Today Microsoft India includes Microsoft Corporation's largest R&D centre outside of its headquarters in the US. The company works with the local technology industry and its interests incorporate not only the private sector, but also the Indian government (Microsoft India, 2012 in McKenna and Beech, 2014).

The economic slowdown following international economic upheaval in late 2008 subsequently interrupted years of steady growth at Microsoft India (Pradhan, 2011 in McKenna and Beech, 2014). Among the challenging outcomes were workforce reductions and difficulty holding on to essential and highly-trained staff members.

The uncertainty of the world economy prompted a major overhaul of Microsoft India's HR approach. Joji Sekhon Gill, shortly after taking up the HR director position, initiated a process to reshape the company's HR strategy by introducing new performance-management measures and employee-retention practices.

According to Microsoft India's growth model, HR was ultimately expected to improve quality and efficiency despite workforce reductions. The existing performance-management system was amended to intensify evaluation and increase performance rewards through revamped compensation packages.

The new transparency model caused a great deal of anxiety and psychologically unsettled the workforce. Measures were introduced to keep performance-based rewards and compensation confidential, while the mechanisms of the process were made transparent. Clear communication strategies had to be introduced to explain the rationale and need for particular compensation and hiring policies.

The aim was to improve the line of sight between employees' contributions and increases in compensation, and a rating system was introduced into the performance reviews. The rating is tied to increases in pay, and bonuses and the size of the increases are tied to factors such as job type and discipline.

The re-shaped HR strategies at Microsoft India have stabilised the workforce amidst conflicting expectations. The initiative helped the company attract and retain skilled knowledge workers in a competitive and uncertain environment by delivering the highest compensation to the highest performing employees in the most important jobs. As a result, Microsoft India has been called the 'most attractive employer in India' for the second consecutive year since 2012 based on assessment by the Global HR service firm Randstad.

Do you think performance management systems, at Microsoft India, will impact on the control of project scope, control of variances in terms of cost and schedule, as well as the control of risks? If yes, why? If not, argue and justify your answer with regards to the concept of project control.