ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN GM

Organizational Change in GM

Organizational Change in GM

Introduction

Organizational change is a simple representation of major steps grouped into categories that relate to a process of change from its initial stage to the stage of disengagement. Organizational change is the formation of a new organizational structure adequate to the nature of changes in the external environment. Organizational changes are accompanied by scrapping conventional and shared staff values, norms and patterns of action, as well as traditional methods of decision-making, which become an obstacle in adapting the organization to the pace and direction of market changes. It is aimed at helping the organization to successfully adopt new attitudes, new technologies and new ways of doing business (Sullivan 2006).

The changes that have been implemented

General Motor Case

President Roger Smith mistakenly believed that individuals are as building blocks in a company, a mosaic of individuals who are considered one by one, they can accumulate to form the whole, and they do business. In era of 60s, Japanese were coming to California where GM had the perception that it wouldn't affect them at all, although profit margin is very low, but their business is in large type models. This initial reaction lacking the slightest reflection worsened in subsequent years due to oil price increase, and it became necessary to take serious consideration and understand how they operated with the Japanese. So, Roger Smith sent a group of directors of manufacturing plants to Japan, with the intention of copying the best practices observed by them. There was resistance and even rejection change, and besides, it ignored the impact of real culture. But Roger Smith was not discouraged.

He took action by sending people to Freemont, California manufacturing plants on serious and critical condition that he would have to close as a prompt response to their problems. They joined a company in collaboration with Nippon but had reputation of being autocratic. They saw what was going on, got impressed, but its conclusion wasn't effective.

Another effort to make change was to modernize financial management which led to the GM purchase of EDS Electronic Data Service. It had 8,000 employees with a reputation of being an aggressive organization, which attracted Roger Smith with the idea that by infiltrating these employees at GM it would affect GM's employees' ideas and attitudes. Due to purchase intergroup conflict between two companies the planned change couldn't be implemented. The purpose of purchasing EDS indicated a mistake of having the perception that people change unit, misleading to a concept of interdependence (Durant 1999).

The factors that influence a culture take shape as well as the barriers that can be changed by the addition of one-concept on-one. This is the most common error observed. Along this path of organizational change unsuccessful attempts, G. M bought a company that "teach quality," but the quality problems persisted. A fifth attempt was to bring new people to the highest positions. It was assumed that their views would have an effect different to that high ...