Introduction To Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is currently the fourth largest automaker in the world (wikipedia.com, 2008). The company has been in operation in the United States since it’s incorporation on June 16, 1903 (Wikipedia.com, 2008). After 100 years in business, the industry that Ford Motor Company helped to revolutionize is changing in dramatic ways. The current plan of the company has been set forth for it to meet the changing demands of the consumer worldwide and to meet these objectives; the company has set forth a bold initiative requiring firm management ability and exceptional leadership to usher in a new era of prosperity for Ford Motor Company. To understand the tasks faced by Ford Motor Company in creating an organizational culture for the 21st Century, the objectives that the company aims to meet as it progresses forward into the future should be analyzed.

Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. states this purpose with one sentence, “environmental sustainability is the most important issue facing businesses in the 21st century” (Ford.com, 2008). The mission of the company is to drive the direction of Ford Motor Company

to meet the demands of the consumer and the world in creating technologies that meet mobility needs will providing increasingly less environmental impact. According to Ford, the company has begun a consortium on the issue of sustainability and the future of Ford Motor Company (Ford.com, 2008). The issue that this consortium aims to address will be issues for short, medium, and long-term sustainability. As Ford Motor Company continues to innovate to meet the demands of the changing business market it becomes necessary to understand the challenge they face and the ways that the management and leadership of Ford Motor Company plans to meet these challenges.

‘Management is the cornerstone of organizational effectiveness, and the integrating activity.

The role of management as an integrating activity

The Individual

For Example:- Personality, skills & attributes, Values & attributes, Needs & expectations

The Group

For Example:- Structure & functions , Informal organization roles & relationships ,Group influences & pressure

The Organization

For Example:- Objective & policy , Technology & work methods, Formal structure & styles of leadership

The Environment

For Example:-Scientific & Economic, Social & Governmental

Improving the people organization relationship

Systems of motivation, job satisfaction & rewards

Coherent pattern of work activities within the organization

Coordinating efforts of members of the organization

Organizational process & execution of work

Satisfying the Needs of people at work

Creating an organizational climate in which people can work willingly & effectively

Achieving the goals of the organization

Interrelated influences on behavior in work origination

Improved organizational performance & effectiveness

Management is the cornerstone of organizational effectiveness

People & organization need each other. Attention should be focused, therefore on improving people & work organization relationship. Management is the integral part of this relationship. It should serve to reconcile the needs of the people at work with the requirements of the organization. Management is essentially an integrating activity that permeates every facet of the organization operations.

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i) Critically discuss what you believe are the most important factors that are likely to determine the successful performance of work organizations. What do you see as the main obstacles to effective organizational Performance and how would you attempt to overcome them?

Effective management is essential to the success of any endeavour involving a group of people. And so is effective leadership. One is not better than the other. So what is the real issue behind the saga?

The most important factors for successful performance of work organization is Management & Leadership. Management is needed for running of day to day activity & controlling of man power on work stations. While As Ford motor is producing avg. 100000 cars per year. For manufacturing these cars they need effective planning, organizing, command, Coordination & Control. These functions in detail will provide need of management in organization.

1 Planning: -Can we run an organization without planning? No it is not possible for an organization to run without planning. If planning will not be in the organization nobody will get right information about things happening in the organization. Planning means short term to long term plan to achieve organizational objective. Short term planning about day to day production activity at ford motor, day to day planning of manpower, raw material and long term planning means one to five year plans of Ford motor or about launching a new model in the market Ford motor needs planning without planning it will be very difficult to manage. Other cases of required effective planning in Ford motor are

a)

As Ford has begun “targeting a 30 per cent reduction in U.S. and EU new vehicle CO2 emissions, relative to the 2006 model year baseline, by 2020″ (Ford.com, 2008). In addition to implementing plans for reducing emissions Ford is an advocate for U.S. legislation that aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases throughout the entire economy (Ford.com, 2008). This commitment to reducing greenhouse gases can only be done on the factory level and will require excellent management to see the vision of the leaders of the company come to fruition. Reaching these goals will require the company to implement many new practices and to pioneer new technologies that can maintain the direction of the company as it continues to reach for suck noble goals & this can be done with effective planning at organizational level.

b)

To meet the new challenges facing the company and to help to guarantee increased sustainability, Ford Motor Company has implemented new deals with many of the union organizations that make up their workforce. In 2007 the company eliminated approximately 7,800 salaried employees through early retirements and voluntary separation packages (Ford.com, 2008).Unfortunately in business cutbacks to gain success are sometimes necessary.

