Suitability of IBM

Suitability of IBM

The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an international corporation that specializes in the production and distribution of computers and computer parts. The company was started in 1911 in New York City in the United States. The company started as a computing-tabulating-recoding company. This, however, changed in the 1950s while being headed by Thomas J. Watson Jr. The company expanded to the production and development of computer parts. This has made the company grow and expand borders, and it now has a presence in over 170 countries, with more than 350,000 workers in the world. The company is one of the biggest contributors when it comes to a cross-cultural experience. This is because its presence in over 170 countries makes it necessary to include the cultures of each of those countries in the running and management of the company. The company has also made an effort to ensure that there is adequate cross-cultural experience among its employees. As an international company, it has the task of seeking global recognition in various countries and cultures. The company has, therefore, set up subsidiaries and resources that enable it to manage people in multiple countries. The company is also significant since it is known to be among the biggest employers worldwide, with over 350,000 employees.  The company is also known to take cross-culture seriously, and there are several considerations made by the company to account for cross-cultural differences to manage its employees. The company has specialized in foreign markets. This makes it vital when looking at the issue of cross-culture among companies in the world.

As an international business, IBM has heavily invested in cross-cultural markets in many ways.  The company has a lot of diversity in its leadership and style of operations. The company has had an increase of 370% in the number of female executives since 1995. The company has also made sure that it has an adequate number of ethnic minorities, and this number has also increased by 233% since 1995 (IBM, 2019). The company has also made the inclusion of all tribes and nationalities in the way of conducting business and management. The company has 52% of the top executives worldwide being female, and also they are mostly composed of non-United States citizens.  The organization has also encompassed self-identified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals in its top executives, to reduce the chances of discrimination in the workplace. IBM has also firmly acknowledged diversity and acceptance, together with cultural awareness in the company. The minority groups and multi-lingual individuals have been accepted in the company, and this has improved the work environment of IBM as a company. The company came up with an initiative to deal with these challenges, Shades of Blue, and there is a lot of inclusion and study on the work environment of the company (IBM, 2012). This shows that this is a company that should be analyzed when looking at the cross-culture management of any company. The company is also suitable to be used in this analysis due to the availability of information on the company’s cross-cultural environment in secondary sources..

IBM SWOT Analysis

Recruitment and Selection Processes

The recruitment and selection process for IBM is very effective. The strengths of this are that there is adequate consideration for the culture of the people before the company employs them. This has helped the company be able to capture new markets and keep them as their trading zones. IBMs recruitment process is also efficient in that there is adequate planning and stages before the final process of recruitment takes place. The weakness of IBM is in the diversification of its products (Thacker, 2012). This affects the recruitment process in that there are limited opportunities or various experts. The fact that the company has only one set of products makes it hard for them to involve or employ people from other sectors of the same expertise field. IBM has a lot of opportunities when it comes to the recruitment and selection process. There is an opportunity to partner with several companies, and this will make them tap into new expertise. There is also a need for the company to use the recruitment process of the partnering company to increase diversification. However, IBM has already diversified its recruitment and selection process, and it only needs to expand on the available opportunities within its reach. The threats that face the company are the competitors. The company has little product and services diversification. This makes it possible for other companies to employ more qualified individuals and also get better quality personnel (Thacker, 2012). The company is also at risk of losing its employees of companies that can provide more use for their skills.

Marketing Policies

The marketing strategy used by IBM is selective targeting of its products and strategic positioning.  This has worked for IBM, and it has been the biggest driver behind the success of the company in the past. The strength of the marketing strategy is that it helps the company reach the target market faster.  This method of marketing also reduces the time and resources need to target unfamiliar markets. The company has a team that conducts adequate research before they explore any new market. The weaknesses of these marketing strategies by IBM are that it makes the company have little control over their territory. This is because the company has a target market that consumes their products. This leaves out the other consumers who might want to explore the product due to a lack of adequate new market-targeting. The opportunities that are presented by these marketing methods are the ability to increase. The company has a list of loyal customers that are most likely to introduce new referrals.

Furthermore, the little competition available in the market presents an opportunity for expansion. The company also has the opportunity of using its cloud services to its advantage by making sure that they have a large investment in it. The company has little threats. Few companies provide the same services, and this makes it dominate the market. This is especially the case when it comes to marketing strategies. However, there are still threats from companies that have adequate advertising methods, both physical and virtual.

