On April 1st, 2014 in Washington D.C., General Motors (GM) Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra testified in front of a panel of senators regarding the company’s late delay in addressing a defect in ignition switches, causing cars to lose power and injuring or killing the drivers. While GM has issued a recall on cars that are known to have this defective product, the problem lies in the delay of action on the part of GM, who are accused of knowing about the defect as early as 2001. One of the many problems during the hearing is the emergence GM not only knowing about the defective ignition switch, but they also switched the defective product for a working one, yet still kept the same product number. In addition, during Senator Boxer’s questioning, she revealed that GM made a decision not to fix the defective product due to GM claiming that it “was not an effective business decision” due to the high cost of fixing the problem and the length of time it would take. Senator Nelson also brought up the issue of how people would be able to drive cars that are known to have the defects, citing that customers deserve compensation in a quick and effective process and are not satisfied with GM’s solution of driving “with only the car key in the ignition”. Throughout the hearing, CEO Mary Barra states that the mistakes of the “old GM (pre-bankruptcy)” are not the fault of the “new GM (post-bankruptcy)”, she pledges to fix the situation, starting with the new position of Vice President
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
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
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.
some difficult decisions. Only eight months into his job as chief marketing officer (CMO) of GE’s
Clearly, "beleaguered" Ogilvy's new CEO needed to prevent further decline by instituting changes that were long overdue:
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
* any other issues you believe should be brought to the attention of the CEO and the board
In 2015, Volkswagen incurred a problematic situation that left people asking the question, “Where were the Lawyers?” Volkswagen’s sales were spiraling out of control in crucial markets such as China and Brazil, which eventually lead to a reputation damage for the company. Likewise, the emissions testing catastrophe only made matters worse. Over 11 million of Volkswagen’s diesel cars worldwide were equipped with illegal software, used to cheat on emissions testing, posing a more serious threat to the environment as well as endangering human life. Specifically, this paper will discuss how I as an employee or manger would have prevented the incident and as a CEO, how I would have responded once the issue became public as well as 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.
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.
In such a short term, the CEO, Marry Barra successfully steered the company through an ignition switch that emerged during the first months as a CEO. General Motors is currently hiring numerous people to represent the company and get a new image. The company has a very valuable
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
What do you think would happen if Ford instead decide to tell their valued customers, “ sir the car is not the issue. You see you are driving in the wrong way. ”Ford could have given all the specific details of how to acquire the best mileage such as: gradually get to your speed instead of revving the engine, or instead of stomping on the breaks, gradually break into your stops. Ford could have given millions of reasons of how to improve the outcome of their car. And, I am pretty sure it would have not gone well with the people giving Ford their business.
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.