Analysis of Human Resource Management at IBM: A Detailed Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) at IBM. It begins by exploring the concept of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), its importance, and its application within IBM, including the shift from personnel management to SHRM, the use of the AMO model for employee motivation, and the implementation of KPI metrics. The report then examines the organizational objectives of IBM and how SHRM contributes to achieving them, including environmental analysis and talent development strategies. Furthermore, it delves into human resource planning, discussing the factors influencing it, such as business size and type, and the role of technology through HRIS and software like Talentsoft and IBM Planning Analytics. The report assesses human resource requirements for projects and outlines a human resource plan, detailing roles and responsibilities, and the importance of effective recruitment and training. Overall, the report offers a comprehensive overview of IBM's HRM strategies, planning, and policies, providing insights into how the company manages its workforce to achieve its organizational objectives.

Running head: Human Resource Management in IBM
Human Resource Management at IBM
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

1Human Resource Management in IBM
Table of Contents
Task-1..............................................................................................................................................1
Answer1:......................................................................................................................................1
Answer2:......................................................................................................................................2
Task-2..............................................................................................................................................3
Answer3:......................................................................................................................................3
Answer4:......................................................................................................................................5
Answer5:......................................................................................................................................6
Answer6:....................................................................................................................................10
Answer7:....................................................................................................................................12
Task3..............................................................................................................................................14
Answer8:....................................................................................................................................14
Answer9:....................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
Reference and Bibliography..........................................................................................................17

2Human Resource Management in IBM
Task-1
Answer1:
The concept of Strategic Human Resource has taken a wide toll in the field of human
resource management. It is basically the orientation of human resource with the strategic goals
and objective of the organization. The emergence of SHRM has enabled the management to
conduct appropriate needs assessment for the labor force so as to improve their skills and value
within the organization. This has improved certain trends such as economic supply, labor market
and demand trends, this trends has increased the demand of potential employees. The primary
focus of the strategic human resource management is to bring flexibility, competitive advantage
and innovation within the organization. This helps the organization to improve its performance in
the best possible way. In IBM, it is observed that the whole organization still focuses on
personnel management with administrative responsibilities (Eickhoff, 2018). This involves the
traditional human resource management of managing workforce that is performing basic
managerial functions such as planning, organizing, directing and controlling. However in order
to create a better skilled and motivated workforce and to enhance the retention rate and
performance of the workforce the organization needs to adapt strategic human resource
management to do the same. This involves attracting, retaining and motivating employees to do
their best in the organization and thinking beyond the walls to be innovative and creative. The
vision and mission of the company must align with the individual goals. IBM needs to strategize
its human resource management operations with strategic human resource management tools.
The tools incorporates human resource scorecard, the human resource scorecard is basically the
visual representation of key measures of the HR department productivity and other important
factors of the organization. The factors include employee cost, turnover, retention, recruitment

3Human Resource Management in IBM
and selection, individual performance and employee training and development. The organization
has incorporated the strategy of introducing KPI metrics (Key Performance Indicator) in order to
determine the performance of the human resource management based upon the HR outcomes
which is relevant to achieve the organizational goals. In modern organizations the productivity of
the employees depends upon their motivation level. Therefore, IBM has focused on the concept
of AMO model in to motivate the employees in the organization. The AMO model refers to A
for Ability, M for Motivation and O for Opportunity. The ability refers to the policies and
practices which ensure the employees to perform multiple task and in an assumption that the task
is challenging this could be done through the practice of job rotation and continuous training
programs. IBM focuses on providing job rotation practice and providing continuous training
programs to the employees. The motivation could be driven through intrinsic and extrinsic or
trust factors. The extrinsic motivational aspects are incentive pay, performance pay and bonus.
The intrinsic motivational aspect includes inner satisfaction, trust and value in the company
which could be demonstrated through reward and recognition programs. The opportunity refers
to the sense of responsibility and involvement that is given to the employees to develop
employee engagement and enhance well-being within the organization. The employees are
involved in decision-making process so that the employees could feel valued in the organization.
Answer2:
The organizational objectives are the actionable short-term and long-term goals that the
organization aims at achieving through implementing strategies. The formulation of mission and
vision statement drives the organization to achieve their individual as well as organizational goal.
The strategic human resource management enables the organization to take proper decision
which is best suitable for organization structure and business. For example, in order to gain

