In 2000, I was working for Weber
Shandwick PR firm; my sole account was as an embedded PR professional within
General Motors Vehicle, Sales, and Service & Marketing (VSSM) division. It
was a very divisional organization, broken down by product groups. It was the slowest, most complex structure ever. Coordination, communication and collaboration were mostly null and void. We were preparing to launch DealerWorld and because of the organization structure, we keep coming across delays. Teams internal and external were never on the same page. SAles and Marketing worked with each other but not across brands in a cohesive fashion.
So, in reading this week’s
assignments, I was surprised to come across this article in particular and
subsequent stories on GM. In March 2012, they announced a major organizational
redesign or “upheaval.” The top management seemed to want to “focus on
strengthening consideration for the company’s brands and products, shifting
from a combined sales and marketing organization to one that enables the
company to engage experts in each respective role. With a flatter structure,
accountability is elevated to the highest level.” Read article, which included the new organization chart.
It is evident that GM took some steps
from Gould & Campbell’s model of testing to reevaluate their organization
and change now for the future growth.
Based on my time within the company,
this seemed like something they should have done before bankruptcy. But, they
did it and shook up the company. Bravo GM!
References
Goold, M. & Campbell, A. (2002)
Do you have a well designed organization? Harvard Business Review.
Hi LaVenia,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. I enjoyed reading it. I can relate to the lack of inter-departmental communication, not being on the same page and how frustrating that can be. Do you think with the new steps and processes in place, it will drastically change the organizational structure at GM?
Lisa,
DeleteThank you, glad you can relate. IT causes delays and frustration for every team within an organization. Not sure they will drastically change the GM organizational structure, but it wil help eliminate the silos and create a "flatter" design. Time will tell. I will be watching.
LaVenia, I would have liked to hear more about your analysis of the new structure as it compares to the old one. What has changed? How would you classify this new structure (functional, hybrid, etc)? Does this new structure have drawbacks? Does it fix all the problems that you encountered?
ReplyDeleteThe new structure is functional versus divisional when I was with the company. What changed in my opinion was the bankruptcy and losing institutional knowledge across brands. It affected morel and productivity. I think the drawback is a a difficult time for those down further on the org chart to internal cultural changes. They have been operating at in the old structure for so long it might be a difficult pendulum shift. It does not fix all the problems I encountered but it is a smart beginning to be flexible, leaner and faster.
ReplyDelete