Effective Strategies: Alan Mulally

Effective Strategies
Edwina Simmons
MGT/312
November 20, 2014
Professor Merrill Mayper

Effective Strategies When an organization is having problems, it is easy to hide the issues and find ways to avoid taking responsibility for the problems. It is the role of a good leader to identify the breakdown in practices and functions in order to implement change. At Ford Motors the organizational culture lead to serious issues in business for the company. Alan Mulally became CEO of Ford Motor and identified this problem. His actions thereafter changed the organizational infrastructure at Ford Motors and lead the company to recover from problems with poor performance and a $13 billion loss. (George & Jones 2012) When faced with
an impact we reflexively protect ourselves. We flinch, or guard, or close ranks in order to avoid impact at all costs. In the human body this is a naturally occurring behavior. However in an organization it is a learned behavior. Organizational culture is the set of shared values, beliefs and norms that influences the way employees think, feel, and behave towards each other and towards people outside the organization (George & Jones 2012) In and around 2006 the organizational culture at Ford Motors had "developed into a tall hierarchy comprised of managers whose main goal was to protect their turf and avoid any direct blame for plunging car sales" (George & Jones 2012) In this way of behaving, managers were not taking accountability for the role that their divisions played in the poor performance of the organization. Each division had figured out ways to protect themselves from the impact without regard to how these behaviors were affecting the organization at large. The conflict within the organization did nothing to change the problem or revive the poor performance. It only aided in placing a bandage on the issues while the actual affects caused more deterioration. In a healthy organization, the organizational values should influence both terminal and instrumental values which in turn should dictate the specific norms, rules, and standard operating procedures(George & Jones 2012) As conditions worsened at Ford Motors, this process existed only to further perpetuate poor organizational behaviors. Instead of the organizational values leading to positive values, they lead to a culture where the status and title of an organization member dictated the importance of their perspective. The top executives had an "inward-looking, destructive mind-set". Through socialization and social tactics organization members learned to operate in a fractured self preserving manner instead of working together across ranks to get the company through the recession.

Alan Mulally saw these poor behaviors and how they were affecting Ford Motors and began to break down the imperial values that had become synonymous with the company.
Mulally understood that characteristics of the people within the organization, organizational ethics, employment relationships and organizational structure are all parts of organizational culture. He understood that in order to rid the organization of its poor practices, he would have to change the values and ethical practices within the organization. He encouraged an open dialect about the problems at the company, requiring weekly meetings where top and subordinate managers where all made aware of the problems that the company was facing. By doing this, Alan Mulally made it difficult for people within the organization to pass the blame and hide behind titles. When the problems within the organization are understood and responsibility for the issues are taken, an organization can take the necessary steps to become more ethical and operate under a higher level of
values. Alan Mulally has been working hard to create a culture that encourages Ford 's managers and employees to share their ideas and concerns, to cooperate, be adventurous, and bear the risks necessary to help turn around Fords performance (George & Jones 2012). By doing this Mulally has built a stronger organization where ethical operations can thrive. By bringing down the walls of the hierarchy he brought everyone onto an even level. Employees and managers alike could now open up and be creative, to discuss their concerns and work on their issues. The formality of the organization before Mulally did not allow for this type of courageousness. When everyone in an organization are afraid to take responsibility there is no one being held accountable for actually fixing the problem. Alan Mulally strategy was to redefine the organization as one with ethical norms and values.
In doing so, he creative a strong adaptive culture whose values and norms help an organization build momentum, grow, and change as needed to achieve its goals and be effective (George & Jones 2012). A radical approach to changing the culture at Ford Motor Company might have been to simply get rid of managers who 's actions afflicted the organizational culture. It is afterall, unethical to perpetuate standards of operation that cause an organization to be dishonest and evasive. Mulally could have just as easily placed the blame on the executives in the organization who 's responsibility it was to change this way of thinking. However, the way that Alan Mulally lead the organization made more sense. His methods worked to fix the company from the inside instead of starting all over with a clean
slate. In an organization it is important to have a mission statement that helps the organiztion members understand the shared values they should work towards. Through this and operating processes, leaders of an organization can work to influence the entire organizational culture. Without shared values and norms of organizational culture a company will suffer and operate in a manner that could have negative influences on every level of the organization.

References
P.M. Blau and R.A. Schoenherr, The Structure of Organizations (New Your: Basic Books, 1971).
G.R. Jones, Organizational Theory, Design and Change: Text and Cases 5th ed. (Upper Saddle river, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007)
J.M. George and G.R. Jones Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior, Sixth Edition, Prentice Hall, 2012