4Human Resource Management in IBM
competitive advantage and expand IBM business in the global market IBM perform macro and
micro environmental analysis which helps the organization to maintain its competitive advantage
over its competitors. The market environment analysis enables the organization to determine
their opportunities and hindrance which helps the organization’s management to take proper
formed actions and decisions. The decisions and actions are the strategies that is formed after the
analysis. Those strategies and actions are formulated and implemented within the organization.
This aids IBM to achieve their business goals and objectives. Moreover, in order to become the
global leader, IBM focused on reinventing the way it trained and developed talents. In addition
to that in order to develop leadership qualities and bring potentials leaders IBM came up with
“Global Enablement Teams”. This strategy has enabled to organization to circulate new skills
and develop potential leaders in the organization. The leaders helps to achieve the organization
goals by fostering the team towards reaching success. In these ways the strategic human resource
management enables the organization to evaluate and control the overall business activities
which has been undertaken during the pursuit of organizational objectives.
Task-2
Answer3:
The human resource is an critical and thus important part of the organization which
drives organization success. However, planning for human resource is a relevant approach that
aids the organization to aims and objectives while within dealing with the obstacles of existing
environment. The factors which are considered in human resource planning are size of the
business, nature of the business, the type of business, the resources of the business operations,
the management policy, the organization culture, the business environment and the location of
the business. For example: the type and the nature of the business determines the potential skills

5Human Resource Management in IBM
and competencies required within the workforce in the organization. For example; the
manufacturing companies’ human resource requirement will be different from service providing
companies. The size of the business infers the number of employees required in an organization.
Large organizations tend to have more number of employees than small organizations. It is
evident that IBM has more employee in India than in the USA (Cascio, 2015). It is observed that
IBM has shifted its center around the world to India. It is due to external environment factors that
is globalization trends Donald Trump administration has railed against. There are over 130,000
people in India out of overall workforce that is 380,000. That is about one-third of its total
workforce (Berman et al., 2019). With increase in the number of headcounts the organization
aims at handling the workforce with human resource planning approach and fostered by
technology through human resource planning software. The human resource information system
is a system which helps the human resource department to electronically allow the human
resource activities and processes within short period of time. IBM has huge number of
headcount, therefore the organization performs talent management through human resource
planning software, the management needs not to perform the payroll, scheduling and other
benefits manually rather it is automated through software. IBM also focuses on using Talentsoft
software enables the management of IBM to perform beyond basic administration operations and
to enact more powerful talent management planning policy. Moreover, IBM is a multinational
company and therefore has complex organizational structure of management and thereby
forming complex policies and procedure. On the other hand small companies have simplified
policies and procedures in the organization. In order to manage the wide number of talent in the
organization workforce planning is performed which enables the organization to retain and
acquire right kind of talent in the right time and at the right position. This is done through

6Human Resource Management in IBM
workforce analytics, the company has developed their own IBM Planning Analytics. The IBM
Planning Analytics is flexible, fast and complete workforce planning which provide analytical
solution. It is deployable on cloud, on premises. It helps to simply the complex analytics and
fosters communication within the organization. The company has also taken 8,000 Human
resource software application, which largely focuses on the human resource needs of each and
every individual working for the organization.
Answer4:
The human resource requirements of an organization is estimated according to the new
human resource planning, at what level the changes are required and is guided by various
business factors which is outlined by human resource planning. It is observed that IBM is
preparing itself for more expanded, diversified and inclusive workforce in the organization. In
order to accomplish their organizational objectives that is develop skills and competencies of
their workforce and perform better human resource activities. The company aims at building
performance culture by analyzing, defining and collecting data of employees in order to
understand whether employees are able to meet their personal goals. The human resource
planning software application would help the company to perform in a sophisticated way and to
handle a wide range of activities. The organization will have to make high-investments for the
new developments. The basic human resource requirements are the specific attributes and
capabilities which is required by the people who will be performing the specific work of the
project. The company is has a wide network of human resource software and application. The
project manager and human resource manager are responsible to list all the human resource
requirements for the project. Before considering the

