Systems Thinking, Theory & Practice at Ford Motors Company Report

This report examines systems thinking, organizational goals, organizational culture, and organizational development within Ford Motors. It begins by defining organizational goals, differentiating between official and operative goals, and emphasizing the importance of goal unity in fostering employee engagement, productivity, and innovation. The report then explores the role of organizational culture in shaping brand image, employee relationships, and ethical behavior, highlighting the positive impact of a strong culture on performance and the potential downsides of a weak culture. Furthermore, the report delves into organizational development, outlining its objectives and the significance of organizational learning in adapting to a changing environment. Finally, it discusses the principles of systems thinking and their effectiveness in management, including the importance of consistency, reciprocity, and feedback in driving employee commitment and performance. The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of how these elements contribute to Ford's success as a learning organization.

RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
Ford Motors Company
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Institution
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
1. Organizational goals
These refer to long-term strategic aims that a firm's top management implements to highlight
expected results and also ensure workers efforts are adhered to. There exist many merits
regarding the establishment of organizational goals (Aktaş, Çiçek & Kıyak, 2011, p.1560) they
typically guide workers efforts and ensure justification of a firms operations and existence,
outline significant performance standards, provision of limitation for pursuing inappropriate
goals. Organization goals are of two different types;
1. Official
2. Operative
The official goals are comprised in the public statements of that particular companies, for
example, the corporate charters, statutory and annual reports. They assist the designing of the
company's public image of goodwill and ensures maintenance of optimum reputation. On the
other hand, operative goals consist of the actual, comprehensive and concrete steps that a certain
firm has prior intentions to undertake in order to highly achieve its future objectives. It is
important for various organizations to continuously communicate their given goals so as to
actively engage the workers in their work activities and also achieve their desired outcomes
(Cameron & Quinn, 2011p.15). While a particular firm can disseminate information regarding its
goals through the correct use of formal channels, the most efficient and direct method to
accomplish this is through the utilization of workers director supervisors. This top-level manager
an opportunity to work with the company staff closely to ensure the growth and development of
smart goals that usually align themselves with the company goals. Vital organizations goals can
also comprise of both employee and management performance goals. They also include goals
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
relating to productivity, profitability, innovativeness, technological advancements, increased
market share control, and social responsibilities (Chirico & Nordqvist, 2010, p.487).
Organization goals unity involves the unity of purpose that has a relatively powerful effect of
creating appropriate work for employees with a key mission and sense of direction for the
ultimate success of the whole company. It has the ability to bring together distinct employees
with different skills, backgrounds, disciplines, cultural values aimed at offering different effort
specializations, goal unity are support structures with the role of mobilizing various
employees ,knowledge, skills, an area of expertise in order to foster continuous innovation,
creativity and overall scalability (Cummings & Worley, 2014,p.134). It acts as a collaborative
community that has strong trust and cohesion thus increase the flexibility of an organization. It
also bridges the unity gap existing in the management.
There exists goal unity at Ford Motors Company which is properly utilized to reduce the unity
gap hence contributing a more diverse organization culture. It leads to increased productivity,
health standards, high achievement and maximum customer focus at Ford It also has positive
impacts on the shareholders as innovation, talent and performance of the staff is ultimately
increased Dixon, 2017 p.66).
At Ford, goal unity has led to teamwork and collectiveness. It has diversified the employee
thinking, experience, values and abilities thus increasing the performance of their delegated
duties. It has also increased specialization and division of labor thus performance maximization
(Hartnell & Kinicki, 2011, p.677).
Goal unity gives a sense of time, saves on Ford's resources. This leads to decreased extra costs
incurred in advertisements and marketing of vehicles. It also ensures future plans are advocated
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
for and ensures wise decision-making process of Ford's top management. It has strategized on
ways to counter competition in the market ensuring that Ford controls a larger market share in
the economy and controls a wide range of clientele network.
2. Role of organizational culture
Organizational culture involves a group of given values, beliefs, a behavioral characteristic that
typically designed, evaluated, analyzed and properly maintained by the organizational managers
and implemented by all the other employees. They are basic values or company climate that is
perceived differently by the existing firms (Linnenluecke & Griffiths, 2010, p.357). For instance,
Ford Motor Company has realized its importance and spend resources in order to ensure
improvement or sustenance of a positive cultural development in the company. It quite evident
that employees from the enterprise having built a relatively strong organizational culture usually
acquire a sense of belonging, active engagement, commitment, and team leadership.
