General Motors may be facing one of its worst public relations disasters in its history following the ignition switch recall crisis, but CEO Mary Barra is determined to see to it that the company walks away from the situation having learned lessons on company culture and ethical business practices.
The automaker released their findings of the recall crisis last week in a 325-page report put together by US attorney Anton Valukas. The report highlighted a flawed company culture within GM, full of incompetence and inaction, but it also contained recommendations and plans to prompt major change.
“This is not just another business crisis for GM,” Barra said in her speech announcing the report’s findings. “We aren’t simply going to fix this and move on. We are going to fix the failures in our system — that I promise. But I never want to put this behind us.”
Following its bankruptcy filing in 2009, GM was appointed a government-funded task force which was supposed to set “New GM” up for success by removing the virtual “silos” which separated different departments at the company from each other and ridding of its infamous and complex bureaucratic ways. However the Valukas Report put into perspective just how much more of an uphill battle Barra will face as she attempts to continue onward with this task.
Barra said she will take into account the recommendations mentioned in the Valukas Report going forward, in addition to implementing some of its own improvements.
“We didn’t do our job. We failed these customers. We must face up to it and learn from it,” she said. “We pledge that we will use the findings and recommendations from this report as a template for strengthening our company.”
One of the recommendations was advertising GM’s new ‘Speak Up for Safety’ campaign, which encourages and recognizes employees for contributing ideas that make vehicles safer, as well as encouraging employees to speak up when they see something that could have a negative effect on customer safety. The report also mentioned six solutions for enhancing supplier relationships, something the automaker has consistently struggled with, and suggested they encourage a closer relationship between its legal and engineering departments.
It will be a long road for Barra, a life-long employee of GM, as she attempts to repair the automaker’s flawed practices and lead it through this crisis. Luckily for her, she has the Valukas Report to serve as a foundation for cultural change.
Comments
This story really missed the mark.
The fact is the culture change was started by Lutz back about 10-12 years ago as he started to clean house with much resistance. As time went on he started to gain ground but the going was tough.
When Bob left he tried to make sure he left people in places that could carry on his work that he started. The Culture change he did was the greatest part of his legacy at GM.
The key now is we have two people Mark and Mary both are people who were not part of the problem that have carried on Bobs work and were working on it before this issue even hit.
Mary hit the ignition issue head on and did not dodge a thing. She has been proactive on this issue and has made more changes than what has been reported.
To me the report is not her cue to do something since she already was. To me it is ammunition for her to take out those left that appose some of the culture changes she knows still needs done.
Even if this ignition issue had not arrived Mary would have still been making these changes but would have had a much more difficult time internally getting things done. Today this report is like a free pass for her to clean house where it is needed. In a way this was a painful blessing for change and to fix GM.
Lutz already has documented how the Cruze was selling well and that many of the old culture wanted to cut back on the car because they felt if it was selling that good it did not need the extra things that made it a better car.
That is like a restaurant saying that we have reservations for two weeks in advance so let make cheapen up on the food.
Mary’s actions have already played well with the public as cars are still selling at a great rate. Also people I think understand the cars involved had not been made for years. The other recalls mean little to them as GM cleans up anything that could be an issue as people do not pay attention as so many recalls are going on that if they do not hear their car they do not care.
Anyhow at this point Mary has power unlike any CEO at GM has had since Bunkie Sr and we will see changes that we have hoped to have seen and a company that can be just what it should be.
I originally wanted Mark at the top but today we have it right as Mary can clean house and make the needed changed to GM culture. Mark is the product guy and he can focus on building cars GM engineer are capable of but were never permitted to build.