The Crisis of General Motors and Its Solution
I. Background information 9. "R? =~Nj
General Motors, founded in 1908, is the largest manufacturer in the United States. By the end of 1996, GM had 647,000 employees and production plants in more than 50 countries. Its products have entered more than 190 countries, and besides automobiles, they also involve telecommunications, aerospace, space, national defense, electric finance, insurance and other fields. In the Fortune 500 list of 1999, General Motors ranked first, with operating income of16131500 million dollars, profit of 2.956 billion dollars and assets of 257.389 billion dollars. Realizing organizational development and success through management is the most important mode of many industrial organizations. *K]P%%B
Second, the emergence, diagnosis and solution of the HOOGX_yL crisis
197 1 1 February, 2008, the management department of the Lozdang factory affiliated to General Motors Company was extremely worried about the abnormal unqualified rate of Vega cars assembled on the assembly line. A few weeks ago, this 2000-car garage was full of cars to be sent to the national car dealers for repair. H0QCprVN%S
The management department is particularly annoyed that many problems are quality defects that should not appear in general automobile assembly production. Countless Vega cars have broken windshields, damaged interiors, damaged ignition switches, bent turn signal rods, damaged rearview mirrors, or damaged carburetor with gaskets. The manager of the factory said that in some cases, "40 people passed by the whole engine group, but no one did anything for them!" " “GB6X+Cp
Since then, there have been many news reports about the Lodztown factory, which aroused public interest. This is a problem that is often discussed in school classrooms and academic circles. Some people regard this incident as "young workers' rebellion", some people respond to this incident as "purely a labor problem", some people think it is "workers' destruction", and others call it "industrial Woodstock" ("Woodstock" originally refers to American hippies venting their dissatisfaction with real life through swing dancing and refers to young workers' dissatisfaction and resistance to factory management system). In short, the company encountered a crisis in the management at the branch level: workers were absent, quality declined, costs increased, and even strikes occurred. As5WM
Enterprise ethics involves the relationship between enterprises and employees, enterprises and consumers, enterprises and the government, enterprises and the environment. The ethical crisis of general motors occurs in the relationship between enterprises and employees, enterprises and trade unions, and layoffs caused by company reform or restructuring. On the surface, GM's crisis stems from GMAD (General Motors Assembly Reform Plan)-in order to improve product quality and labor productivity, the technical operation of automobile production and assembly has been strengthened, and the management system has been expanded to six. z & gt^hz *3
(a) Crisis and impact after A)GMAD reform
After the implementation of GMAD reform, although the enterprise management claimed that the reform would not bring too much pressure to the assembly workers, the workers regarded the reform as "tightening" the assembly line, and the trade union also accused GMAD reform of restoring the "sweatshop-style" management in the 1930s, requiring workers to do more work with the same salary. A worker complained: "This is the fastest production line in the world, which makes us very unhappy. We can't finish the work within the stipulated time. The average assembly time of each car is 36 seconds. More than 65,438+000 cars are delivered from this assembly line every hour, with two shifts every day. The company also complains about our low quality and low efficiency. " ^KsHEd#J9
The workers' discontent has greatly increased. Before GMAD reform, there were about 65,438+000 complaints from factories, which increased to 5,000 after the reform, of which 65,438+0,000 were about adding too much work to the work. Workers are particularly dissatisfied with the "conveyor belt" assembly area and the seat assembly area. The "conveyor belt" area is where the engine and transmission are assembled. Just like the seat assembly area, workers are highly concentrated and everyone works next to each other. In addition, these jobs are mainly operated by new assemblers, and the average age of workers in these two districts is lower and the education level is higher. mkeo"N)k%
The workers in this factory are particularly dissatisfied with the strict policy after the company's reform. They say that the tougher the company is, the more they will resist even if their new products are out of stock in the market. A worker said: "GMAD reform is also implemented in other factories, but it is tolerated because the workers in these factories are older, but I still have to work in this factory for 25 years!" "Another worker said," I saw a female worker running to keep up with this fast assembly line. "But I don't want to run for anyone, and no one in that factory wants me to run." A foreman said, "The problem for workers here is not that they don't want to work, but that they don't want to take orders. They don't believe in any authority. " az o Xvr
When workers resist the orders of the management department, there are some signs that the front-line managers are not properly trained and cannot perform the tasks of managers well. At that time, the average working experience of managers was less than 3 years, of which 20% was less than 1 year. Generally speaking, they are young, inexperienced in the terms of trade union contracts and other duties of managers, and have not been trained in this field before. h. 170
