...In 2008 GM was a “near total wreck”. “There were too many employees, too much money tied up in benefits and legacy costs, too many brands, and too many plants. The insularity of the management team in choosing insiders with automobile credentials and the bureaucracy that hobbled and delayed decision-making had all contributed to the disaster” (Grossman, 2012, n.p.). People believe that HR had been responsible for many of the poor decisions made to push GM into bankruptcy. Rob Kleinbaum stated, “There were about 20 people at the very top level overseeing a lot of bad decisions, and she {Barclay} was one. If you believed that the culture contributed to the problems, which most people did, she had to go” (Grossman, 2012, n.p.). In recent years GM has been focusing on cultural change and cost cutting programs. The new GM revealed its new emphasis after bankruptcy, which focused on “customers, cars and culture” (History & Heritage-Rebirth, n.d.). Brinkley introduced a new mandatory training program for all managers to take called “Leading in Today’s GM”. She has also implemented annual employee engagement surveys (Grossman, 2012). GM has been criticized for their top down approach of culture changing in the past. The company has a history of mistrust towards its employees. In my opinion it is a company’s biggest failure- not learning from other “top-down culture” changes that did not place trust in their employees. After learning about the conflict techniques, it’s...
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...Organisational Change at Gm Motors In: Business and Management Organisational Change at Gm Motors TABLE OF CONTENTS I.INTRODUCTION a) Organisational Change –an overview b) Kurt Lewin and his theories of change c) General Motors International 2. APPRAISAL OF KURT LEWIN’S 3- STEP MODEL (Manufacturing change at General Motors as a case study) 3. CRITIQUES OF THE MODEL 4. CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION In a dynamic world of increasing technology, competition, power relations and managerial opportunism, investment in Research and Development (R&D) by organisations and fluctuations in consumer demand, a complex phenomenon such as change is imperative. Change can be defined as the art of altering the current state of an entity from its present state to another while organisational change is the transformation process of taken up by an organisation in order to move from its existing level to a strategically proposed level by taking up new ideas and a different approach to its operational practices and procedures (Beckhard and Harris, 1987. cited by: Andriopoulos and Dawson, 2009). In analysing the various categories of change, research works have identified a number of traits used to classify the various levels and sorts of change. These include substance of change, scale and scope of change, timeframe of change.(Dawson and Adriopoulus,2009). Grundy (1993) also stated that three varieties of change has set a basis for how managers view change as a homogenous...
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...INTRODUCTION a) Organisational Change –an overview b) Kurt Lewin and his theories of change c) General Motors International 2. APPRAISAL OF KURT LEWIN’S 3- STEP MODEL (Manufacturing change at General Motors as a case study) 3. CRITIQUES OF THE MODEL 4. CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION In a dynamic world of increasing technology, competition, power relations and managerial opportunism, investment in Research and Development (R&D) by organisations and fluctuations in consumer demand, a complex phenomenon such as change is imperative. Change can be defined as the art of altering the current state of an entity from its present state to another while organisational change is the transformation process of taken up by an organisation in order to move from its existing level to a strategically proposed level by taking up new ideas and a different approach to its operational practices and procedures (Beckhard and Harris, 1987. cited by: Andriopoulos and Dawson, 2009). In analysing the various categories of change, research works have identified a number of traits used to classify the various levels and sorts of change. These include substance of change, scale and scope of change, timeframe of change.(Dawson and Adriopoulus,2009). Grundy (1993) also stated that three varieties of change has set a basis for how managers view change as a homogenous concept and coined them as Discontinuous, Smooth incremental and Bumpy incremental change(Senior and Fleming 2006). Many...
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...consequent change. Having the right and diverse culture are as important as having a great brand of products to support the business aspects of an organization. Implementing change is never easy nor resistance free. Change can’t be rushed nor imposed upon. Planning, strategy, risk analysis and hard work are vital elements that an organization should anticipate and be good at. Most of the organizations have difficulties recognizing the effort and planning that is required for an organization change and to withhold the resistance associated with change. Forecasting change before disaster and getting equipped with the change intervention is half the battle the modern era companies face. The company that I will be discussing in this paper is General Motors (GM). GM has a global presence and was growing rapidly in sales and brand value until past decade. Due to recent economy melt down and global economic crisis, GM was left with no options other than to make critical changes to their business model and products for the corporation to survive. Auto industry is deeply rooted in the fabric of American culture, one out of ten Americans depends on the US auto industry for their livelihood. GM can’t go back to the old ways of making profit and survive the new wave of economic restrains; like environment factors and going green initiatives due to the recent oil spill incident. The urgency to go green and need to change GM’s energy dependencies required GM to change. This forced GM to restructure...