If Ford motor is not having plan for doing lay off or cutback .How they will know that how many person they have to reduce? But by making proper plan for cutbacks Ford done it in a very good manner without creating conflict in manpower.

c)

One impact that the gradually increasing economic conditions has had on Ford Motor Company is steadily eroding sales of their flagship F-Series line of trucks. As a result of these losses the company needed to make decisive decisions to turn the company around. By mortgaging assets to pay to implement a broad restructuring of the company, Ford Motor Company plans to focus on areas of new product development to remain in line with changing consumer demand (USATODAY.com, 2007). As a result of this, Ford Motor Company sold two trouble lines, Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008 to Tata Motors Ltd, a company out of India.

If Ford motor is not having plan, how they will know? which unit is not making profit ,which unit they have to sell first & which mortgage they have to paid first ?

2 Organizing: – What will happen if organizing is not in the company? No work will be implemented on shop floor .Organizing means development of strong organization structure for pre-determined plan in terms of infrastructure such as Man, Machine and Material & Money. For Implementing above plan & development of new products Ford motor need effective organizing of existing resources , such as which person will work on which project , which technology they require , they have to buy something new or it is existing in organization, how much cost needed, how much manpower , which type of material will be used for fulfilling production & development activity .

3 Commanding: -Is commanding is necessary for organization? Yes commanding is necessary for effective running of organization. Commanding means Empowering & motivation of person of the organization for achievements of predetermined plans. Ford motor is doing same for achieving their organizational goal by the help of motivation of employees. Managers doing motivation job in a very good manner. Motivation can be in terms of money as well as moral increasing of employee. Motivation is the key to successful management of any Enterprise. At Ford Motor Motivation comes due to working culture & brand image of Employer. If Ford motor wants to fulfill all above plans then there is a need of high motivation level of Ford employee, which will come by effective communication between managers and employee.

4 Coordination: Coordination is concerned with good tuning of all departments in an organization toward a common goal or plan.It ensures that all groups and persons work efficiently, economically and in harmony for fulfilling common goal. Co-ordination requires effective channels of communication. Person-to-person communication is most effective for coordination. Ford motor is having a better coordination in its all departments like, Production, R&D, Quality control, Finance, Marketing for success of any plan. As in cutback of jobs Finance & production people are having very good coordination for reducing manpower & saving money.

5 Controlling: – Control is the process of measuring actual results with some standard

Of performance, finding the reason for deviations of actual from desired result and taking corrective action when necessary. When Ford management were not finding satisfactory results from sick units than Ford motor decide to sell them to Tata motors & another example of this was reducing manpower to save money in long term view .If management is not in organization who will take care of these measures.

Leadership

Is there is any need of leadership in organization? Yes there is a great need of Leadership in any organization.Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills.

According to Louis A Allen – “A leader is one who guides and directs other people. He gives the efforts to his followers a direction and purpose by influencing their behavior”.

Good leadership involves the effective process of delegation and empowerment. The leadership relationship is not limited to leader behavior resulting insubordinate behavior. Leadership is a dynamic process. Leadership is related to motivation, interpersonal behaviour & the process of communication.

Thus, leadership consists of actions along with vision.”

Key characteristics of Leaders

They are ever enthusiastic and energetic.

They are ever green dreamers and adventurers.

They have a positive and realistic world view.

They are missionaries, not career people.

They have the mind set of abundance not scarcity.

They can trust easily and look at positives of people.

They consider life and living as very scare

Basically we can distinguish between four different styles of leadership.

Autocratic

Participative

Democratic

Laissez-Faire

The leader tells the worker what to do

The leader allows and expects workers participation

Leader seeks majority rule from workers

Leader lets group members make all decisions

[Judith R. Gordon, 1990]

David Murphy, Ford Motor vice president of human resources, says, “We aim to be seen by Wall Street as the best-led company in the world, with leaders at all levels, building leadership capacity faster than any other corporation.

