Is Ford's Alan Mulally a lame duck?

[regfootball]

fire the guy

[jkennedy293]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

I take this bit of news as Mulally finally exercising his clout: "resign or else."

He probably already knew he was leaving, and decided to screw over his former boss. I hope Chevron is watching this childishness, and keeps him out of the loop.

[Bravada]

Laymon had a history of speaking out of turn, apparently to demonstrate his corporate clout. In an interview with Fortune in 2004, he volunteered the information that all the top executives at Ford worked with executive coaches and that he was the coach for chairman and CEO Bill Ford. Laymon's off-the-cuff comment produced some scrambling at headquarters, including demurrals from Ford executives who said they didn't know what an executive coach actually was, and they certainly didn't have one.

Four years on, the guy is still filling the same position. If you want to know why I believe Ford isn't really changing for the better, read the previous sentence again. And if you want to know why I believe Mullaly isn't really doing what is needed to straighten Ford's paths, reads the previous sentence again.

Let's see - the corporation lost focus by growing a board of 40-something Vice-Presidents and the like, over half of them actually responsible for the North American market, which isn't really a growth one nor does it represent more than half of Ford's sales, revenue or profits. All of them are mostly involved in corporate politics and infighting, and many seem not to really know what cars does the company make. Decision-making is hampered by the permament angst of angering the Ford family. North American operations are ridden by labour-related costs induced by unions convinced they are irreplaceable and fixed in place. The marvellous head designer and a team of engineers came up with a large car that is so forgettable nobody wants it, even if it is the most capable car in the market, effectively pushing Ford off the edge of one of the last markets they still had something to say in. Ford is making some of the world's best superminis in all shapes and sizes, some right by the border of the USA, but cannot bring any of them there amidst a booming market.

Answer: sell Jaguar.

Hello?

[DuSpinnst]

Everyone who doesn't work in HR has the same opinion of HR, which is....

HR is worthless and annoying.

[63GrandSport001]

This really sucks for Allen, I think that it is way too early to say that he should go only after 18 months on the job. It takes time to restructure a company and I think that he can pull it off but then again you never know whats going on.

Maybe the Ford's were not too happy about them and since they control some 40% of the voting shares they can generally get their way. They just need to get another 11% to agree with them and boom this guy is gone for good.

On the subject of who should replace them I don't know if it should be a finance guy, I think that it needs to be someone with a good idea of where the company needs to go.

[FordMan]

LeftlaneNews is reporting that Laymon resigned....
http://www.leftlanenews.com/joe-laym...from-ford.html

[SwampFoxZ71]

Originally Posted by FordMan

LeftlaneNews is reporting that Laymon resigned....
http://www.leftlanenews.com/joe-laym...from-ford.html

Good to see that guy gone...now they need to promote this Kuzak guy as number two and extend Mulally's contract. That way, they give confidence to Mulally and in effect name his successor, unless that guy screws up, and they just release him too.

Either way, it consolidates power for Mulally, and lets the horse runners know they've been displaced for another horse anyway, so why bother jockeying...

"Move along...move along..."

[ChevroletRevived]

It's certainly ridiculous to say at this point that Alan Mulally is a lame duck. He hasn't even been around that long! Time will tell, it's stupid to being talking about his replacement right now.

[Lichtronamo]

Originally Posted by ChevroletRevived

It's certainly ridiculous to say at this point that Alan Mulally is a lame duck. He hasn't even been around that long! Time will tell, it's stupid to being talking about his replacement right now.

Agreed. The "list" is clearly a succession plan should something happen to Mullaly that can be quickly handed to the Board of Directors in an emergency.

[Neanderthal]

Originally Posted by JVal14

First of all, how much corporate clout could a VP of HR have? HR people get relatively respect from corporate suits, and I'm sure it's worse in domestic auto companies where at least half of the employees are governed by their union, not the company that employs them. Secondly, of all people, an HR exec should know when to keep his mouth shut. What is this guy still doing there if this is his second high profile screw-up? Especially considering his first foul was to immasculate top-brass, who are notoriously ego-driven. I'm surprised this guy isn't getting death threats. This is a great example of executive inefficiency: Ford's employee relations aren't great, so this guy is apparently not doing an outstanding job, yet he's been around for years despite being a P R nightmare. What is going on at Ford?

Read The Fords, an American Epic by Peter Collier and David Horowitz (c) 1987.

It's an incredible tale of turf, power politics, and last of all running a corporation competently.
Sort of like a small-scale Washington, DC.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by DuSpinnst

Everyone who doesn't work in HR has the same opinion of HR, which is....

HR is worthless and annoying.

I'll assume that's not your attitude, at least toward me.

It all depends on how well the HR department is run and what value they can provide to the organization. I've worked in HR departments where people thought we were a joke, but more recently, I've found that a customer service-focused attitude toward the managers and employees that we support led a lot of people to mourn my recent resignation from my last employer.

Succession planning should be considered strictly confidential, whether it be for the CEO or a lower level position. Not only does it set up a horse race among those six guys, but also gives Ford's competitors a nice checklist of who they might want to try to poach for their own CEO or COO openings should they arise. Plus it serves to disappoint the people not on that list who thought maybe they should be, or to disappoint at least five of the six when they don't get the job (or even six of the six if they decide to hire from outside again).

[KingElvis]

Originally Posted by Whitesky

You fire the HR guy that opened his mouth. That's a department where you can easily replace someone with no impact.

And that's what just happened yesterday.

This Laymon is one imprudent sob.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by KingElvis

And that's what just happened yesterday.

This Laymon is one imprudent sob.

He wasn't fired.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...390/1014/rss13

[Rocket 88]

Originally Posted by Bravada

Four years on, the guy is still filling the same position. If you want to know why I believe Ford isn't really changing for the better, read the previous sentence again. And if you want to know why I believe Mullaly isn't really doing what is needed to straighten Ford's paths, reads the previous sentence again.

Let's see - the corporation lost focus by growing a board of 40-something Vice-Presidents and the like, over half of them actually responsible for the North American market, which isn't really a growth one nor does it represent more than half of Ford's sales, revenue or profits. All of them are mostly involved in corporate politics and infighting, and many seem not to really know what cars does the company make. Decision-making is hampered by the permament angst of angering the Ford family. North American operations are ridden by labour-related costs induced by unions convinced they are irreplaceable and fixed in place. The marvellous head designer and a team of engineers came up with a large car that is so forgettable nobody wants it, even if it is the most capable car in the market, effectively pushing Ford off the edge of one of the last markets they still had something to say in. Ford is making some of the world's best superminis in all shapes and sizes, some right by the border of the USA, but cannot bring any of them there amidst a booming market.

Answer: sell Jaguar.

Hello?

Yeah, thats a pretty spot on description of Ford. Sounds amazingly similar to how Lee Iacocca described the company in his book 20 years ago. Some things never change.