General Motors (GM) from Riches to Rags

GM Case Study Author’s Name: __________________________ Institutional Affiliation: ________________________________ GM Case Study 1. Introduction In the existing epoch of technological dynamism and industrial saturation, organisations tend to address various challenges to sustain the behavioural outcomes of the resources, particularly people. Successful integration of organisational behaviour (OB) requires diversity and leadership to overcome various disparities in the system. A lack of consideration would result in inefficiencies, frequent turnover of talents, and related failures for an organisation. Hence, the objective of this paper is to investigate the importance of OB by examining the case of General Motors (GM). Overviewing the case briefly, GM is reportedly lost its industrial dominance in the United States of America (USA) and other regions since the aggressive penetration of fuel-efficient and luxury vehicles offered by Japan and European countries respectively. Until 1989, the market share for GM reduced to 34.7%, which is an alarming situation for the organisation (Debbink, n.d.). This paper will investigate the challenges experienced by GM followed by the recommended actions. 2. Discussion 2.1 Identification of Challenges in General Motors 2.1.1 Cultural challenges. Primarily, the discipline of OB heavily focuses on the importance of corporate culture in an organisation. Culture is defined as a set of values and beliefs shared by each employee in an organisation, which further defines the span of control and structuring aesthetics collectively (Chapter 13, n.d.). In context of GM, culture was a major challenge for the organisation. GM had a destructive culture that held zero rewards for taking risks and penalise each mistake or losses occurred during the process. As a result, the cultural gaps in GM resulted in the downfall of the market share in the American consumer market systematically. As mentioned in the case, the corporate culture of GM kept leaders and subordinates at a distance. Such exchange kept the top management teams (TMTs) unaware of the environmental changes and uncertainties, causing foreign brands to surpass the company in terms of market share (Debbink, n.d.). Hence, the role of interconnected culture is highly important for progressive organisations in order to sustain the industrial challenges with utmost sustainability. 2.1.2 Structural challenges. Similarly, the significance of organisational structure is an equal consideration to progress during the competitive period. It is argued that a constantly similar organisational structure would result in inefficacy for a company and requires changes at a certain interval. Ignorance would trigger internal and external pressures on the management for changing the structure (Chapter 14, n.d.). In the provided case of GM, the structure was a remarkable challenge for the organisation that resulted in a loss of industrial dominance. Arguably, GM was famous for the divisional structure. The company had a series of divisional managers with an ignorant corporate committee. GM made minor changes in the organisational structure over a span, which focused particularly on progressive brands, such as Ford, Chevrolet and Cadillac. The structure failed in inco...