7Human Resource Management in IBM
IBM requires high caliber of human resource who is highly skilled and competent enough
to handle all the software and application. At initial stage the organization will have to perform
effective recruitment and selection procedure to recruit workforce team comprising managers
and candidates with technological knowledge who would create the software. Moreover,
technicians are required who would perform the setup of all the equipment for the development
of software. The other human resource requirements are providing adequate training to the
candidates both new and existing about the importance and policies regarding the project
(Donate et al., 2016). In addition to this a team leader is required who can manage and who can
lead the whole team and mentor them appropriately in order to successfully complete the project.
Answer5:
Human Resource Plan for the Project
Since, IBM is aiming at introducing human resource software and application, in order to
effectively perform the software project the company must assess human resource plan. The
human resource plan ensures the organization that all the necessary human resource requirements
are acquired and the necessary skills. It helps to determine whether any further necessities are
required or training is required to fill the skill gap identified in the project (Kasemsap, 2015).
The plan clearly defines the strategies to build the team and ensuring that the team activities are
effectively managed.
The human resource plan is an important tool which will help the management of IBM to create
a path towards their software project and the necessary aspects to be considered for the project.
Basically the human resource plan includes the following aspect:
 Throughout the project the role and responsibilities of the team members

8Human Resource Management in IBM
 Project organizational charts
The key roles and responsibilities has to be mentioned while working on a project. For the
project the following positions are wholly responsible and important:
Project Manager:
The PR of IBM is highly responsible for the success of the up gradation of the Software Project.
The expenditures carried for the project will be highly approved and authorized by the project
manager. The manager is also accountable for investigating that the work activities are meeting
the created and acceptable criteria and does fall under to appropriate variances (Noe, 2017).
Skills: The acceptable skills which has to be acquired by the project manager is effective
communication skills, leadership skills (transformational style will be better), scheduling and
budgeting.
Design Engineer:
The design engineer in IBM will be accountable in terms of coding requirements for the
Software Project. The design engineer is also responsible for all the testing, software coding,
design of the propose software. They will monitor and lead their team members in the
implementation of the software. The software will be distributed throughout the network
infrastructure. The design engineer will report to project manager about all the progress and
delays and particular requirements. There must be approval by the propjet manager for extra
expenditures any other authorizations. The design engineer performance’s will be evaluated by
the project manager and the will be communicated to the design manger’s functional manager
(Design Technology Group Manager).

9Human Resource Management in IBM
Skills: effective communications skills, technological skills (JAVA, C++, programming html and
leadership skills.
Training lead:
The training lead is responsible for training the candidates on the usage of company software.
The trainer is responsible for coordinating location and time for training and will providing the
training status to the project manager. This training program is designed according to the
communication management plan.
Human Resource Administrator: The software will be handled by the human resource
administrator. They are highly responsible to entry data of all the employees and managers in the
software. They will be recruited through recruitment and selection process Anderson et al.,
2019). The HR administrator will have to report manager and is accountable for providing all the
data for workforce (Berman, 2019). This include current and future needs of workforce, payroll,
benefits, data of employees, succession planning, and employee’s skills assessment.
Skills: Human resource knowledge, compensation management, worker data storage, benefit and
payroll management, performance management, effective communication skills.
Organizational Project Charts
The project organizational chart illustrates the responsibility of the project team members
this is evaluated through a tool such as responsible, accountable, consult, inform (RACI). The
project will be requiring five weeks. The resources has to be collected before starting the project.
The design engineers are required to perform for the first three weeks of the project, 40 hours per
week for each engineer. After fourth week, the design engineer is free from the project and the
software is handed over to the human resource administrators to perform the task.

