Reference no: EM131801395

Microsoft is known for managing diversity well. The following is from its website: As a global company, Microsoft employs people from more than 135 different countries and regions. A multicultural workforce enables us to attract and retain the most qualified employees, develop more innovative products, and better serve the needs of a wide range of customers. Microsoft and the technology industry have an incredible opportunity and challenge to meet the needs of a globally diverse population. As a global industry leader and corporate citizen, we continue our efforts to understand, value, and incorporate differences; to enable talent; to satisfy customers; and to lead technology innovation globally. Microsoft’s corporate commitment to the principle of diversity means that we believe diversity enriches our products, empowers us to provide excellent customer service, enhances the lives of our employees, and connects us to the communities where we live and work. At Microsoft, our goal is to build the greatest multicultural workplace in the technology industry. We know that in order to reflect the growing diversity of our communities and the global marketplace, we must make every effort to understand, value, and incorporate the differences of our employees. To that end, we value training as an important aspect of our overall global diversity and inclusion strategy. Microsoft’s diversity education programs are designed to reinforce the company's commitment to diversity while ensuring that employees have the awareness, skills, knowledge, and ability to carry out their individual responsibilities. The goal of diversity training and education is to provide employees with the key competencies they need to excel in their current or future roles, and to create a workplace environment that is empowering, inclusive, and supportive so all employees can do their best work. The collective strength of employees trained in diversity will help Microsoft provide more innovative solutions, services, and products for a global market. We leverage many training media to deliver quality awareness and skill building to our employees and managers. Microsoft incorporates diversity into core curriculum training courses, offers many standalone diversity training courses, and uses articles, books, and multimedia for further education about diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace. A formal mentoring program, open to all employees, helps each employee find diverse role models and advisors. At Microsoft, employees are responsible for their own career development. By providing learning experiences that build the requisite knowledge, skills, and understanding for success, we strive to develop an inclusive environment in which everyone has the potential to do their best work.

Using the material on the business case for diversity, what evidence do you see that Microsoft is making elements of this case (identify specific examples of how their approach would make business sense) and identify any ways that you think they might fall short or have room to improve.