Exemplary Leaders

1223 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Primary dimensions of diversity management

Exemplary Leaders in Managing Diversity

In today’s global market organizations are challenged with gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage while simultaneously managing a diverse workforce. Hence, to achieve these goals requires leaders with vision, commitment, and an understanding of how diversity can positively impact business objectives. Thus, the strategy used by Louis Gerstner, former IBM CEO, to transform the way in which the company managed diversity to meet market changes was examined.

Case Study: Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. IBM

Background

Louis Gerstner became CEO of the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1993. Gerstner graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a degree in engineering in 1963 and received his MBA at Harvard University in 1970. After college Gerstner worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co. While there, Gerstner rose through the ranks becoming one of the youngest partners in the firm’s history. Hence, Gerstner’s meteoric rise was due to his business acumen.

In 1978 Gerstner saved Penn Central Railway from bankruptcy and overhauled its operations. Also, prior to becoming CEO of IBM, Gerstner held a series of high profile positions including executive vice president of travel and expenses for American Express and CEO of RJR Nabisco. However, by the time Gerstner became CEO of IBM it was considered by many the most difficult job in America (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011).

Philosophy

IBM values diversity and has so for quite some time. Hence, before being a diverse company became popular or was politically correct IBM embarked on becoming a leader in diversity. Hence, as a result of the company’s pioneering efforts, of the top 50 diverse co...

... middle of paper ...

...nt in particular and overall success in general is due to Gerstner’s passion.

References

Canas, K.A., & Sondak, H. (2010). Opportunities and challenges of workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises. (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Diversity Inc. (2011). The diversity inc top 50 companies for diversity. Retrieved from http://diversityinc.com/the-2011-diversityinc-top-50/no-7-ibm-corp/

Linden, B. (2011). Diversity done right is a competitive advantage. Retrieved from http://asiasociety.org/business/economic-trends/diversity-done-right-competitive-advantage

Lou Gerstner. (2011). In Encyclopedia Britannica online. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/lou-gerstner-39353

Thomas, D.A. (2004, September). Diversity as strategy. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://www.tedchilds.com/files/HBRDiversityStrategy04.pdf

Show More
Related

  • A Case Study in White Collar Crime: Kirk Wright

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    After graduating from college John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt got a job at Kaiser Company. It was there when he started to meet many clients who had lots of money and they later introduced him to other investors. Shortly after John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt decided to open his own hedge fund, called International Management Associates LLc. John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt's first year working at Kaiser is where he met most of his client with money, who trusted him and invest large sums of money his firm, known as IMA. Which he founded, CEO and portfol...

    Read More

  • The Loudest Duck Summary

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    Diversity is the piece that makes the modern workforce so amazingly unique and challenging at the same time. Valuing diversity means creating a work environment that respects and includes differences, recognizing the unique contributions these differences can bring, and maximizing the potential of all employees and the company. In The Loudest Duck, the author describes what often happens when diverse individuals enter the modern diverse workplace. Liswood gives great examples, analogies and shares simple insights into the hardships of bringing people from diverse backgrounds together to accomplish goals. The main emphasis is put on recognizing that diversity strictly by statistics of different races and/or genders present is insufficient.

    Read More

  • The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cañas, K. A. & Sondak, H. (2011). Opportunities and challenged for workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.

    Read More

  • Is Diversity A Diverse Initiative Essay

    2232 Words  | 5 Pages

    When aligned with Organizational Objectives, diversity can be a powerful contributor to the organizations competitive advantage.” (Best practices page 9)

    Read More

  • Written Case Analysis – IBM

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    The customers would find it difficult to deal with different divisions of IBM. · IBM also did not appreciate that software was becoming more important than hardware in the light of the IT revolution. Louis Gerstner took over as CEO in 1993. The major policy initiatives that he launched included a decision not to split up the company but to make it even more closely linked, concentrate on networking and minimizing bureaucracy. Under his leadership, IBM's earnings showed a remarkable turnaround in the next two years after registering a huge loss in 1993.

