Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • May 2008 (Revised September 2009)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

IBM's Dynamic Workplace

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:22
ShareBar

Abstract

IBM already competed for talent by being a best workplace. It was one of the first companies to provide paid vacations, health insurance, sick leave, job sharing, and domestic partner benefits. Its human resources portfolio included a full array of progressive policies and programs. There was increasing flexibility in how people were employed, including alumni. But in its quest to become a globally integrated enterprise, IBM needed to continue to develop new ways of working. The company's response to the Asian Tsunami showed it at its best-values-driven, self-organizing, able to move at lightning speed connecting global and local resources. This was the kind of global leadership and citizenship the fifth Integration and Values Team (IVT5) was charged with enhancing. But how could IBM provide a tsunami-relief-like experience to everyone, without a disaster?

Keywords

Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Social Enterprise

Citation

Kanter, Rosabeth M. "IBM's Dynamic Workplace." Harvard Business School Case 308-107, May 2008. (Revised September 2009.)
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Rosabeth M. Kanter

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • Winter 2022
    • Compliance Week

    ‘A Profound Sense of Loss’: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter Culture Teardown

    By: Rosabeth M. Kanter
    • November 11, 2022
    • CNN.com

    Finally Companies Have to Be Upfront about Job Pay Ranges

    By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter
    • October 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Colette Phillips and GetKonnected!: Creating Inclusive Ecosystems

    By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Amy Chiu and Joyce Kim
More from the Author
  • ‘A Profound Sense of Loss’: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter Culture Teardown By: Rosabeth M. Kanter
  • Finally Companies Have to Be Upfront about Job Pay Ranges By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter
  • Colette Phillips and GetKonnected!: Creating Inclusive Ecosystems By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Amy Chiu and Joyce Kim
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College