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February 01, 2007

Ford is losing more money

I found this over at Tom Peter's blog.

Ford, one of the icons of America's industrial prowess is suffering, once again. The company announced losses of "US$5.8 billion in the fourth quarter amid slumping sales and huge restructuring costs. Now, the automaker's deficit for the year is US$12.7 billion, the largest in its 103-year history.

Once again, a CEO, and in this case Alan Mulally falls back on the old and ... - no, not proven. He announced that the company will continue to restructure to meet consumer demand.

Yadee, Yadee, Yadee.

How often have I heard this before. The outcome will be that the company will retrench plenty of employees. There will be lots of talks about new strategies and new ways of doing things.

Will it trigger to the floor? No, I don't think so.

The mindset change is not there. All that is changed will be a part of the environment. What is left behind are frustrated workers, in whose head is something like - the next one is me. How engaged and loyal for a company can you be if you see that former colleagues and friends are leaving? Or shall I say - being kicked out?

There is a saying that if you do the same thing over and over again, the outcome will not change. You will get the same results. Ford and other companies tried the same strategy before, but is it really a strategy in the first place, to restructure and kick workers out? Where is the uniqueness, the creativity and the innovation in this?

It is easy to blame others for your own mistakes and point fingers at "others". Like, the Chinese competition, the bad economy, the lazy worker and so on.

But we are all operating in the same or similar environment, don't we? There is always an up and down, another company that operates smarter with more engaged workers.

What is needed is not necessarily retrenchment. It is the mindset change from the top to the floor and involvement of everyone to gain their acceptance that change is possible, that they are winners, that they have to contribute to the success and ... that times will remain hard for the moment. Then, look at the overall organisation, where does it want to be in the next few years, and how can it reach its goals. And then, it is execution, execution, execution. Sure, if some of its workes and top management does not want to play the game, they have to leave, for the sake of the rest and the organisation.

And sure, it is easy to sit outside and talk, like I do. Still, there is the saying that sometimes, you have to change what you are doing to change the end-results. And that is what I am talking about.











Posted by Andreas at February 1, 2007 11:01 AM

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