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ReprintsA new GM culture -- but old execs?
James B. Treece
and David Barkholz
Automotive News
June 15, 2009 - 12:01 am ET
The White House hopes the old dogs at General Motors can learn new tricks. Steven Rattner, head of the President's auto task force, says changing GM's bureaucratic culture is critical to reinvigorating the bankrupt automaker. "Addressing cultural issues is just as fundamental to our assignment as addressing the balance sheet or financing," he told The New York Times. But GM lifers dominate the company's senior management. Of GM's 12 executives with a rank of group vice president or above, only three have been with GM less than 20 years. Take the two men most responsible for GM's future cars and trucks: Tom Stephens, vice chairman for global product development, and John Smith, group vice president for global product planning. Each has spent 40 years at GM. On Friday, June 12, purchasing boss Bo Andersson left GM. He was a relative newcomer, having joined in 1987. Change may come as others follow him out the door. "We will lean out the management structure so that it will allow us to make faster decisions," GM CFO Ray Young told Automotive News last week. He declined to say how many will leave, but said, "We will eliminate layers of management." |
You can reach James B. Treece at jtreece@crain.com.
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