Final Project

Training and Development

Based on the Microsofts Vega Project: Developing People and Products case.
Brief summary
This case is described from the product unit manager for Microsoft's Interactive Media
Products Group, Jim Kaplans point of view. Kaplans protg, Matt MacLellan, has confided
in Kaplan that he was experiencing a lack of satisfaction and fulfillment in his job as a
program manager on the Interactive Learning System (ILS) team, where he reports to
Kaplan. MacLellan also suggested to Kaplan that he wanted to become a software design
engineer, instead of continuing to develop his career along the managerial track. Kaplan is
facing the difficult decision of how to respond in a way that would best serve both MacLellan
and the company.

Major problems in this case

I have identified a few major problems, which are mainly driven by the different interests of
the key stakeholders in this case. The different perspectives among MacLellan, Kaplan, and
Microsoft with regards to MacLellans needs, career development, and talent management
respectively all come into play in this attempt to resolve MacLellans desire for a career
switch within Microsoft.

MacLellan has decided that he needed to switch functional roles after spending six years
building a career at Microsoft as a program manager, where he developed managerial skills
such as product development in the Interactive Learning System (ILS) project, his latest
project under the supervision of Kaplan. After a successful product launch, MacLellan was
frustrated with his managerial duties, which brought about incremental improvements of the
original ILS product. Instead he told Kaplan that he was more interested in creating another
new product.
By: Lynn Chiam
31 January 2011

This initial request was affirmed once more after he took Kaplans advice of taking time off
to get perspective. He came to the same conclusion that he wanted to be in a role that
allowed him to create something interesting. More specifically, he wished to design and
build things as a software developer, but this would mean that he had to make a significant
career switch from a managerial to a technical track.

As MacLellans mentor, Kaplan had been coaching and developing his protg as a product
manager over the course of the ILS project. Indeed, this opportunity to develop MacLellans
managerial skills had increased the sense of pride that Kaplan felt for the project. Hence,
when MacLellan shared his doubts regarding his current career track with him, it comes as
no surprise that Kaplans first reaction was to encourage his protg to see if he can stay in
the role that he is currently in. However, after he took some time off, MacLellan finally made
up his mind about becoming a developer. This was when Kaplans concerns that
MacLellans limited experience with professional software development will require
MacLellan to reset the clock in his career development due to the long learning curve he
would face if he made the switch to the technical track. This would jeopardize MacLellans
pecuniary rewards in the company because Kaplan knew that his semi-annual review
ratings against such a high standard were unlikely to be good, at least in the early years.

The companys stand on the case is not embodied by a representative from human
resources. Instead, the companys intentions and approach to talent management are
vocalised through its reward system, which allocates pay raises, bonus rewards and stock
options grants to employees based on individual job levels, determined by semi-annual
reviews.

In this case, it is interesting to note that MacLellan fits into the profile of a Microsoft
employee who has been with the company for almost seven years, and is currently in a
By: Lynn Chiam
31 January 2011

senior position, as a Level 33 program manager, just 2 rungs away from the highest job
level at Microsoft. Its HR group found that attrition rates for this particular employee profile
came close to industry average of 15% to 20%, which was poorer than Microsofts
companywide average of 7%. Hence, based on such statistics, it could be said that there is
a higher possibility that MacLellan may leave the company if he has to continue along the
management track, where he was clearly not finding fulfilment in management. However,
he did acknowledge that he did not want to throw away six years of a career. The dilemma
for Microsoft lies in how the company can deploy a strategy to retain MacLellan, a smart,
driven person, within the constraints of its established rewards structure.

Identifying the causes of the major problems

MacLellans need for a career switch may not have been unexpected. MacLellans ability to
drive and motivate himself to complete a project seems directly correlated to the opportunity
for him to take on new and challenging tasks. Based on his earlier experience with the
Oasis project, on which he spent three years in the design phase of product development,
MacLellan was on the verge of leaving Microsoft at the end of the three years when it
became clear that the product will not be built. The reason why he did not leave could have
been largely attributed to being presented with an exciting new project.

Kaplan understood MacLellans need for new challenges, which is why he offered
MacLellan the job as ILSs lead program manager. However, Kaplans desire to mould his
protg to develop along the managerial track finally came to nought when MacLellan hit a
similar wall of frustration six months after the product had been launched. This time,
however, MacLellan was resolute about switching career tracks.

