Louis V Gerstner Jr Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Louis V Gerstner Jr - Research Paper Example In line with that, he also co-chaired Achieve, an organization that focus on improving the academic standards for public school in the U.S. In fact, he really supported quality education even when he was the CEO of IBM. He established Reinventing Education, an educational partnership with a number of states and school districts, enabling them to benefit from IBM technology, and technical assistance. His actions and advocacy did not go unnoticed; in fact, he was awarded honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001. Social responsibility was already a concern for Gerstner even during his IBM days. In a speech addressed to Comdex, he already made mention of how technology and social responsibility go hand in hand, to wit: I think we will make our visions reality. I think that as stewards of our industry, we will step up to the challenges of social responsibility. We will improve the world, and the way we work, the way we communicate, live and learn as people.  (Transcript of Louis Gestner speech at Comdex) During that time that Louis Gerstner ruled IBM, social responsibility then was a concept that was uncommonly practiced by organizations. He contributed to social responsibility by erasing the barriers between class and gender within the organization which is a higher form of social responsibility. Unlike other organizations, that donated for a cause or planted a tree, Gerstner walked his talked. Gerstner established a diversity taskforce that addressed to diversity issues .Cohen (2010) perfectly describes from Drucker’s viewpoint how Gerstner practiced the It worked and understanding and its using its diversity became a major competitive advantage for IBM. As a result of Gerstner’s initiative the number of female executives in the company grew 370 percent and the number of ethnic minority executives increased by 233 percent. All of this had a