Alan Mulally: Ford's agent of change
#1
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Alan Mulally: Ford's agent of change
This article is a very interesting read about how Mulally is changing Ford's culture. It's amazing that Ford ever got any products to market with the old culture. Here's a quote from the article:
In the not-too-distant past, some executives actively tried to undermine their rivals by withholding vital support for projects or delaying programs they felt did more to benefit others.
Some would do their best to get responsibility for costly projects shifted to other departments, so that the expense would not be a drag on their own bottom line.
"This was really a loose confederation of independent businesses," said one executive. "A lot has changed here in terms of knocking down those fiefdoms."
Some would do their best to get responsibility for costly projects shifted to other departments, so that the expense would not be a drag on their own bottom line.
"This was really a loose confederation of independent businesses," said one executive. "A lot has changed here in terms of knocking down those fiefdoms."
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#5
1) There was the need for this sort of change 5 - 10 years ago. One could argue even 20 or 30 years ago. The problem was that Ford was still turning enough of a profit that the need for change wasn't recognized. But certainly the need for this sort of change was recognized 5 years ago which was the reason to Bill Ford fired Nassar and took over. It appears that Bill Ford didn't have the ***** to make the needed changes.
2) That's the real reason. In one of the other Mulally articles (I think WSJ) they mentioned a usless top executive that Mulally pushed into retirement. It sounded like this guy should have been fired 10 years ago, but he kept is job and his empire because he was Bill Ford's fishing buddy.
2) That's the real reason. In one of the other Mulally articles (I think WSJ) they mentioned a usless top executive that Mulally pushed into retirement. It sounded like this guy should have been fired 10 years ago, but he kept is job and his empire because he was Bill Ford's fishing buddy.
#6
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1) There was the need for this sort of change 5 - 10 years ago. One could argue even 20 or 30 years ago. The problem was that Ford was still turning enough of a profit that the need for change wasn't recognized. But certainly the need for this sort of change was recognized 5 years ago which was the reason to Bill Ford fired Nassar and took over. It appears that Bill Ford didn't have the ***** to make the needed changes.
2) That's the real reason. In one of the other Mulally articles (I think WSJ) they mentioned a usless top executive that Mulally pushed into retirement. It sounded like this guy should have been fired 10 years ago, but he kept is job and his empire because he was Bill Ford's fishing buddy.
#8
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It's more than one guy. Bill Ford had the desire to enact change but wasn't a strong enough or experienced enough leader to actaully get it done. Be let the 'crats stonewall him into Ford's current state. The conservative "don't change anything, don't take risks" personalities dominated all aspects of Ford for years. They're a big reason the Freestyle and 500 look like nothing, and why there's still multiple Ford Companys worldwide instead of one united FMC.
#9
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It's more than one guy. Bill Ford had the desire to enact change but wasn't a strong enough or experienced enough leader to actaully get it done. Be let the 'crats stonewall him into Ford's current state. The conservative "don't change anything, don't take risks" personalities dominated all aspects of Ford for years. They're a big reason the Freestyle and 500 look like nothing, and why there's still multiple Ford Companys worldwide instead of one united FMC.
#10
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I'll tell you another thing Mulally needs to do, Eliminate the Ford executive garage.
Ford execs are given Ford vehicles to drive and they are maintained by Ford's executive garage. The garage cleans, services, repairs the vehicles and fills the gas tanks. Ford execs are completely shielded from the hassles of trying to deal for FLM dealers for both purchase and repair.
ALL Ford execs. must be required, every year, to go purchase a new FoMoCo vehicle from a randomly selected dealer without any Ford purchase plan A-Z and without any identification that they are a Ford employee. The execs must then take their vehicles to different FLM dealers and get their Ford vehicles serviced again incognito.
If Mulally did this I guarantee you that within 1 year Ford's dealer network would be straightened out big time.
Ford execs are given Ford vehicles to drive and they are maintained by Ford's executive garage. The garage cleans, services, repairs the vehicles and fills the gas tanks. Ford execs are completely shielded from the hassles of trying to deal for FLM dealers for both purchase and repair.
ALL Ford execs. must be required, every year, to go purchase a new FoMoCo vehicle from a randomly selected dealer without any Ford purchase plan A-Z and without any identification that they are a Ford employee. The execs must then take their vehicles to different FLM dealers and get their Ford vehicles serviced again incognito.
If Mulally did this I guarantee you that within 1 year Ford's dealer network would be straightened out big time.
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if they're "forced" to do that, the biggest change would probably be a lot of said executives leaving the company if they had to deal with the crap most everyone else seems to get at the dealership! Nice idea, but don't see that happening anytime soon. Now if they instituted a "secret shopper"-type program as a means for quality control, that would be good - but then there is the question of funding.
#13
I'll tell you another thing Mulally needs to do, Eliminate the Ford executive garage.
Ford execs are given Ford vehicles to drive and they are maintained by Ford's executive garage. The garage cleans, services, repairs the vehicles and fills the gas tanks. Ford execs are completely shielded from the hassles of trying to deal for FLM dealers for both purchase and repair.
ALL Ford execs. must be required, every year, to go purchase a new FoMoCo vehicle from a randomly selected dealer without any Ford purchase plan A-Z and without any identification that they are a Ford employee. The execs must then take their vehicles to different FLM dealers and get their Ford vehicles serviced again incognito.
If Mulally did this I guarantee you that within 1 year Ford's dealer network would be straightened out big time.
Ford execs are given Ford vehicles to drive and they are maintained by Ford's executive garage. The garage cleans, services, repairs the vehicles and fills the gas tanks. Ford execs are completely shielded from the hassles of trying to deal for FLM dealers for both purchase and repair.
ALL Ford execs. must be required, every year, to go purchase a new FoMoCo vehicle from a randomly selected dealer without any Ford purchase plan A-Z and without any identification that they are a Ford employee. The execs must then take their vehicles to different FLM dealers and get their Ford vehicles serviced again incognito.
If Mulally did this I guarantee you that within 1 year Ford's dealer network would be straightened out big time.
#14
This article is a very interesting read about how Mulally is changing Ford's culture. It's amazing that Ford ever got any products to market with the old culture. Here's a quote from the article:
In the not-too-distant past, some executives actively tried to undermine their rivals by withholding vital support for projects or delaying programs they felt did more to benefit others.
Some would do their best to get responsibility for costly projects shifted to other departments, so that the expense would not be a drag on their own bottom line.
"This was really a loose confederation of independent businesses," said one executive. "A lot has changed here in terms of knocking down those fiefdoms."
Some would do their best to get responsibility for costly projects shifted to other departments, so that the expense would not be a drag on their own bottom line.
"This was really a loose confederation of independent businesses," said one executive. "A lot has changed here in terms of knocking down those fiefdoms."
#15
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That kind of stuff happens in a lot of really large organizations. The bigger a company or organization gets, the more international or regional divisions a company gets, the worse it becomes. I've seen it a certain large older global software/hardware/services company I was with for quite a few years, I've seen it in government as well.
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