It is likely that after much trial and error, MacLellan has finally come to realise that his
interest lies in building products from a technical perspective, as opposed to leveraging on
his managerial abilities, which Kaplan highly values. In coming to this decision to switch
By: Lynn Chiam
31 January 2011

career tracks, it is interesting that the case study does not let on if MacLellan feels that he
is, in any way, letting his mentor down, after all the effort that Kaplan has dedicated to
developing his career along the managerial track. If anything, the case seems to allude to
the fact that MacLellan deems Kaplan to be a trusted mentor, to whom he could turn for a
solution to his dilemma. However, it seems that MacLellan failed to understand that it would
be inevitable for Kaplan to have to overcome his own vested interest in MacLellans
managerial career track, because Kaplan valued this coaching opportunity.

Instead, the evidence in the case seems to suggest that MacLellan displays a certain level
of willingness to explore switching tracks because he possesses high self-efficacy, as seen
from evidence of his ability to research on the ILS project before taking up the position, and
his ability to lead the team to launch the product right on schedule in spite of all the
challenges which he had to overcome with his team who supported his leadership.

The other possible factor which might have led MacLellan to risk his career development at
Microsoft is he truly believes to some extent that the company is able and willing to support
an individuals career development based on an his or her interest. This may be because he
had been receiving signals from the company that it actually encouraged individuals to
switch jobs internally to keep their interest in the work. However, if Kaplan were to share
with MacLellan his concern that the career that he had developed over the past 6 years
would not be transferrable to the new technical track that he was keen on pursuing,
MacLellan would most definitely come to realise that the espoused culture of the company
was different from the enacted culture.

Alternative solutions developed

The first alternative solution that I would suggest is for Kaplan to source for a new mentor
on behalf of MacLellan. Ideally, the candidate would be fellow colleague who is at a similar
senior job level as Kaplan but on the development track. This new mentor should be
By: Lynn Chiam
31 January 2011

persuaded by Kaplan to engage, commit, and accept accountability for the success of
MacLellans transition into this new turn in his career (Ready & Conger, 2007) in order for
this solution to succeed. Thus the advantages associated with this solution are:
o

It is in line with the companys existing culture of talent development, which believes
in on-the-job experience and promoting coaching and mentoring instead of formal
modes of training.

There is transfer of knowledge of MacLellans personality, strengths and

weaknesses from Kaplan to the new mentor, hence helping to ease MacLellans
transition by ensuring that he is given a supportive learning environment and
coaching to thrive as a developer. This contributes to one of the basic building
blocks of a learning organization where employees excel at creating, acquiring and
transferring knowledge (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, 2008); a desired goal of
Microsoft given the often-quoted sentiment in the company, If you fire the person
who failed, youre throwing away the learning.

This solution is clean and simple, and does not require major overhaul of the
companys structured approach to rewards.

However, there are also disadvantages to this solution:

This solution does not address the problem that MacLellan is not a highly skilled
developer yet. If he should choose to switch to another track, he would be effectively
drawing a lower salary and lose his bonus and stock options benefits which he
currently enjoys as a highly rated program manager.

This reality of the starting all over again could come as a blow to MacLellan and
might dampen his motivation to improve his ability to perform as a developer.

Kaplan and MacLellan had more than 3 years to bond as mentor and mentee,
building up a certain level of trust such that MacLellan was comfortable to confide in
him. MacLellans relationship with new mentor would also require time to develop,
and it might prove to be challenge to solidify this relationship in the same way that

By: Lynn Chiam

31 January 2011

MacLellan had done with Kaplan, especially considering that MacLellan excelled in
his performance from day one on the ILS project and proved to be a star. It is
impossible at this juncture to assume that the new mentor will hold MacLellan in the
same high regard because Kaplan did predict that MacLellans semi-annual ratings
were unlikely to be good when they were held against a high standard of technical
abilities at Microsoft.

The second alternative solution that I would like to put forth is for staff members from the
HR or talent development to become involved in MacLellans transition to the technical
track. The advantages of this solution are:
o

If they willing to be accountable, engaged and committed to his continued success

at Microsoft in the new functional role that he has chosen, they should be providing
him with the necessary training required for him to accelerate on the long learning
curve to become a highly skilled developer. This would help send a consistent signal
to the talent pool that the organizations passion for talent management is a clear
sign of commitment to the longevity of its corporate vitality (Ready & Conger, 2007).

The HR or talent development staff are in a position to recommend and implement

changes to the performance review criteria at the company such that the espoused
culture of supporting internal switching of jobs is more closely aligned to the enacted
culture, i.e. MacLellan would not have to take a severe cut in his pay and benefits.

These staff members would perhaps be able to provide MacLellan with advice that
is relatively more objective than advice from Kaplan.

