GM recall probe stalled in decade of workflow logjam
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan: At the heart of General Motors Co.’s slow response to fatally fl awed ignition switches is a committee culture, outlined in the company’s timeline of events, that impeded the flow of information from the engineering ranks to the corner office.
The company fi rst began investigating reports of faulty switches in 2004. Yet GM’s top executives, including new Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra, didn’t learn of the situation until “a few weeks ago,” she wrote on Mar 4.
During that period, multiple layers of engineers and corporate committees analysed and failed to fi x a flaw that led to the deaths of 13 people. GM told authorities that before announcing the recall, the company engaged in several internal probes.
Now, as it tries to shake off a humbling bankruptcy and period of government stewardship, GM is grappling with a damaging recall of 1.6 million cars. In the coming months, the world’s second-largest automaker will replace switches that could slip out of the “on” position when jarred or used with heavy key rings, cutting off power and deactivating air bags.
“At the old, lethargic, slowmoving GM, people didn’t want to push bad news upward,” said George Cook, a former Ford executive who is now an executive professor of marketing at the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School. “They laid on it way too long. You can’t gamble with people’s lives.”
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will explore whether the automaker or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration missed “something that could have fl agged these problems sooner,” Fred Upton, the panel’s chairman and a Michigan Republican, said Monday night in a statement. GM said it will fully cooperate with the panel.
In the Senate, legislator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia has asked for a subcommittee hearing on the matter from Claire McCaskill, said a person familiar with the matter. The Detroit News reported the request earlier.
For Barra, the recall poses
At the old, lethargic, slow-moving GM, people didn’t want to push bad news upward. They laid on it way too long. You can’t gamble with people’s lives. George Cook, a former Ford executive, now an executive professor of marketing at the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School
a challenge: Can the new CEO change the culture at a company where she has worked for 34 years? The recall, issued a month after she became CEO on Jan 15, risks harming GM’s reputation just as it tries to shake the “Government Motors” tag from its federally funded bankruptcy.
“We’re looking for evidence that they can move more quickly,” said Brian Johnson, an auto analyst for Barclays. “The committee culture of the old GM was rooted in organisational paralysis and characterised by a lack of accountability.” — WPBloomberg