Ford and Its Many Layers in Management

Ford Motor Company had been operating with too many levels of personnel in the administrative department, according to Ex CFO Anne Stevens. With the many layers of management it takes a long time for things to get done. Ford was restructuring the company and she felt that her position was created for her and that it was an unnecessary position. Ford was offering buyouts to all of its 75, 000 employees as part of the structuring efforts to realign the company. Stevens chose to retire knowing that her position was one that was created for her and that the position she really wanted CEO would never be available to her. Stevens believes that her leaving will help the company appear to be fixing their bureaucracy issues within the company. One of the most important tasks Ford must accomplish is reengineering and streamlining the way work is done once one-third of the company's white-collar workforce leaves voluntarily or is laid off. The company's leadership will need to be thoroughly evaluated to establish new guidelines for the hourly as well as the salaried workers.

Ford was operating under overextended personnel ratios. This relates to the administrative, clerical and professional supports staff within the organization. The ratio should relate to administration as small within a large organization like Ford. There seems to be some synchronization in that area of the structural chart. The company created a job for Stevens which was not necessary adding an additional layer to the top level administration. The clerical and professional support staff should be larger within a huge organization like Ford. This would be the right way to expand if the communication and reporting requirements needed to run the organization was growing too. The problem with Ford was that this area was not growing yet they were overhauled with personnel. Typically if the specialized skills are expanding within an organization then there is a need for more professional staff with specialized training.

According to Max Zachariades, ex Executive for Microsoft, the company was far more concerned with useless meetings and swag rather than ideas. The company is inundated with too many management employees. There are people watching people and not making enough production. Zachariades was fired from his position at Microsoft after 5 years, because he wanted to change and restructure the company's management hierarchy. According to Zacharias too much re-work was being conducted. For example, meetings on other meetings and having too many unnecessary conference calls. There was no resolution in this article but it was true a drawing clarity to how the company could benefit from busting bureaucracy. This company too seems to be unable to trim its waste. Sometimes a company needs to take a look at its employees and management and find a way to cut back. Just like the Ford Company, Microsoft sounds like it could benefit from the same type of over