Which cultural issues are conducive to the changes you want to make and which cultural issues must be changed and why?

Propose your long-term (3 year) vision for your organization. Which cultural issues are conducive to the changes you want to make and which cultural issues must be changed and why? Are the right people in the right roles? Propose and defend your strategic employee positions/roles needed to achieve your short-term profit goals and long-term vision.

My Original Discussion Post

I will soon assume the position of the CEO of General Motors Company (GM). At GM we are united and driven by a single purpose; to earn customers for life (GM.Com. 2016). Other than our respect to and value of our customers, we have the finest workforce in the automotive world. Our 215,000 employees is comprised of a diverse and dedicated team of professionals across six continents and 23 time zones (GM. Com. 2015). We are a five-star company and we rock. But first, let’s look at our long term (3 year) vision.

Long-Term (3 year) Vision for GM

In three years’ time we want to be able to sell 5 million vehicles annually. This will begin with a new state-of-the-art and up-to-date R&D lab in our headquarters in Detroit. The lab will have innovation centers across all our manufacturing centers all over the world. We shall then set up a new manufacturing plant in China by 2018 to facilitate manufacture of current and future designs hence facilitate the targeted 5 million annual sale. This means our third vision in three years is to increase our world market share by 10% and Asian and African market share by 12%.

Cultural Issues

We have a culture of customer respect and value; and we must keep that culture as it is or do more. Appreciating our customers and fighting every day to earn their loyalty inspires us to make better, safer, higher value cars, trucks and crossovers. We listen to them and make what they need (GM.Com. 2016) Diversity is an integral part of our culture and success; from our team to our customers we remain diverse and open minded. We have built the today’s GM on the strength of a diverse workforce, and we recognize the value of incorporating diverse backgrounds in our global workforce (GM.Com. 2016).

However, there are some cultures that have developed over the years that we must do away with. I have seen some dailies reporting that at the core of GM’s culture is what’s called the “GM salute – arms crossed and pointing fingers at others; avoiding responsibility (GM. Com. 2015).” I must say this is a wrong identity value. My right guess is that this GM Salute means that we do not want our employees to discuss problems. I want to encourage use to discuss and point out problems – today, tomorrow and in the future. We must create a sense of urgency in every situation and abandon the reluctance that we have in raising issues or problems.

Employees

For the moment I want to say that we have the right people in the right roles, and we have no reason for not achieving our goals and our team is prepared, skilled, and ready to drive the company (GM. Com. 2015). We shall create a Senior VP position for innovation to work with executive VP R&D, and will be strictly in charge of the lab and the innovation centers across the world. We shall also create a general manager for creative design to work hand in hand with the VP innovation and help us to achieve our short-term profit goals and long-term vision.