A few weeks ago we were told by our chief engineer that if he doesn't meet or exceed his performance objectives, nobody does, and that if our director says we're failing as an organization, we all automatically fail. I understand the concept that if Ford goes under, for example, we all lose (except for those with golden parachutes), but Performance + objectives are technically about individual performance. The odds are more likely that my failures as a GSR are actually due to management's failure, not mine. Why? Because I'm not sitting in the driver seat. I don't have the keys to the bus. I don't have the power of the purse. I don't establish expectations nor do I control or manage resources. I'm not the one constantly demanding everyone do more with less, or changing direction all the time, sometimes literally every 2-3 hours. As a matter of fact, management is responsible for who is on the team, what we do, and how we do it. If someone isn't doing what's expected and they're still here, isn't that a failure of management? Isn't it managements responsibility to build and maintain a good team of competent employees, to provide adequate resources to accomplish the assigned tasks, and to understand what the teams capacity is? The fact of the matter is that, as mismanaged as my department is from the director down, it's literally a combination of skill and hard work performed by GSR's that get things accomplished nearly every day, not management. If anything, management is currently the hindrance to our success as a company, and ultimately the reason we all fail. Honestly, I sincerely wish they'd offer packages again, because no doubt I'd take it, recession imminent or not, but Ford can absolutely not afford to cut any more people, so that will most likely not happen anytime soon.
15 replies (most recent on top)
Your “chief engineer” probably doesn’t have an engineering degree or a professional engineer licence….like most of the ford so called “engineers”
Corporate Chief of Kool Aid has spoken.
That's the message everyone in benchmarking got too
at UnSE, all GSR's were told precisely that "If I (Director / Chief Eng / Manager / Spvr) don't meet my objectives, nobody (GSR) does". GSR's are expecting to be punished by some chosen ones going to PIP. It was floated at one of LL2 staff meeting that instead of just choosing 15% as VP of Hw Engineering asked, to have 30% of all GSR's be sent to PIP so UnSE can have more people available to weed out w/o legal consequences (Race / Age Discrimination) Most Colored people are gone so Reverse discrimination lawsuits are expected by Old White Males in their mid-50's. Everything is under scrutiny, bldg attendance, being seeing around the bldg, not meeting PR objectives, etc.) All those engineers with pension will be in that list regardless of their performance. UnSE Director has been in meetings with HR to develop logistics for early separation using PR performance as an excuse. UnSE environment is creepy and smells fishy
What a wonderful way to protect incompetence.
Time to push back...bring in a union for white collar employees, enough with this nonsense.
This management style does promote team building, which is a good thing. Ford needs more of it actually.
Tired old stuff... the more that leave out of frustration are the less that have to be enticed in deals, or tangled up in exit programs. Nothing new, just stupid stuff happens everywhere before a "right sizing". Meh, go if you hate it, hang on if you like the biz or just want to wait and see if you can better your deal. Sadly, this stuff throws any allegiance in the dumpster. If not this time, maybe next time. If that gets on your nerves long term look outside the car biz. But in the moment take care of you.
PR is a show. FnF is everything. Being FnF should be everyone's #1 and the only objective.
OP makes a decent post except at the end.
Ford can most certainly afford to cut NA workers and replace them with cheaper labor elsewhere.
Any department is at risk. It used to be that the studio was sacred. Is that still the case any longer? it used to be that sheet metal design/engineering was core -it was safe. Is that really still the case anymore? Go down the list -everything is at risk.
My technical director said the same to our team last year. I quit 2 months later, I hope that was the outcome he wanted from his decoration. The real funny part was that he told us that in July, but we had only received our objectives in June.
No one is going to get "Exceed Expectations". I was told that you would have to be God in order to be a top performer.
Your performance is mostly your responsibility. Under resourced maybe blame your management for that. Management that talk like the above quote needs a sanity check. My answer would be: "Well I guess you better get off your ar-e and keep up, now we know where the bottle neck is and who to blame...thanks!"
Seriously, we all know that an underperforming supervisor doesn't make the group look good. All the more reason for the LL6, ect that said this to put out, not burden the employees with thinking about thier performance instead of their own... What an oaf.
Think about our top executives’ current focus:
Renovating a train station
Race car driving
Hollywood talk shows in cars
Being a software and subscription provider
How does any of that help us build top quality vehicles that people can afford to own?
Of course Ford can cut more people. Your post details why they can. Do you think they can afford to pay people more to spin their wheels meeting management's misguided objectives. Model E has many people putting in minimal work. Model E also has many people working very hard on projects and flushing money down the toilet.