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Case Study 2Case Study 2Homegrown Talent: Mary Barra Rises to GM’s Top PostWhen Mary Barra was a kid, she used to hang out in the garage with her dad tinkering oncars. Little did her father, a lifelong die-maker for GM’s Pontiac division, know that hisdaughter would one day become the CEO of the company and the first woman ever to leada major U.S. car manufacturer. But that’s what happened in 2013. Barra was unanimouslychosen by the board members of General Motors to lead the company—a decisionemployees cheered when they heard about it over the loudspeakers at corporateheadquarters. Maybe they cheered because unlike GM’s previous two CEOs, Barra wasone of them. Having worked in multiple departments at GM since she was 18, she knowsthe car business through and through. “There’s nobody with more years of honest ‘car guy’credentials than she has,” says Ross Gordon in the Ross School of Business at theUniversity of Michigan.Barra, who grew up in a Detroit suburb, initially began working for GM in the 1980s as partof a work-study program. In this program, which is also referred to as a co-op program,students alternate working full time (for pay) and going to college. She earned anundergraduate degree in electrical engineering and GM later sent her to Stanford, whereshe got an MBA. During her career she has rotated through various positions at GM.Besides working in engineering and design, she managed one GM’s manufacturing plantsand most recently was the senior vice president for global product development and qualitycontrol. Under her watch, the company has rolled out successful models that have helpedbring the company back out of bankruptcy during the latest economic recession.Barra has a reputation for getting results. Not only does she know cars, she knows peopleand how to manage them. When an updated version of the Chevy Malibu flounderedbecause of design and other problems, she mobilized a team of employees and found away to fix the Malibu in record time. Her great people management skills might explain whywhen GM was going through bankruptcy, she was put in charge of human resources forGM, an area she had never worked in before. GM hoped putting her in the job wouldprevent key talent from heading for the exits during the bankruptcy process. It did and GMbounced back. In 2016, GM sold more than 10 million vehicles worldwide, and its netincome exceeded $9 billion. GM’s Chevy Volt was named North American Car of the Year in2017, and the company announced a partnership to develop on-demand, self-drivingvehicles in conjunction with the ride-sharing company Lyft. In short, the company is on a roll.Sue Meisinger, formerly the president and CEO of the Society of Human ResourcesManagement, says that Barra’s being named CEO underscores the importance of HRpersonnel working in and understanding different areas of their firms. “If you’re interested ina career path that extends beyond HR, you need to have experience in multiple facets ofthe business,” Meisinger says. She notes that for many HR professionals, their crowningachievement is to be the head of HR. Barra’s rise to CEO, however, will have many of theseprofessionals shifting their career goals.Questions1. Mary Barra’s father worked at General Motors. Was her hiring an example ofnepotism? If you were a business owner, would you want to hire relatives ofyour employees? What would the pros and cons of doing so be?2. What role did Mary Barra play in advancing her career? What role did GMplay in “growing” her career?
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