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6 pages/β‰ˆ1650 words
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APA
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Management
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Essay
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Satya Nadella at Microsoft: Instilling a Growth Mindset

Essay Instructions:

This assignment is a continuation of the work you did in Part A, but the questions challenge you to go beyond simply analyzing what Satya Nadella did at Microsoft. It is time to consider how you can apply the leadership principles presented in the case to your own career. To prepare for Part B of this assignment, reread the entire case and review the feedback you received from your professor on Part A.
Write a 6-7 page paper that draws links between the case and your own leadership journey. Of the six topic areas below, select four (4) you would like to focus on.
1. Learning from Nadella’s Example
2. Building a High Performing Culture
3. Channeling Conflict
4. Effective Communication
5. Fostering Diversity and Learning
6. Building a Learning Organization
Make sure you consider each question in your response. Remember, a good response paper is one in which you: (a) show you understand what happened in the case, (b) apply tools and citations from course materials, and (c) offer insights into how you can apply the case and course materials to your own leadership journey.
1. Learning from Nadella’s Example
a. What did Nadella bring in terms of his own background (professional and personal) that helped him to be successful in stepping into the CEO role?
b. What makes Nadella an “authentic leader”? What actions did he take that demonstrate he believes in role-model management? Include references to course materials to support your position.
c. What characteristics does Nadella display that most closely align to traits you have, or aspire to develop, in your own leadership style? How are you most different from him in your leadership style?
d. Why is it important for leaders to take (appropriate) risks?
2. Building a High Performing Culture in Your Organization
a. What steps must leaders take to build a learning culture? Include references to course materials to support your position.
b. In what ways is the culture in your current or former organization similar to what Nadella faced when he took over Microsoft?
c. If you wanted to change or realign this culture, where would you begin?
d. What would be your biggest challenges? Why?
3. Channeling Conflict
a. In what ways did Nadella embrace conflict in his role as leader?
b. How should leaders determine which conflicts to embrace and which conflicts to avoid, and once they make that decision, what can they do to encourage a positive resolution to the conflict? Include references to course materials to support your position.
c. What are some of the biggest potential areas of conflict within your own organization?
d. How well do you and your organization handle conflict now? Explain
4. Effective Communication
a. What were the biggest communicative barriers that Nadella faced in creating “one Microsoft”?
b. What tools and communication practices are most useful to leaders in building teams that embrace a common vision? Include references to course materials to support your position.
c. Are these barriers unique to large corporations, or do all organizations face them?
d. Do they occur in your own organization? Explain.
5. Fostering Diversity and Learning
a. How did Nadella seek to enhance diversity at Microsoft?
b. Why is diversity – in terms of culture, experience, background, and viewpoint – so important for an organization? Include references to course materials to support your position.
c. What are some risks or obstacles to instilling more diversity?
d. What steps can you take to make your organization stronger by bringing in more diversity?
6. Building a Learning Organization
a. What did Nadella do to transform his team from “know-it-alls” to “learn-it-alls”?
b. Jack has said that to be an effective leader, you have to be confident enough to ask a lot of questions and not be afraid of looking like the dumbest person in the room.
i. How can leaders promote a hunger for learning in their teams?
ii. How can leaders support team members who may be too afraid to ask questions or challenge the status quo? Include references to course materials to support your position.
c. On the “knowledge-learning” spectrum, where does your organization fit?
d. As an MBA student, especially if you have been out of school for a long time, what does a “learn-it-all” mindset mean to you? What will you do to embrace it?

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Satya Nadella at Microsoft: Instilling a Growth Mindset
Assignment 2 Part B: Going Beyond the Case
Write Your Name here
Jack Welch Management Institute
JWI 510: Leadership in the 21st Century
Write Your Professor’s Name here
Write the Date here
Introduction
The growth of an organization highly depends on the effectiveness of its leaders. The most important quality that a leader will use is to communicate effectively with the people they are leading. Leaders also need a certain amount of charisma and creativity, as well as being able to delegate responsibilities correctly. This analysis will focus on the case of Nadella’s case at Microsoft and how it relates to my current workplace. It will focus on building a performing culture, considering conflict, effective communication, and fostering learning and diversity facilitate
Building a High Performing Culture
A high-performing culture occurs when a company can define its objectives and achieve them. This aspect makes the culture at my organization similar to the culture at Microsoft following Nadella's leadership. I chose this topic because organizational culture is one of the main aspects that drive organizational change and growth. Such a culture promotes teamwork, thus enabling employees to meet the set goals.
Building a Learning Culture
Leaders build a learning culture in organizations by implementing daily feedback. It should be positive feedback, with everyone involved being able to see their successes and shortcomings. The chain of command is specifically put in place so that leaders can see who is not doing what they are supposed to do and provide guidance and praise if performance is consistently high. The chain of command is broken down so that those below the leader receive more information and support. In turn, employees utilize the data to improve their performance. 
Comparing Cultures
The main similarity between Microsoft's culture and the culture at my organization is engagement. A culture of engagement has a high employee satisfaction rate. It has open communication, feedback, and growth opportunities. For example, in Microsoft, employees are allowed to be recognized for their good work. The company invests in employees' needs for higher education or training and invests in them by providing wellness programs. Such is also applicable in the organization I work for.
Changing the Culture: Where to Start?
One of the first steps in realigning culture in my organization is to stop working on what employees but focus on why they do it. This is considering the internal systems and what it takes to take care of our customers (Alt & Zimmermann, 1). Employees are the key stakeholders and, therefore, play an important part in the plan. The second step would be to have employees take care of their jobs to focus on the customer.
Changing the Culture: Major Challenges
           One of the main challenges faced while changing organizational culture is the lack of change management. It is crucial to take small steps in transforming the organizational culture. Such small steps are then followed by big steps, which would provide the required momentum to change organizational culture...
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