- Case
- Teaching Notes
This activity-based case study focuses on IBM's public efforts towards recruiting, retaining, and advancing women into global leadership roles. IBM has a sustained record of accomplishments in promoting workplace diversity and inclusion across a wide spectrum (including gender and multicultural awards), and at the same time remaining focused on the strategic imperatives of markets, customers, and future technology needs.
In this case study, students are challenged to assume the role of an early- or mid-career job seeker who is seeking a global leadership career opportunity at a company such as IBM, and to critically assess the recruiting materials as well as other publicly available information about employment for women at IBM on the web. First, students are provided with real IBM recruiting materials and are given several questions to guide their review of the materials. Second, students are presented with research-based evidence describing the gender gap, the reasons for the gender gap, and how and why the gender gap remains. Third, students are challenged to evaluate how well IBM's recruiting materials incorporate the research on overcoming the gender gap by critically comparing the evidence to IBM's recruiting materials.
