General Motors’ Ignition Failure Hearing

GM is described as an organization with a dysfunctional company culture that somehow still manages to have amazing results in its work, on a global scale. The key attributes of GM, were primarily in the changes initiated by Mary Barra after the GM ignition switch recall crisis. Some of those attributes include her willingness to openly acknowledge the undesirable aspects of the GM culture and her efforts to take action towards a resolution. There are also several noticeable strengths and weaknesses within the organization. One of the biggest weaknesses is the company’s repeated inability to acknowledge that, lack of functional culture and leadership are truly the root cause of the company’s issues. Based on my reading I would describe the current behavioral organizational model as a Custodial Model. I chose this model because the managerial orientation is money, employee orientation is security and benefits and performance results are passive cooperation. All of these attributes were described in the reading.

I believe that Smith could have and should have spoke to the people of Flint. Smith was not clear on why he was making the layoffs to the workers, but Moore does confront Tom Kay about the issue. Kay’s response was that Smith made the layoffs to increase their profit and they will do that by opening a factory in Mexico and hiring people down there to work for less pay. Moore then was on the hunt for Smith trying to interview and speak with him. Moore spent three year chasing Smith across the country and he never did get to speak with Roger Smith. As CEO Smith should have agreed to at least talk with Moore about the issues that the layoffs have brought and why the layoffs happened. Smith also could have brought up the issues with the higher up GM workers and ask them to lend a helping hand in this

In this essay, I will argue that Ford Motor Company’s business behavior was unethical as demonstrated in the Ford Pinto Case. Ford did not reveal all the facts to consumers about a harmful gas tank design in the Ford Pinto. They tried to justify their decision to sell an unsafe car by using a Cost-Benefit Analysis which determined it was cheaper to sell the cars without changing to a safer gas tank. The price of not fixing the gas tanks is human injuries and fatalities. By choosing not to make the Pinto a safer vehicle Ford placed a price on the head of every consumer. Ford’s primary concern was to maximize profits. Ford had a duty and ethical responsibility to customers to

A "reality check" at the annual stock holder's meeting where many employees voted to have Harold Wallace removed prompted him to call in a consultant by the name of Frances Rampar to find out what exactly is going on within the company. The information gathered from interviews with key employees within the Wallace Group screams for change.

Norm Brodsky, a veteran entrepreneur, said on an article titled Growing Up as a CEO, “You've got to take responsibility for the messes you get your company into. Problems will keep resurfacing until you recognize how your actions helped create them in the first place.” Speaking from experience, after understanding his responsibility for the bankruptcy

A number of car incidents have been associated with the errors in the ignition switch, which could possibly disable the airbag, the power steering and breaks. Due to this issue at least 13 deaths and numerous injuries have been found (Isidore, 2014) with the General Motors Company. This investigation was given to an engineer in Florida, Mark Hood, to file for a lawsuit against General Motors and to try to figure out what was the cause of these accidents. It was revealed that the tiny metal plunger in the switch was smaller than the original size and needed less force to turn the ignition off (Isidore, 2014).

I personally have no problem with GM as a company, but there are a few aspects of that cheeky bankruptcy I must protest on principal. Because New GM was only an accumulation of essential assets, the mistakes previously made by many of the same people in power went unpunished. A prime example being the ignition switch recall. In April Judge Robert Gerber ruled in favor of the billionaire company.

some difficult decisions. Only eight months into his job as chief marketing officer (CMO) of GE’s

Six months later, people are still brandishing pitchforks against the company, yet no one cares that General Motors was shamelessly letting people die for 15 years, anymore. The court case against GM yielded less than nothing for the American people, when one considers the fact that GM paid less in fees, than the amount they were bailed out with using taxpayer money.

Clearly, "beleaguered" Ogilvy's new CEO needed to prevent further decline by instituting changes that were long overdue:

General Motors is now known as the culture that stopped acknowledging problems. Employees knew there was a problem but problems were not acceptable. They were ignored. Employees were faced with getting fired if they discuss safety or quality issues. In fact some of GM’s employees knew that the recall of 2.6 million vehicles was for an ignition switch defect. The recall resulted in 13 people losing their lives. Several committee groups reviewed the issue and failed to take action. Later an investigation was completed and everyone involved had a responsibility to fix the problem but no one took responsibility. Bill McAleer a former employee of General Motors worked on the assembly line back in 1968. McAleer wrote a letter to General Motor board

* any other issues you believe should be brought to the attention of the CEO and the board

“a consumer buying a car may not be informed fully about the safety features of various models or may not have adequate information to evaluate the importance or usefulness of various options (e.g., antilock brakes, four-wheel drive, side cross beams to reduce the damage from a side collision). The information asymmetry about those models or features is common and may allow an "aggressive" sales person to exploit the buyer's ignorance” (Englander & Moy, 2003).

This case report will examine Dreyer’s strategy-the Grand Plan, will explore in depth the reasons why this plan has not achieved the initial expectations, and then will focus on the recommendations to solve the company’s crisis.

In 2001, shortly after Jeff Immelt became the CEO of GE, a series of events changed and impacted the corporate landscape. The immediate challenges that he faced included 9/11, and a subsequent series of high profile corporate scandals (Enron, WorldCom). In 2008, the financial crisis hit and had a severe impact on GE’s primary growth source, GE Capital causing it to accumulate bad debts and asset write-downs. These events caused slow domestic economic growth, crisis of confidence among investors and more global competitors.