Leadership Performance Analysis: Mary Barra at General Motors

This case study analyzes Mary Barra's leadership as CEO of General Motors (GM). It examines the challenges GM faced, including declining sales, outdated technology, and ineffective workplace culture. The study focuses on Barra's strategic approach, including cost-cutting, technological advancements, and cultural transformation. It highlights her use of situational leadership, ethical decision-making, and the resulting success in improving GM's profitability and market position. The analysis applies key leadership concepts, such as situational leadership and ethical frameworks, to assess Barra's impact and provides recommendations for future leaders. The paper also discusses the importance of adapting leadership styles to specific situations and the role of ethical considerations in business decisions.

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS: A CASE STUDY OF MARY BARRA OF GENERAL
MOTORS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
As opined by Northouse1, the different business corporations often take the help of
various business leaders for the adequate management of the diverse critical situations that they
face during the course of their business operations. Antonakis and Day2 are of the viewpoint that
resolution of the different critical situations by the leaders depends on the effectiveness with
which they are being able to use adequate leadership style and also leadership traits depending
on the context or the nature of the entire situation. Furthermore, the business leaders are required
to identify the root causes of the problems or the situations and thereby devise adequate or the
right kind of measures for the resolution of the situation3. More importantly, they are required to
come forward with the kind of measures or the solutions which would be supported by the core
competencies of the business corporation with which they are associated with4. This becomes
apparent from the effective leadership traits displayed by Mary Barra, the present CEO of
General Motors, for the mitigation of the different issues that the concerned corporation had been
facing for some time now. The aim of this paper is to undertake a critical analysis of the issues
faced by General Motors and the leadership approach undertaken by Mary Barra for the
resolution of the same through the specific lens of different leadership concepts.
1 Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications, 2018.
2 Antonakis, John, and David V. Day, eds. The nature of leadership. Sage publications, 2017.
3 DuBrin, Andrew J. Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education, 2015.
4 Klenke, Karin. Qualitative research in the study of leadership. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2016.

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Description of the situation
General Motors (GM), prior to Mary Barra taking the reign of the concerned corporation
as the CEO of the corporation faced different kinds of issues which not only adversely affected
the sales volume of the cars offered by it but also the profitability or the financial returns earned
by it as well5. For instance, the service quality of the vehicles manufactured by the corporation
had declined in a substantial manner because of the large number of manufacturing defects in
them, the usage of traditional technologies for the manufacture of the same which in turn
increased the operations or the production cost of the corporation and thereby enhanced the cost
of the vehicles offered by it, the ineffective workplace culture followed by the corporation and
others6. The resultant effect of this is that the sales volume of the vehicles offered by the
concerned corporation in North America, Europe, China and the other business markets of its
operations had continued to decline over the years which is being indicated by the below given
figure-
5 "Mary Barra's (Unexpected) Opportunity". 2019. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2014/09/18/mary-barra-general-
motors/.
6 Barabba, Vincent. "Assessing General Motors’ innovation strategy over three decades using the “Three Box
Solution”." Strategy & Leadership 47, no. 2 (2019): 34-42.

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Figure 1: Sales volume of GM in different key locations
Source: Forbes.com7
Figure 1 clearly indicates that GM had completely lost its business in the automobile
industry of Europe to its rivals because of the below-par service quality of the vehicles offered
by it. This in turn had not only adversely affected the profitability of the concerned corporation
but also its brand or market image as well. Furthermore, the customer-perception regarding the
vehicles offered by GM had reached at an all-time low despite having enjoyed the monopoly in
the automobile industry for more than a century8. However, the effective leadership approach
followed by Mary Barra, who became the CEO of GM in 2014 had contributed in a significant
manner towards the resolution of the different issues faced by GM9.
7 "Mary Barra". 2019. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/mary-barra/#48ec060110ad.
8 "Mary Barra's (Unexpected) Opportunity". 2019. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2014/09/18/mary-barra-general-
motors/.
9 "Mary T. Barra". 2019. Gm.Com. https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/mary-t-barra.html.

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Mary Barra and her involvement in the Situation
Mary Barra was appointed as the CEO of the business corporation GM in the 2014 so to
use her past experience of leadership and managing different business corporations for the
resolution of the issues that the corporation GM faced10. In this relation, it needs to be said that
she adopted three measures for the resolution of the different issues that the corporations,
namely, cost cutting for the reduction of the operations or the manufacturing cost of the
corporation, enhancement of the quality of the vehicles offered by GM through the integration of
the recent technological advancements and the improvement of the organizational or the
workplace culture predominant within the concerned corporation11. For instance, in the year
2019, Barra declared that more than 15,000 jobs of the corporation so to reduce the operations
cost of the concerned corporation12. More importantly, she had substantially enhanced the
performance standards for the work that the employees or the workers perform within the
concerned corporation. Furthermore, an important complaint raised by the majority of the users
of the vehicles offered by GM was the fact that features of the vehicles were highly outdated in
nature in comparison to the features offered by the vehicles offered by the other automobile
manufacturing corporations13. Thus, for the effective mitigation of this issue she integrated the
different recent technologies or innovation for the improvement of the quality of the vehicles
offered by GM. Lastly, she also transformed the organizational or the workplace culture of GM
10 Sheppard, Barry. "General motors seems too big to jail." Green Left Weekly 1073 (2015): 19.
11 "Mary Barra". 2019. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/mary-barra/#48ec060110ad.
12 Eisenstein, Paul. 2019. "GM Breaks From Tradition With New, Untested Path Under CEO Mary Barra". CNBC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/27/gm-breaks-from-tradition-with-new-untested-path-under-ceo-mary-barra.html.
13 Barabba, Vincent. "Assessing General Motors’ innovation strategy over three decades using the “Three Box
Solution”." Strategy & Leadership 47, no. 2 (2019): 34-42.

