Uniqueness of IBM - Essay Example

IBM Company Analysis - the 7s framework involves analysis of Strategy, Structure, Staff, Skills, Shared Value, System, Style. Strategy IBM follows differentiation strategy It positions itself as a market leader and innovator in IT industry. IBM has a competitive position on the market and achieved competitive advantage proposing customers innovative solutions and high quality products. Market development and new product development are the core strategy o the company Regional and global expansion allows IBM to gain large market share Structure The company has a decentralized structure with regional offices and departments around the world. It is based on a network structure The company has both formal and information relations: between top managers and employees relations are formal, between middle managers and employees – informal. Staff and Skills The core of staff is programmers and engineers. Today, IBM employs 386,558 people The success of IB is based on professional skills and knowledge of employees, their commitment and unique personalities. Systems IBM does follow traditional recruiting systems based on psychological tests and training A special attention is paid to promotion and training of employees, their professional skills and knowledge IBM proposes high compensation for programmers and engineers in all fields It has the most innovative and unique IT systems and computer programs which help employees to solve problems and routine tasks. IBM is a leader in IT industry with S$96 billion revenue a year. Style IBM has 32 leaders responsible for certain organizational activities and performance. The key leaders of IBM are S.J. Palmisano IBMs new CEO and Donna Riley, IBMs vice president of global talent, Frank Squillante, an IBM vice president and Harris Ginsberg, IBMs director of global executive. Palmisano is a charismatic leader who exerts great influence on the attitude and performance of the team. “By the spring of 2003, Palmisano and his leadership development team realized the strategy would indeed demand a new breed of boss -- leaders who were as sensitive to changes in their environment as Indian scouts” (Tischler, 2004). Bill Gates remains a key figure in IBM. His unique personal skills and charisma support employs and their morale. Shared Value Shared Value involves position climate and high morale, unique attitudes towards innovations and change processes. The company and employees welcome change as the main driver of success and profitability. IBM has 32 leaders responsible for certain organizational activities and performance. 2. Uniqueness of IBM Customers and technology are the primary driving factors in this arena. Customers want products that satisfy their needs or improve their productivity. IBM looks for ways to deliver these benefits at a lower cost, smaller size, and higher speed. Operating within an industry with this kind of rapid change presents several challenges for personal computer and notebooks, namely production costs, intellectual property owners, and monopolies. In general, IBM is one of the profitable Corporations today and, as predicted, in future (Bellis, 2001). Strengths of IBM Corporation include knowledge, relationships, selling and history. The challenges of the company are based on high quality of products and services. Direct sales force maintains a relationship. Among the weaknesses are high competition and rapidly changing technology market. The innovative PC technology is not cheap and that is why not all the potential customers can afford it today. IBM, in contrast to Dell Corporation, tries to maintain high standards of service proposing and selling (the most important) to its customers high quality products. 3. Leadership of IBM Taking into account his vision of the company, it is possible to say that central planning and negotiating inputs from might have gone, but there remained the assumption that some other agency would solve the problems: an assumption the CEO himself appeared to share. All of this was taking place within a structure which remained hierarchical, with little involvement of junior management or the workforce, who believed that their product could only sell locally and clung to the assumption that they could sell everything they could produce. All of the IBM leaders participate in the change processes which allow them him to strengthen commitment. This is important because it entails the setting up of project teams or task forces; those involved are then able to make a meaningful contribution to the decision-making process, the outcome of which may be of higher quality than decisions taken without such an approach. However, there is the inevitable risk that solutions will be found from within the existing paradigm. For instance, Frank Squillante, exoplains that he “use[s] collaborative influence every minute of every day. If I tried to pull one of these, Im in charge so you have to do this maneuvers, the whole thing would break down" (Tischler, 2004). 4. Leadership Evaluation "Leadership is a personal journey for each person, but I think having a culture that says this stuff matters -- particularly when its linked to your business strategy -- is a very powerful combination" Tischler, 2004). Obtaining historical perspective through analysis is a necessary part of the review but reaching agreement about what should be done in the future is what it is all about. The performance review should take the form of a dialogue, not a top-down interview or appraisal. The qualities of leadership exhibited by the leaders mentioned above help the company to maintain high standards of service as a key opportunity to maximizing customers’ satisfaction. The purpose of maintenance of high standards is to attempt to maximize the performance of service by ensuring that it performs regularly and efficiently. “In terms of how to drive innovation, the study found that 76 percent of CEOs cited business partner or customer collaboration as significant sources for new ideas” (Manila Bulletin 2006). Service is liable to breakdown. As the successful leaders the yare perceptible and flexible and able to act appropriately, i.e. in one situation they are strong, in another they are permissive. It is worth noting also that the formal status of an individual does not indicate the ability Frank Squillante has to influence others, as such abil­ity is rather a combination of his position and his personality. The need to achieve the common task, the need for team maintenance, and the individual needs of group members are the main characteristics of Frank Squillante. So, without an explicit statement of strategy it becomes more difficult for expanding organizations to reconcile coordinated action with entrepreneurial effort (Andrews, 2007). Recent change processes in Linux and Jams projects show that the organization less as an assemblage of parts, each one of which may be replaced or repositioned in a systemic change process. ‘For one, the orientation of employees had to move from an emphasis on service and technical support to marketing and mass manufacturing. The shift was dramatic and had implications for the entire focus of effort and company orientation” (Bennett III 1994, 474). The case of IBM shows that change introduced and directed by effective leadership is a part of an integrated process which is involved with all the other aspects of the business. IBM operates in changing environment and that is why there is a constant need for changes and improvements. The use of dynamic lead-time policies allows IBM to capture some of the cost reductions and optimize the overall profit of the firm under certain conditions. Effective change management based on leadership provides methods for assessing the value of coordinating mechanisms between operations and marketing. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Andrews, P. Leading innovation: Tips on success and survival. 2007, Retrieved 04 July 2008 from http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/executivetech/gbs/a1026501?ca=rss_igs 2. Bennett III, R.B., Fadil, P.A., Greenwood, R.T. Cultural Alignment in Response to Strategic Organizational Change: New Considerations for a Change Framework. Journal of Managerial Issues, 6 (1994), 474. 3. Chase, Ph. N., Podlesnik, Ch. A. Sensitivity and Strength: Effects of Instructions on Resistance to Change. The Psychological Record, 56 (2006), 303. 4. IBM Business Consulting Survey; Most CEOs Plan Radical Corporate Changes.. Manila Bulletin, April 23 (2006), p. NA. 5. Mclagan, P.A. Success with Change. T&D, 56 (2006), p. 44. 6. Tischler, L. IBMs Management Makeover. 2004. Retrieved 04 July 2008 from from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/88/ibm.html Read More