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Running Head: THE GM CULTURE CRISIS 0

The General Motors Culture Crisis

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Culture is an important thing that exhibits a powerful force in all organizations.

This is the story of Mary Barra, an independent investigator who discusses a case study that shows how a culture problem has existed in a company for 11 years. It is an investigation of a GM ignition culture crisis that led to the death of 13 people. The issue was surfaced by an Indian University involving numerous committees. Mary Barra was behind the culture transformation since she knew the scope of culture challenge hence taking the right direction. The culture problem is the root of organizational problems, ranging from the countless policies to procedural changes. Although the GM culture issue was not well addressed in the investigation report, it is not too difficult to ascertain details.

The organization is faced with poor leadership, that is, a lack of integrity, transparency, and employees not taking responsibility when challenges arise. The inability of GM personnel to address the ignition problem for an extended period implies failure. This is a weakness to the company as it does not curb the culture problem until its impact is witnessed and felt. There is also a lack of responsibility to fix the GM ignition switch. No one in the company was ready to correct what had happened, given that it had affected the organizational culture for 11 years. They seemed not to address the problem to attract a solution (Jennings & Trautman, 2016). Many executive officials like the Chief Engineer, Vehicle Line Executive, and other senior managers were not aware of the culture problem. The company's strength is that it gave Mary Barra the power to restructure the organization by naming several employees with inappropriate behavior and firing them.

In this case study, the current organizational model is a flat organization structure, where there is a disruption of top-down management. There is no overall boss since each worker is his or her employee who takes their responsibilities. Despite the top managers' knowledge about a culture problem within the organization, Mary Barra takes the responsibility of conducting an independent investigation to solve the problem.

Other models used in organizations are the functional organizational structure, division structure, and the mix structure. Function organizational structure involves people being grouped according to their specialty to perform similar tasks. In the division structure model, the company groups workers to produce a good which targets an individual customer. The mix structure model combines a functional organization structure with a division structure (Jennings & Trautman, 2016). Workers are grouped according to specialization and further separated into divisional projects (Sherman & Harris, 2018).

The use of a different organizational model can be advocated for because of several reasons, namely:

1. Other models would help the company streamline its business operations.

2. Improved decision making given a good relationship between business owners and the managing directors. This is because great things happen when a company has unity.

3. Business expansion as company subsidiaries is established. This is a result of the division of labor and specialization.

4. Increased performance of employees geared by training. This improves employee flexibility across organizational operations.

5. The company will be able to focus on the safety of customers and its employees as well.

Culture has advanced in the current organizational models, unlike it was in the past. Organizational culture refers to the proper way of behaving within an organization. Strong culture has led to the success of many companies currently. Unlike the past, culture has improved organizational performance through the provision of competitive advantages. It has enhanced cooperation and efficient decision making. An influential organizational culture in the current models has enhanced leadership and increased organizations' profits (Lorsch & McTague, 2016). Leaders in the most successful organizations embrace their cultures and converse their cultural identities every day.

The organization is not operating within an organizational model unique to its industry. This is due to the countless undesirable issues witnessed in the "Volukas Report." There was a reluctance to address the GM culture problem, avoidance of responsibility among employees, conflict of interest, and lack of the sense to respond to issues in an urgent manner (Lorsch & McTague, 2016).

The motivational models may look fine to shift the organizational model trends and pave the way for the government to conduct investigations. However, they are not even close to solve the GM culture problem. This is because the problem of misconduct and incompetence in leadership remains a key issue discussed in detail.

References

Jennings, M., & Trautman, L. J. (2016). Ethical culture and legal liability: the GM switch crisis and lessons in governance. BUJ Sci. & Tech. L., 22, 187.

Lorsch, J. W., & McTague, E. (2016). Culture is not the culprit.

Sherman, W. S., & Harris, R. D. (2018). Crisis? What Crisis? Strategic Crisis Management, and the GM Ignition Switch Crisis. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 83(1), 41.