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to continuous learning environment so as to foster or inculcate the effective usage of the
concepts of creativity and innovation by the workers for the work that they performed14.
Critical analysis of Mary Barra’s involvement in the situation
A critical analysis of the decisions or the actions undertaken by Barra reveals the fact that
they were undertaking after a thorough analysis of the different issues or the challenges that the
corporation GM faced. This is important since unlike the other past leaders or the CEOs of the
corporation under discussion here the decisions or the measures undertaken by her were not just
random ones meant for the resolution of the immediate issues faced by GM rather they were
formulated after a critical analysis of the root causes which led to the problems or the issues
faced by GM15. This in turn helped her to take the kind of decisions or actions which helped GM
to overcome the different issues or the problems faced by it. In this relation, it needs to be said
that the effective leadership style followed by Barra greatly contributed towards the resolution of
the different issues faced by GM. For instance, rather than taking the help of leadership styles
like transformational leadership, transactional leadership and others which are very popular in
the present times she took the help of the situational leadership style16.
Grint et al.17 are of the viewpoint that an important feature of the situational leadership
style is the fact that the leaders using this particular style of leadership rather than depending on
14 "Mary Barra's (Unexpected) Opportunity". 2019. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2014/09/18/mary-barra-general-
motors/.
15 Eisenstein, Paul. 2019. "GM Breaks From Tradition With New, Untested Path Under CEO Mary Barra". CNBC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/27/gm-breaks-from-tradition-with-new-untested-path-under-ceo-mary-barra.html.
16 "Mary T. Barra". 2019. Gm.Com. https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/mary-t-barra.html.
17 Grint, Keith, Owain Smolovic Jones, Clare Holt, and J. Storey. "What is leadership." The Routledge companion to
leadership(2016): 3.

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one particular style of leadership modify or for that matter amend their leadership style as per the
different situations that they face. More importantly, as discussed by Rosenbach18, the situational
leadership style becomes an especially one for the mitigation of the different issues that the
business corporations face since it affords the opportunity to the leaders to deal with each of the
issues as per the merit or the impact wielded by the same rather than just follow a generic
leadership style for the handling of the issues.
In the particular context of Mary Barra, it had been seen that the effective usage of this
leadership style helped her to not only prioritize the different issues that the corporation GM
faced but also take adequate measures for the resolution of the same. For instance, the decision
of Barra to cut the jobs of more than 15,000 employees of GM might seem a totally unjustified
as well as an unethical one yet when considered from the perspective of GM and also the issues
that it faced it becomes a totally logical or a relevant one19. In this relation, it needs to be said
that Barra followed the theory of Kantianism which focuses on the aspect that the “end justifies
the means that had been adopted for the attainment of the end” rather than the popular theory of
Utilitarianism which states that the “individuals or the business corporations are required to
indulge in those actions that are likely to cause the maximum amount of benefit to the maximum
number of people”20. However, the subsequent success attained by GM clearly indicates that the
usage of the theory of Kantianism by Barra was not only a requirement of the moment but also
helped the corporation to overcome or for that matter mitigate the different issues faced by it in
the best possible manner.
18 Rosenbach, William E. Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge, 2018.
19 "Mary Barra". 2019. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/mary-barra/#48ec060110ad.
20 Eisenstein, Paul. 2019. "GM Breaks From Tradition With New, Untested Path Under CEO Mary Barra". CNBC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/27/gm-breaks-from-tradition-with-new-untested-path-under-ceo-mary-barra.html.

