Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler - Global Communications Comparison

Global Communications was faced with many issues due to lack of communication. When faced with downsizing the work force, some members of the Senior Leadership Team were kept in the dark about decisions that would impact everyone. As Gomez-Mejia and Balkin (2002, Chapter 1e, p. 19) state, “When employee acceptance of a decision is important, it is usually necessary to involve a group of employees in the decision making process.”   When Ford Motor Company was faced with the issue of downsizing, they chose to keep all channels of communication open. Unlike Global Communications, Ford valued the trust their employees had in the management. . “Not only should staff be clear about how their company distinguishes itself from its competitors and confident that its actions reflect its values, they should also be imbued with a sense of trust and confidence in their managers, and see that they practice what they preach.” (Hiscock, J., 2003 p.30) Even during a tumultuous time, Ford Motor Company was still voted as one of the best 100 companies for employee communication in 2003.

When Daimler-Benz and Chrysler merged in the late 1990’s, the cultural differences between Americans and Germans were not taken into account. Similar to the problems facing the new CEO of Global communications, each nationality needed to be more sensitive to the cultural differences of the United States and Germany. (2005, McShane, S., Glinow, M.A., Chapter 11, p. 32)  This merger ultimately failed because neither side was ever able to work as a team. (Lassa, T., 2007, p. 60)
References
Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin D. (2002).   Management   [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text].   The McGraw-Hill Companies.   Retrieved August 30, 2007 from University of Phoenix, Resource, MMPLB/500–Foundations of Problem Based Learning Web site: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp

Hiscock, J. (2003). 100 top... [continues]

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