Alfred Sloan, the chief executive at General Motors for 35 years believed that no one should be called by their first names. It was always Mr. or Mrs. He practiced this style even to his top executives. He even called the president of GM, who was later Alfred’s successor, Mr. Wilson. They did not go by first name basis. He was known for his acts of kindness, of help, and for his of advice, and just warm sympathy when people were in trouble, but he had no friends within GM when he reached his old age. Sloan did not want any friends from GM because, GM was a business and friends should not be confused with business. The Alfred Sloan’s management style is a case in which management principles are discussed and analyzed. The case deals with …show more content…
Another big management principle that covers this case study is that he centralized administration and decentralized operations. GM adopted the strategy of “a car for every purse and purpose”. Sloan divided the vehicle market into price segments ranging from the low-price to luxury and targets each of GMs’ brands and models to a distinct segment, something no other manufacturer had ever done. Alfred Sloan grouped together items that had a common relationship. He also realigned the company 's products so that one brand of automobiles did not conflict with another brand. Each product, whether it was cars, electric or iceboxes, was set apart in its own division with its own unique characteristics. This management theory moved GM into the leader of the car companies for many years. (www. smallbusiness.chron.com) The third and final management principle that is shown in this case study is forecasting and planning. Forecasting and planning are found in this case study, because Alfred Sloan was examining the future, drawing up a plan of action, and laying the foundation for the elements of his strategy. This was seen at GM, since he realigned the company 's products so that one brand of automobiles did not conflict with another brand. Like I stated above, GM was the first car company to adopt the strategy of “a car for every purse and purpose”. Sloan divided the vehicle market into
Motorola was a very large organization and the organizational structure was a problem. Motorola has over 75,000 employees across the United States (USA) and 15 foreign countries. There were too many levels of management. There were nine to twelve levels between the first line managers and the executive level. The average span of control was over five people or fewer. Some people managed three people or less. The “Tripartite Structure” was comprised of Bob Galvin, CEO/Chairman (Jick &Peiperl, 2011).
1. The observable artifacts associated with the Chrysler culture was that the CEO was located in a penthouse office of the building which Mr. Marchionne moved to the middle of the engineering department; he streamlined senior leadership, and to the remaining 15 members he gave them added responsibility feeling that the more decisions they had to make the faster they would work to meet the deadlines; he also gave them the opportunity to take full authority to take risks without worrying about bureaucrats barriers and they were allowed to make smart decisions and to be held accountable for them (Lueneburger, 2014).
I will be clarifying how reading "Theory X, Y, Z" and watched the media piece, "Theory," affected my definition of theory. I will be explaining the reasons why it might be useful to make a connection between actual management situations and theory. I will also explain how theory can inform the actual practice of management. I will provide an example of my own supported observation to maintain my statements. In Conclusion, I will explain which of management theories presented in Day 4 Readings seem to be the most useful and why (Walden, 2014).
illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other
Mintzberg, H. Research . (1972) On strategy-making', Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Academyo f Management,N Minneapolis.
We can safely state that no single theory of management is universally accepted today. To provide a useful historical perspective that will guide our study of modern management, we shall discuss five different approaches to management : (1) the universal process approach, (2) the operational approach, (3) the behavioral approach, (4) the systems approach, and (5) the contingency approach. Understanding these general approaches to the theory and practice of management can help you appreciate how management has evolved, where it is today, and where it appears to be headed. Each of the five approaches to management represents a different conceptual framework for better understanding the practice of management.
In what ways are management of companies different or how are they similar to one another? And what is the importance of management in how a company runs nowadays? Many of us question about why knowing the history of management is important to Managers? According to (Samson et al, 2012, Page 53) “A historical perspective provides a broader way of thinking; a way of searching for patterns and determining whether they recur across time periods.” In the history of management, many trends have appeared. Many argue that the new techniques being introduced may not have a permanent solution. Others think that managers adapting to new techniques for continuous improvement in this ever changing world. It is important to know the background of how these management perspectives evolved and who and how is it being used now.
The Ivanovics, although not formally educated in managerial leadership, realized that with their multi-cultural team members an indirect management style would grow the production output and would raise the morale and motivation of the workers. When McRae’s team tried to change this dynamic, especially as soon as they entered the corporation, their method backfired and was resisted by all of the employees and confidence in the leadership continued to decrease in the firm.
He decided to enlarge the goals of the company so as to include the marketing of the vehicles that they produced. This in itself is what entails planning. Therefore, management has affected planning in that the presence of a new CEO in the company has introduced other goals that were not there in the first place. The presence of an eligible leader led to the company building its own battery packs, power microelectronics segments and great proficiency automotive to enable them work without a license from AC Propulsion. Apart from influencing the planning of the company in a positive manner, the management also led to improved performance of the firm in that they now had extensive goals to achieve which required them to work harder (Hunger, 2010).
I interviewed my host-grandfather, who has a small size remolding and hardware company in the Kansas State. He is the chief executive officer of the company. The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of a manager in a company from a perspective of a person managing a firm. The idea of this interview is to understand how well their management role and decision match with theoretical management.
Alfred Sloan was picked to take charge of the corporation and led it to its post war global dominance. This unprecedented growth of GM would last through the late 70's and into the early 80's.
Creation, acceleration and emotion are the key components for any automobile industry to deliver its goods to the expected standards. General Motors, popularly known as GM has been a pioneer in the global autoindustry for more than 100 years. Developing from horseless carriages to the latest sports cars, innovations have always excelled at putting the world on wheels. In fact, there are a lot of exciting things to share about the company. GM’s corporation started in 1892 by R.E. Olds, with a solid financial foundation, which enabled him to produce great vehicles for customers and build a bright future for employees, partners and shareholders. GM slowly initiated its staff of experts in the factories which are located in different parts of the globe and acquired the brands like Chevrolet, Pointiac, GMC, Buick, Cadillac(General Motors Corporation, 2015). Leading the way is their tailored leadership team who set high standards for the company so that they can produce the best cars and trucks. This means that GM is committed to deliver vehicles with compelling designs, flawless quality and reliability, leading safety, fuel economy and commercial features. All are intended to create that special bond that can only happen between a driver and a vehicle. General Motors is a customer driven company and aims at earning customers
Successful management requires an understanding of the fundamental concepts of effective management techniques and principles. In order to gain such insight, and manage effectively and efficiently, managers must develop an awareness of past management principles, models and theories. From the turn of the 20th Century, the
In the early 1900’s, some of the first ideas were thrown together to allow an organization to flourish in the upcoming modern era. The first theories were known as scientific and classical management, which focused on three separate theories from Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, and Max Weber. The three theories have similar ideology in the fact that organization is driven by management authority, employees only source of motivation is money, and organizations are machinelike with employees making up the parts of the machine (Papa, Daniels, & Spiker, 2008). In the Prophecy Fulfilled case study, Mary Ann (senior auditor) takes on a management role with subordinates similar to that of Weber’s Bureaucratic Theory (Daniels 1987, pp. 77-78).
At some point during World War II, G.M became the biggest company in the United States and owned a large number of brands and a financing fund.