1. Based on the information given but in your own words, what are the training objectives for IBM’s Corporate Service Corps? Based on the information given, how well would you say the program is meeting those objectives? What additional measures would help you evaluate the program’s success?
2. Which of the training methods described in this chapter are incorporated into the Corporate Service Corps? How well suited are these methods to achieving IBM’s objectives?
3. Suggest some ways that IBM can help participants apply on the job what they have learned from their one-month service project.

When 10 IBM management trainees piled into a minibus in the Philippines for a weekend tour last October, the last thing they expected was to wind up local heroes. Yet that’s what happened in the tiny village of Carmen. After passing a water well project, they learned the effort had stalled because of engineering mistakes and a lack of money. The IBMers decided to do something about it. They organized a meeting of the key people involved in the project and volunteered to pay $250 out of their own pockets for additional building materials. Two weeks later the well was completed. Locals would no longer have to walk four miles for drinkable water. And the trainees learned a lesson in collaborative problem-solving. “You motivate people to take the extra step, you create a shared vision, you divide the labor, and the impact can be big,” says Erwin van Overbeek, 40, who runs environmental sustainability projects for IBM clients.