University of Kwazulu-Natal

Thomas Watson Computer Hope

Bonisiwe Shabane
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thomas watson computer hope

His people-first agenda created a culture that became the envy of industry and a business juggernaut that competitors would both admire and fear Thomas J. Watson Sr. created a model corporation for the 20th century. Guided by a set of human-centric principles, he redefined culture and management for generations of CEOs and reframed industry’s role as an indispensable partner in meeting society’s challenges. IBM came to rule the information technology market under Watson’s paternalistic leadership.

Watson turned the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, three loosely connected businesses that made electric punched-card machines, scales and time clocks, into the global leader in machines that tabulated and calculated everything from livestock to lunar orbits. He embraced automation, mechanization and data-recording trends emerging at the turn of the century to meet the growing need across society for better ways to collect and manage information. “The world’s greatest salesman,” as the media would come to call him, taught a new generation of young professionals how to sell, a skill that would elevate the man himself from modest beginnings on... “Nothing came easy,” Watson would say of his early years, emphasizing how initiative and hard work pulled him out of early business setbacks and financial disadvantage. He never attended university, deciding instead to begin a hardscrabble rural sales career, where he developed an appreciation for the challenges and abilities of everyday people. These “bootstrap” beginnings built his faith in human agency, a guiding principle of the company.

He encoded this belief in a simple set of values that, along with service to the customer and excellence in work, would form the bedrock of its culture. Within a year of his arrival at C-T-R, in a 1915 talk with staff, he established the company’s first priority: the respect and nurturing of employees. Watson inspired unprecedented loyalty in his employees. At sales rallies, his staff was not embarrassed to belt out verses of the CTR song, idolizing the father of their company: "Mister Watson is the man we're working for/He's the leader of the... /He has shown us how to play the game./ And how to make the dough." A master salesman and forward-thinker helped bring business machines into the computer age.

Warrior Salesman Thomas J. Watson was born in 1874 in Campbell, New York. One of his first jobs was selling pianos and sewing machines door-to-door. At age 23, he went to work as a salesman for the National Cash Register Company. Six years later, his boss and mentor, the powerful John Patterson, assigned him to a secret project to put competitors out of business. Partly because of this covert sales warfare, Watson, Patterson and others would be prosecuted in 1913 under new anti-trust laws enacted to prevent business monopolies.

Computing, Tabulating, Recording After President Woodrow Wilson's administration dropped the case in 1915, Watson became general manager of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, a business that dealt in business information devices like time clocks, punch-card tabulators,... Watson immediately focused on research, betting that the business trends of automation and information recording would only increase. He was right. Big Break Watson made his company a good place to work, paying attention to rational work-group structures, employee deportment, and job benefits and security. In 1924 he renamed his steadily-expanding empire International Business Machines. The company survived the stock market crash of 1929 and profited from New Deal policies during the Depression.

Suddenly, American employers had to keep track of employee time in order to pay into the nation's new Social Security fund. Only Watson's I.B.M. was poised to provide the technology. Born February 17, 1874, Campbell, N. Y; died 1956; the towering figure whose lengthening shadow was IBM, which he reluctantly allowed to be dragged from punched cards to computing,- creator of IBM's motto "Think." Education: Addison Academy, New York; School of Commerce, Elmira, NY

Professional Experience: salesman, pianos and sewing machines, Painted Post, NY, 1892-1896; salesman to general sales manager, National Cash Register (NCR) Corp., Dayton, Ohio, 1896--1914; general manager to chief executive officer, Computing-Tabulating-Recording Corp., 1914-1924; chief... Thomas J. Watson, Sr., is one of those figures in the history of computing whose contributions are by no means technological but without whom the technologists would not have been able to proceed. After his somewhat controversial stint as general manager with the National Cash Register Corp., and the subsequent growth of IBM out of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Corporation, Watson set the stage for the introduction of the... The first step was the construction of the Harvard Mark I calculator designed by Howard Aiken. IBM was selected as the "prime contractor" company but also had to provide expertise and experience from its card processing and unit record business to supplement Aiken's ideas and to complete the project.

