Free «Microsoft Corporation and the Society» Essay Sample

The founders of Microsoft Corporation are Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Its recent quarterly profits dropped by 22 % because of the weak demand of personal computers. Most consumers have adopted the trend of purchasing smartphones and tablets instead of buying traditional personal computers (Finn, Vredevoort, Lownds and Flynn 39). This has significantly reduced the sales of Microsoft software. However, the company still holds a big share in the sale of operating systems because of its Windows 7. This company gives back to the society in many ways. It has employed many young people. In addition, it has developed applications, such as Microsoft Excel, that help companies to maintain their accounting records. Healthcare facilities have also benefitted from this company since it creates programs that help in maintaining hospital records. Microsoft is beneficial to the society, since it offers donations to the poor people, creates programs for solving business solutions, offering employment to the public, helps in training professionals, improves healthcare and supports innovative education programs.

Microsoft has brought benefits to the society, as it improves the quality of poor people’s lives. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, uses some of the money that this company earns to fund the Gates Foundation. It donates money to the public schools in America, so that these schools can improve the quality of education they offer to students. Bill Gates states that he will give a big portion of his wealth to the society. This is because he believes that every human is somehow special and he or she has the right to live a good life. The Gates Foundation funded many hospitals in India in an attempt to improve the healthcare of this country (Page and Lopatka 69). It helped to reduce India’s reported cases of polio. Microsoft has also started campaigns of supporting GMOs crops as an alternative way to deal with hunger and starvation that is prevalent in Africa. This is because most genetically modified crops are drought resistant and they will be able to resist the harsh climatic conditions present in Africa.

Microsoft Corporation has also contributed to the society by supporting innovative education programs. It supports Innovative Teaching and Learning (ITL) research project. This project mainly concentrates on the integration of technology in the teaching and learning practices. ITL has several objectives in the society. One of its main objectives is collaborating with the global leaders such as UNESCO and the local ministries of education so that they can formulate policies that will help to improve the global quality of education. In addition, ITL aims to share the results from its research on the new effective tools of education so that the global quality of education can improve (Finn, Vredevoort, Lownds and Patric 109). In 2011, Microsoft collaborated with the British council in a program, aimed at equipping teachers in Africa with new teaching skills.

Microsoft is also beneficial to the society since it creates programs that help businesses to solve their problems. Microsoft produces Microsoft Dynamics CRM that helps companies to maintain their sales and customer relationships. In addition, the Microsoft Dynamics help managers to make good decisions on the operations of a firm since it has all the data concerning company’s operations (Page and Lopatka 88). Managers can easily see the balance reflected by the accounts payable by looking at records maintained by the Microsoft Dynamics. It will help them to make a decision on whether to purchase more goods on credit. In addition, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM shows the inventory levels that a company has. A company will therefore know whether it is the right time to order for the supply of goods. A company is therefore able to avoid stock out costs due to this. This helps in increasing the level of consumers’ satisfaction since a company will have enough supply of stock. Microsoft Dynamics also has the ability of generating reports that show the progress of a company. A company is therefore able to know whether it is on the track of achieving its financial goals before the end of a particular financial period. Microsoft also produces Microsoft Office that can be used to manage the operations of a business. Companies use Microsoft Word to type important documents and memos. In addition, accountants use Microsoft office to keep the financial records of a company. Excel has the ability of generating payment sheets. In addition, managers can also use Microsoft PowerPoint to make business presentations. According to research conducted by Gartner, about 94% of the computer users use Microsoft Office to conduct business operations (Finn, Vredevoort, Lowds and Flynn 122).

Microsoft also helps to increase employment opportunities in the society. Job applicants seek employment opportunities in five major divisions at Microsoft. These divisions include Windows and Windows Live Division, Servers and Tools Division, Online Services Division, Microsoft Business Decisions and Entertainment and Devices Division. Most people prefer to work in Microsoft due to several reasons. It offers competitive salaries. According to the statistics released by PayScale, Microsoft ranked the second best company in paying starting salaries. Employees in this company having a working experience of 0 to 5 years earn about $91,500 starting salary (Page and Lopatka 161). The money that people earn from Microsoft can be used to improve the living standards of people in the society. In addition, this company offers health benefits to all its employees. The employees in this company are also given a chance of advancing their career. The good working conditions offered by this company motivate students to prefer seeking employment in this company. Microsoft employs people from different cultures. It makes employees to learn how to live with people from different societies.

Microsoft also helps to train employees through its Microsoft Certified Professionals program. Employees earn this certification program after passing series of exams that are set by Microsoft. Professionals need to pass papers such as Microsoft Certified IT Professional, Microsoft Certified Architect, Microsoft Certified Professional Developer and Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist. Research conducted by human resource managers of several companies has shown that employees get many benefits when they undergo through the Microsoft Certified Professionals program. Employees who have undergone this form of training are 28 percent more productive compared to the other employees (Finn, Vredevoort, Lownds and Flynn 22). This helps them to increase their speed of completing organizational tasks therefore helping them to beat deadlines of the projects that they engage in. In addition, certified employees are team players and this helps in promoting teamwork in an organization. Teamwork helps in improving organization efficiency. Microsoft Certified Professional program also helps in training employees on the skills that they should use while dealing with clients. It helps in increasing the level of consumer satisfaction concerning because of the quality services that employees offer to consumers. Moreover, employees who have undergone this form of training are diversified as they can work in many departments in an organization.

Microsoft has also helped in improving the quality of healthcare in the society. It launched a product known as Microsoft Health Common User Interface. This program helps to improve the quality of patient care by ensuring that all the medical records are documented correctly. According to Microsoft, about 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur annually due to medical error (Page and Lopatka 89). The healthcare interface that Microsoft introduced helps to reduce any errors in data entry since it has all the fields that are related to record keeping in medicine. Most healthcare facilities are adopting this interface due to several reasons. One of the key reasons is that it helps in ensuring medication accuracy while doctors care for their patients. It helps in reducing overdose that may lead to the death of a particular patient. In addition, it helps in ensuring correct identification of patient. This helps doctors to treat patients by using their medical history. It helps in preventing errors that may occur while diagnosing diseases. This software is also easy to navigate. Doctors will therefore access the record of patients within a short time. It increases the speed at which doctors attend to patients. It also has software toolkit controls that educate doctors on how to use the interface of this program.

To conclude, Microsoft Corporation is beneficial to the society since it offers donation to the poor and supports innovative education programs. Bill Gates uses some of the profits from Microsoft to Fund the Gates Foundation. This foundation offers support to public schools in America and healthcare facilities in India. Microsoft also supports innovative education programs. It supports the ITL project that focuses on using new developments in science and technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Microsoft has also supported programs, aimed at training teachers in Africa in an attempt to improve innovative teaching methods in Africa. Microsoft also creates programs that help businesses to manage their operations. Examples of such programs include Microsoft Excel used for maintaining accounting records. This company has also increased the employment opportunities in the society. People earn a living by working as programmers in this company. Microsoft has also helped in training professionals through its Microsoft Certified Professionals program. This program helps in increasing the efficiency of employees. In addition, Microsoft has helped in improving the quality of patient care since it introduced Microsoft Health Common User Interface.