Meeting project commitments with teamwork

IBM, like many other companies, has adopted the Personal Business Commitment (PBC) process to focus on the critical responsibilities that employees must assume to ensure both their success and that of the company. The PBC process requires that individuals know and understand the overall objectives of their organization, department and team, and with input from their colleagues, customers, team leaders, etc, determine if personal business commitments are being met. This paper describes how applying this process across the Hot Process organization with cross-functional teams at IBM's Microelectronics Division semiconductor manufacturing facility in Essex Junction, Vermont, resulted in significant improvements by each major area in the fabricator. It also illustrates how the team approach created a strong participative workforce that performed as a unit to either meet or exceed new PBC commitments and improve morale.