Once this problem has been addressed from a structural level, future employees at
Microsoft can benefit from the changes made to increase flexibility in job transfer
within the organization.

The disadvantages of this solution of introducing HR or talent development staff members

into this picture are:

By: Lynn Chiam

31 January 2011

They are currently the key stakeholder group that exerts the least influence on the
Microsoft culture based on the details provided in the case study. This is an
organization influenced strongly by the founders values and beliefs, and line
management closely adheres to the leadership style, based on information in this
case study. Hence, in order to bring about the desired change, they will need to
spend considerable effort getting buy-in from the talent pool, line management and
especially the top executive team (Ready & Conger, 2007).

It may be difficult for their advice to make an impression on MacLellan, with whom
they have no existing bond.

Time required for changes to take place may be far too long before they can be
effected to make a difference for MacLellan.

Selection of the best alternative

I would chose the first proposed solution as the best alternative because I strongly feel that
is it important for the action plans to be implemented to be closely aligned with the
companys culture in order it to be effective. I am of the opinion that Kaplan should be the
one to initiate this search instead of a HR staff because the culture in Microsoft is clearly
one that has great faith in development through coaching and mentoring, thus there would
probably a higher rate of success for Kaplan when it comes to convincing a colleague of
similar rank on the development track that he or she should take a chance on MacLellan,
and be committed, engaged and accountable for this bright young talents success in his
chosen track.

Another key reason why I decided to select to implement this solution instead of the second
is because MacLellan has shown from the case study that he requires a rather high level of
personal attention to his career development. So far, the resources devoted to him seem to
be a wise investment from the companys point of view, as it can be justified from his results
and exceptional performance rating. However, with a total headcount of 19,487 employees
By: Lynn Chiam
31 January 2011

in USA in 1998 (Exhibit. 3), where MacLellan is based, it is obvious that the company has
grown to a size where it would be challenging for HR or talent management staff to be
constantly available to MacLellan or to develop any long-term relationship with him when
their job functions have very little overlap, and hence very few opportunities for meaningful
interaction.

In order to implement this solution, I would suggest that Kaplan use the following suggested
checklist:
o

Research and shortlist 3 possible candidates as future mentors for MacLellan

Provide background knowledge of MacLellans past contributions at Microsoft, and

his strengths and weaknesses to the 3 candidates.

Arrange for MacLellan to meet up with these 3 candidates on a one-to-one basis,

and have them describe to MacLellan the types of projects that they are currently
working on to test for possible fit of personalities and mutual project interest. This
process of selecting and orienting the coach is key (Peterson, 2002) because
Kaplan is essentially taking on design project for MacLellans individual coaching
program.

Gather feedback on the meetings with all candidates, and with MacLellan
separately.

Assess if MacLellan is suited for career switch to a development role at Microsoft.

If all the feedback and his personal assessment concur that MacLellan would be
suited for a change to the technical track, Kaplan should support MacLellans
application for a switch.

Identify the candidate most suited to be MacLellans new mentor and convince him
or her to become invested in his protgs new career. Kaplan should also request
that the new mentor develop training opportunities that would help accelerate
MacLellans progress along the learning curve.

By: Lynn Chiam

31 January 2011

Arrange for HR, the new mentor and himself to sit down with MacLellan to explain
the reality of the less financially rewarding years ahead due to the constraints of the
companys reward structure. They should also share with him plans on how the
company will provide him with the right opportunities, including coaching and
mentoring to support his career switch if he still wishes change to the technical
track.

Issues to think about

Kaplan would have to seriously consider if MacLellans desire to switch to becoming a
software developer is truly indicative of his longer-term interests that could justify
Microsofts investment of resources into his specially tailored learning and development
plan. Not only would Kaplans reputation be on the line if MacLellan experiences another
change of heart, this would also set an unfortunate precedence and may deter mentors
from supporting talented employees who wish to make similar requests in the future.

In conclusion, I believe that this is a chance that Kaplan would have to take, if he truly
believes in the ability and maturity of his protg.

By: Lynn Chiam

31 January 2011

References

Garvin, D.A., Edmondson, A.C. & Gino, F. (2008) Is yours a learning organization? A toolkit.
Harvard Business Review, 109-116

Peterson, D. B. (2002). Management development: Coaching and mentoring programs. In

K. Kraiger (Ed.), Creating, implementing, and managing effective training and development:
State-of-the-art lessons for practice (pp. 160-191). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ready, D.A. & Conger, J.A. (2007). Make your company a talent factory. Harvard Business
Review, 68-77

By: Lynn Chiam

31 January 2011