The following consist of the different roles and responsibilities that an organizational culture
plays in the overall performance of its key operations.
Organization culture makes a huge effort in the creation of a brand image of god will and
increased the reputation of the company (Naranjo, Jiménez & Sanz, 2011 p.55). The work
activity culture provides it with an identity thus making it be worldwide known by a huge
network of prospective clientele as a result of its good culture.
The organizational culture is used to shape the manner in which workers relate and interact at
their given workplace for example offices. A positive work culture enhances the continued
encouragement of employees in order to increase their motivation, commitment, and loyalty to
the top managerial level. Moreover, the organizational working culture promotes healthy
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
interrelationship networks among the workers. It also ensures healthy and ethical competition in
the workplace. It is the key factor behind the art of motivating the workers in order to perform
their work duties diligently.
The organizational culture aids in building an empire and an emotional attachment to the firm as
a whole. It is used to cultivate a sense of belonging and commitment towards the company and
also contributes to the development of a sense of unity and harmonious relationship at the
company's workplace.
It is evident that various companies have a clear set of guidelines that help influence and control
the staff and other employees. In this case, the organization culture is significant in the
representation of some specific predefined guideline framework and policies enacted that control
employee and offer them a sense of direction the available workplace (Pervin, 2015, p.77). Every
worker understands clearly about his key delegated duties, roles, and responsibilities in the
company and knows the easiest but sure ways of accomplishing the given tasks successfully
ahead of the assigned deadline. In addition, such policies and procedures assist in the creation of
positive habits and behaviors of employees thus making them successful professionals.
Ford Motors organizational culture largely influences the company's drive towards increased
performance in order to greatly achieve its future vision and global industrial leadership.
Conversely, Ford Motors Company properly utilizes its corporate culture to enhance
maintenance of a relatively high-performance workforce (Pettigrew, 2014, p.40).As one of the
largest key players in the global automobile market, the firm requires to sustain high productivity
and effective aid for both advanced technological and innovative process. These requirements
are fully met through analyses of Ford's culture that incorporates its vision and mission
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
statements emphasizing on excellent performance and teamwork capabilities. The following
forms up the features of Fords culture.
Fostering both functional and technical excellence. This plays a key role in innovation and drives
higher performance. It has programs that enhance learning and sharing of ideas.
Own working together. This plays a role in ensuring teamwork and employee knowledge and
skills development.
Role model Ford business values. Role in the building of motives or behavior among workers
like integrity and Respect. It also focuses on quality assurance and safety of employees.
Delivering of expected results. This culture plays a role in the effectiveness of customer
satisfaction and the achievement of its business partnership goals. These motivate workers by
insisting on responsibility and accountability and also optimizes on financial performance (Saz-
Carranza & Ospina 2010, p.328).
However, adopting a weak organizational culture can result in reduced unity thus less teamwork
in the firm. It also reduces the business synergy capabilities. It will cause an inflexible culture
that lowers the resilience levels of employees. This will lead to weak problem-solving process.
A weak culture will lower productivity by discouraging hard work. It will also lead to constant
conflicts through unethical and unfair workplace competition and behaviors
3. Organizational development
This concept refers to the study of successful company change and increased performance. It
focuses on aligning companies with an immensely changing environment through organizational
knowledge and transforming norms and values. Some of the key concepts of Organizational
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
development are an organizational personality for instance attitudes, norms, beliefs, strategies,
changes, progress, positive values, behavioral characteristic, and organizational subculture.
It involves, therefore, the art or practice of a systematic and key process that ensures the
implementation of the effective company change. It takes into accou8nt the understanding and
management of organizational change (Schein, 2010, p.156). The objectives of OD are as
follows;
 Increasing the level of interpersonal relationships and trust among workers
 Maximize the level of workers job satisfaction and commitment capabilities
 To enhance the ability to counter problematic issues in the company rather than avoiding
them
 Easy management of employee conflict in an organization.
 To ensure optimum conditions for cooperation and collaboration among workers.
 To enact policies that will contribute to problem-solving, decision-making process that
will improvise the offsetting operation and strategic activities in a company on a daily
basis
There exist organizational programs which are aimed at making the employees in a particular
organization become aware of the underlying vision and mission thus making them conform to
such vision factors.
They also build strong interpersonal employee trust, cooperation, and effective communication
in order to achieve the company goals. It encourages every employee to actively involve and
participate in the strategic goal planning process thus creating a conducive environment that
makes workers accept drastic changes.