    Read More

  • starbucks history

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    He started asking questions and becoming more and more interested by every moment. He loved how the founders had so much knowledge on the coffee and each blend. In 1982, Schultz became director of retail operations. This was just the start of a new phase with the company. When Shultz took over, this started the beginning of a new era.

    Read More

  • Human Resource Strategies Proposal

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    This document will explore what a company can do to foster diversity in the workplace. The business case highlights the development and implementation of organizational initiatives that could:

    Read More

  • Exemplary Leader: Indra Nooyi

    1893 Words  | 4 Pages

    The foundation for developing an effective diversity management program relies on leadership commitment and the CEO should communicate the organization’s position on diversity management and his or her sincere belief in the importance of diversity (Cañas & Sondak, 2010). Indra Nooyi, the current Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, is a leader who demonstrates a strong passion for managing diversity. In this paper I will be discussing Indra Nooyi’s personal and professional background, the status of diversity within PepsiCo before her role as CEO, the leadership philosophy on managing diversity Indra Nooyi has taken, the strategies she has used to implement diversity management, and her diversity related goals. I will conclude with a discussion on the current status of PepsiCo in terms of diversity, their future diversity goals and how Nooyi’s diversity management efforts have affected the overall success of the company as a whole.

    Read More

  • A Critical Evaluation and Analysis of Diversity Training- the Positive and Negatives

    1364 Words  | 3 Pages

    The approaches used in diversity training owe much on the history of this practice. Diversity training came to be as a result of a universal call to affirmed action that revolutionized the demographic composition in organizations (Paluck 580). Originally, companies instituted diversity measures to counter legal implication threats. The practice evolved from being a single day event to a continuum occurrence that characterized hiring, retention and rewarding of employees. This was actually the birth of the diversity management practice, which modern organizations are trying to catch up with. It is important to discuss the approaches here because they help critically analyze on whether diversity training help in bettering performance in an organization or not.

    Read More

  • Ursula Burns Case Study

    1844 Words  | 4 Pages

    Several factors contributed to their success, discuss them. The individual I am researching is a woman by the name of Ursula Burns. Ursula Burns is the chairman and chief executive officer of Xerox Corporation. Ursula joined Xerox as an intern in 1980 and during her career she has held leadership posts spanning corporate services, manufacturing and product development. She was named president in 2007, chief executive officer in 2009 and chairman in 2010.

    Read More

  • Gender Diversity in the Workplace

    1462 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

    Read More

  • Ethical Leadership and Diversity

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Riccucci, N. M. (2002). Managing diversity in public sector workforces. (p. 28). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

    Read More

  • Workplace Diversity Case Study

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    The researcher believes, in this fast-changing era, any kind of company or organization should be able to improve the quality of workplace diversity by having some important main factor to boost the new paradigm of a diverse workplace, such as:

    Read More

  • Tolerance And Diversity

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    Diversity is all around us and how organizations deal with the notion of diversity can be complex and quite diverse. We know that being diverse in the workplace is important to the organization's success, should be recognized, accepted, and embraced. It’s how the organizations live up to what they believe in and must go above and beyond legal compliance and requirements to promoting diversity and inclusion. Otherwise, employees may view the organization's vision and policies as lip service and only be tolerant of diversity because the organization said so.

    Read More

  • Leadership In Sun Tzu's The Art Of War

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1960s we saw that IBM was getting majority of its income from the System 360. This was a very good time for IBM because sales were booming and it was growing. Eventually sales begin to decline and the company nearly died because its plans and strategies did not change with the circumstance. Then Louis V. Gerstner comes in as the new CEO and turns the company around over time through his leadership. He does this by changing the company’s plans and the way the company operated because circumstances were now different. This shows that leaders play a huge role in the fate of its people and organization. In the IBM book we see Lou shares the same opinion because he says, “It’s been said that every institution is nothing but the extended shadow of one person”. This person Lou refers to is the

    Read More

More about Exemplary Leaders

Open Document