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IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

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Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#71

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

briandear wrote: post #67
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the enthusiasm for tearing down Mayer gross, but to be clear: subtract the value of the alibaba stock and all that disappears.

Would it be less gross if she were not a woman? When other CEOs make decisions that ruin a company, they get critized too. Steve Balmer was a frequent object of ridicule. Other women execs such as Sandberg aren't treated badly -- the enthusiasm for tearing Mayer down comes from the fact that she was lauded as some kind of exceptional executive when she was really just a lot of high minded talk backed by questionable…

> Would it be less gross if she were not a woman?

> the enthusiasm for tearing Mayer down comes from the fact that she was lauded as some kind of exceptional executive

While some of the comments are no doubt rooted in the perspective you mention, there are also plenty of overtly misogynistic comments about her too. I think it's a bit of whitewashing to claim that all the enthusiasm for tearing her down is strictly disconnected from gender. I don't know how you can read the comments that go by on reddit et all and pretend that elephant in the room isn't there.

I think a lot of the criticism of Balmer is specific and factual, but that people also overlook that on raw financials his tenure at MS was successful.

Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#73

Post by geodel »

dkersten wrote: post #61
geodel wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be anecdotal which I doubt but then how do we know this is action of tiny minority. I should add I do work from home certain times but I take it as privilege rather than a right to work whenever it is convenient to me.

It might be anecdotal which I doubt Is it "a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature"? Its an account of "in my experience" or "the people I know do this" -- its not hard facts obtained through the scientific method (ie controlling for other factors and for biases). That makes it, by definition, anecdotal.

You are right. Re-reading my comment I find it a little meaningless.

Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#75

Post by rad_gruchalski »

markgavalda wrote: post #16
brational wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> perhaps the end goal is voluntary resignations? That's the only explanation that makes sense.

Why not simply fire those who they don't want to work with anymore? They're clearly used to do that at IBM and it would be much more controlled and cost effective.

Because the cost of firing (dismissing) someone depends on where they have their contract. It might be zero cost in the US but the US is not the World. In Europe it would cost them tons of money to remove hundreds of jobs in a single swipe. OTOH, let people leave, no cost for them.

Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#76

Post by mcguire »

S_A_P wrote: post #63

IBM is a failed services company. Ive been a subcontractor for 2 projects run by IBM. Both fiascos of mismanagement. The project management at IBM had an incredible churn rate. On the first project, they were kicked off for completely failing to deliver. The second project had them completely marginalized. The sad thing is that it was another "big 4" consulting company that took over, who was only slightly less incom…

I was a "subcontractor" on 4 major IBM internal projects. All failed due to bad management. Then IBM became a services company.

IBM has been failing for a long time.

Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#77

Post by jps359 »

"the severance payment will be equal to one month’s base salary, the standard at IBM."

Worth keeping in mind that this is the new policy as of about a year ago (they changed it before the big waves of layoffs last year).

Before the change you would get a week for every 6 months worked, up to 23 weeks.

Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#78

Post by mcguire »

padobson wrote: post #14

A theory among some employees is that IBM is using co-location as a downsizing effort. I hope it's not an accurate theory. Downsizing this way means your most self-motivated, productive employees are likely to leave long before those who drive to the office because they feel they have no other choice. Like Best Buy and Yahoo at the points at which they decided to co-locate, IBM is a business that needs to do somethin…

"'A theory among some employees is that IBM is using co-location as a downsizing effort.'

"I hope it's not an accurate theory. Downsizing this way means your most self-motivated, productive employees are likely to leave long before those who drive to the office because they feel they have no other choice."

That's the way downsizing always works. The most productive employees will have an easier time finding new jobs, and will move on as soon as the company admits it is in trouble.

Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#79

Post by anticodon »

coredog64 wrote: post #62
krona wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IBM isn't a tech company. It's a brand with an impressive marketing department that sells experiences, not products. The rest of it (the stuff you don't see unless you get close enough) is an accumulation of spaghetti acquired in an ad hoc and aimless fashion.

At my previous employer, we were evaluating solutions from IBM, TIBCO, and Oracle. The IBM solution was cheaper and met our needs. In the end, our VP nixed them with the statement of "I don't really want to support IBM software." The feeling was unanimous across the team.

Yes, IBM still sells IBM/Rational ClearCase which has impressive cost (about $5000 per license) and has about 5% features of Git, also absolutely bozotic UI.

What surprises me, some companies still use it in 2017 and still pay $5000 to buy a product that is inferior in every respect to Mercurial, Git, Subversion.

Re: IBM has decided to co-locate its US marketing department

#80

Post by pinaceae »

HP did the same thing a couple years ago.

Main reason is downsizing, easiest way to thin the herd. At that size, HR is just a spreadsheet exercise, quality of the individual employees does not factor in.

Of course this will not affect their "remote" workforce in India, this is about the high-pay western markets.

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