A document imaging, mobile shredding, and record storage business
A document imaging, mobile shredding, and record storage business with offices in Clearwater and Tampa Bay is called Business Records Management. Recently, the business has seen and regained control of the company ("GM’s Mary Barra: Crisis manager of the year", 2017).Addressing the situation
Another way that Barra did in an attempt to address the situation was by calling the reports to the General Motors headquarters and addressed the situation. She also acknowledged that she was aware of the situation and was doing anything she could to solve the issue. In her acknowledgement speech, she said that the company realized it mistakes and was already working round the clock to fi the ignition switches. However, according to the presented evidence by the congress, it revealed that Barra’s leadership was involved and contributed to the situation by the fact that the internal failings occurred even before her tenure started. Barra’s tenure was said to have a great deal in protecting the company’s reputation and avoiding major decline in sales ("GM’s Mary Barra: Crisis manager of the year", 2017).SWOT analysis
According to a comment made by MMW’s Winters, he claimed that the company built its foundation in trust and a reasonable decision to ensure that cost saving are first priority then customer’s safety. In addition, in his comment he pointed out that there was need to have a strategy to spell reputation disasters.SWOT analysis strategy during the crisis
Customers always gain trust and have an honest look at a company based on how it addresses its problems involving customer satisfaction and also how it runs it activities. Therefore, poor strategies and inappropriate customer retention techniques would result in loss of trust in the company by the customers. The CEO of General Motors, Bara during the crisis made the right moves and followed the correct procedure to address the situation. The following is a summary of the SWOT analysis strategy that was used during the crisis.Strengths
Barra, as the top leader of the company at the time of the crisis, owned up to the mistakes of the company. It is not always easy to own to mistakes one has done; it takes great courage. Barra accepted that the ignition switches were faulty and put the customers’ safety at risk because of prioritizing on cash profits.During the period of the situation, the company was quite cooperative, since it did provide all the required information and transparent updates. For instance, Barra called for a press to the company’s headquarters aimed at addressing the situation and coming up with a solution.The company sacrificed some of it workers as a sign of loyalty and commitment to its customers. Moreover, the new communication team that was formulated came up with a long-term solution to address the crisis which was a bold step in maintaining the company’s reputation.Weakness
The major weakness associated with the company during the business crisis was the lack of successive and frequent up to date information that was to be provided by the communication team. For that reason, the CEO had to replace the entire team and come up with another more reliable team.Opportunities
The company CEO handled the situation in a very direct and discrete manner which had a positive impact on the company’s reputation and how the general public viewed the company.Threats
The growth of the company was on the edge of thriving due to the production of faulty ignition switches. The company almost ruined its reputation and its branding image due to the car crashes that were associated with the faulty switches.Risk management process to mitigate the crisis
Risk MitigationRisk mitigation planning is the process involved in the developing of strategies and options that are used in reducing threats and enhancement of opportunities to the project objectives. The most effective approach to avoiding a crisis that I would consider implementing if I were the CEO of General Motors would be the enhancement of creative opportunities for the implementation of the company’s objectives. Trying to avoid any business crisis is one strategy that I would consider the application and execution of mitigation of actions, and evaluation of the risk process through the identifying any new risks that might occur (McNeil, Frey, &, Embrechts, 2015).Strategies for risk mitigation
Companies could adopt various mitigation strategies for purposes of risk mitigation.Owning the mistake
In a situation where an organization experiences business crisis, it is important for the organization to own up and acknowledge its mistake.Adjusting the program requirements
Adjustment of program requirements is a strategy that is used to ensure that no business crisis re-occurs within a company. Through this strategy, the company stands a better chance of reducing further risks.Control
Control with regards to risk mitigation is the process of implementing effective actions to minimize impacts of business crisis by taking into consideration any associated risks.Transfer of duties
For instance during the business crisis that faced General Motors, the CEO, did some changes on the communication team due to their ineffective nature to deliver. Transfer of duties is the reassignment of organizational responsibility as a way of managing the business crisis.Watch and monitor
Monitoring of the changes either in the internal or external environmental issues that could affect the nature or impacts of the crisis.RISK MANAGEMENT
Proper management and control approaches are necessary for ensuring that risk mitigation and management is active. Risk management process requires the need to monitor as a way of ensuring that such crisis does not re-occur in the future. Some of the ways that a company could adopt to ensure that it monitors its risk management process include;Redefining of the action steps and strategies
Once a company has successfully decided on the course of action to be implemented to address the crisis, it is important to redefine the strategies to make sure that the strategies are constructive and productive.Routine assessment of program’s risk exposure
It is important for companies to evaluate the external and internal environmental status for any possible risks and amendments on the current business crisis. It is through a routine assessment that General Motors was able to retain its reputation even after the crisis.Ways of dealing with uncertainty within complex environments
The business crisis could easily reoccur within a company if inappropriate and ineffective approaches were used to mitigate the crisis. Multiple strategies could be adopted by companies to handle any uncertainties due to the complex technological progress and systems that are unpredictable.- Preparing for multiple outcomes.
- Utilization of analytic method that does not necessitate for high accuracy.
- Focusing on the evaluation of initiatives on both the inputs and outputs.
- Finding and relying on any predictable elements of the business crisis.
- Being vigilant and agile to provide a prompt response.
- Cultivating the company’s trust on extreme trust.
- A company should make sure that it has an effective planning process for its failures and success. Providing quality services and training of employees, and making predictions on the complexities of the working environment are crucial for maintaining customer trust.
Conclusion
Even though General Motors was faced by one of the biggest crisis, it made an effort to address the situation and building its reputation. On a daily basis, crisis does occur. However, a company needs to have effective strategies to address such problems. Owning up to the crisis is the initial step to addressing the problem. The next step requires the associated parties to be transparent and provide any useful information to the customers regarding the issue. The market could be used to analyze whether the supplier is responsible and effectively addresses the complaints without shifting the blame on any team.Reference
GM’s Mary Barra: Crisis manager of the year. (2017). Fortune.com. Retrieved 25 June 2017, from http://fortune.com/2014/12/28/gms-barra-crisis-manager/
McNeil, A. J., Frey, R., & Embrechts, P. (2015). Quantitative risk management: Concepts, techniques and tools. Princeton university press.