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...Organizational Change If you are a business leader today there is one thing that constantly runs through your mind, “How can we continue to succeed and grow.” In today’s society it has become harder and harder to accomplish such a task. The world is ever changing and it does so in a pace that is far more rapid than that of 20 years ago. Business leaders know that change is inevitable, but where the problem lies is how to manage the change in a way that will allow for continued growth and success, but at the same time they want to be able to do so with as little stress as possible to the employees. There are hundreds of ways to make changes in an organization, and plenty of people out there pitching their ideas as the best. It is up to the business leaders to find a technique that will best suite their needs as an organization, a technique that will give them the results they are looking for, this is the case with General Motors. General Motors is made up of four different auto makers (Buick, GM, Pontiac and Chevrolet) and each one runs independently from the others. GM decided that having four independently ran divisions, which competed against one another was more costly than beneficial and they searched to find a way to change this for the better. ...
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... | |4/30/2012 | | | This paper researches the management and leadership of General Motors Corporation (GM). GM has stood on top of the car making industry for several decades only to find itself bankrupt in 2008 and borrowing money from the United States government to stay alive. At one point the government owned two thirds of the mega car maker and GM found itself in the worst position ever in the company’s storied history. However, GM has turned a major corner in the last couple of years. They have found success through a myriad of management changes and other modifications that have helped GM race back to the top in the car making industry. This paper will explore the history of General Motors, changes made to the management and the structure of the management team, the marketing strategies they have employed over the last few years, and one of their most innovative products ever,...
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...GENERAL MOTORS STRATEGIC CHANGE AFTER SURVIVING BANKRUPCY WORD COUNT: 2726 INTRODUCTION The World Health Organization (WHO) attributes roughly 1.2 million deaths and 39 million injuries to traffic incidents each year (Peden et al., 2002).Two major challenges automobile companies face are enhancing the safety and fuel efficiency components of their vehicles, while there has been significant advancement in these components over the past decades, consumers still demand and want better, safer and more efficient vehicles from automobile manufacturers (Hoffeson, 2012). With the rapid growth of the world’s population it is not surprise that vehicle population and the population of passengers with personal cars have been steadily increasing. Although we are made to believe by popular media agencies through their advertising that U.S automobile producers have closed the gap in safety, high standard products and consistency with their Japanese rivals (Bradsher, 2000). it is however difficult to determine the fact from fiction The U.S automobile industry is a long established manufacturing industry that has seen a lot of strenuous experiences in the last decade. However this industry is still home to two of the world’s largest vehicle manufacturing brands, General Motors (GM) and Ford these two companies alone are that take credit for a large percentage of the world’s vehicle production since the 1980s. Improving vehicle safety is a key strategy company’s use in gaining competitive...
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...industry, and General Motors? General Motors (GM) has suffered different threats and difficulties that have put in risk the continuity of its production. Before the year 2000, GM has been going through different production, financial, and development problems. Wagoner has tried in different ways to address each problem in order to make GM more successful. Unfortunately GM had high losses that have made it very difficult to solve those problems. All this is due to a very competitive environment in each there were different forces that affect the development of the firm. According to Porter’s Five-Forces Model of the Industry, there are five aspects to analyze, the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products and services, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors in an industry. First, the threat of new entrants highly affected the firm. GM has so many divisions and units which made the firm weak in its integration. GM had 27 different units within the firm that purchase parts that made it difficult to achieve economies of scale. All those units worked independently and do not contribute each other. In other to solve that, Wagoner started working to integrate each unit, especially overseas. Also, he took the decision to reduce the number of units and divisions which helps to integrate a lower number of divisions. In addition, GM decided to change its products line. One way was reducing the numbers...