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Success of the Situation
The initiatives undertaken by Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, for the mitigation of the
issues had proved to be highly successful in the particular context of the concerned corporation
and had also helped it to bounce back from the crisis that it faced. For instance, the profitability
of GM in North America surged up to $3 billion at an increase of 5.8% despite incurring a loss of
$728 million in the same nation in the year 201721. Furthermore, the average sale-price of the
different vehicles offered by GM also reached to $36,000 which in turn helped the corporation
under discussion here to register an overall profitability of 8.1% in 2018 in comparison to the
4.4% profitability registered by Ford which faced lesser issues than GM22. This growth registered
by GM is expected to increase even further in the face of the different initiatives undertaken by
Barra which in turn shows the effectiveness the success of the various decisions or the actions
undertaken by Barra.
Contribution of effective leadership towards the success of the Situation
As per Forbes.com23, one of the most important factors which had directly contributed
towards the emergence of GM is the effective leadership approach or style followed by Barra,
the present CEO of GM. In this relation, the situational leadership approach followed by Barra
not only helped her to identify the root causes of the different issues faced by GM but also
prioritize them adequately so as to allocate the right kind of resources or time for the resolution
of the same. Furthermore, the usage of the situational leadership approach followed by Barra
21 "Mary T. Barra". 2019. Gm.Com. https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/mary-t-barra.html.
22 "Mary Barra's (Unexpected) Opportunity". 2019. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2014/09/18/mary-barra-general-
motors/.
23 "Mary Barra". 2019. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/mary-barra/#48ec060110ad.

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helped her to deal with each of the issues or the situations as per the merits or for that matter the
importance of the same and thereby modify her leadership approach accordingly for the effective
resolution of each of these issues or situations24. Along with these the adequate usage of the
ethical theory of Kantianism also helped Barra to effectively resolve the different issues by GM
and thereby contribute accordingly towards the resurgence of GM in the present times. In the
light of these aspects, it can be said that the leadership style followed by Barra as the CEO of
GM is one of the most important factors which had directly contributed towards the resolution of
the different issues faced by GM.
Application of central leadership concepts
The most important leadership concepts which were applied for the analysis of the
decisions undertaken by Barra are the framework of situational leadership, the different
important leadership traits like critical decision making, effective resource utilization, integrity
of character and others. In addition to these, the leaders are required to work in an ethical manner
however in the particular context of Barra it had been seen that the adequate usage of the theory
of Kantianism had greatly contributed towards the resolution of the different issues faced by
GM.
Recommendations for Future Leaders
A critical analysis of the behavior displayed by Mary Barra as the CEO of GM clearly
indicates the manner in which the leaders are required to lead their teams or the business
24 Barabba, Vincent. "Assessing General Motors’ innovation strategy over three decades using the “Three Box
Solution”." Strategy & Leadership 47, no. 2 (2019): 34-42.

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corporations with which they are associated with. Some of the most important suggestions in this
relation are listed below-
 Situational Leadership Approach: Most of the business leaders in the present times are
following the leadership approach of either the transformation or the transactional
leadership style. However, the major problem arises because of the fact that they are
highly static in nature and thereby do not promote innovation or creativity which is
something that the leaders do not face with the usage of the leadership approach of
situational leadership. More importantly, the adequate usage of the situational leadership
approach helps the leaders to deal with the different situations or the issues that they face
as per the merits of the same and thus it becomes important for the leaders to take the
help of this particular leadership approach.
 Critical Decision Making: The leaders through the usage of this particular skill would
be able to take the kind of decisions which would be beneficial not only from the
perspective of their followers but also the business corporations to which they are
associated with. Thus, it becomes important for the leaders to effectively use the aspect of
critical decision making.
 Usage of the theory of Kantianism: Majority of the leaders take the help of the theory
of Utilitarianism however the requirements of the modern business world had made it
imperative for the leaders to take the help of the theory of Kantianism. Thus, it is likely
that the future leaders through the adequate usage of the theory of Kantianism would be
able to gain a substantial amount of success.

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Conclusion
To conclude, the adequate usage of effective leadership style or approach enables the
leaders to deal with diverse issues or the problems that the business corporations to which they
are related face. This becomes especially important from the perspective of the different issues
that the contemporary business corporations face in the present times. However, for the effective
resolution of the issues, the leaders along with the usage of adequate leadership style are also
required to take the help of critical decision making process and relevant ethical theories. These
aspects of the process of contemporary leadership become apparent from the above analysis of
the same in the particular context of Mary Barra and the issues that GM faced.

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References
Antonakis, John, and David V. Day, eds. The nature of leadership. Sage publications, 2017.
Barabba, Vincent. "Assessing General Motors’ innovation strategy over three decades using the
“Three Box Solution”." Strategy & Leadership 47, no. 2 (2019): 34-42.
Colby, Laura. Road to Power: How GM's Mary Barra Shattered the Glass Ceiling. John Wiley
& Sons, 2015.
DuBrin, Andrew J. Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education, 2015.
Eisenstein, Paul. 2019. "GM Breaks From Tradition With New, Untested Path Under CEO Mary
Barra". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/27/gm-breaks-from-tradition-with-new-untested-
path-under-ceo-mary-barra.html.
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Grint, Keith, Owain Smolovic Jones, Clare Holt, and J. Storey. "What is leadership." The
Routledge companion to leadership(2016): 3.
Klenke, Karin. Qualitative research in the study of leadership. Emerald Group Publishing
Limited, 2016.

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barra-general-motors/.
Mary T. Barra. 2019. Gm.Com. https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/mary-t-barra.html.
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications, 2018.
Rosenbach, William E. Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge, 2018.
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