1 IBM: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE 4 Running head: IBM: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IBM: Organizational Change Student Name Western Kentucky University LEAD 325 – Leading Change Cindy L. Ehresman November 12, 2018 IBM: Organizational Change Celebrating its one hundredth anniversary this year, International Business Machines Corporation is located in Armonk, New York, has 426,751 employees worldwide, and enjoys revenues of $99.9 billion (IBMa, 2011). Founded in 1911 in New York by Charles F. Flint, and originally named The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company or CTR, the company manufactured and sold commercial scales, time recorders for industry, tabulators, along with other items. Operating out of New York City, the company employed 1,300 people with plants in several cities in addition to one in Canada. In 1914, Thomas J. Watson Sr. took over the company, and with his guidance, CTR became a frontrunner in technology and innovation, and a soon to be multinational corporation (IBMb, 2011). Changing its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924, IBM went on to develop new technologies, and in the 1940’s were on the cutting edge of the large electronic calculator research, eventually leading in 1952 to the IBM 701, their first large computer (IBMb, 2011). Also well known for introducing the first successful electric typewriter in the United States in 1935 and the Selectric Typewriter in the 1960’s (Batchelor, 2003), IBM continued to be in the forefront of innovation. As time went on IBM hung on to outdated methods of doing business, such as divisions producing their own parts, acting independently of one another and, in many cases, competing with each other. During 1993, IBM lost $8 billion and was near bankruptcy. Enter Lou Gerstner in 1993. He described the culture at IBM as, “inbred and ingrown” (DiCarlo, 2002). He tied compensation to the companies’ performance rather than by division to instill unity, consolidated divisions creating a culture of teamwork that had not existed at IBM, and eliminated products that were draining the company (DiCarlo, 2002). Through patience, hard work, and an understanding of the need for culture change, Gerstner was able to lead IBM back from the brink of disaster. Today, IBM even offers services in organizational change. References Batchelor, B. (2003). History of the IBM Typewriter. Retrieved from www.etypewriters.com: http://www.etypewriters.com/history.htm DiCarlo, L. (2002). How Lou Gerstner Got IBM to Dance. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2002/11/11/cx_ld_1112gerstner.html IBM. (2011a). About IBM. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/ibm/us/en/ IBM. (2011b). IBM Achives. Retrieved from http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/history_intro.html Running head: GE and Jack Welch Instructions- LEAD 530 Ter.

1. 1
IBM: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
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Running head: IBM: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
IBM: Organizational Change
Student Name
Western Kentucky University
LEAD 325 – Leading Change
Cindy L. Ehresman
November 12, 2018
IBM: Organizational Change
Celebrating its one hundredth anniversary this year,
International Business Machines Corporation is located in
Armonk, New York, has 426,751 employees worldwide, and
enjoys revenues of $99.9 billion (IBMa, 2011). Founded in
1911 in New York by Charles F. Flint, and originally named
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company or CTR, the
company manufactured and sold commercial scales, time
recorders for industry, tabulators, along with other items.

2. Operating out of New York City, the company employed 1,300
people with plants in several cities in addition to one in Canada.
In 1914, Thomas J. Watson Sr. took over the company, and with
his guidance, CTR became a frontrunner in technology and
innovation, and a soon to be multinational corporation (IBMb,
2011).
Changing its name to International Business Machines
Corporation in 1924, IBM went on to develop new
technologies, and in the 1940’s were on the cutting edge of the
large electronic calculator research, eventually leading in 1952
to the IBM 701, their first large computer (IBMb, 2011). Also
well known for introducing the first successful electric
typewriter in the United States in 1935 and the Selectric
Typewriter in the 1960’s (Batchelor, 2003), IBM continued to
be in the forefront of innovation.
As time went on IBM hung on to outdated methods of doing
business, such as divisions producing their own parts, acting
independently of one another and, in many cases, competing
with each other. During 1993, IBM lost $8 billion and was near
bankruptcy. Enter Lou Gerstner in 1993. He described the
culture at IBM as, “inbred and ingrown” (DiCarlo, 2002). He
tied compensation to the companies’ performance rather than by
division to instill unity, consolidated divisions creating a
culture of teamwork that had not existed at IBM, and eliminated
products that were draining the company (DiCarlo, 2002).
Through patience, hard work, and an understanding of the need
for culture change, Gerstner was able to lead IBM back from the
brink of disaster. Today, IBM even offers services in
organizational change.

