A recent study of Michigan’s biggest public companies and the composition of their boardrooms revealed that General Motors has more women in executive and board level positions than Ford. Of the 850 board seats of the companies surveyed, only 98 are held by women, with 12 of those being held by women of color.
For its part, General Motors has four women on its 14-member board of directors, with one being in the top five compensated (we assume this to be Mary Barra). By comparison, The Blue Oval’s 15-member board of directors only contains two women.
The GM Authority Take
As mentioned on our sister site Ford Authority (Ford news aplenty there), the debate about appointing the right candidate for the job (regardless of sex, ethnicity, or other demographic factors) versus hiring and appointing based on a quota of some kind (such as the infamous EEOP) is all too familiar. That said, the difference in the amount of female board members at GM compared to Ford is peculiar, making us wonder whether there are certain factors lurking under the surface that have resulted in the situation.
Comments
I am more interested how many female American board member Toyoda has or any Japanese manufacturer for that matter.
It’s one of Toyota’s weakest character traits; their insular corporate culture. In some ways, it’s a mirror of Japan’s homogeneous social fabric.
If there is a female white collar worker in Toyota, she’s like won’t get to middle management. If she does, that’s where she’ll stay.
I really do not care who they have in what spot Man or Woman as long as they are the best person for the job and understand the task at hand.
I know Cheryl Piltcher lead of the Camaro program. She has done a good job and understands the car and what the needs are for the market. She is a gear head like any guy.
Looks like not many people over at the Ford site…
Too bad, because the articles are as good as what we have here.
“Looks like not many people over at the Ford site…”
Not for long 🙂
Do they eat more hamburgers?
I fail to see why this matters. One of the biggest failures of modern PC and Equalist culture is the amazing ability to be blind to the polarizing affects that constant PC and Equalist harping creates. By the very act of paying attention to such things you create the very problem you seek to eliminate.
In one sentence: Employ he best PERSON for the job.
All that other sh#t doesn’t matter.
I believe that once before GM hired a female from Nabisco to run one of their automotive divisions. She knew nothing about manufacturing and/or marketing automobiles. But, it was politically correct and everyone loved her except the customers. Their response was obvious as they bought another brand of automobile. Such a waste. Sorta like the government, they don’t learn from their past mistakes.
A name would be nice, you know, to do a fact-check on your story.
Her name is Laura Huffman and currently at AIG: “Laura’s experience includes marketing and brand management for Nabisco, American Airlines, WD-40, and General Motors.” As you can see, no connection to automobiles, just cookies like “Animal Crackers” and “Chips Ahoy!
If it is not in your blood, it is not going to work.
Nothing in the AIG link says Laura Huffman ran “one of their automotive divisions.”
To quote the AIG link: “Laura’s 20 plus years experience in strategic planning, marketing, brand management, and consumer research”. It’s says NOTHING about Ms. Huffman being in charge of product development. Heck, you haven’t even named what brand she allegedly worked for.
Doing marketing for a division is not the same as directing it and/or product planning. I still don’t buy your story.