes requires understanding and changing both sociological and technological systems to establish the best fit for the new millennium. Researchers examining the issue from a broad range of perspectives have found that the business organization of the 21st century is expected to depart considerably from the traditional top-down design. (Remember, Bill Gates is no longer CEO of Microsoft but a "futurist" for the company.) To a some degree, it is exciting to realize that the organizational design of the future will reflect the realization of companies that they belong to a network or a web that includes many other players and that they must be aware of and supportive of those players. "Cooperation" has become the byword, along with "interaction," "informal," and "innovative." This model has been given a number of descriptions, including employee-empowered, flat, flexible and shared services. It has also been called "molecular," in reference to the shift from the rigid, hierarchical organization to a more free-formed and fluid structure. Whatever titles or classifications the change process is given, it is certain to mean that people will be dealing with entirely new organizational designs. "Flattening the hierarchy may not be enough" (Greco PG) when it comes to designing the organization of the 21st century. Processes such as broadening definitions of what constitutes a "customer" and adopting the mindset of flexibility will ultimately serve as the true indicators of the attributes of a successful (and profitable) organization. The term "molecular" as applied to an organization serves to describe one of the most clear-cut of changes of a change in organizational thinking from a rigid, hierarchical structure to a more fluid, free-formed one. "Molecular" suggests a DNA-like configuration with interrelated links of a connecting chain, all of roughly equal length (read: importance) and all are of vital concern to the whole. "The company of tomorrow is already here, and it offers a new picture of the way businesses are structured and organized, how employees report and relate to each other, and how they serve their varied constituents" (Greco PG). By virtue of the size of Microsoft, it has evolved as its own unique hybrid of organizational design. Like the old joke of "where does an 800 pound gorilla sit -- anywhere he wants to," Microsoft has been able to "sit" anywhere it wanted to. As early as 1994, Microsoft was pointed to as an example of the way high-tech companies "management practices and organizational designs spawned within the cinder blocks of Silicon Valley and among the evergreens outside Seattle -- the importance of blowing away hierarchy, for example -- have already become conventional wisdom" (Deutschman and Moore 197). For example, the concept of organizing work around tasks -- and accepting constant reorganization as a way of life was virtually created at Microsoft. High-tech companies have latched on to a new type of reorganization that usually isn't visible to the outside observer. The process is subtle because it is continual, a strategy of always shifting jobs to areas that have higher potential payoffs. Common practices that essentially evolved at high-tech companies have come to be fundamental in modern business practice. For example, the promotion of e-mail as a primary mechanism of communication has greatly accelerated the overall pace of work. An exceptional emphasis on the recruiting process has also been an important aspect of how the organizational design has evolved. At Microsoft, senior executives (vice presidents and above) are involved in recruiting entry-level programmers right out of college. Microsoft's emphasis goes back to the early days of the startup, when one or two people would write an entire program and the company’s fortunes depended on their skills. Microsoft is interested less in what prospective employees know than in how they think and how they attack problems (Deutschman and Moore 197). Another example has been the process of breaking the company into small teams at Microsoft has demonstrated that when it comes to projects that require lots of brainwaves, fewer people are better than more. As teams get larger and larger, employees must spend more of their time communicating what's already inside their heads and less actually applying that knowledge to accomplish their own part of the work. In addition, the attitude of Microsoft's ever-expanding research department has spread throughout the company. Research always encouraged its people to publish and participate fully in the free and open exchanges of academic conferences. As a result, Microsoft has come to see itself as part of an expansive, collaborative network of firms and individuals. Application of any form of business modeling highlights the areas in which certain efforts have proven successful while others have proven to be less than advantageous. Connor’s ideas relating to the sequence of ultimate outcomes related to an organization’s design serve as a means through which the organization can reconfigure both its short-term (up to three years) and long-term (three to ten years) management objectives design. This is no less true at Microsoft than at a start-up company in Pahrump, Nevada, that has eight employees and grand plans for the future. For both start-up ventures and existing firms, entrepreneurship carried on in the pursuit of business opportunities spurs business expansion, technological progress, and wealth creation. The Connor Model would certainly verify that fundamental fact. In order to adequately plan for the future, especially in terms of making the appropriate organization design plans for the future, Microsoft has had to broaden its collective understanding of information and other aspects associated with non-bureaucratic organizational design in order to appropriately commit to the ideas Connor advocates. Clearly, the current changes in organizational environments, are disturbing the century-long domination of the bureaucratic organization but a company such as Microsoft has not had to deal with such hidebound "traditions." However, it is also important that it not allow itself to be "married to" the unique traditions and processes it has established. Considering the past performance and accomplishments of the company, regardless of decisions made by the government, it is likely Microsoft will continue to evolve in ways that assure its success. Bibliography: WORKS CITED Deutschman, Alan; Alicia Hills Moore. "Information technology: The managing wisdom of high-tech superstars," Fortune, 10-17-1994, pp. 197. Greco, JoAnn. "Designing for the 21st century," Journal of Business Strategy, 11-98, v19 n6, pp.NA. Travica, Bob. Information aspects of new organizational designs: exploring the non-traditional organization of the future, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 11-98, v49 n13, pp.1224(21). Word Count: 1499
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