Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Since 1908 General Motors is one of the world's largest automakers and its global
headquarters are in Detroit, General Motors has manpower of 204,000 employees and
has business across 140 countries. Genral Motors with its strategic alliances makes
cars and trucks in thrty four countries and thy sell their brands with names such as
Vauxhall, Wuling, Chevrolet, GM Daewoo, Buick, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and
Wuling. GM has the largest market share in the United States with other countries
such as China, Italy, Brazil, Canada and United Kingdom KingdoM its OnStar
subsidiary is a leader in security, vehicle safety and information sevices. On July 10,
2009 General Motors Corporation acquired operation from General Motors
The transformed organizational model is integrated and centralized a team against its
employees striving towards common goals transformed organizational model
corporations run in a smoothly way and it is cost effective . A transformed
organizational model does not consists of various departments, all performing
different tasks. (Jex, 2002) Jack Smith, General Motors's CEO, saw an opportunity for
change, "I had the opportunity to really structure the business in the way I thought it
should run -- Frankly, at the time we weren't like any other auto company in the
world" (Taylor, 2004).
The diverse workforce at General Motors. All the employees and management at
General Motors had to acquire skills and more importantly General Motors had a
diverse workforce. All the employees had to learn software programmes including the
global offices but in the end communication was more productive and easier! General
Motors engineers also centralized and learnt technique of design and engineering
among each other Staff needed to learn to communicate and work as a team not as
individuals completing a particular piece of the puzzle. (Taylor, 2004)
To make sure that the changes have been implemented properly General Motors had
to put systems in practise. A management committee was set up in order communicate
the ongoing changes to the CEO within the organisation meetings were held monthly
through means of technology such as phone and video conferencing the global offices
also participated in the meetings. The heads of regional departments would make use
of the meetings to communicate the CEO about the transformation within the
organisation. Meetings helped all the staff to work constantly to achieve the
organisational goals; another characteristic of the transformed organizational model.
(Taylor, 2004)
General Motors is a large corporation and when this transition took place several
groups of people were affected. Two of the external stakeholders that were affected
were customers and local communities were General Motors's factories were built.
Some of General Motors's vehicle brands were discontinued making upgrading or
servicing particular vehicle models difficult for customers. Customers are traditional
loyal to particular brands so when those brands are no longer available they look for
something new; this caused General Motors to lose some of their customer base.
(Taylor, 2004).
General Motors's had put into practise the transformed organizational model which
could be both positive and negative change. The negative changes that took place
within the company were job redundancy, closure of business employees losing their
homes, communities had to go through a worst phase and some of the positive
changes that took place were General Motors became one corporation working
together; the costs were reduced because of the reorganisation of operations and
functions. In order to survive in a globalise and competitive market change has to take
place, the impact could be both positive and negative therefore it is important to scan
the environment and put systems and process in practise however in the end people
are one step closer to learning something new and knowledge is power!
References
Jex, S M. (2002). Organizational Psychology: A scientific practitioner approach. ,
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc...
Taylor III, A. (2004, April 5). "GM gets its act together: How America's No. 1 car
company changed its ways and started looking like...Toyota." Fortune, 149, 136-146
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
A) Explore the background to the changes affecting GM and the car industry?
Since the establishment of the industrial revolution the automotive industry has
played a vital role as the economy was growing throughout the globe. The automotive
industry possesses bigger challenges as the industry undergoes basic changes. General
Motors Corporation is a part of the automobile industry. In terms of production of
motor vehicles the U.S. is one of the leading producers and has large number of
consumer. Since 1931 General Motors has been one of the major worldwide suppliers
and largest company in the automobile industry. The company has a manpower of
2, 84,000 employees. According to NADA, the total revenue of General Motors was
207.349 billion and its net income was $1.978 billion in the year 2006
The macroeconomic factors that are affecting the automobile industry and the
General Motors which includes recession, technology, policies and prices of
automobile manufacturers, weather conditions gross domestic products (GDP),
automobile manufacturer’s policies and prices, weather peak and recessions.
