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Trea’sure Prince
Xueying Zhang
JOMC 276-001
1/24/2020

After two months of being the first woman in the history of the General Motors

Corporation to be named chief executive officer, Mary Barra had been hit with more than what

she had signed up for. For ten years, General Motors failed to issue a recall for a defect that was

linked to the deaths of 13 people. This was known as the switchgate crisis. As the new CEO,

Mary Barra was put in an unfortunate situation where she was given the task to address the

public in hopes of changing their opinions about the company when the CEO before her,

purposely attempted to dismiss the issues with the faulty ignition switches before she took the

role of CEO.

Mrs. Barra was very transparent and straightforward with how she approached the crisis. She

did this without being afraid to apologize to those who were impacted negatively, as well as

those who lost loved ones due to the faulty ignition switches.

Overall, Mary Barra handled herself well during the heat of pressure. While all eyes

were on her over something she had no control of, she was able to remain calm while addressing

the issue at hand while also keeping in mind that the whole company depended on it. Mrs. Barra

used plenty of public relations principles. She communicated with the public to prevent

alienation, as well as to rebuild the relationship between the company and the public. This was a

very smart move considering the fact that one of the negative impacts of the public finding out
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about the faulty switch includes a gigantic decline in sales as well as an increase in people who

decide to boycott all products that come from the General Motors Corporation.

I do believe that Mary Barra’s decision to allow outside lawyers to lead the internal

investigation was a good decision, because it could rule out any possibilities of bias. There

should not be any concern that any lawyers that are working on the investigation may be working

in the best interest of the company instead of the public. In the eye of the public, this would be

more beneficial.

Hiring Kenneth Feinberg to supervise the claims process was an intelligent decision to

make because he is already experienced in the subject, and is most likely to get the job the

correct way. This choice that was made definitely beats the option of simply hiring just anyone

because you need someone on the job. That could possibly only lead to more problems.

Personally, I would recommend that she continue to address the issue, as well as keeping the

public informed on the matter at hand. Not to mention that she should humbly continue to stress

the fact that, she had no idea about the faulty switch considering that the CEO before her was the

one that did his best to cover up the issue for ten years.

After watching the video, I was able to tell that Mary Barra’s speech was well planned

and thought out. I believe that she was able to get her point across effectively, however she does

need improvement on her delivery. While she was addressing the issue, she sounded like she

was simply reading off of a script. She was able to hold her own while facing the public,

however she could have been more effective simply with better quality in her delivery.

In conclusion, CEO Mary Barra handled herself well; especially considering the fact that

the faulty switch had been an issue way before she stepped up as CEO. The fact that she was
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able to step up and address an issue that at first had nothing to do with her simply because the

company depends on it is truly impressive within itself.