3. References
Batchelor, B. (2003). History of the IBM Typewriter. Retrieved
from www.etypewriters.com:
http://www.etypewriters.com/history.htm
DiCarlo, L. (2002). How Lou Gerstner Got IBM to Dance.
Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/2002/11/11/cx_ld_1112gerstner.html
IBM. (2011a). About IBM. Retrieved from
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/us/en/
IBM. (2011b). IBM Achives. Retrieved from http://www-
03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/history_intro.html
Running head: GE and Jack Welch
Instructions- LEAD 530 Term Project: Organizational Change
Analysis
In addition to objective assessment (quizzes and tests), your
ability to apply change leadership concepts studied in this class

4. will be evaluated in a term project. You are asked to identify
an organizational change, successful or not, where you have
sufficient insight into the change process to complete the
analysis. If you do not have personal experience to draw on,
select a public organizational change where you can research
the entire process. Your analysis will be submitted in the form
of a term paper. The assignment is completed in two parts: (1)
a one-page proposal (50 pts.), submitted at mid-term (2) the
final paper (250 pts.), submitted near the end of the semester
Step 1: Identify an organizational change
This may be something from the news, historical, or from your
personal experience as an organizational member. Please note
this does not relate to your personal life, your interpersonal
relationships, etc. – we are focused on organizational change
leadership in this course. The organization may be
governmental (including military), non-profit, or for-profit in
nature. The change you select for this analysis should have
occurred in the past so that you may apply all four phases.
Step 2: Write a 1-page summary of the organizational change
and submit for approval
This should give some information about the organization
(where located, what its focus is, number of organizational
members, etc.). At least one paragraph should be devoted to an
overview of the organizational change you will address. This
submission also serves as the first page of the final paper. In
addition to instructor approval of organization choice, this one
page will be evaluated for any necessary revisions or
corrections.

5. GE and Jack Welch
Western Kentucky University
LEAD 530 – Organizational Change
Cindy L. Ehresman
October 27, 2018
GE and Jack Welch
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational
conglomerate incorporated in New York and headquartered in
Boston. Founded in 1892 through a merger of Edison General
Electric Company, owned by Thomas Alva Edison Schenectady
and Thomson-Houston Electric Company Charles Coffin.(GE)
As of 2018, the company operates through the following
segments: aviation, healthcare, power, renewable energy,
digital, additive manufacturing, venture capital and finance,
lighting, transportation, and oil and gas. GE General Electric
Co. (GE) by the end of 2017 employed more than 300,000 full
and part-time workers. Of these employees, the company noted,
roughly 134,000 worked in the United States (Hess, A. E.).
Over the 20th century General Electric continued to innovate in
a huge range of fields, and opened divisions. Early 1900’s GE
specializing in everything from plastics to airplanes to electric
fans and voice radios. General Electric was the first company to
have the first voice radio broadcast in the world, the first
electric toaster, and began work on vacuum tubes that would
herald the dawn of the electronic age. In the 1910s and 1920s
General Electric continued to innovate, setting a new altitude
record with an airplane, making the refrigerator a common

6. household word, and building the world’s largest electrical
facility on the Panama Canal.
Through the Great Depression, GE continued to innovate in
other ways, introducing a Consumer Finance system to allow
consumers to buy appliances for the home even in hard times. In
the era of World War II, the company assisted with the war
effort, innovating in radar technology, and creating the first jet
engine. From the 1950s through to the new millennium, General
Electric continued to grow, tapping into emerging markets and
investing massive resources in pushing the bounds of
technologies across every sector.
In 1980 Jack welch took the CEO chair of GE. The
organizations method of conducting business when welch took
the CEO chair was out dated and no longer fit the needs of the
organization and its future. The organizational had rigid
structure, it was resistance to change, and bureaucratic climate
made it impossible to perceive important environmental
changes. Furthermore, the organizational structure, decision-
making process and information management was driving the
organization to loss in revenue and capital (General Electric
under Jack Welch). One of the first step Welch took was
reorganization structure and administration. Then he sought to
invest and mergers of top market companies. Finally In the
1990’s Welch established the Six Sigma program at GE. This
program maximized the efficiency of manufacturing processes
through the minimization of production of defective units.
References

7. GE. (2013). About GE. Retrieved from
https://www.ge.com/about-us/history/thomas-edison
General Electric under Jack Welch. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://lawaspect.com/general-electric-jack-welch-2/
Hess, A. E. (2013, August 22). The 10 largest employers in
America. Retrieved from
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/22/ten
-largest-employers/2680249/