IBM Indirection
You would think IBM might learn from their own experience. Organizational structure is strategic by nature. How an organization is arranged influences other strategy, such as marketing and product development, and thus a whole host of daily activities and tactical initiatives. Who your boss is and what her objectives are determine what you will do, such as replacing her coffee with decaf in order to encourage afternoon naps and thus allow you to get some real work done. IBM almost went bankrupt due to their organizational structure, as their former president and resident cookie monster Lou Gerstner confided in his book Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Given their early and dominant lead in mainframe computers, IBM developed an organization structure that made the mainframe the center of their universe. Everything IBM did evolved to support sales of mainframes. When the minicomputer revolution ignited and UNIX (the original computer virus) escaped … Continue reading →