Another important fact is that the strong reaction of workers is not entirely due to the changes in the organization and work of GMAD. The management found that a large number of workers reacted in various assembly areas. They believe that this strong dissatisfaction is mainly due to the nature of the labor force in the Lodztown factory. This factory is not only composed of young people, but the company has not given them the necessary education and training in corporate ethics, rules and regulations, knowledge and skills. The management also found that the resistance of workers in the Lodztown factory was much greater than that of other factories that made the same changes. Hm5rGI(
It seems that most of the dissatisfaction of young workers is also related to their lack of experience and repetition in assembly work. A senior manager admitted that the company did not take effective measures to make workers interested in their work. Many workers benefit from the company's subsidized tuition fees to support their plans to go to night universities. But after this kind of education, the assembly work obviously can't meet their requirements and expectations of doing advanced work. In addition, the labor market at that time was very difficult, and they could not find meaningful jobs elsewhere. At the same time, they are not willing to give up the preferential treatment of earning good wages on the assembly line. The senior staff of the company said that this made the workers feel confused and frustrated. Tm-U\
Many managers and engineers are asking whether this management mode adopted by the management department can continue. As the homework becomes easier, simpler and more repetitive, there is less and less manual labor, and the skill requirements for workers are lower and lower, the work is more monotonous. The workers' resistance shows that they not only want to return to the working speed before "speeding up", but also hope that the company can do something for this annoying and boring assembly work. A worker said, "the company must do something to reform its work, so that a young man can be interested in what he is doing." A young man can't do the same job eight hours a day, year after year! Companies can't just say to young people,' well, you have six solder joints, and now you only need to weld five.' " ' %aQCF
Due to the growing dissatisfaction of workers, the local branch of the Auto Workers' Union (1 12) decided to go on strike at the beginning of 10 to protest the operation reform of the Lozton factory. At the same time, the trade union and the management negotiation team tried their best to solve the workers' dissatisfaction, and the management even said that they were prepared to resume the jobs of those employees who were fired in the GMAD reform. However, the negotiations failed to reach an agreement on issues such as seniority rights and shift selection, which are related to bigger issues such as job changes and temporary dismissal. R (:oh (np)
1972 conducted a public opinion survey in early February, and nearly 90% of the workers took part in the voting, which was the largest in local history. With the support of 97% of the votes, the workers went on strike in early March. When the strike was going on in March 1972, the management of Lodztown factory estimated the impact of GMAD and the strike it caused. They estimated that the company lost12,000 Vega trucks and 4,000 trucks due to workers' dissatisfaction and the damage caused by sabotage, with a total loss of $45 million. From 197 1 to 65438+February, it was found that the assembly line was shut down several times. Because the workers were lazy, the car left the assembly line without necessary inspection, which caused many quality problems. The factory parking lot is full of 2000 cars waiting to be repaired. ! rRPfDeCA
Chevrolet merchants also have a lot of dissatisfaction with the quality of Vega cars shipped to them. Only 1 1 month has 6000 times, which exceeds the sum of other assembly plants' dissatisfaction with Vega. As it turns out, the strike at the Lodztown factory has also affected other factories. Since then, the company has tried to improve the production efficiency of the Lodzton factory, and the management has also considered modifying some unreasonable places in GMAD reform. The crisis in Lodztown factory ended in March. 1972, some contradictions between enterprises and trade unions, and between enterprises and employees were alleviated by rehiring laid-off workers. ! G 1[Q]^bA
(B) the diagnosis of crisis events and future measures =a-d7v[=
In the months after the crisis was resolved, General Motors launched an intensive campaign to restore the working environment of political parties. Because many ideological problems have not been well solved after workers return to work. There is still anxiety. With the assistance of the company's headquarters office, the management department of the Lodzton factory started with the diagnosis of the last crisis and made a plan for the construction of corporate ethics. They conducted a questionnaire survey of factory workers, held a series of meetings with leaders and managers at all levels, and solicited the opinions of trade unions, and finally reached the following conclusions:% n
1. Workers are generally incompatible or even antagonistic to the management department. Workers think that the management department doesn't care about their needs, emotions and other issues. TWofl*k。
2. Workers' jobs are not guaranteed. They think that the management changed the work plan without prior notice or consultation, increased or cancelled overtime hours, and informed them to stop work at will. Workers do not know how to cooperate with the company. EpiL。 J3?