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...A Brief History of General Motors (GM) General Motors Corporation is the predecessor of today’s General Motors Company. It was founded in the early 1900’s, a time when the infant auto industry teemed with thousands of companies, large and small (Author Unknown). Billy Durant, GM founder invested in Buick in 1903 after which he assembled the company that became GM. He incorporated GM in September 16, 1908. Durant included Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Pontiac into the family within a few years after the incorporation. His fast pace of acquisition wore out GM’s bankers and Durant stepped down in 1910 as the president of GM. Durant together with Louis Chevrolet, a racecar drive, created a new brand of cars to challenge the Ford Model T. By 1916, Durant had acquired a lot of GM stock that enabled him take control of the company once again. In 1920 during a sharp recession that forced GM to rethink its business, Durant stepped down once again. (Author Unknown) In the process of creating a new post-Durant company, GM also created the archetype for the modern corporation. Alfred Sloan set up policy committees and staffs to coordinate GM’s different divisions; a strategy that he called “decentralized operations and responsibilities with coordinated control.” It was under Sloan’s leadership that GM organized divisions to provide “a car for every purse and purpose,” it allowed the customers to start with a lower-priced Chevrolet and then move up to a Cadillac if they could afford...
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...Change in General Motors Tina L. Wilderman MGT435 - Organizational Change Professor Robert Vega 02/14/2011 Change In General Motors General Motors Corporation was founded in 1902 and has produced nearly 450 million vehicles globally since their inception. The automobile giant has operations in nearly every country in the world. Up until the past decade, GM was enjoying rapidly growing sales and revenues. However, with the recent economic downturn, the challenge has been to capture and sustain their market share while adding to their bottom line. During the global economic crisis, management is left no choice but to make critical decisions that will enable their corporations to endure. Widespread change is necessary and was needed to all functions of GM’s business, including management style, structure, wages, branding, marketing, and technology. The automobile industry employs nearly ten percent, or one out of ten, of the nation’s labor force. GM is one of the largest purchasers of U.S. steel, iron, aluminum, copper, plastics, rubber, electronics, and computer chips. So, in essence, the survival of many other American businesses relies on the survival of GM. If GM doesn’t make some essential changes to start realizing profits, many of their suppliers will suffer the same inevitable fate. According to the Auto Interiors Conference, U.S. auto sales for all foreign and domestic manufacturers have declined by more than 30%, which is the largest decline in...
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...we are going to talk about General Motors (GM) and what they have to offer to the commitment to the environment. First let look at what is GM where did they come from, GM was Found in 1908 By a William Durant, he build a company for horse-drawn vehicles to moving to the automobile industry. This is more then 100 years, in automotive care in the history of this come. (GENERAL MOTORS, 2013) When comes to the GM commitment to the environment, they have may many changes to make changes to the environment. Back in 1994 they have make significant improvement to reduce it factory emission, GM made a environmental Pledge to endorsing the “Ceres Principles” this was a tem point code of corporate environmental conduct. The Boston-based Ceres is a coalition of investor groups, representing over $300 billion in invested capital, and major U.S. environmental organizations, aligning financial and environmental interests. (Fleming, 2002) With GM Environmental and Ceres Principles describe goals for protecting human health, natural resources, and the global environment. With both of these come they are required to disclose the information on environmental impact and progress in al annual report. GM have increased the recycled content used in it vehicles they are increased the recyclability of it vehicles, they have also increased vehicle fuel economy model. "GM has shown, historically, its commitment to the environment," says Elizabeth Lowery, GM vice president for environment and energy. "We've...
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...Adam Wells Organizational Change MGT. 435 Change in General Motors Taneisha Pugh 5/24/2010 Change In General Motors General Motors Corporation was founded by William Durrant in 1902, since their conception they have produced nearly 450 million vehicles globally. The goliath corporation operates in virtually every country in the world. Up until the past decade GM was enjoying rapidly growing sales and revenues across the board. However, with the current economic meltdown the ability to capture and sustain marketshare while add to their bottom line has shown to be more than challenging. Through this global economic crisis business leaders are left no choice but to make critical decisions that will enable their corporations to survive. Change is prevalent and management has no choice but to face the fact that they have got to change in order to survive. I think changes will have to be made in all functions of business such as structure, wages, marketing, branding, logistics, management style, and technology. The auto industry today employs about ten percent of the workforce. This means that 1 out of every 10 Americans are tied to the auto industry in some function whether they are suppliers, dealers, consultants, accountants, auditors etc. GM is also one of the largest purchasers of U.S. steel, aluminum, iron, copper, plastics, rubber, electronics, and computer chips. The reality is that if GM can’t make a turn around and start posting profits the other businesses that...
