Diversity Case at IBM Instruction: Read the following case on how IBM re-introdu

Diversity Case at IBM
Instruction:
Read the following case on how IBM re-introduced diversity as a strategic pillar in 1995.
IBM has always historically been a diversity champion. They were hiring both women and African-Americans before 1900. For example, Ted Childs, IBM’s former vice president for global workforce diversity, once said, “We had a woman vice president in 1943. We hired black salesmen — salesmen! — in 1946.”[1] However, there were fault lines running beneath the seemingly positive numbers. The long existing tradition of promoting a uniform IBM identity without distinguishing differences between people, lead to ignoring underlying diversity issues, and the under-representation of women and minorities at executive levels.[2] In addition, IBM seemed unable to address the demands of the growing market for women and minority groups.
In 1995, the then CEO Lou Gerstner and Ted Childs created eight executive diversity task forces (African-Americans, Asians, disabled people, gays and lesbians, Hispanics, Native Americans, white males, and women). Each task force was assigned to internally assess and promote initiatives to benefit the diversity group the task group represented, and also to identify and develop external customer business opportunities for that diversity group.[3] For a firm that had worked hard to eliminate discrimination by being blind to differences, identifying diversity groups was a disruption of the organizational culture. According to Ted Childs, “We were looking for some constructive disruption at IBM.”[4]
While this initiative solicited initial skepticism amongst IBM employees some of whom were uncomfortable with naming differences, the commitment from top management and the efforts to link the in-house diversity with emerging diversified markets generated positive outcomes for the firm.[5] Managers started to address the hidden diversity issues previously ignored, embrace the differences between employees and turn diversity into business advantages. Several programs have been set up to actually guarantee the benefits for women and minority groups, such as the domestic partner benefits implemented since 1996 and the Global Work-Life Fund started in 2001. On the recruitment and promotion fronts, IBM has made efforts to diversify its talent pool and provide practical development programs for women employees and employees from minority programs. Benefiting from its diversified talents, IBM has managed to approach women and minority markets more effectively and to build strong ties with minority and women-lead SMEs.
Write at least 150 words in the forum on how the diversity and inclusion paradox affected IBM, and how IBM was able to mobilize disrupting with diversity to generate innovation and change.
To read more on diversity at IBM, please go to:
https://www.fastcompany.com/39763/difference-power
https://hbr.org/2004/09/diversity-as-strategy