At the dedication ceremony Aiken snubbed Watson and IBM's contributions, and a never-to-be-mended rift developed between the two men. [See biography of Howard Aiken.] Although Columbia University had been influential in its promotion of mechanical computing systems in the T.J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau, IBM had never taken advantage of this expertise to move into the computer business. [See biography of Wallace Eckert.] Subsequently IBM constructed the Selective Sequence Electronic Computer (SSEC) machine, installed it in its headquarters on Madison Avenue, New York, and opened a service bureau to provide computing utilities... The Korean War provided an impetus to allow IBM to show its nationalistic pride by offering to build a "Defense Calculator" to serve the war effort. This machine, later designated as the Type 701 machine, became the first of the two major series of mainframe computers central to its success.

"As a man thinks ... " Thomas J. Watson, the man and his philosophy of life as expressed in his editorials. [New York? 1954]. Thomas Watson (1874-1956) and Thomas Watson Jr.

(1914-1993)Thomas J. Watson served as chairman and CEO of IBM for many years and turned over leadership of IBM to his son Thomas J. Watson, Jr. before he died. Watson Sr. developed IBM’s distinctive management style and corporate culture.

He turned the company into a highly effective selling organization based on the punched card tabulating machine. Watson was hired as general manager of Computing Tabulating Recording Company in 1914, and in 1924 renamed it International Business Machines. Watson built IBM into such a dominant company that the federal government filed an anti-trust suit against it. He had a deep interest in international relations both diplomatic and business-wise. During World War II IBM produced large quantities of data processing equipment for the military and experimented with the analog computer.Thomas J. Watson, Jr., succeeded his father as second president and CEO of IBM.

At an early age he was immersed in IBM. He promoted the research and development structure in IBM in 1949 which eventually produced the UNIVAC computer that in the 1980s was acknowledged decades ahead of all other mainframe computers. During World War II, he was a bomber pilot and pilot to General Follett Bradley, director of the “lend-lease” program, flying him to Russia where Watson Jr. learned the Russian language. He was appointed ambassador to Russia by President Jimmy Carter, serving from 1979 to 1981. President Lyndon B.

Johnson awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. Watson Jr. was called “the greatest capitalist in history” and named among 100 of the most influential people of the 20th century. Thomas J. Watson, Jr. (1914-1993 ).

Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond. New York: Bantam Books, 1990. © 2023 Lehigh University All Rights Reserved Thomas J. Watson Sr. was a pioneering entrepreneur in the field of computing, best known for transforming International Business Machines (IBM) from a producer of accounting machines into a leader in the burgeoning computer industry.

Born into an Irish-American family during the mid-19th century, Watson initially pursued a career in teaching before shifting to business, where he excelled in sales and management. His early work at National Cash Register (NCR) honed his skills and led to his reputation as a dynamic salesman and leader. In 1914, Watson became president of the failing Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTR), which he revitalized, ultimately merging it with IBM in 1924. Under his leadership, IBM became synonymous with innovation in business machines and computing, developing groundbreaking technologies such as the IBM 701. Watson's management style emphasized a familial culture among employees and a commitment to customer satisfaction, which contributed to the company's success. Beyond business, Watson was involved in philanthropy and public service, promoting education and international cooperation.

His legacy includes a strong influence on corporate culture and the evolution of the computing industry, as well as a commitment to ethical business practices despite challenges he faced. Watson Sr. passed away in 1956, leaving behind a lasting impact on both IBM and the broader technology landscape. Thomas J. Watson Sr., was one of the first entrepreneurs in computing. He built International Business Machines, now IBM, from a maker of accounting equipment into the dominant corporation in business machines before transitioning the company to computers and inexorably moving into worldwide dominance.

He gave the company its succinct motto: “Think.” His forty-two years at IBM also saw the company struggle to adapt as rapidly as smaller competitors. Hamstrung by its very success, the organization's massiveness made rapid change difficult. Still, he left a business that dominated the field the one against which others were forced to measure themselves. Thomas J. Watson was born into a family, descended from Scots, who came to the United States from Ireland during the potato famine of the mid-nineteenth century. The family business was lumber, and Thomas was exposed to business from an early age.

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