Mary Barra didn’t mince words with her take on a stinging internal assessment of what went wrong in the ignition switch recall scandal blamed for at least 13 deaths and nearly 50 accidents.
Barra called the 315- page report by Anton Valukas, a former U.S. attorney, “extremely thorough, brutally tough and deeply troubling.” It details “a history of failures” in which “nobody took responsibility” and there was “no demonstrated sense of urgency” in a saga “riddled with failures.”
With documented corroboration of insiders, Barra included, it confirms in stark terms the dark underside of GM’s culture, proving some of the worst, most caricatured aspects of old GM exist still in the new one.
“Determining the identity of any actual decision-maker was impenetrable,” the report says, conveying an atmosphere of casual disregard for customers that is stunning in its cowardliness. “No single person owned any decision.”
It details the “GM Salute” affected by managers and executives, who would cross their arms, point outward and suggest that responsibility for a problem resides elsewhere. The “GM Nod,” described by Barra as an “empty gesture,” is where “everyone nods in agreement to a proposed plan of action, but leaves the room with no intention to follow through.”
“Culture doesn’t change overnight,” she said in a news conference following her global town hall with 1,200 employees at the automaker’s Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren. “It’s a continuum. It’s a journey.”
Fifteen employees, the majority of them from the executive ranks, are no longer working for GM in engineering, safety, legal affairs and public policy. Another five were disciplined but are still employed. Federal regulators are reviewing the report, and the Department of Justice is continuing an investigation that could culminate in criminal charges.
The Valukas probe exonerates Barra, her top deputies and General Counsel Michael Millikin, but the ordeal is just beginning. Investigations continue; more lawsuits are likely; protests by the families of victims injured or killed in crashes are expected at next week’s annual meeting in Detroit; and media scrutiny won’t end with a big report and stern words from the CEO.
Read the original article by Daniel Howes, The Detroit News.
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