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...STRUCTURE: Title page Table of Contents including the numbering and title of any diagrams/charts/ tables. Terms of Reference (20-30 words) Procedure (20-30) Findings (1000-1300) (with at least 7 references) Conclusion (100-150) Recommendations (100-150) Bibliography (length variable) Appendix Approximate total length should be 1500 words +/- 10% including bibliography, but excluding any appendix. The appendix is not compulsory. THE FINDINGS MUST INCLUDE A SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE COMPANY IN QUESTION Note – the word lengths of each section above are approximate and for guidance only. CONTENTS IN DETAIL Title page: Full title of report Author Date Illustration which reflects the content. Table of Contents Title The full names of sections and sub-sections and their page numbers (sub-sections/divisions should be indented). TABLE OF CONTENTS Terms of Reference (20-30 words) Procedure (20-30) Findings (1000-1300) (with at least 7 references) Conclusion (100-150) Recommendations (100-150) Bibliography (length variable) Terms of Reference (20-30 words) Procedure (20-30) Findings (1000-1300) (with at least 7 references) Conclusion (100-150) Recommendations (100-150) Bibliography (length variable) Terms of Reference 2 Procedure 2 Findings 2 Reasons of downfall 2 Analysis of present position 4 Conclusion ...
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...MANAGEMENT IN ACTION CASE STUDY DON LYNN 1. In my opinion, the strategy type used by GM would fall under the reactors category. According to __ reactors make adjustments only when forced to by environmental pressures. In light of the recent economic downturn, GM was forced to make significant changes to avoiding being driven completely out of business. Because of significant sales losses and no doubt bad business practices, GM was forced to rely on the federal government for a bailout to keep from closing their doors. In an article in USA today, Sharon Carty wrote that there were systematic problems in GM for decades (may 13, 2009). In my opinion, the beginning of their downfall could have been following the 2001 terrorist attacks. At that time, GM was praised for responding quickly and precisely. They began offering many rebates with new car purchases and 0% financing on vehicles purchased. To compensate for the low interest rates and multiple rebate programs, GM was forced to raise its sticker prices. This rise in the sticker prices was occurring at a time when other vehicle companies were reducing prices. The end result was that their prices were much higher than the competition. Because of this, often shoppers wouldn’t even consider a GM vehicle. Because of the economic recession and the way they were conducting business, they were forced to consider bankruptcy. At this time, they became reactors to their current situation. This is a good example of the...
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...General motors corporation (GM) filed for chapter 11 bankcruptcy protection, the second-largest industrial bankruptcy in history (worldcom was the largest). GM, which hadn’t made aprofit since 2004, declare in its filing that it had 172 billion in debt and 82 billion in assets. As any competent business student could tell you. The ratio doesn’t make a balance sheet balance, especially when the companys equity is worth little. Fritz Henderson, who named CEO of Gm on march 30,2009, was a numbers guy, but he knew the companys culture had to change. His vision of the new organizational culture revolved around four guidelines: risk taking, accountability, speed, and costumer-product focus. The problem was that GM had tried before to reinvent itself, with mixed success. “GM’s past is littered with the buzzords of culture change. It has struggled to impose cultural change across the highly bureaucratic company in which brands, departments, and regions operated like self governing and competing states within a federation. But GM’s executive said, this time would be different. After all, there was the bankruptcy and the selective elimination of entrenched leadership. Were things really changing, though? Despite his well intentioned plans, Henderson was fired by the board on December 1, 2009 some felt he wasn’t radical enough to change the company. His replacement was the person appointed by the obama administrations car czar to oversee the automakers revival after bankruptcy, ed whitacre...
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