Case 1
Homegrown Talent: Mary Barra Rises to GM’s Top Post
Pages 191-196 (Chapter 5)
Read the Case Study entitled, “Homegrown Talent: Mary Barra Rises to GM’s Top Post” on pages 195-196 (Chapter 5). Then, answer all of the questions at the end of the case.
Homegrown Talent: Mary Barra Rises to GM’s Top Post
When Mary Barra was a kid, she used to hang out in the garage with her dad tinkering on cars. Little did her father, a lifelong die-maker for GM’s Pontiac division, know that his daughter would one day become the CEO of the company and the first woman ever to lead a major U.S. car manufacturer. But that’s what happened in 2013. Barra was unanimously chosen by the board members of General Motors to lead the company—a decision employees cheered when they heard about it over the loudspeakers at corporate headquarters. Maybe they cheered because unlike GM’s previous two CEOs, Barra was one of them. Having worked in multiple departments at GM since she was 18, she knows the car business through and through. “There’s nobody with more years of honest ‘car guy’ credentials than she has,” says Ross Gordon in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Barra, who grew up in a Detroit suburb, initially began working for GM in the 1980s as part of a work-study program. In this program, which is also referred to as a co-op program, students alternate working full time (for pay) and going to college. She earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and GM later sent her to Stanford, where she got an MBA. During her career she has rotated through various positions at GM. Besides working in engineering and design, she managed one GM’s manufacturing plants and most recently was the senior vice president for global product development and quality control. Under her watch, the company has rolled out successful models that have helped bring the company back out of bankruptcy during the latest economic recession.
Barra has a reputation for getting results. Not only does she know cars, she knows people and how to manage them. When an updated version of the Chevy Malibu floundered because of design and other problems, she mobilized a team of employees and found a way to fix the Malibu in record time. Her great people management skills might explain why when GM was going through bankruptcy, she was put in charge of human resources for GM, an area she had never worked in before. GM hoped putting her in the job would prevent key talent from heading for the exits during the bankruptcy process. It did and GM bounced back. In 2016, GM sold more than 10 million vehicles worldwide, and its net income exceeded $9 billion. GM’s Chevy Volt was named North American Car of the Year in 2017, and the company announced a partnership to develop on-demand, self-driving vehicles in conjunction with the ride-sharing company Lyft. In short, the company is on a roll.
Sue Meisinger, formerly the president and CEO of the Society of Human Resources Management, says that Barra’s being named CEO underscores the importance of HR personnel working in and understanding different areas of their firms. “If you’re interested in a career path that extends beyond HR, you need to have experience in multiple facets of the business,” Meisinger says. She notes that for many HR professionals, their crowning achievement is to be the head of HR. Barra’s rise to CEO, however, will have many of these professionals shifting their career goals.
Questions
Mary Barra’s father worked at General Motors. Was her hiring an example of nepotism? If you were a business owner, would you want to hire relatives of your employees? What would the pros and cons of doing so be?
What role did Mary Barra play in advancing her career? What role did GM play in “growing” her career?
Case 2
Loews Hotels: Training for Four-Diamond Service and More
Pages 274 – 275 (Chapter 7)
Read the Case Study entitled, “Loews Hotels: Training for Four-Diamond Service and More ” on pages 274-275 (Chapter 7). Then, answer all of the questions at the end of the case.
I selected the most interesting and applicable cases for the class. Please be sure to back up your answers to both of these cases with facts from the textbook. Please number each of your answers. This is very important so that I understand which questions you are responding to. Remember, it is quality that counts so be brief, thorough, and to the point. Good Luck!
Homegrown Talent: Mary Barra Rises to GM’s Top Post
When Mary Barra was a kid, she used to hang out in the garage with her dad tinkering on cars. Little did her father, a lifelong die-maker for GM’s Pontiac division, know that his daughter would one day become the CEO of the company and the first woman ever to lead a major U.S. car manufacturer. But that’s what happened in 2013. Barra was unanimously chosen by the board members of General Motors to lead the company—a decision employees cheered when they heard about it over the loudspeakers at corporate headquarters. Maybe they cheered because unlike GM’s previous two CEOs, Barra was one of them. Having worked in multiple departments at GM since she was 18, she knows the car business through and through. “There’s nobody with more years of honest ‘car guy’ credentials than she has,” says Ross Gordon in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Barra, who grew up in a Detroit suburb, initially began working for GM in the 1980s as part of a work-study program. In this program, which is also referred to as a co-op program, students alternate working full time (for pay) and going to college. She earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and GM later sent her to Stanford, where she got an MBA. During her career she has rotated through various positions at GM. Besides working in engineering and design, she managed one GM’s manufacturing plants and most recently was the senior vice president for global product development and quality control. Under her watch, the company has rolled out successful models that have helped bring the company back out of bankruptcy during the latest economic recession.
Barra has a reputation for getting results. Not only does she know cars, she knows people and how to manage them. When an updated version of the Chevy Malibu floundered because of design and other problems, she mobilized a team of employees and found a way to fix the Malibu in record time. Her great people management skills might explain why when GM was going through bankruptcy, she was put in charge of human resources for GM, an area she had never worked in before. GM hoped putting her in the job would prevent key talent from heading for the exits during the bankruptcy process. It did and GM bounced back. In 2016, GM sold more than 10 million vehicles worldwide, and its net income exceeded $9 billion. GM’s Chevy Volt was named North American Car of the Year in 2017, and the company announced a partnership to develop on-demand, self-driving vehicles in conjunction with the ride-sharing company Lyft. In short, the company is on a roll.
Sue Meisinger, formerly the president and CEO of the Society of Human Resources Management, says that Barra’s being named CEO underscores the importance of HR personnel working in and understanding different areas of their firms. “If you’re interested in a career path that extends beyond HR, you need to have experience in multiple facets of the business,” Meisinger says. She notes that for many HR professionals, their crowning achievement is to be the head of HR. Barra’s rise to CEO, however, will have many of these professionals shifting their career goals.
Questions
Mary Barra’s father worked at General Motors. Was her hiring an example of nepotism? If you were a business owner, would you want to hire relatives of your employees? What would the pros and cons of doing so be?
What role did Mary Barra play in advancing her career? What role did GM play in “growing” her career?
Please be sure to back up your answers to both of these cases with facts from the textbook (please use APA format). Your case reports should have a minimum of 1000 words combined (500 words each). Please submit your case reports as Word documents (or both case reports as one Word document). Please number each of your answers, so that I understand which questions you are responding to.
Please upload your assignment (by clicking Week 2 HR Case Assignment above then Browse My Computer) in a Word document by Sunday 11:59 PM Eastern Time. See video below for directions on how to post. You can only post your assignments once (please attach both documents at the same time)! I will not accept late submissions.
HR Case Grading Criteria:
Grading Rubric
Total Points Possible
Thoroughly answered all of the questions
60
References to course material
20
Spelling/Grammar at the college level
(Please take this seriously)
20
Total: 100 points
