Kai-Fu Lee Used an Exit

Kai-Fu Lee used an exit strategy to deal with his mounting concern about the workplace environment at Microsoft. Lee is not the only one; "More than 100 former Microsofties now work for Google, and dozens of others have scattered elsewhere." For many employees, exiting seems to be the choice mode of dealing with the human resources crisis at Microsoft. Not the most ideal method of addressing conflict, exiting can be a destructive force in an organizational environment. Interestingly, though, Steven a. Ballmer claims that Microsoft has a "culture of self-criticism, which suggests that voice is also being used as a means to create change in the workplace environment. Similarly, employee blogs and other forms of verbal communication are means of spreading the word about the weak spots in Microsoft corporate culture and amount to an active and a constructive way of instigating positive change. Ballmer's attitude seems decisively loyal too: passive in the sense that the Chief Executive might be neglecting to address key concerns of employees but constructive in that he remains supportive of whatever works for Microsoft.

2. Employee loyalty seems damped by a few major factors. First, "the issues of morale and culture" seem to be neglected by those whose opinions and decisions matter most: the executives. Both Gates and Ballmer remain almost painfully loyal to the status quo and have neglected to take into account dissenting opinions. By ignoring dissatisfied employees, Microsoft risks losing valuable human resources to their competitors like Google. Second, some employees have mentioned a stifling corporate culture that inhibits creativity. Decisions are delivered in a top-down fashion whereas many of Microsoft's competitors are switching to a more egalitarian model of leadership and management. Finally, employee loyalty is dampened by the simple fact that there are more companies that can offer the benefits that Microsoft does and in many cases, more of them. For example, stock options and general job satisfaction may be greater with a smaller company even if the employee accepts a salary cut.