The workers think that the management is not interested in their opinions on improving working methods and factory business. Z)i=udZN
4. Some workers put forward various opinions on the working environment in assembly work, but they have not been improved for a long time, and they are tired and dissatisfied with the heavy, mechanical and repetitive work. E/mri|R
Many workers don't understand the company's goals and plans, and there is a lack of common goals and plans between enterprises and employees. Workers can't know what the company wants to do and why, so they can't form cohesion. ' RC gPI '
6. Front-line managers think that they don't fully understand the goals and plans of the whole management department, so they can't combine these goals and plans with their daily management of workers. BSr`r -Kb
Through the above diagnosis, the company believes that the main source of the crisis is the lack of timely communication and necessary exchanges between management and workers. Therefore, the "exchange plan" is implemented from 1972, and the content of the exchange plan is C4sPJNsj.
1. daily radio broadcast of the factory: the management department broadcasts 5 minutes of news related to the automobile industry, companies and factories on the public speaking network of the factory every day. These news mainly involve sales, inventory and production planning, which gives workers a general understanding of the automobile industry, companies and factories. Its contents are also posted on the bulletin board of the whole factory. v~bR+！ kilogram
2. News announcement: As a method of direct communication between the factory manager and the workers, all major news about the factory business is directly transmitted to the workers and posted on the bulletin board of the whole factory. Including changes in new products, shifts, production plans, weekly output and new orders in Lodztown and other factories. The director also told everyone about the problems existing in the factory and asked the workers for their opinions on solving these problems. 37VWD[
3. Management training: In order to strengthen the role of personal communication of managers in their work, all managers, from factory managers to grass-roots managers and staff, must receive interpersonal and communication training. The purpose of this plan is to improve the consciousness of managers' contact and communication with subordinates. The training plan is designed and guided by the public relations coordinator and quality control director who are experienced in organizing assembly lines. Dq'yY8
The management department appoints the public relations coordinator as the factory communication coordinator to be responsible for the planning inside and outside the factory. In addition, the management department has also worked out a job rotation plan to provide necessary training for workers who are interested in rotation and help them expand their working ability in the same assembly working group, including about 30 different jobs with basically the same technical level. eaTv。 @4
Charles abernethy took over the job in Lodztown as the new manager of the factory. The new manager is regarded as one of the most capable managers in GMAD organization. Before being newly appointed as the director of General Motors' largest Lodztown assembly plant, he was the manager of Vannis plant in California. While working at the Van Nuys factory, he was praised for making it one of the most efficient assembly plants of General Motors. The new manager enthusiastically endorsed and continued to support the exchange plan. He also participated in the training program and personally attended all the management training meetings. G bah [T]
It took the management of the Lodztown factory some time to see the effect of the exchange plan. The factory not only returned to the normal situation of 1974, but also the absenteeism rate of1-1972 decreased steadily, and the dissatisfaction decreased to 1/3. According to the factory's estimation, the production efficiency has also been significantly improved. [|(TAZ#
Some people think that the organizational atmosphere of 1975 and the progress of workers' attitude are related to the economic recession and the increase of unemployment in the automobile industry. However, Lodztown management is convinced that Qi Xin's concerted efforts to improve the relationship between management and workers are the main factors to achieve positive results. As the factory director said, "Our ultimate goal is to form such an organizational atmosphere, in which managers and workers feel that we work together here, and we should forget the barriers of the past and communicate freely with each other. Now we are too clearly separated from each other. Management, workers and trade unions have been artificially separated. I don't see any reason why we can't strengthen the relationship between management and workers through direct communication. g-W*67(
"Because there are many restrictions in the automobile assembly industry, workers can't realize that they are part of the organization. We must use the existing technology to produce a certain number of cars in order to gain a firm foothold in this industry. As long as the explanation is good, I believe most workers can understand. They may not like it, but of course they understand and are willing to cooperate with us. Only a few people don't understand. We must do special work for them and believe that most people will succeed. Of course, there will still be some people who are not prepared to engage in assembly work. " Gs4Z7a~o
"I think the two plans of job diversification and organizational development are right, but we must admit the technical limitations of the assembly plant and the specific situation of this factory. In the Lodztown factory, we have a young and well-educated staff. They want to know what is happening, and they don't want to leave anything behind. Surprisingly, if you associate with them sincerely, they will accept what you tell them. They want to know everything, but they want to get first-hand information from you, not through second-hand rumors. Therefore, these two plans must be designed according to the specific situation of Lodztown, and interaction is the most suitable way to connect daily production. " S5LE！ B^N
According to this management concept and enterprise ethics, the management department of Lodzton Factory is satisfied with the progress made in the original communication plan in the summer of 1975, but thinks that if these plans are formally linked, workers and managers can communicate directly and further achieve the purpose of communication. The management department realized that the front-line managers were too busy to pay enough attention to interpersonal communication, especially to subordinates, so it made a plan to promote and strengthen the role of senior managers and other managers in communication. The proposed plan has the following characteristics: Bill JG