“We must become a company where leadership represents intellectual capital at such a level that it will out learn, out compete, and out lead all of the competition to ensure ongoing increases in shareholder value throughout the foreseeable future. People who graduate from the Leadership Development Center gain improved customer focus, a renewed commitment to business results, and a greater understanding of their role in generating shareholder value. They become transformational leaders-ready, willing, and able to lead Ford Motor Company to meet future challenges. Perhaps the truest measure of

our impact will be in the marketplace for talent when Ford is seen as the

company to go to for the best leadership talent in the business world

Stewart D. Friedman is the director of the Leadership Development Center at Ford Motor Company and co-author of Work and Family: Allies or Enemies? (Oxford University Press, 2000).

Main Points

A consumer mindset and environmental and social responsibility require

leaders who can make informed business decisions and honor

commitments to the world in which we live.

Ford’s leadership programs center around adopting the core principles of

transformational mindset, using action learning, leveraging e-tools,

integrating work and life, and generating business impact an approach

called “total leadership.”

Success as a leader depends on more than delivering results; it requires an ability to continually strengthen working alliances and a willingness to test new idea

Ford motor Leadership Style

Discussion for point one:-

One of the issues Ford Motor Company initiatives to confront the issues of global warming. At Ford Motor Company they believe that “that climate change poses a range of risks and opportunities for our Company, the environment and the global community (Ford.com, 2008).

Through successful management of the policies set forth for sustainability, Ford has begun “targeting a 30 per cent reduction in U.S. and EU new vehicle CO2 emissions, relative to the 2006 model year baseline, by 2020″ (Ford.com, 2008). In addition to implementing plans for reducing emissions Ford is an advocate for U.S. legislation that aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases throughout the entire economy (Ford.com, 2008). This commitment to reducing greenhouse gases can only be done on the factory level and will require excellent management to see the vision of the leaders of the company come to fruition. This statement shows the vision of Leadership skill environmental & social responsibility of a great leader

Discussion for point two:-

The Leadership style in Ford motor is Transformational. Transformational means widespread changes to a business or organization. It requires long term strategic planning, clear objective, clear vision, leading by examples, Efficiency of systems and processes. In 2007 the company eliminated approximately 7,800 salaried employees through early retirements and voluntary separation packages (Ford.com, 2008). Unfortunately, in business, cutbacks to achieve progress are sometimes necessary. This is signs of good leadership, the ability to make the hard choice. By making these changes Ford Motor Company hope to once again become profitable through the continued restructuring of the company

Discussion for point three: – As global competitors continue to win market share away from Ford Motor Company the company has been faced with making drastic decisions to maintain a viable entity in the automotive market. As a result of this, Ford Motor Company sold two trouble lines, Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008 to Tata Motors Ltd, a company out of India (Newsvine.com, 2008). The sales of these lines are a result of the company’s plans to focus on traditional model lines and cut unnecessary expenditures (Newsvine.com, 2008). Selling a unit is not a honourable work, but for Ford motor it was an new Idea to become profitable in the competitive world. Leadership style was used on situation basis, as the situation was no to run the ill unit.

Obstacles to effective organizational performance

Factors affecting Management

Factors affecting Leadership

Culture

Risk

Communication

Change initiatives based on degree of risk involved

Consumer

Type of business – creative business or supply driven

Competition

Decision making

Source from :-www.bized.co.uk

Main factor effecting organizational performance is Change

Organizational Change

Following an organizational change in modern functional operating phase grow at the current stage of the process. The process is one of the most difficult, both for the company as well as for employees. An organizational change, there company, company, employees and teams may change in the process of transferring ownership and functional behaviour, etc. Change can be cultural, Technological, Behavioural, Geographical, Customer base,

Organizational and individual barriers to change management

Any involvement of staff in change management

Easily take the company to manage organizational change through the process, is also considering the idea to have employees. One of the biggest obstacles is the change in organizational structure. If anyone needs the participation of employees in decision making and change processes to the extent of excitement, they also could not resist change.

Obscure processes and procedures in relation to goals

Before implementing change, top management may be clear, what they are supposed to want to achieve goals. They define the processes and procedures and should document them for future reference. Ambiguous procedures and processes to change even one of the primary obstacles.