• Recession and Weather peaks-: These factors can affect the car industry in
several ways because the highest number of cars is sold in summer and
spring. During the summer and spring season the index rises to 141% from
the breakdown incurred during the winter and the fall of month
The various factors that can affect the sales of automobiles include national and
international factors, incentives and pricing. Calamities such as earthquakes, floods,
interest rates, inflation, oil prices, and closure of plants could directly impact the car
industry. General Motors has good opportunities to invest billion of dollars in the
Canadian market to increase the sales of General Motors vehicles. The auto trade of
U.S. depends on its own national market, and to a certain extent on the Canadian
market. The U.S. vehicle exports have biggest market in the Canada. General Motors
has significantly enhanced the eminence of dealership prospects and the selection
procedure to categorise new dealerships has been consistent and other factors such as
demographics, investments, location, size location, demographics, complexity of
operations and investment are taken into consideration while corresponding
candidates to dealerships. General Motors put emphasises on four main objectives and
it includes lean manufacturing, growth, globalisation and general practices wherever
feasible.
In conclusion, the global car industry is multifaceted and is both flat and vertically
diverse and the three major manufacturers in the car industry are American, Japanese
and European the automobile industry has also experienced manufacturers from the
Latin countries, Korea and China there are manufacturers that targets niche markets,
focus on specialisation and the one who produces mass volume adding to it there are
also other factors that includes production, supplies and changing regulation of car
industry. The automobile industries are directly affected by the macro economic
variables. General Motors the major automobile manufacturer has used some of this
variable to help the company to grow and succeed.
Source: www.gotessays.com
The strengths and weaknesses of bureaucracy are embedded to the rise of conflicting
theories on bureaucracy persisting in the present leading to the advancement of the
concept into different meanings. The most prominent challenger and supporter of
bureaucracy are Max Weber and Karl Marx respectively. The theories propounded by
this philosopher influenced the progress of various opposing opinions on bureaucracy.
Max Weber offered an optimistic viewpoint of bureaucracy through his model
description of the managerial system as a logical and well-organized type of
organization. These features are accomplished through the application of determined
administration, levelling of social and economic differences, and logical rule of
authority. According to the Weber’s viewpoint a bureaucratic organization are based
on various principles. First it is carried out on constant base and other on official
business. Second is the manner of authorized business in stringent manner accordance
with the responsibility of every associate, selected through aloof criteria to execute
chosen tasks matters to stringent regulations of practice. Third is the organization
taking place into a vertical chain of command to be administered by the rights to
appeal and command? Fourth is the non-ownership of resources required in executing
tasks but with responsibility for the mode of resource use?. Fifth is the stiff division
of authorized, earnings and individual interests. Sixth is the non-appropriation of
location or workplace. Seventh is certification of every authorized company. (1980)
By sticking to these principles, the business expects to attain logical and structural
consistency due to the description of position and allocation of responsibilities. Every
employee knows his contribution and his position therefore all the managers have to
do is organize the specific tasks to accomplish a combined organizational production.
Due to observance to the stringent policy on practical rules, code of conduct, position
qualifications, the company accomplish effectiveness in the upward and downward
well as the parallel flow of information within the company so it states that decision
from the leadership flows downwards to the staff and various department and through
the hierarchy the response is sent upwards ( 1994)
Weaknesses of Bureaucracy
General Motors is a large corporation and when this transition took place several
groups of people were affected. Two of the external stakeholders that were affected
were customers and local communities were General Motors's factories were built.
Some of General Motors's vehicle brands were discontinued making upgrading or
servicing particular vehicle models difficult for customers. Customers are traditional
loyal to particular brands so when those brands are no longer available they look for
something new; this caused General Motors to lose some of their customer base.
(Taylor, 2004).
Many communities build and grow around large employers; during this transition
some of General Motor's factories were closed in order to streamline production.
When large corporations in towns close their factories, entities such as, restaurants,
gas stations, the real-estate market, and grocery stores suffer financially. Therefore,
this causes a downturn in the community's financial well-belling; everything from
property taxes to sales tax suffers. This type of financial suffering causes a chain
reaction in the community; less money coming into the community causes
unemployment, large budget cuts, and police and fire departments are downsized.
