INTRODUCTION International Business Machines Corporation IBM is a multinational consulting and technology company, which offers consulting services

as well as hardware and software solutions. IBM is an organization that places a great emphasis on equal opportunities and diversity. In the early days of the firm, at this time current CEO Watson even set up a letter of equal opportunities containing following quote: It is the policy of IBM to hire people who have the personality, talent and background necessary to fill a given job, regardless of race, colour or creed (hconline). This way of handling human resources started by the letter in 1953 is still sensible in the company today as IBM emphasises equal opportunities also in the modern society. They have equal benefits for the partners of homosexual employees and put a lot of importance on equal treatment of female employees. This is again reflected in IBMs perception of how HR can contribute to firms value and further enhance it. Four guidelines exist, two of which address the set up of human resource management policies in particular: IBMs employees have all equal benefits and everyone in the company is eligible for bonus-packages (hbr blogs). Regarding diversity IBM builds on three pillars, which are the creation of a right work and life balance, the advancement of women and integration of people with a disability. IBM has a Diversity Council, chaired by the CEO, which responsibility is to ensure that contributions and differences from all employees are encouraged and valued visibly throughout the firm. In the following this paper will draw a link between IBMs human resource management and company characteristics that are influenced by their way of handling HR. PROBLEM STATEMENT, OUTLINE BLUEPRINTS Human resource configurations can be traced back to the roots of the company, when Watson established teams and pointed out social aspects in the firm that intended to foster company-intern relationships. As Baron and Hannan (2003) state the early influences of a founder and his idea of setting the guidelines for the human resources in his company can have major influence on later path evaluation. Blueprints can be defined as configurations that are categorised by their difference on three dimensions, the basis of attachment, criterion for selection and the means of control and coordination. Organisations handle these dimensions in a way they think suit their

strategy and goals best. Depending on what a company wants to achieve its human resource management can be described in form of a blueprint typology. Keeping IBMs characteristics of equal opportunities and diversity in mind it is possible to place IBM into the blueprint framework. The first blueprint dimension, attachment, can be evaluated on the attributes love, work and money. At IBM the attribute of work might be most appealing to employees due to their desire to work at the technological frontier. Means of control is a diverse dimension at IBM as the organisation did undergo a change in the past from more formal and professional control to more informal control systems. When 2000 Randy MacDonald arrived at IBM he changed the companys perception about HRM and defined what should be core ant what not. He said that getting paycheques out on time and other administrative are not core, but the focus should lie on attracting, retaining and motivating employees (hbrpower). To further improve the organisation the right criterions for selection have to be in place. Employees can be selected on their skills, on their fit to the companys culture or on their long-term potential. In such a rapidly changing environment as the technology industry and in such a huge company it is probably best to select ones workforce on long-term potential, as current skills might be soon out-dated in some areas, whereas in others skills is of utmost importance. Therefore a blueprint mixture of the star and the engineering model could describe IBM with respect to its new way of managing human resources. The star model refers to attachment based on challenging work, reliance on autonomy and professional control, and selecting elite personnel based on long-term potential other than the engineering model that involves attachment through challenging work, peer group control, and selection based on specific task abilities. More Over, the star model depends on the ability to recruit and select star talent as well as ensuring that these new hires fit the culture. When firms are founded on an engineering model it is necessary to ensure that the hard-working engineers are motivated enough. The combination of blueprints might indicate that a firm is undergoing a transition or in diversified firms also industry and strategy differences among the different service fields. In changing environments and changing strategy of organisations it might be the case that a firm has to adapt its blueprint and change from one to another. So did IBM as it adapted its analogue ways of the past to embrace a variety of 21st century