Proposals for Change in Global Marketplace and Cultural Diversity

IBM is among the companies in the world that take the issue of cultural competence and cultural intelligence very seriously. The company has come up with ways in which they can ensure that their employees have adequate cultural knowledge. This has been the biggest strength of IB and the main reasons for its continued expansion since 1995. There areas that need to be taken into account for the company to improve its global marketplace reach through the use of cultural diversity. There are several ways of approaching this that the company can use to increase its cross-cultural diversity. The company can use task versus relationship orientation. This is when the company makes sure that the person is trained in dealing with the cultural diversity of certain people related to the task that they will perform. An example is a manager being trained to deal with employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. This is the same case with the direct and indirect styles of communication (Thacker, 2012). A person is trained to deal with people from diverse backgrounds through direct or indirect communication. There is also the decision-making process and how it affects people from different backgrounds. This section will, therefore, look at how IB can improve its cultural diversity and capture the global marketplace. This section will play a vital role in the understanding of the role of cultural diversity in capturing the global marketplace of any company.

Recognizing and developing cultural awareness is the first way to promote cultural diversity and capture the global marketplace.  IBM as an international company has to make more effort to ensure that there is recognition of different cultures and nationalities. The company has so far made an effort to ensure that there is the inclusion of different cultures by the company. However, this needs to be improved, and this may involve developing a policy to ensure that there is social and cultural inclusion by all the members. Having the top managers from different counties and cultures is the first step towards this social inclusion. The company also needs to put it among its policies that it does not encourage discrimination due to race, culture or nationality. This promotes equity in the company and ensures that there is respect for a person regardless of how they look or where they come from. The company’s top management should also come first and ensure that they are the ones promoting cultural diversity. By recognizing and acknowledging it in the company, the employees will also follow this and respect the people (Williams, 2017). The effort towards global cultural diversity has been made by IBM since 1995. This has been the biggest growth strategy by IBM and this shows that cultural competence is the biggest strategy that can be used by a company to gain global recognition.

The other important strategy is having a diverse and culturally competent team. So far IBM has made enough effort to ensure these at all levels, from the national to the global level. The company, however, needs to make an effort to ensure that there is equal representation in all sectors and regions. This varies from country to country and there are rules set by certain countries on representation. IBM has the task of making sure that they fulfill these rules and at the same time ensure that they follow their policies.  Representation also includes a framework put to ensure that the values and beliefs of the company go with the specific country or region. An example that should be used by IB is that the rules that are set for the United States cannot be the same as those set by a country in Asia or the Middle East. The mode of culture that should be employed by IBM should also be realistic. This is because the company may have certain rules and regulations that may not go well with the employees (PEVZNER, 2017). The rule about the culture of the work environment in any organization or company is that it should meet the needs of every person. In this case, the company needs a cross-cultural diversity that accommodates the needs of everyone in the company. A cross-cultural team should accommodate everyone but still ensure that the majority of the leaders come from the region to ensure the efficiency of the company.

The company should make sure that they have cultural diversity as part of their norms in the company. This includes putting cultural diversity as part of the missions that the company aims to promote. The company should also ensure that there is cultural openness in that the policies implemented to promote cultural diversity are accessible to all the employees. By making cultural openness part of the norms in the company, it will be adopted and accepted as part of the functioning of the company (PEVZNER et al, 2017). This will make it easier to enforce policies in the company that supports cultural diversity. Network interaction with other partners is another thing that could be enforced by the company to ensure cultural diversity. One of the best ways of development of a new policy in the organization is by observing the success of the policy in companies that have enforced it. This, therefore, makes it necessary for IM to try and observe the policies that have been enforced by other companies such as Coca-Cola (Neo, 2019). Implementation of the policies should be done in phases such that there is adequate time to observe the response of the employees and sales of the company. This should be done and later be made part of the company. IBM does not have a policy of cultural diversity and social inclusiveness. This is despite having a large number of departments with culturally diverse employees and heads.

Another very vital strategy to promote social inclusion is through the use of advertisements and campaigns that promote cross-cultural awareness. This is an important strategy and it has been used in previous times by companies such as Coca-Cola to spread the message. This is effective in that it will help promote cultural diversity in the company and also fulfill social responsibility. The use of advertisements and promotions has also been used before by companies that need to promote their products. This is the case for the FIFA World cup in 2010 that was organized in South Africa. The campaign to promote the event used a lot of cultural inclusion and promoted the message that everyone is equal and deserved to win the world cup. The use of advertisements and campaigns has also been used successfully by Coca-Cola, where they made videos of people singing the United States national anthem in seven different languages. This helped to spread the message and help in the implementation of the issue of cross-culture in the company. This is because the employees and the outside people will get the message of cross-cultural diversity. This will make it easier to implement the same in the company since it is already in the minds of people. By going global, the company could also use other methods such as promoting the message and involving everyone in their events and programs (Neo, 2019). This helps promote the message and enables the company to have an easier time while implementing cross-cultural diversity. Furthermore, the message that is spread appeals to many people, old, young and people from diverse cultural backgrounds. This helps promote diversity.

