Question

General Motor established in 1908. That time the company was the sole carmaker dealer in the region, e.g. Michigan, first it was a holding Buick company, till 1920 it was becoming the world largest motor manufacturing company. However, General Motor is a fallen giant. Glory of the past from being a great market leader to bankrupt company General motors has come a long way. In 1980s GM was the top car manufacturer in the USA until the arrival of the Japanese cars. The Japanese sold cheap and better cars. GM failed to realize the change in the industry and technology and constantly lost market share to the Japanese companies.

How change in the culture of the organization will help General Motors? (250 words)

Answer 1

Mary Barra is nearing one year on the job as chief executive officer at General Motors Co. Named to the position in December 2013, she officially took over the reins of the global automaker on Jan. 15 – and has been embroiled in addressing an ignition switch safety crisis ever since.

That crisis has been linked to 32 deaths so far, a recall of millions of vehicles, as well as an ongoing question of "Who knew what, when?"  In April she announced the creation of a product integrity team within the global product development organization, to assure that future technical issues were addressed quickly. "This new way of developing vehicles will provide the highest levels of safety, quality, and customer service," she stated.

Even as she addresses the ignition switch crisis, Barra is looking to GM's future. In October she unveiled General Motor's growth plans, which include increasing North American profit margins, growing the Cadillac brand and boosting sales in China. GM's sales targets for China are 30.7 million vehicles in 2018, compared with 24.3 million in 2014.

Late that same month, Barra described the auto industry as being in a period of transition, predicting that it will experience more dramatic changes in the next decade than it has in the last 50 years. Those changes, she says, will provide opportunity to "reimagine the company and the industry."

The GM chief executive made those comments Oct. 28 while speaking to a Detroit Economic Club audience. The customer, she said, will be key to General Motors capturing that opportunity, and noted they're speaking "forcefully and thoughtfully" about what the automaker must address.

"By listening carefully to their hopes, their concerns and their expectations, and then applying the talent and resources that we have, we can develop solutions that demonstrate that customers are truly at the center of everything we do," Barra said.

She touched on numerous subjects during the economic club event -- particularly during the question-and-answer session--including culture change at GM, a topic she has fielded on multiple occasions since becoming CEO.

Barra likens culture change to changing behaviors. Among the behaviors the company is trying to encourage every day among the workforce is "owning" each other's obstacles "to make sure we're solving problems together," she said. Moreover, "that we are candid with each other, that we drive accountability. If you say you are going to do something, do it. If you can't, raise your hand, get help, because there's nothing I've not seen get done when GM teams puts their minds to it."

In speaking with Automotive News, Barra put a timeline on that culture change. "A lot of people say culture change takes 10 years. We want to cut that in half," she said.

Barra's philosophy of working together to improve clearly influences her perspective on a host of issues, as illustrated by her responses to several questions posed by the Detroit Economic Club audience.

Focus on its organizational culture allows General Motors to fulfill its goals and objectives for addressing business performance challenges and issues. The company’s reform efforts view the corporate culture as a contributor to success. This is so because many of General Motors’ problems in performance are linked to its old cultural characteristics that emphasize bureaucracy and lack of accountability. Nonetheless, other factors are involved in determining the actual performance of GM’s business and its effectiveness in addressing internal problems and external challenges.

General Motors Company has an organizational culture of agility. This kind of organizational culture focuses on speed in addressing issues, problems and opportunities in the business. For example, the corporate culture enables GM to develop its competitive advantage on the basis of rapid innovation and positive relations with stakeholders, whose interests determine the initiatives and programs in General Motors’ corporate social responsibility strategy. The company must ensure that its cultural characteristics are aligned with goals and objectives, to optimize the success rate of strategic implementation in the automobile market. The following characteristics are notable in General Motors’ organizational culture:

1. Freedom and opportunity to grow, learn and evolve
2. Fast thinking for continued success
3. Innovation and emphasis on quality
4. Responsibility and accountability
5. Positive relationships for operating success

Freedom and Opportunity to Grow, Learn and Evolve.

General Motors’ approach to developing its organizational culture involves freedom and opportunity for employees to address their career development goals. For example, the company maintains human resource programs that develop talent and skills among workers. In this way, General Motors’ workforce remains adequate in developing solutions to emerging challenges that require new skills and abilities from employees. This feature of the corporate culture addresses employees’ morale issues and their concerns regarding their careers. Thus, through this characteristic, General Motors’ corporate culture also attracts high quality talent.

Fast Thinking for Continued Success.

Speed is essential in addressing opportunities and threats relevant to GM and the automotive industry environment. The company aims for continuous improvement through this characteristic of the organizational culture. For example, fast thinking facilitates General Motors’ problem-solving processes while minimizing the adverse consequences of problems in the business. With this feature of the corporate culture, employees are encouraged to go beyond standards to boost business performance. Thus, the organizational culture supports value creation in General Motors’ human resources and related processes.

Innovation and Emphasis on Quality.

Innovation and quality are seen as significant determinants of General Motors’ ability to compete against other automobile manufacturers. The company believes that this characteristic of the organizational culture is essential to developing competitive advantage. In this regard, innovation and quality are aligned with General Motors’ generic strategy and intensive growth strategies. Also, innovation and quality contribute to the technological advancement of the company’s products. Thus, this feature of the corporate culture reinforces the emphasis on value and technological breakthrough in General Motors’ vision statement and mission statement, respectively. For example, technological advancement is necessary for the company to improve its current industry position, considering the rapid technological innovation among other automotive firms.

Responsibility and Accountability.

General Motors Company’s organizational culture instills responsibility and accountability among employees. This cultural characteristic helps minimize and mitigate problems in the company. For example, responsibility motivates GM workers to take necessary action to address problems they encounter on the job. On the other hand, accountability links outcomes and consequences to General Motors’ human resources, thereby facilitating problem-solving processes. Moreover, this feature of General Motors’ corporate culture extends to accountability of managers regarding the effects of the automotive business on its stakeholders.

Positive Relationships for Operating Success.

Positive relationships are valued in General Motors’ human resources. This characteristic of the organizational culture pertains to the internal and external relationships involving the automotive business. For example, relationships involving General Motors and its customers, suppliers, and dealers are considered. The corporate culture also encourages alignment between the company and its business partners. The overall effect of this attribute of the corporate culture is that it promotes mutually beneficial relations between General Motors and its stakeholders.

General Motors Company’s Organizational Culture: Advantages & Disadvantages, Recommendations

An advantage of General Motors’ organizational culture is its support for human resource development. For example, the cultural attribute of freedom and opportunity addresses the need to ensure a growing human resource for the business. Another advantage of General Motors’ corporate culture is that it facilitates innovation. Innovation is a key success factor in the business because of the rapid rate of innovation in the automotive industry. Thus, General Motors benefits from a corporate culture of agility that suits its current business needs and environment.

The cultural characteristics of the business are beneficial to GM. However, a disadvantage is that General Motors’ corporate culture does not put emphasis on going beyond typical paths of innovation. For example, the company does not push employees to go beyond the typical limits, in contrast to efforts for creativity and thinking outside the box in firms like Apple. In this regard, a recommendation to improve General Motors’ corporate culture is to add an attribute that highlights the importance of creativity among employees. Such creativity can contribute to the company’s competitive advantage based on solutions and products. General Motors can boost employee support for innovation through this additional characteristic in its corporate culture.