When this type of downsizing occurs people tend to move out of the town causing the
cycle to start over. (Taylor, 2004)
General Motors's transition from the traditional organizational model to the
transformed organizational model caused positive and negative change. Some
communities suffered horribly during this transformation; families losing jobs, people
losing their home, businesses having to close or downsize, and towns having to
rethink their existence. Some of the positive changes that occurred were; General
Motors became one corporation working together, operational costs decreased due to
streamlining functions and operations, and effective communication methods were
established. In order to make progress change has to occur, in some cases change is
positive and in others negative, but in the end people are one step closer to learning
something new and knowledge is power!
References
Jex, S M. (2002). Organizational Psychology: A scientific practitioner approach. ,
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc...
Taylor III, A. (2004, April 5). "GM gets its act together: How America's No. 1 car
company changed its ways and started looking like...Toyota." Fortune, 149, 136-146.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1021276/TYPES-of-ORGANIZATIONAL-
STRUCTURES/
CURRENT STUCTURE
Proposed solution
• The company should adopt organic form of structure rather than performing in a
highly bureaucratic structure
• The organic structure has an approach to keep the employees and their schedule
redefining
• Motivate employees and to make them feel and involve in the organisational
activities
• The centralised structure should be transformed in decentralized manner so there
would be easy flow of communication
General Motors should cultivate cross functional team within the organisation which
could foster innovation, amalgamation of redesign and reengineering, problem
solving and development of new products and services
• By putting this approach into practise the management could respond more
quickly to the changing environment moreover employees can gain dedication
and work more passionately
• Continuously keep on motivating the employees
• Emergency problems would be solved and leads to better performance.
Hyde, A. (1992). The Proverbs of Total Quality Management: Recharging the Path to
Quality Improvement in the Public Sector. Public Productivity and Management
Review, 10, 195-213.
COGNITIVE MODEL FOR ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
This model could be used to reorganise the strengths and weakness of structure of the
organisation. As the organisational structure of the General motors mentioned above
states that the company has a multi divisional structure majority of the decisions are
influenced by higher authorities. So cognitive model could be used as a tool to assist
the company for organisational development.
• Merger or takeover
• Strategic alliances and joint ventures
• Knowledge of the existing employees
• Support from the government
http://www.wikiswot.com/SWOT/4_User_Generated/General_Motors.html
BPR differs from first order change and has a radical approach more so ever it has
modernized concept and challenges new thinking and adding to it is performance
oriented and has a transformational process within a short period of time therefore it is
a second order change. BPR would be more applicable to General Motors because the
company does not need incremental strategy it demands fundamental strategy and
radical changes in the organisation
BPR differs from first order change and has a radical approach more so ever it has
modernized concept and challenges new thinking and adding to it is performance
oriented and has a transformational process within a short period of time therefore it is
a second order change. BPR would be more applicable to General Motors because the
company does not need incremental strategy it demands fundamental strategy and
radical changes in the organisation
General motors’ is based on a hierarchical bureaucratic structure where authority is
centralized at the top with a multifaceted structure which could lead to lack of
motivation of employee therefore an organic structure could be more suitable for the
organisation because the business environment is changing constantly and
communication at General Motors will be decentralized because of this authority will
have more freedom to take decisions therefore they don’t have to depend on higher
authorities. General motors’ is making losses in terms of unwanted stocks and high
costs are incurred in manufacturing units therefore an appropriate system should be
adopted to target the customers and understand their behaviour to provide a high
quality and valuable service so that their needs could be met and the company could a
competitive edge in the automobile industry because of high costs involved in
production company should outsource its work so that it could lead to less costs in
making products and in turn higher profits. General motors should implement JUST
IN TIME by developing good networking skills with the supply chain which could
help to reduce unwanted and inventory cost
PROPSED CHANGE FRAMEWORK FOR GENERAL MOTORS
Large Scale
Transformational
Rapid
Stable environment change
Turbulent
Slow change environment
Small scale
Incremental
In order to execute second order change process it is vital that General Motors
should use effective and state of the art strategies which would be beneficial in
betterment of the organization. As General Motors is driving out with out without
process objective and vision so as to overcome their direction problems it should
implement Business Process Reengineering as a part of their strategy General Motors
should develop objectives and a suitable business vision in an environment they are
operating it is important to analyse the errors so that accordingly the present business
process could be redesigned and particularly when taking General Motors into
consideration the errors should be analysed because it has a hierarchical structure
where communication is top bottom (centralized)
By executing Kaizen with BPR it will help to bring minute changes at General
Motors which could add to efficiency and good quality Kaizen operates at an
individual level and it could be an important tool in decentralized communication at
General Motors and in developing team work.