10Human Resource Management in IBM
PR DE TL DM
Gathering Requirements A R C I
Design Coding A R NONE I
Input Coding A R NONE NONE
Testing Software A R NONE I
Network Preparation A C NONE I
Conduct Training A NONE R C
Implementation A C C C
The human resource plan is to cope with the changes which is associated with are
basically associated with the external environmental factors. The human resource plan aids the
management to form a series of activities within the timeline and helps to determine the outcome
of the project as well (Donate, 2016). In this way the human resource plans helps the
management to guarantee the supply of resources, and also make sure that the man power is
properly being utilized in the project. The roles and responsibilities are fairly distributed within
the managers and employees (Taylor, 2015). This will aid the organization to their own part,
therefore this collaborates to provide effective project management and helps the organization to
achieve its organizational objectives. The human resource plan helps to make the proposed
initiatives coherent with the strategies of the company, with accordance with the objective which
is formed by the organization.

11Human Resource Management in IBM
Answer6:
The human resource policies are the guidelines and rules that the business implements
while performing the human resource processes. Having policies in the organization sets
boundaries for the workforce to perform fair and relevant job roles and responsibilities in the
organization (Profi20.livejournal.com, 2020). The policies helps the management to make
appropriate decision and accordingly perform actions within the organization. The main
objective of IBM’s policies is to demonstrate the human resource requirements such as ethics,
diversity and inclusion and training (Lock, 2017). The policies also abides by the law such as
employment law, fair act, and anti-discrimination act. For example: if the organization has to
dismiss an employee the policies and procedures abides by the employment law requirements. It
is necessary for IBM to meet with the provisions within the collective bargaining and
employment contracts.
Human Resource Policies
Diversity and Equal Opportunity Policy
IBM is committed to provide diversified and inclusive work environment to the members
of the organization. In order to motivate the employees and treat everyone equally in the
organization (Ibm.com, 2020). The organization aims at encouraging diversified nature of
workforce and promote equality in the organization. The policies are against these discriminatory
grounds such as age, gender, disability, religion, marital status, class, nationality and sexual
orientation. The organization oppose all the forms of unfair and unlawful discriminations.
The organization’s policy are committed in providing relevant legislations which
concerns equality of opportunity and diversity which is included in Equality Act 2010, Fair

12Human Resource Management in IBM
Work Act 2009 and Anti-discrimination (Clair, 2017). The above policy applies to all the
members and the external stakeholders as well.
To ensure that all the departments heads are keeping record of the applicants and employees
racial origin, disability and gender in the line with the Data Protection 1998.
The policies has been devised by the relevant bodies of the organization as well as formulated in
consultation with the union and the employees of the IBM Company.
Policy Application
Recruitment and Selection
To encourage equal opportunity and diversity the selection process is based upon the
individual’s ability to perform the job effectively. The recruitment interviews will be consisting
of panel of employees who are trained to perform fair and unbiased recruitment and selection
process in IBM.
The Job advertisement is made with reference to the company’s commitment to diversity
in the employment (Strickland, 2019). The statements provided in the advertisement provides
justification to the commitment of the company. Recruitment and selection data will be
monitored annually by the Human Resource Team in IBM.
Induction
All the employees in the organization should be aware of all the policies in the organization.
Training and Development
Employee will have fair training and access to all the training programs, no discrimination will
be adhered during the training programs.

13Human Resource Management in IBM
All the courses of training is developed by the council and will be reviewed for the compliance
with all the policies.
The performance review data will be evaluated and monitored on a monthly basis with the use of
appropriate technologies to avoid discrimination and biased evaluation.
The terms and conditions of employee’s employment contract is formulated and developed by
the Council will be reviewed in order to compliance with the policies.
Answer7:
The regulatory requirements are the all the applicable laws, regulations, rules, orders, guidelines,
directives, interpretation and request from the regulatory authority.
The regulatory requirements on human resource policies in the organization comprises of
employment law, the health and safety law and other relevant legislation which is applicable to
the jurisdiction in which the organization operates. This primarily includes state, federal and
local laws which concerns to the various human resource areas such as benefits, recruitment,
termination and labor relation as well (Obeidat, 2019). This policies enable the organization to
avoid costly penalties and remain compliant in the market.
The regulatory policies in IBM depends upon the nature of working of the company. For
example: the health and safety legal requirements of the organization operating in the financial
services is different when it is compared to the organization which operates in a high- intensive
machinery environment. The organization with high-intensive machinery environment would
have much more strict health and safety legal requirements which includes Work Health and
Safety Act 2011 and International Labour Standards on Occupational Safety and Health. Since,
the members in IBM would be dealing working with huge machines and electronic equipment