Another very important strategy of enforcing cultural diversity on a global perspective is through using the culture, language, and ways of conduct of the target area or country. An example is when changing the region to a place such as Japan or Korea with its own set of cultures and rules. The best way is through the use of their language, social media platforms, and rules. This method of marketing is effective and it has been used by many companies. This is also important when a company wants to gain global recognition. The leaders and marketing team for a particular country must involve people who understand the country or region. This can be used by IBM to target new markets, especially those that have their unique language or culture. The blogger can provide the management of the company with enough information on the running of things in the country (Williams, 2017). The image of the company could also be spread positively in the country. Getting the right brand image spread across the new market is the best way to capture the culture of the region. The foreign market should also be reached by using the people of that region. This, therefore, has to involve the initial plan of including the people of a particular region in the management and marketing plan.

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Benefits

Cross-cultural management is very vital for any company organization. The value of diversity cannot be underestimated. Diversity helps in the development of the values of a company. This is because there is a combination of different values and outlooks that are harmonized into one that can accommodate the needs of everyone. This helps in the stability of the company since there is a consideration of what every person could want. This also helps the company understand how the decision-making process of each person is affected by their background or social beliefs. This is then used by the management of the company to build on their relationship with those people and help the management advance on how they make their decisions. Having a diverse workforce in the organization is also important in the decision-making process of the company’s top management (Muller, 2004).  The most important thing about including leaders from different cultures in the management is the diversity of the ideas that are generated when making important decisions or enforcing vital laws in the company. The inclusion of cross-cultures in the company also helps a lot when generating new ideas about how to improve the company.  There are vital reasons for the inclusion of cross-culture employees or management but the most important are the benefits in the decision making process and ideas that are generated by such as team.

Consequences

Cross-culture is important for the growth of any organization in a new region. However, this comes with some consequences that are experienced with almost any organization that has employed cross-culture in their leadership and management. The biggest challenge that is experienced is on communication. Most employees have trouble communicating with the management or in other countries. This has been the case for countries such as Canada where there is a mix of both English and French speakers. In most cases, one party is often disadvantaged depending on the majority of the speakers in the organization. This is the same case with countries such as Japan or China where there are few English speakers. A company may have trouble penetrating the market since there is a communication barrier. Furthermore, the top management in such countries may have issues communicating the challenges, opportunities or achievements made by the company in the region. The culture of different regions also affects the communication of the company in several other ways. The type of leadership may also differ (Muller, 2004). This will give the company management the choice of either adapting with the leadership style of the region or enforcing their leadership style. Al these have an effect that may affect the running of the company.  The misunderstandings and way of solving problems may differ and sometimes the company may have to be closed down due to the inability to effectively solve their issues.

References

Thakkar, B. (2012). The Impact of Globalization on Cross-Cultural Communication. Globalization – Education and Management Agendas, 5(1).

Ibm.com. (2019). Human resources – Easily manage recruitment, benefits, compensation, payroll, and more | IBM. [online] Available at: https://www.ibm.com/us-en/products/category/business/human-resources [Accessed 27 Nov. 2019].

Müller, N. (2004). Cross-Cultural Management in the 21st century and how it affects Negotiations with an example of HP. Munich: GRIN Verlag GmbH.

Neo, S. (2019). Strategies for Effective Cross-Cultural Communication within the Workplace – Training Industry. [online] Training Industry. Available at: https://trainingindustry.com/blog/performance-management/strategies-for-effective-cross-cultural-communication-within-the-workplace/ [Accessed 27 Nov. 2019].

PEVZNER, M., SHERAIZINA, R., Ushanova, I., PETRYAKOV, P. and Donina, I. (2017). Concepts and strategies of cultural diversity management at higher school. Education, 38(50).

Williams, J. (2017). How to best implement diversity strategies in the workplace. [online] Servicefutures.com. Available at: https://www.servicefutures.com/best-implement-diversity-strategies-workplace [Accessed 27 Nov. 2019].