Unskilled Leadership and Leadership Strategies

Change management in no way to be successful, there is a good and effective management and leadership is responsible for implementing change. Therefore, effective leadership strategies through the process of changing the company to easily play a very important role.

Ineffective communication with employees

Management must communicate with employees with regards to change. If employees are not informed about the benefits of change, they will resist change. A well-defined change management plan, there always will be clear communication between management and employees.

Improper resource management

For change management, managerial level professionals it is necessary to assign certain tasks. If not delegated assignments and projects are skilled managers, will not change as anticipated. Proper resource management is very important to get successfully manage change.

Resistance from employees

Employees as well as daily tasks are set in a particular role, and if they know their work to go through the process of change come about, they try to resist change. They are very comfortable in their everyday work processes are, and want to advance in the future processes and practices do not

Recommendation to overcome

Some of these primary barriers to change in a company are removable. We can overcome these obstacles by practice effective leadership styles, By providing appropriate training for communication, training for new technology, employee involvement is needed, and employee motivation strategies. Motivation can be in terms of money or appreciation.

Organizational Barriers to Change 73 By s.foram http://hubpages.com/hub/Barriers-to-Change

4 Consider the changing nature of modern work organizations and attempt to challenge and criticize the validity of this statement.

INTRODUCTION

Imagine we went to sleep and woke up to a work day in 1960. How different is our work life today, compared to what it was 40 years ago? Clearly, there would not be a Starbucks on every corner or a cell phone in every pocket-but what else has changed and why?

In today’s world, the structure, content, and process of work have changed. Work is now:

More reasonable complex

More team-based and collaborative

More dependent on social skills

More dependent on technological competence

More time pressured

More mobile and less dependent on geography.

In today’s world, we will also be working for an organization that is likely to be very different due to competitive pressures and technological breakthroughs. Organizations today are:

Leaner and More active

More focused on identifying value from the customer perspective

More tuned to dynamic competitive requirements and strategy

Less hierarchical in structure and decision authority

Less likely to provide lifelong careers and job security

Continually reorganizing to maintain or gain competitive advantage.

This Resource Page explores the changing nature of organizations and work, the drivers behind the changes, and the consequences for workers and the workplace.

The Key Drivers for Changing Nature of Work

Although many factors ultimately contribute to the changing nature of work, organizational theorists point to two key drivers:

Increasing pressures on organizations to be more competitive, Agile, and customer focused-to be a “lean enterprise.”

Communication and information technology breakthroughs, especially mobile technologies and the Internet that enable work to be separated from time and space.

Table 1. Drivers, Solutions, and Issues for the Changing Workplace

Drivers

Workplace and technology solutions

Issues and concerns

Increased use of teams and cross unit work; More pressure for communication and information flow

More meeting space

Smaller & more individual workspaces

Unassigned workspaces

Greater interior visibility to support awareness

Mobile supports (Phones, Laptops, Wireless )

Personal video, instant messaging, desktop team software

More use of project rooms

Displayed information and work progress

Small rooms for individual focus

Lockers for personal belongings

Increased noise

Increased distractions and interruptions

Potential for “over communicating”

Cultural barriers to behavioural change

Individuals working longer hours to compensate for lack of time to do individual tasks

Expectations that workers are always available

Greater use of dispersed work groups-often global

Increased use of video conferencing, computer-based team tools

More reliance on conference calls

Greater need for mobile technological supports for meeting rooms

Use of facilities beyond normal working hours

Expansion of the workday to accommodate geographically dispersed team meetings

Loss of opportunity to develop trust through face to face interaction

More difficulty managing and coordinating

Very high dependence on technological reliability.