approaches (hbrblog). They loosened the once very formal dress code rules to business casual and established a less strict working environment in which badging in in not required anymore. To still be able to maintain loyalty, productivity and morale in these changing and diverse conditions IBM established the four directions of resources components mentioned above. This involves equal benefits, the Global Pulse Survey to capture feedback opinions, the performance-based bonus programme everyone is eligible for and lastly a paramount importance placed on training. To stay up to date in the digital world IBM holds business meetings, lectures and trainings in the virtual environment Second Life. Creating own avatars and being able to meet coworkers or business partners support global team building, improvements in the efficiency of global interactions and fostering of innovation and talent. Davidson claims: To be successful as an interactive global network requires changing your HR game all the way down (hbrblog). Their early blueprint might be described as fitting the bureaucratic model with a high emphasis on detailed project and job descriptions, rigorous techniques and a high form of documentation. There is support by Baron and Hannan who find that the bureaucracy and engineering model only differ on one dimension and between both, a change is most likely to occur. Also they indicate that companies that were initially product driven are especially likely to change their blueprint. And in technology industries the benefits of an enduring and consistent organizational structure are not as high as in other industries (baron, hannan). As already indicated above the early choices of the founder have implications for the whole enterprise. In 1953 Watson already set a path of how the workforce at IBM should be treated and look like. The founders employment models exert powerful and enduring effects on how their companies evolve and perform. The other outstanding influence of blueprints on firms is twofold. On the one hand changes in organisational blueprints can be destabilizing and adversely effect employee turnover. On the other hand if firms change to one of the five existing best recipe blueprints, which are the star, the engineering, the commitment, the bureaucracy and the autocracy model, the negative influences might be offset. Changing of blueprints usually accompanies CEO turnovers, which is another indicator of the benefits a change might have. In any case strong organisation-building and high commitment in HRM seems to pay off. However there is a powerful trade-off between risk and reward in selecting an HR blueprint. Further it is important to select blueprints that fit the organisation in the long-term and

not only its current mind-set. IBM successfully identified the two blueprints that fit to its strategy as well as to the broader characteristics of its industry. Benefits beyond effectively managing its workforce are that by being able to identify the companys blueprint are that firms can balance the need for global consistency against the need for local flexibility and moreover can better assess possible merger partners or acquisition candidates. INTERNATIONALITYworldwide?

manage and align strategic hrm internationally and ensure that HRM contributes

IBM is an internationally operating organisation. It has subsidiaries in countries with headquarters located in A??, New York in the United States. In more and more globalising environments also IBM faces the challenge of aligning and utilising human resources on a worldwide scale. Thus HRM has to fulfil more roles in addition to the traditional ones like administration and the management of change. IBMs multinational operations can be traditionally characterized by a strong dependence on the policies set by the corporations headquarters. Therefore IBM pursues a global strategy in which the firm has a controlling role and wants to retain this control and there exists a high degree of similarity between the different subsidiaries, as all are adjusting to the corporate level. In a dependent relationship headquarters can be described as a champion of processes, trying to export standard processes and overarching principles. However, recently IBM is changing its exportive strategy and allows for more autonomy in its subsidiaries. Instead of the traditional highly centralized organisation, subsidiaries can now interpret the given principles locally. As one employee states, they have leeway in running the show in areas not spelled out by IBM headquarters. The focus on more diversity IBM pursues in its human resource management can be seen as a first step into a more transnational strategy and integrative role of HR. Information is now shared also across boarders and IBM is moving from a dependent to an interdependent structure. The corporation is proactive and the headquarters are deciding which policies are needed and then disseminate these into the organisation. Additionally to the role of the champion of processes, being a knowledge management champion is important now as well. Corporate headquarters still maintain strong control but the clear process and management roles uncovered the supporting idea of the headquarters (farndale, paauwe). What is needed in globalising organisations today is the need of effectiveness in human organisation.

Looking of human resources from the viewpoint of the Resource Based View, which states that resources are only valuable when they are.., one can evaluate IBMs human resources on three distinct levels. The corporate level strategic international human resource management, the affiliate HRM and the employee groups HRM. SHIRM Orientation In summary

references http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/08/how_ibm_is_changing_its_hr_gam.html (cathy n. davidson) http://www.businessweek.com/management/ibm-focuses-hr-on-change01102012.html (brad power) blueprints baron and hannan http://www.hcamag.com/resources/learning-and-development/cultural-diversity-ibmstyle/115423/ farncale, paauwe morris .... taylor, beechler, napier...