Microsoft’s Transformation Required a Change of Culture

微软转型要求文化变革

 

Like an NFL changing room, the technology industry is littered with the bodies of fallen champions, from AOL to Yahoo to Blackberry, in urgent need of rehabilitation. Ten years ago many might have expected Microsoft to end up in the same state. But the software giant has made a startling comeback, frequently vying for the title of the most valuable company on global stockmarkets, with a market capitalisation above $1trn.

 

科技行业就像美国职业橄榄球大联盟（NFL）的更衣室一样，充斥着式微的昔日冠军。从美国在线（AOL）到雅虎，再到黑莓，各家都迫切需要重振雄风。十年前，很多人可能都以为微软最终也会沦落至此。但这家软件巨头出人意料地卷土重来，市值已过万亿美元，时常向“全球股市最具价值的公司”这一宝座发起冲击。

 

The story of this revival is the subject of a new case study by Herminia Ibarra and Adam Jones of London Business School (LBS). In large part the success has resulted from a shift away from a focus on the Windows operating system and towards Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-based services offering. It involved a willingness to let programs run on Apple and Android smartphones, something the company had previously avoided.

 

微软的复兴故事成了伦敦商学院（LBS）的埃美尼亚·伊巴拉（Herminia Ibarra）和亚当·琼斯（Adam Jones）新案例研究的主题。在很大程度上，微软成功的原因是将重心从Windows操作系统转向云服务Azure。这一过程需要微软愿意让自己的软件在苹果和安卓的智能手机上运行，而此前它对此是抗拒的。

 

However, the turnaround also required a change to the company’s culture and that is the main subject of the LBS study. The shift to cloud-based services meant that revenues would be generated in a different way. Under the old system, clients bought software under a fixed-term contract; once the sale was made, the revenue was guaranteed. Cloud services are paid for on a metered basis; revenue comes in only when customers use them. That required a new approach by the company’s sales team, led by Jean-Philippe Courtois.

 

然而，扭转乾坤还要求变革企业文化，这正是LBS案例研究的主要课题。向云服务转变意味着将以一种不同的方式产生收入。在旧模式中，客户以一份固定期限合同购买软件，一旦销售完成，就锁定了收入。云服务却是按使用量付费，仅在客户使用服务时才会产生收入。这样一来，微软由让-菲力浦∙古德华（Jean-Philippe Courtois）领导的销售团队就得采取一种新方式。

 

The shift was enormous. Around 40,000 people had to change how they did their jobs. Three elements were important. First, staff had to understand how customers were using cloud-based services, so that they could be encouraged to use them more. This required 5,000 specialist hires.

 

这是个巨大的转变。约有四万人不得不改变他们以往的工作方式。其中有三个重要因素。首先，员工必须了解客户使用云服务的方式，以便鼓励他们更多地使用。这需要雇用5000名专业人员。

 

Second, to permit existing sales staff to concentrate on attracting and retaining customers, they had to be relieved of some duties, such as preparing sales forecasts. Internal review meetings were reduced, including an intimidating ordeal known as the mid-year review in which senior executives grilled employees – and for which workers spent lots of time cramming like students for a test.

 

其次，为了让现有的销售人员能够集中精力吸引和留住客户，必须减去他们的一些职责，比如不用再制定销售预测。内部评审会议减少了，包括一项称作年中评定的令人生畏的严酷考验——高级主管长时间“拷问”员工，员工则要像学生备考一样花大量时间做填鸭式的准备。

 

Lastly, salespeople needed an incentive to put in the work to flog the new products, which were potentially less lucrative for them than the old fixed-term contracts. This involved a greater use of performance bonuses.

 

最后，需要向销售人员提供激励，好让他们努力地销售新产品，因为他们从新产品中的获利可能少于旧的定期合同。这就需要用到更多的绩效奖金。

 

Technology chivvied the process along. A new tool helped workers analyse how much time they spent in meetings or writing emails and whether they were interacting with fellow employees or with clients. It also allowed the usefulness of meetings to be gauged. If staff were fiddling with their smartphones, they were not listening to their colleagues. (The test could be usefully applied at a lot more places than Microsoft.)

 

科技推动了这一过程。一个新工具能帮助员工分析他们在开会或写电子邮件上花费了多少时间，以及他们是否与同事或客户互动。它还能衡量会议的效果。如果员工在开会时一直摆弄自己的智能手机，他们就没在听同事讲什么。（这个工具可以在除微软之外更多的地方派上用场。）

 

Managers have had to change, too. Microsoft is introducing a programme called “Reimagine Managers” which aims to foster an approach of coaching and caring for the staff. Technology has made some routine management tasks (like organising rotas) easier, leaving more time for talking to employees.

 

管理者也必须做出改变。微软正在推行一项名为“重塑经理人”（Reimagine Managers）的计划，力争形成一种指导和关怀员工的方法。科技已经让一些日常管理工作（如安排值班）变得更容易，主管们就有了更多时间与员工交流。

 

Changing a corporate culture is an enormous task, and Mr Courtois admits that it is a work in progress. Microsoft, he says, has shifted from a “fixed mindset” to a “growth mindset”.

 

变革企业文化是一项艰巨的任务。古德华承认这项工作还在进行中。他说，微软已从“固定型思维模式”转变为“成长型思维模式”。

 

But what is interesting about the Microsoft case study (which is mostly free of such management jargon) is that it highlights the practical changes needed to transform a company. Microsoft could have been a classic victim of “creative disruption”, so dependent on an existing technology (personal computers) that it failed to manage the shift to a world dominated by mobile devices. But the shift has only been successful (so far) because it has involved not just strategic insight, but a change in approach across the workforce.

 

但这项微软案例研究（里面基本没有上述管理学术语）的有趣之处在于它突显了企业转型所需的实际变革。微软本可能成为“创造性破坏”的典型受害者——过于依赖一项既有技术（个人计算机）而未能成功向移动设备主导的世界转变。但是，这种转变之所以能成功（到目前为止），是因为它不仅用到了战略洞察力，还改变了所有员工的工作方法。

 

Microsoft can still trip up. Tech companies are like the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” – constantly running to stay in the same place. IBM successfully shifted from hardware to services in the 1990s, but has struggled to get its revenues to grow or to lift its share price in recent years.

 

微软的前路仍不平坦。科技公司就像路易斯·卡罗尔（Lewis Carroll）的《爱丽丝镜中世界奇遇记》（Through the Looking Glass）中的红皇后——不停奔跑，但始终停留在原地。IBM在上世纪90年代成功地从硬件转向服务，但近年来一直难以提升收入或股价。

 

In the long run Microsoft’s fortunes may depend on whether acquisitions like LinkedIn, a career site, or GitHub, a software-development startup, prove to be wiser than its failed bet on Nokia’s mobile-phone business earlier in the decade. But Microsoft has already shown that, even in a big organisation, culture change is possible.

 

从长远来看，微软的命运可能取决于它对职业网站领英或软件开发创业公司GitHub等企业的收购是否比早几年对诺基亚手机业务失败的押注更明智。但微软已经表明，即使在一个大型组织中，变革文化也是可能的。

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