IBM and HR change
For an organization like IBM, it is imperative to have the best out of what exists, and this then means that the company has to give out an enormous amount of its resources to make the human resources team succeed. This then leads to the fact as to whether the leadership of the aforementioned subsection should be changed or rather made better. Change of leadership is something that any organization that wishes to make it in terms of profit and respectful relations amongst the employers and employees should always ensure is present.
In the period of 2002 and 2009, IBM Company created management of the workforce initiative that was quite exceptional (Blumenthal & Haspeslagh 1994). Unique in the sense that the initiative had the view that reflected the increasing need to have global organizations to have transparent and all-inclusive look at the talent supply, requirements and implications that this would have on the business strategy.
The system was quite impressive as it was utilized by over 80% of the staff of the company including the employees and managers to keep track on the development, and performance, estimate talent requirements and availability. Additionally, the system helped the planners of the company to come out with a way through which they could estimate the future opportunities and requirements. From this change strategy, it means that the human resource section of the company was the one that was mainly focused on. Companies overlook their main valuable asset that is the people it has, and this is the human capital (Kotter 1995).
The company used the idea that the human capital is the single strongest largest resource in its change initiative. Consequently, the company realized that it has to utilize the workforce to the fullest even if it has to utilize other strategic business areas in order to maximize all it has to make it better. By dealing with the human resource department, the company made the strategy quite effective at the end. The main way that the company made the change is that it improved the adaptability, innovation and productivity and this would help to stay ahead of the competition.
Effective leadership incorporates numerous sections to ensure that it does not fail, and this is the part that IBM considered. If the Human Resource section is not considered in depth, then the change process in an organization usually means it is an imperfect one, and this is what the company could not afford. Therefore, before carrying out the change strategy, the company analyzed the most visible challenges that a company faces when it is trying to change.
They included creating a workforce that is adaptable, having a mechanism that future leaders can be identified through, and creating the code of new talent (Kotter 1990). For that reason, the study concluded that when there is the need for change, the organization has to look further than the human resource department, and this means the leadership team has to be included in the part of the change.
The company, therefore, starts by understanding the challenges that the human resource department faces and this then would mean that the challenges would be overcome through an integrated approach that would be based on the strengths that have been identified against the weaknesses. Through an extensive research, the organization has found a way through which it works with clients at a full range, and this means the HR issues are identified strategically, and this is carried out in a global level (Goleman 2000). The experience, solutions, relationships are also considered as key so that they would not deter the level of success.
In the change process, effective change leadership is also a feature of concern and this then leads to focus on the management section. Through the focus, the organization has put in place a healthy planning in relation to budgeting to ensure that it has the best outcome out of the change process, and this then makes it necessary to ensure that the management team is involved since they are the ones who lay down the plans and fund the change. Through this, the emotional needs of the employees were also considered (Blumenthal & Haspeslagh 1994). The self-awareness, managing emotions, and understanding for others were key elements when discussing emotions. Through these leadership skills, then the change process was possible as all factors were carefully focused on.
The key attributes to effective change include strong self-image. This means that there is the need for employees to have self-belief. There is the need by the change agents to know that they can have the self-confidence to step into the unknown. This then leads to the leaders had to have the capacity to listen. The leader also has to have the characteristic of leading the employees to the vision that he or she has, and this was one part that was quite effective.
The crucial decision that was utilized was quite effective in ensuring that the change process did not take a long time (Stace & Dunphy 2001). The energy levels are also a critical area of focus when there is the need to change, and this then means that the passion for the job has to be considered so that the change process may be effective. Energy and focus when put together can help to move the circle to the better. Love for people when advocating for change in the human resource department is considering the genuine interests for the followers. Using a figure, the change process may be defined by the figure below:
From the figure, it is evident that the change involves the involvement of operations and finance as aforementioned as the people in the organization who are the Human Resource.
The theory of the Y leaders who are the ones that are not consumed by power but are willing to work with the employees at a servant leader level is also crucial when there is the need to introduce change and that are one fact that cannot be ignored in any way (Mant 1999). The leader should not be used to the fact that when there is unity when it comes to change he or she cannot have the ability to be the sole person who takes all the praise.
The functional competency is also a key part of the focus. Knowledge and credibility are some of the factors that are considered when there is the need to make a support base, and this is one of the points that the organization considers in order to make amends to the change process (Graetz, Rimmer, Lawrence, & Smith 2011). From this analysis, it is evident that effective change leadership is one factor that cannot be ignored when there is the need of coming out with change in an organization with the focus being the human resource of the IBM Company.
Reference List
Blumenthal, B & Haspeslagh, P 1994. âToward a definition of corporate transformationâ, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 5 no. 19, pp. 101-106.
Goleman, D 2000, âLeadership that gets resultsâ, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 6 no. 21, pp. 78-90.
Graetz, F Rimmer M Lawrence, A & Smith, A 2011, Managing organizational change. Australia: John Wiley & Sons.
IBM, 2012, IBM Global Business Services. Web.
Kotter, J P 1990, âWhat Leaders Really doâ, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 7 no. 29, pp. 103-111.
Kotter, J P 1995. Leading Change: âWhy transformational efforts failâ, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 1no. 17, pp. 59-67.
Mant, A 1999, Inteligent Leadership. St. Le: Allen & Unwin. Sydney.
Stace, D & Dunphy, D 2001, Beyond the boundaries: leading and recreating the successful enterprise. McGraw-Hill, Sydney.