What Makes IBM a Stable Global Leader in Technology - Assignment Example

? Organizational Analysis Introduction IBM is a technological leader which is identified as an internationally renowned and trusted organization. Thecompany is based in New York, United States, however it renders its service globally. It is a company which believes in creativity and which is based on ensuring sustained progress. With operations in more than 170 nations, IBM throughout the world discovers and assimilates software, hardware and services to help modern enterprises and institutions to accomplish in fashioning a smarter planet (IBM, n.d.). IBM primarily manufactures along with markets software and hardware based offerings as well as provides consulting services in segments such as nanotechnology. Since its commencement in 1911, IBM has transformed as technological leader to presently possess around 433,000 employees and was accredited by Fortune as the second biggest United States based company with regard to employee number. Moreover, it is determined as fourth biggest in terms of market capitalization and ninth ranked in terms of profitability (ClearNexus, 2012). Besides, IBM holds many awards for its business-leading employment procedures and policies (IBM, n.d.). The company generates value for its customers and resolves business problems through rendering many different solutions that pull information technology and deep knowledge of business processes. IBM Global Services enable the company to address the needs of varied individual and organizational customers with the aid of IT consulting and services (IBM, 2012). Mission Statement and Role of HR in IBM IBM, as a company, deeply cherishes three of the most important values that are very much required for a company in order to reach exceptionable heights. IBM takes care of its employees and trusts its employees along with enabling the whole organization to follow their personal responsibilities at all levels in order to sustain themselves with the global standards. Thus, the three main mission statements that IBM follow: Devotion towards each and every client’s accomplishment Innovation and creativity that matters-for the organization and for the world Trust and human responsibility in each of its relationships (IBM, n.d.) Role of HR in Fostering IBM’s Mission Statement The role of human resource (HR) manager and department is considered to be one of the most critical constituents, which requires a lot of skills such as recruitment, staffing, brainstorming, designing payrolls, talent management, and employee retention among others. It is a kind of role that requires significant amount of multi-tasking skills and is very challenging (Dessler, 2011). IBM, being a company with a very large manpower, functions in a challenging and innovative environment in terms of managing the human assets as its resources. It believes in taking care of its customers and employees through different sections catering to the needs of the different people (Dessler, 2011). IBM follows a different HR aspect which was reorganized by Randy MacDonald, the senior vice president of human resources of the company. He segregated IBM’s 330,000 employees into three segments of customers including executive and technical employees as well as managers along with rank and file. Randy MacDonald has set up separate human resource management teams comprising training, recruitment and compensation specialists who concentrate on addressing the requirements of each staff segment. These particularly trained or specialized teams ensure that all the employees in the different segments get proper training, information and compensation as per the requirement and competency of the employees in order to support IBM’s needs (Dessler, 2011). Thus, IBM strongly believes on segmentation of the teams so that the needs and requirements of the different employees and customers can be taken care of. By following this policy, IBM not only caters to the need of the people but also manages the workplace in a very suitable manner. It also enables the company to dedicatedly meet its mission statement based objectives which focus not only on innovation and creativity but also on responsible approach to ensure the client’s success. Common HR Challenges Faced by IBM HR functions are considered to be one of the most critical functions performed in the organizations. It involves the management of manpower in the organizations. It may include activities from staffing to employee retention and from designing payrolls to training of employees (IBM Corporation, 2006). Like every other organizations, a company like IBM also has to face challenges related to human resource activities. One of the major challenges faced by IBM is retention of the high performing employees. There are many factors that need to be considered while studying the mindsets of the high performing employees (IBM Corporation, 2006). IBM has to consider varied aspects to deal with this challenge such as: Vision: Do individuals see a reason in what they are executing? Opportunity: Do individuals see the opening to advance and be known for their work? Increments: Do individuals consider they obtain fair financial along with non-financial rewards? Work: Do human beings view the way their activities affect the organization? Community: Do individuals possess a social association to others within the working environment? Communication: Do human beings possess access to varied information to execute their job related efforts more efficiently? Work flexibility: Do people possess flexibility with respect to where, how and when they conduct their duties? (IBM Corporation, 2006) Apart from the above challenges, IBM also has to deal with a few of the disadvantageous factors related to the training and development activities of individuals. These factors are illustrated below: (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011) E-learning and Video Teleconferencing: Start-up and equipment costs are high. It also requires adaptation to a new learning format which may prove to be difficult for many individuals Apprenticeship Training: It requires a long time and also expensive. It may not be related to a job Internships and Assistantships: These are not real jobs and it may provide vicarious learning Job Rotation: It may not be likeable by all employees as it may involve no sense of full responsibility to them Online Classes Intranet or the Internet: This process is not cost effective for small groups and this process is time consuming to develop with no manual solutions provided when the employees face learning problems Apart from these, imparting of offsite training such as formal courses, simulation, assessment centers and board games, role playing, sensitivity training and wilderness trips may require very strong verbal skills, consume a lot of time as well as prove to be very costly which collectively can prove to be a major challenge for the company (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2011). Recommendations on the HR Challenges Faced By IBM From the above analysis, it has been found that the role of HR in IBM is very dynamic and it is full of challenges. The challenges that are faced by the company are very common and similar challenges are faced by almost every other organization. However, not all the organizations are as financially strong as IBM. IBM is a vast organization with a very large number of manpower and it definitely also has a huge resource of capital that is being regulated by the company in order to achieve organizational excellence. IBM can decide to make use of flexible budget plan in order train its employees. Although it is common that every company wants to do certain cost cuttings but for a company like IBM it is very much necessary to train its employees to the fullest irrespective of the costs that are incurred in order to train the employees because it is the employees on whom the profitability of IBM largely depends. The company can keep a stipulated amount of capital separately for training of employees only. By following this step, the company will not only perform proper financial management but also can impart proper training to their employees without any wastage of capital and this fruitful training will be possible (Dessler, 2011). Furthermore, during online training programmes, an individual trainer should be made available so that the all the doubts that generally arise in online training programmes get cleared on the spot only (Dessler, 2011). For retention of high performing employees, the company can motivate the employees with high incentive schemes and by designing proper financial and non-financial bonus schemes. This way the company will not only retain talents but also shape up the organization to see a better tomorrow (Dessler, 2011). Thus, it is advisable that the company becomes more training oriented and provides quality training to its most valuable resources i.e. human assets at all levels. The company can follow a deeper analysis in order to find out the lacking in the employees and provide them with the exact training which the employees require (Dessler, 2011). By following the above steps, IBM can very well shape up to be even a brighter company. After all, employees are the main assets of the company. Effectiveness of the Recommendations to Make IBM More Competitive The above provided recommendations are effective enough for organizational excellence and for gaining sustainable competitive advantage because of the fact that all these recommendations are made for the betterment of the employees who are working for the organization. It is employees who enable the company to reach its goals along with objectives. By giving thorough training to the employees, they can be made more skillful and thus they can cope up with the global changes and innovations in the company. Furthermore, it is recommendable to do a proper analysis for identifying the training needs of the employees because many a times it is viewed that employees end up getting training in those fields in which they do not need. Therefore, it is very important to recognize the needs of the employees first and subsequently rendering training to them accordingly. By following this step, the company can not only save its time but also the time of the employees. These invaluable man-hours can be utilized in generating productive outcomes for the organization in turn ensuring its competitive advantage. Furthermore, it is recommended to maintain a flexible budgeting plan for training of employees because fund should not be a constraint when it comes to the training of employees. High priority should always be given for training of employees. Conclusion After an assessment about IBM, it can be determined that the company is very much stable and is one of the global leaders in technology. It has reached exceptional heights and is still following the path to progress. It is a company with a very large manpower and managing the people and its resources is a major challenge for IBM. There are many challenges related to HR which are being faced by the company but on a positive note, these challenges can easily be sorted out provided the company devotes a little bit of extra time, money and dedication in order to train its employees. With a little bit of extra ground level work, the company can address even more organizational goals conveniently as it has already made its global presence and is recognized as one of the leaders in technology and innovation. References ClearNexus. (2012). IBM Business Partner. Retrieved from http://clearnexus.com/ibm-business-partner/ Dessler, G. (2011). Human resource management. India: Pearson Education India. IBM. (2012). IBM annual report. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/annualreport/2012/bin/assets/2012_ibm_annual.pdf IBM. (n.d.). About IBM. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/ibm/in/en/ IBM Corporation. (2006). How human resources keeps its seat at the table. Retrieved from http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/pdf/g510-6285-00-how-human-resources-keep.pdf Jackson, S, E., Schuler, R, S., & Werner, S. (2011). Managing human resources. Unites States: Cengage Learning. Read More