Microsoft office and Outlook not responding at launch

Hello.

I have a brand new macbook pro running OS X version 10.8.2 and have just downloaded the Microsoft office 2011 package including Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook and Lync.

Microsoft Word crashes at launch every time I try to load it. It simply freezes at the welcome screen and appears to be loading indefinately.

Instead of a welcome screen, the top bar of microsoft outlook loads and then freezes in a similar fashion.

Excel, powerpoint and Lync seem to work fine.

One other thing, the microsoft programs fail to load if another microsoft program is already running - is this normal behavior?!

Help appreciated!

Cheers.

Joe.