The Microsoft Corporation is widely recognized as one of leaders of
             corporate success world-wide. In addition, within the industry, the
             managerial style of its huge pool of managers is widely considered to be as
             In interviewing Ibrahim, a Test Manager located at Microsoft's
             Redmond, Washington campus, I had the opportunity to note his management
             style, and draw many parallels to contemporary management theory.
             Ibrahim currently oversees twelve "test leads," who, in turn, oversee
             a pool forty-seven testers for the Microsoft Office product. He was asked
             to answer several of the following questions:
             1. What is your management philosophy' How do you motivate your
             "I never really thought about it. I guess my management
             philosophy is a kind of "light touch" approach. I believe that
             for an employee to be really productive, they have to have a
             sense of "ownership" of the area that they are responsible
             forâ€"either in overseeing the employees of a particular test
             area, or in the actual testing of the product. I find that
             giving them actual responsibility both bolsters their
             willingness to dedicate themselves to the task, as well as
             motivates them to perform based on the worry of being held
             personally responsible for their oversights at review time."
             2. How do you feel about correcting employees'
             "That depends on what you mean by correcting employees. In my
             daily work one of the most important tasks is "guiding" my
             employees when they are experiencing difficulties.
             Unfortunately, although team employees are encouraged to "own"
             their work, there are times when tasks are, either not
             preformed, or not completed satisfactorily. It is
             ...