Organizing as a major management function

Organizing as a major management function

Sam Palmisano , the new CEO for IBM , has certainly embarked on a highly challenging task . He undertook to bring the company that was floundering in the 90 's back to greatness . He sees this greatness as restoration to the cutting-edge industry position that IBM once occupied . Lou Gerstner can be credited with saving Big Blue from the bleak times , giving it former strength . Now Sam has to reinvent the once leading company and restore it to the former position of the most prominent company in the

computing realm

This is obviously the goal Sam Palmisano considers a top priority . His vision is for IBM to set the technology industry 's agenda , the way it did when it ruled the world of punch-card machines and , later , mainframe computers (Maney 2003 . Sam 's vision incorporates moving into new , yet unopened segments of the market . In the words of Cisco Systems Inc 's CEO John Chambers , Palmisano is aiming to go where the market 's going , not to where it 's been (Ante 2003

The new CEO strives to bring the company to the new cutting edge and make it succeed in what nobody yet has succeeded - constricting e-business on demand that will unite hundreds of computers in one office in a smooth , glitch-free operation . Although this business is extremely challenging from the technical point of view , its success is an important goal for the company

Another goal , as stated by Merrill Lynch 's analyst Steven Milunovich , is to tread the line of continuing what is good from IBM 's past and (adopting ) what has to be new (Maney 2003 . The new management has to sift carefully through former IBM strengths and peculiarities to check if they can be equally advantageous in today 's competitive environment where the Big Blue is no longer the unrivalled top player . The company that has a long history to look back upon can draw on this history , but it also faces the challenge of shedding bits and pieces that now stand in the way of success

Palmisano began by reforming the structure of the company . He removed things that were in the way like the executive management committee that had existed for 92 years . The committee with its 300 members and monthly meetings was in the way of progress when it came to making quick decisions

Instead of the old committee , Palmisano created three management teams with focus on strategy , operations , and technology . Palmisano did not appoint to the teams only high-level managers instead he selected managers and engineers most familiar with the issues (Ante 2003 . The new boss increased his reach to subordinates down the hierarchy to find out from them what was going on at the plant . Teams created connections between departments that had not previously existed . This is necessary if IBM wants to pioneer the creation of systems that will join computer in the hitherto unknown consonance . The new team approach puts in contact everybody including R D...