Continual reorganization and restructuring

Flexible infrastructure to support rapid reconfiguration

Mobile furnishings

Acoustical problems with loss of good enclosure

Potential for reduced ergonomic effectiveness

Reduced costs/More efficient space use

Shared or unassigned workspaces

Centralized filing system

Reduced workstation size and increased overall densities

Greater overall spatial variety to enable different kinds of work to be accommodated at same time

Increased distractions and interruptions

Increased noise

May meet with employee resistance

More difficult for paper intensive work

Individuals are finding new freedoms and exploring their own capacity and taste for change and creating something new. Certainly manufacturing firms and companies where hands-on work is required will not be able to flex to these changes. They will face friction between the workers whose jobs allow them to be virtual or part-time or flex-time and those whose work does not. Here are some of the issues, paradoxes, and changes that employers, candidates, recruiters and human resources are faced with. These have already complicated the employment market and created confusion as work itself is being redefined and re-calibrated.

Flexible Working Times

Everyone wants to work when they want to, whether that is at night, weekends, or during what we call a “normal” working day. Mothers want time with their children and would like to work when the kids are sleeping or in school. Others are more productive in the wee hours and want to sleep in the daytime. And still others want to vary their schedules depending on their mood or family needs.

Individual contributors who can work alone are most likely to be able to find work with flexible schedules. People who might enjoy such flexibility include data-input people, researchers, web developers, programmers, and others whose work spans time and is done individually.

Multiple Jobs

The U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics defines multiple jobholders as people who are either hourly or salary workers who hold two or More jobs, self-employed workers who also hold an hourly or salary job, or unpaid family workers who hold an hourly or salary job as well. Currently official figures indicate that about 5% of Americans fit this category.

Virtual Work

Having employees working from home or from remote work centres is common, and More employers are allowing this due to a variety of converging reasons including the desire to save energy, increased travel times, skill shortages, and a global workforce. People are comfortable working with their laptops and smart phones and have access to Skype accounts and collaborative workspaces. All of these tools make working away from a physical place practical, convenient, and cheap.

There is no doubt that this form of employment will grow rapidly and, in my opinion, may make up as much as half the U.S. workforce within a decade as most employers recognize the benefit of allowing workers to be located remotely.

Temporary Work

More employers are looking for temporary employees. This used to signal the beginning of a recovery as employers hired temps and then converted them to regular employment as the economy improved. We have seen a significant surge in temporary hiring, but very few are likely to be converted to regular employees. Both sides are wary of commitment. Employers are not convinced that the economic recovery is sustainable and are reluctant to take on labour that may not be needed.

5 Conclusion

Yes Management is the corner stone of any organization because it is linked with all the activity which is going in any organisation, from people to organisation all are linked to Management.

For effectively running of organization we need both Management as well as Leadership. If we are having Strong leadership with weak management there is no use, who will manage day to day function of organization. if we are having strong Management with weak Leadership then who will set direction & vision for company . Management is about coping with complexity without good management, complex enterprises tend to become chaotic. Good management brings a degree of order and consistency. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change. Change always demands more leadership. Companies manage complexity by planning and budgeting, by organizing and staffing, and by controlling and problem solving. By contrast, leading an organization to constructive change involves setting a direction (developing a vision of the future and strategies to achieve the vision), aligning people, and motivating and inspiring them to keep moving in the right direction.

Main obstacle for effective running an organization is not to cope up with change. Change can be in many for form, it can be cultural, Technological, Behavioural, And Geographical, Customer need base, decision making base.

We can overcome these obstacles by practice effective leadership styles, By providing appropriate training for communication, training for new technology, employee involvement is needed, and employee motivation strategies. Motivation can be in terms of money or appreciation.

For changing nature of modern work organization there are many factors but we are only taking these two for organization

Increasing pressures on organizations to be more competitive, Agile, and customer focused-to be a “lean enterprise.”

Communication and information technology breakthroughs, especially mobile technologies and the Internet that enable work to be separated from time and space.

As we are working in the competitive world, every second something new is happening in this world, like new technologies are coming on day to day basis , new method of improving working culture are evolving every day , to be competitive in this world every organization wants to adopt them at very first time so that they can be ahead in this winning race .

Ultimately it is increasing pressure to organization as well as on employee.

For learning new technology employee have to put more effort with routine work, may be for fulfilling customer need employee have to more work than routine work .

As business has crossed global boundaries so there are so many other issues are also developed like working in the nights, as when we are having day some where it is night in some other part of world like USA & INDIA, language barrier.

Some other issues which are also developed by changing nature of modern work organization are –

Temporary work

Virtual work

Flexible working hour

Multiple jobs