ASSIGNMENT OF PRINCIPLE OF MANAGEMENT 2

1) To what extent is GM using evidence-based management? Are they overdoing it?

Explain your rationale.
GM is using evidence-based management when it comes to the recall CEO Mary Barra
worked with the knowledge that she had about the incident and put together teams to fix
all aspects of what was going on Evidence-based management as defined by the textbook
means translating principles based on best evidence into organizational practice,
bringing rationality to the decision-making process. Ms. Barra did this by investigating
the problems with the car and then conducting tests to investigate further. With this
information, she then had a meeting where the vehicles were then recalled. I do not
believe that GM was overdoing it because this matter came down to the safety of the
vehicle and the companys customers. When a company makes a product that could harm
someone if it malfunctions, all steps should be taken to figure out the problem and either
fix it, or recall the items.

2) To what extent are the managerial practices being used at GM consistent with
principles associated with management science and operations management
techniques? Discuss.
Operations management focuses on managing the production and delivery of an
organizations products or services more effectively. It is concerned with work
scheduling, production planning, facilities location and design, and optimum
inventory levels. GM's managerial practices were associated with management
sciences because they employed engineers that were specifically qualified to perfect
and improve parts in the assembly process to maximize efficiency. The operations
management side of things was imperfect due to the fact that after the first recall, the

issue wasn't resolved as occurrences continued and the only prioritized aspect of the
company was still the effectiveness of productivity rather than the urgency to fix the
said issue.

3) Use figure 2.4 to analyze the extent to which GM is using a systems viewpoint.
The systems viewpoint regards the organization as a system of interrelated parts that
operate together to achieve a common purpose. The four parts of a system included
the input, transformational processes, outputs, and feedback, GM recognized the first
3 aspects of the 4 parts that is the inputs which mean the people, money, information,
and equipment in order to produce an organizations goods and services. Besides that,
transformational processes are included too whereby it means the organization
capabilities in management and technology that are applied to converting inputs into
outputs. Lastly, Outputs which mean the services, profits, losses, employee
satisfaction or discontent produced by organization. However, they failed to act upon
the feedback aspect of their customers by "brushing it under the rug" whereby they
did not really take action by getting the suggestions of customers to improve
themselves.

4) How are the managerial practices being used at GM consistent with

a quality-management viewpoint? Explain your rationale.

The contingency viewpoint emphasizes that a managers approach

should vary according to the individual and the environmental
situation. Quality control is perfecting each state of production and
testing each stage. GM hired specialized engineers that were
responsible to test and troubleshoot the product after the initial

recall. Once the occurrences continued after the recall the defects
were obviously, once again, overlooked and released as "imperfect".
Total quality management was implemented to further train
employees to prevent further instances in the future to improve
customer satisfaction and restore the company's integrity.

5) To what extent does GM represent a learning organization? Discuss.

A learning organization is an organization that actively creates,

acquires and transfers knowledge within itself and is able to modify
its behaviour to reflect new knowledge. GM obviously noticed a
need for a revamp of their automotive line on both the design level
and acknowledgement or the reactions to imperfections and faulty
products before being released into the public.