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
Organizational learning involves the process of creating, retaining and transfer of knowledge
within a particular organization. Its focus on organization improvement through continuous gain
of experience and knowledge that are meant for the overall organization betterment. Some of the
organizational learning includes methods that raise the product efficacy or development of
private investor's relations with the company. Skills and knowledge are gained at employees,
group, organizational and inter-organization levels.
Organization learning is determined by learning curves that optimizes the productivity,
efficiency, reliability and increased the quality of products and returns. It is important since it
helps an organization competitiveness in a rapidly changing environment.
It can be used to increase the efficiency of performance, accuracy, and profits. This is done
through having high technological advancement knowledge in order to ensure increased sales
volume. Learning knowledge can be used to identify the strengths and opportunities of the firm.
They are able to identify effective means of marketing and reaching a wide range of potential
customers.
Ford is rapidly learning organization. Evidently in the modern world and changing global
environment, Fords vision and mission development has helped shape its culture thus driving and
sustaining its success for a long time horizon. Its learning campaign dubbed "built Ford Tough
and one Ford indicate its strength of both leadership and management abilities (Selznick, 2011,
p.225)... The strong forces existing in Ford drive it forward and ensure a creative solution to
problems arising. It has provided insights and knowledge that enable Ford Company to stay
aboard the stiff competitive economic times. It also stabilizes the management in preserving and
stabilizing the Motor Company regardless of political and legal forces.
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
4. Principles of systems thinking and their effectiveness for management
Systems thinking are ways of critical thinking that help individuals to analyze the various
relationships between several system parts in order to clearly understand a situation in an
organization that needs better decision making process and creativity.
The consistency that develops commitment. This strengthens the beliefs, attitude and behavioral
relationship of employees in order to enhance their loyalty and commitment levels in the
workplace.
Embracement of Reciprocity. Reciprocating the employee's efforts in carrying out their duties is
important. This is done through rewarding and motivation thus increasing the performance in an
n company. The employees get satisfied with the job and gain a positive attitude since the
management is appreciating their work.
Use of feedback to direct and motivate. Giving employees immediate feedback means that the
management is concerned with the welfare of the employees. The management can respond to
concerns, conflicts or matters affecting employees, grievances and their decision when involved
directly in the decision making process. This shows that management shares the ideas of the
employees. It is important since it helps them acquire knowledge through training programs for
the overall performance of the organization (Thompson, 2017, p.77).
Some of the disciplines include;
Personal Mastery. This involves employees focusing their energies patience and sense of reality
to highly deepen the vision of the company.
Mental models. This indicates how employees understand the workplace,
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
Building a shared vision. It ensures the creation of inspiring leadership capacities that increase
performance in a company
Team learning. This increase the commitment of top managers in a particular organization.
5. How change can be implemented in an organization
Through management support for change. Workers often develop comfort when they discover
that the management is really supporting the changing process. It is important for top managers
to show full support and indicate that fact through constant staff communication and interaction.
A consistency that develops a commitment
Through case for change. This is created form various dataset sources taken from client
satisfaction surveys, employees satisfaction surveys and various goals. This is done as a result of
a changing planning session like the budgetary period to realize some initiatives that require
adjustments.
Employee involvement. A worker should actively participate in the changing work process and
new areas that need to cut on unnecessary extra 4expenses.
Communicating the change. Is should be done in a structured and systematic way. Through
maximum and rampant communication strategies, the employees are able to understand the
emerging changing tends and their significance as well as decrease the levels of resistance
among the workers (Zheng, Yang & McLean, 2010, p.766).
Constant follow-up and removal of barriers. This involves the way of assessing the manner in
which the changing is working and identifying whether it will deliver the expected results.
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
Change can also be implemented by creating awareness and regular training of the employees.
This is done through change programs that provide employees with the necessary knowledge and
skills in preparedness of the anticipated change.
Change can also be implemented by providing a conducive and a rapidly changing environment.
Flexible techniques should be used so that the organization and employees can adapt and adjust
to the changes without causing any difficulties.
Dealing with resistance
o Overcoming the opposition
o Encouraging active participation and effective engagement of employees in the change
and decision-making process.
o Offer adequate resources and proper timing
o Communicate change effectively and implement the changes in step by step stages
o Understanding the true nature and characteristic of the anticipated changes
o Emphasis based on new upcoming standards of performance for employees. This makes
the staff change and thinks differently in a positive manner.
o Make clear of the expected benefits and rewards
o Top executives should meet the staff and acknowledge their ideas and attention
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
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RUNNING HEADER: Systems Thinking, theory & practice
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