Business Leadership: Leading a Team-Based Organization Essay Example

been implemented in the company. It recommends the most suitable actions that the company should adopt to ensure maximum gain from the team-based structure. Among the major issues that IBM Company faces in the modern days is the need to remain relevant in the market (Kanter, 2009).

The company faces stiff competition from other players such as Apple, and this has affected its profitability. To achieve success, the company has to motivate its employees to be more innovative so as to come up with more efficient ways of production and unique products that the competing firms lack. The other challenge that the company faces relates to reduced market share. For decades, the company has been the leading provider of consultancy services in the technology sector, but the revenue collected from these services dropped by 10 percent in 2012 (Sharketta, 2012). The inability of the company to differentiate its products in the market is another major issue facing IBM because the consumers can hardly identify with its unique brands. Clearly, all the primary issues faced by IBM relate to the high competition in the market.

The need for the company to produce unique products is brought about by the increase in the number of firms in the industry that specialize in similar products. For the company to survive in the highly competitive technology industry, it needs to position the financial and physical resources in such a way that they help in achieving a competitive advantage in the market. The ability of an organization to embrace change is among the factors that lead to its success in the company. When IBM started its operations, the industry was a bit

stagnant but rapid changes were experienced as the years went by.

The company realized that it had to restructure its values and methods of operation to keep up with the changes in the industry. According to Kanter (2009), the company adopted a culture that was more concerned with social change so that it would be different from the other companies. Three primary values that were adopted in 2007 during the restructure included commitment to meeting customer needs, responsibility to all the stakeholders involved and focus on innovations that consider the well-being of the clients, the employees and the company (Sharketta, 2012). The interest of the company in creating a bigger change in the society relative to the competing firms was a response to the changing values of the communities.

The company needed to create a more appealing image to the existing and the potential clients not only by showing concern for the employees and the customers, but also for the communities that are not directly involved in the generation of revenues. The decision by the company to create a bigger change in the society is important to the employees, the shareholders and all other stakeholder in the company as they benefit from the company’s increased earnings. The communities also benefit from the social change because of the corporate social responsibility initiatives undertaken by the companies. An example of corporate social responsibility initiative developed by the company is K-12 that mainly focuses on providing online basic education.

To ensure that the company achieved its objectives, Kanter (2009), cites that it created an enabling environment for transformation. The most effective change concerned the way employees related because it created more

open means of communication within the company. The company developed a company culture where the employees were able to exchange ideas efficiently due to teamwork. The collaboration of the employees enabled them to develop innovative products because they were able to expand their creative abilities (Vidaver-Cohen & Altman, 2000). By organizing the employees into teams, the company was able to develop effective methods of evaluating and appraising employees through strategies such as recognition and praise.

The objectives of the company mainly focused on the need to solve the existing challenges through the workforce that was already motivated by the new company culture. The productivity of the company increased significantly after the adoption of the new team-based structure because of high motivation by the employees. Even after the adoption of the team-based structure in the company, IBM still faces challenges that need amicable solutions. The company needs to focus more on developing its diverse workforce so that their cultural, gender and religious differences do not affect their productivity (Sharketta, 2012).

The use of leader-member exchange model could also be effective in solving the challenges faced by team members as well as making it easier for the management to identify any issues related to the employees and any other stakeholders (Vidaver-Cohen & Altman, 2000). The fact primary challenges faced by IBM make it clear that the team-based structure does not guarantee success. Although the company has succeeded in creating a culture that enhances teamwork, it still needs to improve on it. The relations of employees in the teams determine the success of the company.

It is therefore important for the company to adopt strategies such as the leader-member exchange model.

References

1. Kanter, R. (2009). IBM in the 21st Century: The Coming of the Globally-Integrated Enterprise. Harvard Business School, p. 1-20.
2. Sharketta , M. (2012) IBM Evolves a Globally Integrated Supply Chain. World Trade :WT100 25(5), 32.
3. Vidaver-Cohen, D., & Altman, B. W.

   (2000). Corporate citizenship in the new millennium: Foundation for an architecture of excellence. Business & Society Review (00453609), 105(1), 145.