Bob Galvin Case Analysis Essay

Running head: BOB GALVIN AND MOTOROLA, INC,

A Case Analysis of
Bob Galvin and Motorola, Inc.1

Euronda Jefferson
MBAE 5313 Leading and Managing Change
East Texas Baptist University
May 2015
Case Synopsis
Motorola was a very large company with 75,000 employees and a huge organizational structure (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). They covered the entire United States and 15 foreign countries. One concern in this case comes from the fact that there are too many layers of management. There were nine to twelve layers between the first line managers and the executive level (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). The average manager supervises five people or fewer in most cases. Thirty percent of leadership managed three people or less (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). Another issue was the multilateral reporting structure between Bob Galvin, CEO/Chairman, William Weisz, Vice Chairman, and John Mitchell, President (Jick & Peiperl, 2011) .Motorola’s management wanted one single voice, style and direction (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). Do away with three leaders with differentiated views, style and direction. Japanese competition was another macro issue that Motorola had to contend with. With Japanese technology expanding and trade practices relaxed or non-existent, all were considered a threat to Motorola. Japan was selling products at less than fair value to rapidly increase their market share (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). To help alleviate the issue, Bob Galvin worked on a federal foreign trade committee to fight unfair trade practices and protectionism (Jick & Peiperl, 2011).
Due to Motorola’s huge structure and 75,000 employees, any relaxed working environment is going to be cause for some problems. One of the issues is that a relaxed atmosphere does not do well in regards to timely production requirements and forward thinking initiatives. Add in all the management layers and there is an organization such as Motorola struggling to meet customer demands and product fulfillment requirements. Another micro issue is the belief from lower level management that Bob Galvin’s sense of urgency in regards to change is unclear (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). Lower level management wasn’t willing to take Bob Galvin serious due to all the uncertainty as to what was meant by “change.” Bob Galvin’s biggest problem in selling his change idea was the “status quo: Managers here are scientist. They see themselves and the sector as renegades on the leading edge of technology, but when it comes to management and productivity measures, they stick with ‘what worked before (Jick & Peiperl, 2011).’” With this type of managerial resistance, it would be difficult for any company to implement change. Bob Galvin’s challenge was all the more prevailing because no one was certain what he was proposing. “Was this a major radical call to action or only a proposal for new executive training (Jick & Peiperl, 2011)?”
The organizational structure was the first and most obvious affected. The structure went from being centralized to a decentralized organizational map. The numerous layers of management were downsized. This came as a shock to employees as the previous vision was to keep all operations centralized and had been the practice since 1928 (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). Many of the organization’s top leaders did not share Bob Galvin’s sense of urgency concerning competitive issues. Why induce change after a great year that saw a half billion increase in sales?
Psychosocial issues in this case stem from the employees feeling the sense of being over-managed and under-directed. Take out all the layers and employees will feel a sense of empowerment. Another psychosocial issue in this case is Motorola was built on trust and good faith. Motorola was good to their employees and maintained a good working relationship. They treated each employee with respect and dignity and maintained an open door atmosphere in regards to communication. They continued to offer opportunities for training and development such a

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