Guardians of Culture:
A Case Study of HR in a Research Organization
Kentaro Toyama
Assistant Managing Director
Jasmit Kaur
HR Manager
Microsoft Research India
COSMAR 2006
September 22, 2006
IISc School of Management Science
Outline
Microsoft Research India
– Introduction and Overview
– Goals
– Culture
HR’s Role in Nurturing Culture
– Operational HR
– Consultant HR
– Strategic HR
Summary
Outline
Microsoft Research India
– Introduction and Overview
– Goals
– Culture
HR’s Role in Nurturing Culture
– Operational HR
– Consultant HR
– Strategic HR
Summary
Microsoft Research
Established 1991 in Redmond, USA
~1000 full-time staff in 5 locations
–
Redmond; Beijing; Cambridge, UK; Mountain
View, CA; Bangalore, India
Over 60 computer-science research areas
represented
–
Regular publications in major CS journals and
conferences
Contributions to products at Microsoft
–
Ranging from development tools, data mining,
photo editing, text-to-speech, grammar
checking, spam filtering, etc.
Collaborations with universities
MSR HQ in Redmond
http://research.microsoft.com
Microsoft Research India
Established 2005 in Bangalore
~45 full-time staff, still growing
Activities in six research areas:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Cryptography, Security, and Algorithms
Digital Geographics
Hardware, Communications, and Systems
Multilingual Systems
Rigorous Software Engineering
Technology for Emerging Markets
Contributions to products, such as Windows,
Virtual Earth, Mobile & Embedded Devices
Collaborations with universities
http://research.microsoft.com/india
MSR India in Sadashivnagar
Goals
World-class academic
research
Contributions to Microsoft
products and business
groups
Collaboration with
universities to further
technology research in
India
MSR India, January 2006
Culture
World-class academic
research
focus
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
“Microsoft Values”
Culture
Curiosity-driven exploration
External recognition
World-class academic
research
focus
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
Flexible timings
Casual dress code
Employees empowered
Flexible policies
Discussion about everything
Close community
Flat hierarchy
Frequent travel
Interaction encouraged
Why do we care?
“The basic philosophy, spirit, and desire of an organization
have far more to do with its relative achievements than do
technological or economic resources, organizational
structure, innovation, and timing.” – T. J. Watson, Jr., 1962
“[Culture’s] impact supersedes all other factors when it
comes to organizational economic performance.” – W. E.
Schneider, 1998
“Organizational culture … matters because culture elements
determine strategy, goals, and modes of operating.” – E.
Schein, 1999
Supporting Culture
•
Management
– E.g., managers lower barriers to
avoid hierarchical relationships
•
Researchers
– E.g., individual researchers set
long-term research agendas
•
Budget and finance
– E.g., liberal travel budget allows
conference attendance and lab
visits, which supports external
collaboration
•
Real estate & facilities
– E.g., interior architecture
encourages internal collaboration
•
Human Resources…
Collaborative office space
Outline
Microsoft Research India
– Introduction and Overview
– Goals
– Culture
HR’s Role in Nurturing Culture
–
–
–
–
Data
Operational HR
Consultative HR
Strategic HR
Summary
Data
From MSR India…
• HR policy
• HR documents and records
• Interaction with leadership team [7]
• Interviews with researchers [10]
• Intern feedback surveys [35]
HR’s Role in Nurturing
a Research Culture
• Operational HR
– Personalized recruiting
– Informal work environment
• Consultative HR
– Policy by persuasion
– Employee feedback
• Strategic HR
– Performance management
– Competency framework
Culture
Curiosity-driven exploration
External recognition
World-class academic
research
focus
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
Flexible timings
Casual dress code
Employees empowered
Flexible policies
Discussion about everything
Close community
Flat hierarchy
Frequent travel
Interaction encouraged
focus
Operational HR
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
Personalized recruiting
•
Researchers have unique attributes;
difficult to substitute/replace
•
Candidates treated as visiting
researchers
– Research discussion with interviewers
– Collaborative relationship sought
regardless of hiring decision
•
Once selected, candidates courted
carefully
– Gentle negotiations
– Lots of attention from hiring manager,
HR, and leadership team
Congratulations. You have the skills
we’re looking for, and you’ll just fit a
cubicle.”
focus
Operational HR
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
Informal work environment
• First-name basis
• Flexible working hours
• Support for working from home
• Casual dress code; shoes optional
within office
• Accomplishments valued, not
hours worked
“I’m working from home today.”
Outline
Microsoft Research India
– Introduction and Overview
– Goals
– Culture
HR’s Role in Nurturing Culture
–
–
–
–
Data
Operational HR
Consultative HR
Strategic HR
Summary
focus
Consultative HR
Policy as persuasion
• Reason for policies explained
carefully
• Participative HR: policies set in
conjunction with management
to facilitate research culture
• Balance between equity and
accommodation of individual
– More flexibility than in other
divisions
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
focus
Consultative HR
Employee feedback [1]
• Feedback elicited through
individual interviews.
– <40% of researchers
participated in corporate poll
(vs. 80%)
• Interviews as brainstorming
sessions
• Results presented in depth, with
many questions, and attempt to
understand causal factors
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
focus
Consultative HR
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
Employee feedback [2]
• Feedback itself unique
(indication of culture)
– Few complaints about
managers
• Mentor-mentee collaborative
relationship
• Close-knit research teams
– Suggestions, more than
complaints
• Inquiry and engineering
– Care for organization
Copyright © 2003 Randy Glasbergen
Outline
Microsoft Research India
– Introduction and Overview
– Goals
– Culture
HR’s Role in Nurturing Culture
–
–
–
–
Data
Operational HR
Consultative HR
Strategic HR
Summary
focus
Strategic HR
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
Performance management
•
Two parts: performance review and
commitment setting
•
Uniqueness to research
– Flexibility in precision of commitments
• Concrete metrics difficult to define
• Annual metrics aligned with long-term
goals
– Investment of greater effort to
calibrate
– Componentization of long-term work,
to fit annual cycle
Microsoft performance review form
focus
Strategic HR
Research competency
framework [1]
• Competency framework
describes expected
capabilities for a given level.
• Competencies define basis for
leveling and promotion.
• Researcher competencies
reflect the research culture;
differ from other professions
Novelty and uniqueness
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
focus
Novelty and uniqueness
Strategic HR
Research competency
framework [2]
Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
•
–
–
–
–
• Interviews to capture research
managers’ intuitions
•
• Categorization,
standardization, and
normalization
• Articulation of competencies
by level
• Communication to researchers
Research
Internal collaboration
–
–
•
External visibility
Academic collaboration
Professional activities
Management
–
–
•
Collaboration with other researchers
Collaboration with product groups
External collaboration
–
–
–
•
Conceptual knowledge
Project identification
Project execution
Publications and presentations
Mentoring of junior researchers
Group management
Leadership
–
–
–
–
Direction setting
Team building
Scope of concern
Impact and influence
Sample MSR researcher competencies
Summary
• Elements of culture at Microsoft Research India
–
focus
– Novelty and uniqueness
– Constant i?n?q?u?i?r?y
–
• HR adaptations in nurturing culture for research
– Operational
– Consultative
– Strategic
Thank you!
http://research.microsoft.com/india