Manhattan College: MBAP 710 - GM Ignition Switch Issue Case Study

This case study analyzes the General Motors (GM) ignition switch issue, focusing on the Chevy Cobalt crash and its implications. The analysis highlights the ethical failures within GM, particularly the lack of effective quality management and the delayed response to the faulty ignition switches. The paper discusses the appointment of Mary Barra as CEO during the crisis and emphasizes the importance of reinstating stakeholder trust through improved quality management, specifically through the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). The study examines the chaotic design and production process of the ignition switches, the roles of key individuals, and the communication breakdowns between GM and its supplier, Delphi. It further addresses the need for a comprehensive crisis management strategy, including public relations, stakeholder communication, and compensation programs for victims. The conclusion stresses the need for proactive measures like emergency brake systems and improved quality control to prevent future incidents and protect consumer safety. The case study underscores the importance of ethical decision-making and accountability in the automotive industry.

GM’s Ignition Switch Issue

Discussion on the Chevy Cobalt Crash Issue
The Chevrolet Cobalt ignition switch issue is probably one of the biggest controversies in the
history of General Motors. Marry Barra was appointed as the CEO of the company at the wrong
time as the company was moving through a significant crisis which could demolish the brand
image and the market share of the organisation. From the business point of view it was extremely
important to reinstate the faith of the stakeholders like the consumers, investors and the general
public on the organisation. In order to reinstate the faith of the stakeholders it is extremely
important to abandon the existing operational strategy especially quality management.
From the case study it is clear that the model in question have mechanical defect which happens
due to lack of proper quality management and hence it is extremely important to have a complete
revamp of the quality management (Harris & Sherman, 2017). The implementation of the Total
Quality Management system would help in ensuring complete safety for the upcoming
production. The Total Quality Management system in manufacturing industry is an excellent
concept. This process ensures that each and every process of the manufacturing is efficiently
handled and overseen by the employees of the organisation that helps to pass the product through
different stages of quality check and tests. This would help to identify the mechanical or
technical problem in the best possible manner. TQM is an overall quality management process
which helps to look after the operations from resource procurement, stakeholder management to
the production line development and getting the finished products. Developing standardised
systems in every step is an important part of TQM (Fonseca, 2015).
As the CEO it is important to develop a clear reporting strategy which would help to
communicate directly with the stakeholders like consumers, investors, governments et cetera and
analyse their mindset and act accordingly to gain their trust. The reporting process should be
effective enough where information is available for the stakeholders. It is important to urge the
stakeholders to compare the previous record of the company and appeal to them to be supportive.
One of the pros that were found from the interviews of the crash victims are they thought GM as
an automobile icon of the country which shows the positive that the company enjoyed (Harris &
Sherman, 2017). On the other hand the families are bereaved and hence they cannot be
compensated yet the organisation would have to plan a compensation program to manage the

crisis. Finally in order to stop future issues with the ignition and to stop accidents emergency
brake system with emergency door concept would be brought so that there are no further
incidents like this in any of the models of the cars. Proving a complete PR solution through mass
media campaign and direct communication with the stakeholders would be the first “go to”
strategy for crisis management in this scenario (Marodin et al., 2019).
Discussion on Faulty Ignition Switch
Right from the beginning of the production of the ignition switches for the Chevy Cobalt has
been extremely chaotic. Right from the person who designed it to the organisation that received
the project of designing the switch in mass scale it has been a comedy of errors. When the
different entities involved in designing the switch moved the responsibilities from one shoulder
to the other there were reports of accident in different places of America. The very first
responsibility was of Tom Utter who took the responsibility of designing the DLIS and then
officially transferred the responsibility to Calvin Wolf who clearly wasn’t interested in taking the
responsibility and passed it off to Ray De Georgio who played a great role in the entire issue.
Ray Georgio initially was reluctant to accept that he took the responsibility early and then
worked on it (Bell, 2015).
The problem which started with rotational torque of the ignition switch now was becoming
thorny for the organisation as there were problem between GM’s supplier Delphi and the
company as they differentiated in their ideas in terms of the technicality. The organisation failed
to design the prototype as per the original engineering requirements and then tried to foil the
decisions with reason which affected further changes. Erick Mattson of Delphi communicated
with Ray Georgio about the design of the switch and called it ‘too soft” but the problem
prevailed (Harris & Sherman, 2017). Now the product was already in the market and a journalist
reported that he had stopped the car with mere touch on the key with his knee. There was
growing unrest among the consumers and mismanagement between the supplying organisation
and GM exacerbated the situation. There were meetings and solutions provided but the
organisation did not feel the need of addressing the issue considering it a fault of level 3 (on the
lower side in terms of safety implications) which affected the scenario and incidents started
happening which then opened the eyes of the involved management staffs (Darmstadter, 2016).
Hence, it could be said that the organisation GM and the supplier organisation both were at fault

of not addressing the faulty part right during the testing stage as it is the best time to address
issues in a car because during this stage the car is ready to launch and is tested for the suitability
of the market which was not done in this case. The organisation thought about warranty claims
and fixing budgets and did not consider the importance of the lives of people (Wanasika and
Conor, 2018).

References
Bell, B.W., (2015). Recalling the Lawyers: The NHTSA, GM, and the Chevrolet
Cobalt. Fordham L. Rev., 84, p.1899.
Darmstadter, H., (2016). The Times and General Motors: What went wrong?. Cogent Arts &
Humanities, 3(1), p.1134030.
Fonseca, L.M., (2015). From Quality Gurus & TQM to ISO 9001: 2015: a review of several
quality paths. International Journal for Quality Research (IJQR), 9(1), pp.167-180.
Harris, R.D & Sherman, W.S. (2017). General Motors and the Chevy Cobalt Ignition Switch
Crisis. The Case Research Journal, 3(2), 27.
Marodin, G.A., Frank, A.G., Tortorella, G.L. & Fetterman, D.C., (2019). Lean production and
operational performance in the Brazilian automotive supply chain. Total Quality
Management & Business Excellence, 30(3-4), pp.370-385.
Wanasika, I. & Conner, S.L., (2018). General Motors: The ignition switch from hell. Journal of
Case Studies, 36(2), pp.66-81.