y were the first to do so. IBM made its mark in the world of business by making people the focus of the corporate culture at a time when others where reducing tasks to repetitive functions. IBM borrowed money to fund in-house education programs, did away with piecework, fixed up factories, and paid above average wages at all levels of employment. IBM launched group insurance plans and for a time boasted of lifetime employment until the massive cuts in their workforce in the early 90’s. Hewlett-Packard instituted the “HP way” which focused on employee sensitivity. The company’s benefit plan was one of the best around, and became one of the first companies to offer flextime for its employees. They also championed the idea of management by walking around and had their employees in cubicles to make this easier. Lastly, Southwest airlines stands as a maverick in every sense of the word. Tom Peters said this of the airline, “What I discovered is an organization that dares to unleash the imagination and energy of it people. They make work fun-employees have the freedom to act like NUTS. There is a spirit of entrepreneurship-much more than a decentralized organization chart-an attitude that extends to every corner of the company.” (NUTS, XV) Largely due to their dedication to their employees Southwest is the safest airline in the world and ranks number one in the industry for service, on-time performance, and lowest employee turnover rate; and Fortune Magazine has twice ranked Southwest airlines one of the ten best companies to work for in America. The challenge that lays before HR professionals now is to look at these companies and ask themselves how they can become the IBM’s, Southwest’s, HP’s, and P&G’s of the next century. This brings me to what I believe the best thing we can do to prepare for the unknown future. That is to strategize for Human Resources. In the pas...