• The implementation of Kaizen could be beneficial in many ways such as to
empower employees
• Elimination of wastages and low manufacturing costs,
• The organisation could be transformed into superior global competitors
• It could foster innovation and creativity in organisation
• It will lead to improvement within all the units of business
• All the employees are motivated to develop a pattern of looking for
improvement opportunities and hence involvement of the employee in the
event. The whole team takes ownership of the improvement process, and
individual employees begin to see themselves as a team
General motor is making changes and transforming itself to be a global leader in the
automobile industry. The stakeholder analysis helps us to understand the impact on
organisation and its stakeholders as general Motors has a bureaucratic structure the
major changes should take place from the top of the organisation as the interests of
executives at top level management matters a lot for the changes taking place in the
organisation so that could respond to the changes easily same with the middle level
management and the lower level management so that they could take interest and
work enthusiastically to strive towards organisational goals it is due to changes taking
place in the organisation so it indicates the interest of lower level management is vital
because they are the internal stakeholders of an organisation. While organisation
responding to change customers impact should be taken into consideration and is very
vital in the same manner with dealers and suppliers
http://www.odi.org.uk/Rapid/Tools/Toolkits/images/stakeholder_grid.gif
KEEP SATISFIED
Customers: They have low interest and high power relating to any changes taken
place within the organisation
MONITOR
Government: The local government has to play a minimum role and the level of
interest and power is also low
MANAGEMENT
Manage closely: The management has the highest power and interest which can play
a major role to initiate change in an organisation
KEEP INFORMED
Competitors and Suppliers: They have high interest and low power if any changes
made with the organisation they need to be informed
This model was first developed by Marvin Weisberg it could be used as diagnostic
tool in General Motors for the changes within the organisation and it is made up of six
variables which could be applicable for the organisation. As the organisation is based
on a bureaucratic structure we would implement the principles and reorganise the
structure the six-box organisational model consists of following elements
• Purpose
• Rewards
• Relationship
• Helpful mechanism
• Leadership
• Structure
This model can be applied to General Motors because the company existing structure
is bureaucratic and centralised therefore employees are the assets for organisation. So,
the model states that company can provide incentive to the employees for
performance and in the competitive world companies are trying to imitate its
strategies, rewards and relationship are an important part of organisation and
considered the most important within the model so mission and vision of the company
has its own importance within the organisation. Leadership and structure are the
important ingredients of model while being a multi divisional structure we could see
multi layers in the organisation therefore restructuring of organisation is vital and
there could be various issue raised in the organisation whereas an improper structure
could lead to many problems therefore company has to take actions to happen so.
General Motors has relationship within and outside the organisation because it is an
integrated system of an organisation.
CONCLUSION
Due to growing competition and demand in the global world General Motors has to
go through drastic management change and implement second order change to
survive in the market therefore needs to put into practice process management, JIT,
Kaizan approach to meet the changing need of customers. Secondly the company
should develop feedback and provide motivation to employees so that could strive
towards organisational goals and work enthusiastically by implementing the process
would assist the company to grow and survive in a highly competitive market
Bibliography -:
Taylor III, A. (2004, April 5). "GM gets its act together: How America's No. 1 car
company changed its ways and started looking like...Toyota." Fortune, 149, 136-146
Hyde, A. (1992). The Proverbs of Total Quality Management: Recharging the Path to
Quality Improvement in the Public Sector. Public Productivity and Management
Review, 10, 195-213.
WEBSITES:
http://www.odi.org.uk/Rapid/Tools/Toolkits/images/stakeholder_grid.gif
http://www.slideshare.net/andreaberga/general-motors-case-analysis
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1021276/TYPES-of-ORGANIZATIONAL-
STRUCTURES/
www.gotessays.com
http://ivythesis.typepad.com