title: workplace issues

CASE STUDY: MICROSOFT AND EMPLOYEE DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE

The case examines the charges of gender/racial discrimination and sexual harassment against the leading IT company Microsoft. It explores in detail the treatment meted out to female employees in the company's initial years and the measures Microsoft took to improve the work culture of the organization. The case also discusses the lawsuits against Microsoft that allege racial discrimination and analyses the implications of such changes for the company. How is Microsoft responsible for my stress disorder? Simple, 12 years of subjecting me to unequal and contradictory treatment, debasement, sexual harassment and outright illegal practices in its hiring, management, and disabilities protocols."- A former female Microsoft employee, in December 1997. "There are glass ceilings and glass walls in place for African Americans at Microsoft. We are stunned and disappointed in their treatment of Black employees."- Willie Gary, lawyer of an ex-Microsoft African American employee, in January 2001.

CHARGES OF DISCRIMINATION In January 2001, seven of Microsoft's former and current African American employees filed a discrimination suit against the company. One of the largest discrimination suits ever filed in the US, it alleged racism and plantation mentality1 at their workspace and sought $ 5 billion in damages. Microsoft was accused of discriminating against its employees through performance evaluations, pay packages, promotions, wrongful terminations, and retaliation. This suit consolidated all the discriminatory suits filed separately by the seven employees. The suit was subsequently given the status of a class action,2 extending its reach to Microsoft's vast base of former and current African American employees. Thus, all the former and current African American salaried employees employed by Microsoft (in the US) on or after October 4, 1997, and all the former and present female salaried employees employed by Microsoft on or after February 23, 1999, were included in the suit. The filing was primarily based on the existing case of Rahn Jackson, one of the first Microsoft employees to take legal action against Microsoft for racial discrimination. The plaintiff claimed that Microsoft's employment policies and practices permit its managers to exercise discretion when deciding on evaluations, pay packages, promotions, and job selections, resulting in decisions that reveal a race/gender bias. During the early 1990s, many discriminations related suits were filed against Microsoft. In the Donaldson4 Vs. Microsoft case, the plaintiff alleged that Microsoft discriminated against Black and female workers by paying them smaller salaries, bonuses, and stock options than it paid white males performing the same work. The suit also alleged that Microsoft had even retaliated against Black and female employees who protested this discrimination. Reacting to increasing media coverage of lawsuits filed against it, Microsoft claimed that the company did not tolerate employee discrimination and was focused on offering unbiased treatment to employees and promoting women and members of minority groups in its organization. However, few people bought their story. Willie Gray, one of the leading attorneys dealing in discrimination suits, argued that Microsoft showed a plantation attitude when it came to dealing with African American workers. Gray remarked that in 1999, only 2.6% of Microsoft's employees and only 1.6% of its managers were Black. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Microsoft remained in the news for discriminating against women and African Americans. Many cases of both sexual harassment and discrimination against female employees were reported. Though the issue of racial discrimination arose in the late 1990s, it was only in 2000 that the employees initiated legal proceedings against Microsoft, demanding equality and justice.

BACKGROUND NOTE William H. Gates (Bill Gates), along with his friend Paul Allen, established Microsoft Corporation in 1975. Bill Gates initially focused on software instead of hardware. Over the next two decades, Microsoft emerged as one of the richest and most influential companies in the world. In 1998, the company became the world's most highly valued company, reporting a market capitalization value of $466 billion. Microsoft is engaged in developing, manufacturing, licensing, and supporting an extensive range of software products and services for a multitude of computing devices. Microsoft sells software to over 180 million people. Its products are available in over 30 languages and are used in more than 50 countries. The company is also involved in developing highly advanced, robust technologies for next-generation software products. Microsoft's success was attributed to (among other things) its effective recruitment and employee retention strategies. Microsoft had always attempted to attract the best talent. According to a press report, "Microsoft seeks a particular type of smart person, one who is pragmatically inclined, verbally agile and able to respond deftly when challenged." Because of its efficient performance appraisal system and work culture, Microsoft had a very low employee turnover rate. Microsoft gave incentives to employees based on their performance appraisal. Employees underwent a performance review every year

ABOUT RACIAL/GENDER DISCRIMINATION & SEXUAL HARASSMENT Racial and gender discrimination may be described as any verbal or physical act which is intended to cause or could reasonably be expected to cause individuals or groups to feel intimidated, demeaned, or abused because of their racial, ethnic, gender or national background. Sexual Harassment may be explained as an illegal form of gender discrimination, which is void under Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964. The state and federal laws of the United States prohibit specific kinds of discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that "managers can't hire, fire, pass over for promotion, deny a vacation request, do anything surrounding the terms and conditions of employment because of someone's protected characteristics. This means you can't make decisions or take employment actions because of an employee's race, colour, gender, religion, or national origin."...

THE CHARGES AGAINST MICROSOFT Instances of gender/racial discrimination and sexual harassment were common in Microsoft since the 1980s. The company was even said to be the 'most disdainful place for women to work during the 1980s. In its initial years, Microsoft had only a few hundred employees, most of them male. The only women employed by Microsoft were those who edited technical manuals. The work culture in the company was by and large undisciplined. According to analysts, all the manners, attributes and traits that were not acceptable in conventional society were highly prevalent in the company. According to a report, "Microsoft was a geeks paradise, where issues such as interpersonal skills and personal hygiene had no importance, and the presence of women was barely tolerated. It was the base of newly evolved computer nerds, who prided themselves on being masters of their fields where women had yet to take an active part and were highly sceptical of the abilities of their female counterparts."

IN TROUBLE AGAIN While the number of plaintiffs complaining of discrimination at Microsoft kept mounting in 2001, Microsoft claimed that it was committed to diversity and did not tolerate discrimination of any type in its employment practices. The company announced that it had made considerable progress in increasing the number of minorities working at Microsoft and had demonstrated its commitment to diversity and equality by promoting women and minorities. According to company sources, as of October 2000, minorities accounted for 16.5% of total managerial positions in Microsoft and 22% of the domestic workforce of the organization as against only 17% in 1997...

questions

1. introduction for the case

2. observations from the case