14Human Resource Management in IBM
which are very risky in nature. Therefore, there are number of health and safety regulation which
are imposed strictly. This includes safety from the equipment, how to use those equipment,
safety measures are includes such as use of gloves, safety suits, mask, eye wear and other safety
accessories. On the other hand the operations carried out in organization who provides financial
services the risk of hazard and incidents are low. Therefore, the health and safety regulations are
quiet less in IBM such as there is no requirements of safety guards and safety accessories in the
organization.
Organizational Structure is the Organizational Performa which defines the various
activities of the organization which involves task allocation, supervision and coordination which
is directed by the higher authority of the organization (Ogunyomi, 2016). The organizational
structure puts a great impact on the various operations and actions of the organization. There are
different forms of organizational structure within the organization, functional structure,
divisional structure, flat structure and the combination of functional and divisional structure is
matrix structure. The different type of structure have different impact on the organization (Lu et
al., 2015). For example: in case of matrix structure in terms of authority, since a professional of
human resource is a team members does not have to report the project manager, but to the
manager of the organization. In IBM, from the scenario it is observed that authority is not direct,
the professional of human resource serves his/her expertise basically during the course of the
project. On the other hand in a divisional structure in terms of authority the human resource is
totally direct and however, everyone reports on the same division manager.
Task3:

15Human Resource Management in IBM
Answer8:
The cultural model refers to the moral organization of knowledge. The organizational
culture are the set of practices and leadership norms which continuously emerges from the firm’s
leadership and history. The two cultural models of IBM are clan and hierarchy. The clan-cultural
model is family-like which primarily focuses on mentoring, nurturing and doing the task
together. This type of cultural model is observed in big companies such as IBM, Accenture,
Apple and many more. Therefore, IBM has this type of culture that has positive impact on the
work environment and people tend to get highly motivated in these kind of organization. On the
other hand the organization with hierarchy culture are very controlled and structured. They focus
on stability, efficiency and doing things right. The members working in IBM have to work
within the deadline and autocratic leadership is followed within the organization (Anderson,
2019). This type of culture is usually observed in government organization and small companies
where the management cannot take a chance with their organizational objectives.
Answer9:
The effectiveness in IBM can be monitored through various tools such as KPI, MBO and
performance appraisals. The KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a performance indicator which
helps the management to monitor the overall performance of the organization. The KPI includes
number of employees and customers retained, the percentage of market share and revenue
growth. It demonstrates how effectively the organization is achieving its organizational goal and
achieve its individual targets. It helps the organization to evaluate the financial performance of
the company, this helps thee organization to improve the employee morale, personal objective
and customer satisfaction as well (Ritala, 2016). This are basic objective marked for the growth
and success of the business. The KPI has to be clear and transparent and can perform open

16Human Resource Management in IBM
interpretation. There are different type of KPI which includes quantitative indicators, qualitative
indicator, leading indicators and lagging indicators as well.
The practical recommendation which helps the organization to increase its human
resource effectiveness are:
Improving the organizational communication in IBM, this would build strong relationship and
avoid conflicts and confusion within the organization.
IBM could also develop effective training program for the new candidates and existing
employees in the organization (Sani, 2015). This is in order to increase the skill and competency
level of the employees.
The organization must incorporate monthly feedback rating system than annually rating system,
the monthly rating system would perform effective performance review and performance
evaluation of the employees.
IBM needs to build a clear objective and vision which should be communicated clearly, to all the
members of the organization.
The use of advanced technology must be incorporated within the organization to be more
advanced in the market and gain competitive advantage from the competitors.

17Human Resource Management in IBM
Conclusion
It is inferred from the above discussion that the human resource is an important part of
the organization. Its various activities aids IBM to achieve its objective and goals. The
management of the organization has developed human resource plans which highly contributes
to the growth of IBM and perform the human resource activities effectively. The policies helps
the human resource to manage the whole IBM in the most effective way.

18Human Resource Management in IBM
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