1. The main purpose of establishing new positions called correspondent and trainer is to combine the work of managers, workers and functional personnel. Each 1 1 production department shall appoint a correspondent and a trainer who will report directly to the factory director. Correspondents and trainers play the role of "solving people's problems" JV{8$35
2. The role of correspondent and trainer is a kind of "catalyst", "synthesizer" or "promoter" for assembly line workers, so the communication between workers and managers and between assembly line workers and functional personnel can be strengthened. M4A+Z； )^5
Since correspondents and training teachers spend most of their time in the factory, they can find out whether there is proper communication between workers and front-line managers and between superior managers. He can also play the role of "middleman" when it is necessary to promote communication between production departments and functional departments and strive to make the services of functional departments meet the needs of production lines in time. MI NFDs8
Correspondents and trainers should meet with the factory manager and communication coordinator every day to check and discuss the "human problems" in the factory. B A:vw5w
It is believed that the selection and training of correspondents and trainers are crucial to the success of this new plan. Correspondents and trainers should have considerable work experience, be general managers, and demonstrate the ability to organize and deal with interpersonal relationships in their work. b[lh:Ibl
The factory director and communication coordinator are making a budget and submitting this new communication plan to the headquarters, but they don't know what impact this new plan will have on the company organization. The Lodztown factory is the first assembly factory to use correspondents and trainers, and other factories have not tried similar methods. The factory director and communication coordinator talked with several managers and functional personnel, and the latter had a good initial response. However, this new plan and the role of correspondents and trainers will really affect the work and working relationship of foreman, general director, workshop director and functional personnel. The relationship between trade unions and workers may also change. V & ampBo{ O0
This new communication plan with 1 1 new correspondents and trainers, plus a small discount, is estimated to cost the Lowtown factory more than 400,000 US dollars every year. The factory manager and communication coordinator are completing this proposal, but I don't know how the workers, trade unions, managers and functional personnel will react. But one thing is certain, that is, an enterprise must be responsible to its employees, to the society, to its employees, to all stakeholders, including its customers, suppliers, employees and users in its community. Z*@T3Q\52
Third, comment O||\)? Execution node
1. Corporate ethics includes correctly handling the environmental protection problems of enterprises, layoffs and conflicts caused by company reform and reorganization, ethnic and gender conflicts within enterprises, sexual harassment within enterprises, employee privacy (AIDS, drug abuse), bribery in transnational operations, predatory unfairness and unfair competition, insider trading, anti-monopoly law and so on. This case involves the conflicts between employees and enterprises, trade unions and enterprises in the company's reform and restructuring. To solve this kind of problem, we should first list all stakeholders, then analyze what kind of influence an enterprise's behavior will have on all parties, and then study the rights and responsibilities of the affected parties, which usually include decision makers, executive officials, boards of directors, customers, shareholders, suppliers, employees, governments, special interest groups, competitors and so on. n=G}l-%
In the analysis stage, the above-mentioned objects are analyzed in different situations and finally a decision is made. The order of analysis is: determine the advantages and disadvantages of all parties; Determine their respective rights and responsibilities; Consider their respective relative powers; Judging the short-term and long-term consequences of making various decision-making plans; Make decisions to deal with emergencies. & gtPXW！ M
2. There is no doubt that enterprises should pay attention to improving staff morale, but some companies don't know how to use the power of corporate ethics to improve staff morale and work efficiency. As can be seen from the above-mentioned GM case, too rigid system and management methods will inhibit the enthusiasm of individuals. To stimulate the enthusiasm of workers, fundamentally speaking, is to let them establish a strong sense of responsibility. Money alone cannot generate lasting and real enthusiasm. To cultivate employees' enthusiasm, we should pay attention to four issues: ① Give employees the most suitable jobs according to their skills and hobbies. (2) Put forward high standards of labor requirements for workers. ③ Let employees fully understand the value of their work and cultivate their sense of accomplishment. (4) Let workers have the opportunity to participate in production management. E3Q %GRFi
3. GM uses "communication plan" to communicate the relationship between enterprises and employees, so as to prevent the crisis from happening again. In a sense, management is the communication between various departments and levels. Managers must constantly look for the needs of subordinates, understand the opinions of employees on the enterprise, let subordinates know what activities the company is carrying out, and let them participate in management decision-making activities. The MBA course points out that usually everyone must spend 70% time in interpersonal communication besides sleeping. The more senior managers, the more time they should spend communicating with employees. Interpersonal communication, the current problem is that the actual communication skills have not been demonstrated and trained on the spot, at least it is impossible to adopt teaching methods like learning mathematics and physics. Communication skills involve human nature and come from practical experience in interpersonal communication.