Equal Oppurtunity Case

Executive Summary

The following is a discussion of the many ways a particular company, in this case being the Microsoft Corporation conducts its business practices in the arena of Equal Employment Opportunity. EEO as it relates to Microsoft translates into three major components: Representation, Inclusion, and Innovations. In the representation section Microsoft primarily focuses on recruitment of the best talent possible, whether that talent is found in the United States or abroad. Another area of focus in regards to representation is recruitment from under privileged university or non Ivy League school through Scholarship offered to attract the best and brightest recruits.

Once hired, these employees are given the best training to increase retention and promote diversity and reduce confusion from improper training such as the case of the APL codes mentioned in the literature. One example of such training is action training in which employees develop their spatial reasoning which is crucial to software development. Lastly in the literature a brief mention of the four ingredients necessary for a company to be successful at innovation they are: clarity, transparency, security, and autonomy are discussed. Language technology as it relates to retaining employees in need of this technology is also addressed.

Introduction

Microsoft was founded in 1975, and currently trades on the NASDAQ as "MSFT" and is the worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and business realize their full potential, which is their mission. Their vision is one of diversity and inclusion which play an integral role in Microsoft's strategies for business success. Microsoft recognizes that leadership in today's global marketplace requires a corporate culture and an inclusive business environment where the best, brightest, and diversely minded employees with varied perspectives, skills, and experiences work together to meet global consumer demands. Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports software products for many computing devices (Microsoft website)

The Corporation has 8 business divisions which are: Interactive Entertainment Business Division, Microsoft Business Solutions Division, Microsoft Office Division, Online Service Division, Server and Tools Business Division, Skype Division, Window & Windows Live Division, and Windows Phone Division with 4 main centers of operations located in Ireland, Puerto Rico, Nevada, and Singapore. Microsoft's software products consist of operating systems, server applications, information worker productivity applications, business solution applications, high-performance computing applications, and software development tools. Microsoft also develops the MSN network of internet products and services. The company primarily operates in the United States with its headquarters located at One Microsoft Way Redmond, Washington and employs about 90,412 people as of June 30, 2011 (Microsoft website)

Microsoft net Revenue for June 30, 2011 was $69.94B a 12 percent growth with a net income of $23.15B with a 23 percent growth, see Appendix A for additional information. Currently Microsoft Corporation worldwide has 93,163 employees with 55,235 located in the U.S. and 40,686 in Puget Sound. Operations outside the U.S have an employee count of 42,179 male employees or 76.4 percent and 13,056 female employees or 23.6 percent. Microsoft's employees range from ages 29 and under being 8,346 employees or 15.1 percent, ages 30-39 22,473 employees or 40.7 percent and those over 40 24,416 employees or 44.2 percent. Microsoft owns and leases many locations throughout the world and has a diversified operation with 100 subsidiaries throughout the world see Appendixes B, C, & D. Microsoft currently has an active campaign in the Equal Employment Opportunity arena to attract and retain the best and brightest minds in a globally diverse workforce. These programs are built around three core principles: Representation, Inclusion, and Innovation which will be the main focus of this paper (Microsoft website)

Literature Review

Representation

Microsoft recruits top college talent from domestic and global academic institutions that have a history of educating African Americans, Latinos, and women. Microsoft acquires it talent by seeking out diverse talent at all schools and specifically target historically underrepresented institutions. One such example of this talent acquisition is the acquisition of virus protection from Romania. Here is a referred to as Company A which represents a typical example of entrepreneurship; its founder started alone the business 14 years ago with one PC, and has become one of the most successful businessmen in Romania and made the biggest transaction on the Romanian IT market with Microsoft. The company developed mainly on its own internal resources both intellectual and financial and represents one of the best practices of the IT industry in Romania, and its entrepreneur one of the best-known "self-made-men" in the country (Gheorghiu, R, Turlea, G; Andrei, S; & Cucuruzan, R, E. 2010).

Company A which in fact is now Group A, being a group of companies since 2003 is now one of the most important Romanian groups in the IT sector. It is no more one company, as it became a group of five distinct companies after restructuring 2 years ago. It has 120 employees, and an estimated annual turnover of around 4 million euro in 2004.The Company has been established since 1992 by today's president of the group; he started it after graduation, developing it as a diploma project, which afterwards took the form of the first product to be sold by the new born company (Gheorghiu, R., et al. 2010).

The transaction of the new company represented the source for financing of their first personal computer. The first few years, the company operated in the field of Computer Aided Design (CAD). After a few years, with the company's employee count at 5 people including the owner, there came the first strategic decision, which was, to enter a market niche: security software. Starting in 1994, this strategic decision materialized in the activity of working on the development of antivirus software, which later became the best-known product of the company. The product was tested on the Romanian market, but was actually prepared for the international market, where it was successfully launched (Gheorghiu, R., et al. 2010).

Until 1996, the antivirus software was developed as an internationally high competitive product, its main feature being the compatibility with any operating system, it was platform independent. The product has become an international success on the IT market, becoming one of the best