The case of NUMMI – a GM & Toyota collaboration in the 1980’s – is a unique look into how OB concepts impact organizational systems and decision making at all levels of an organization. Understanding what happened at the NUMMI plant and why it didn’t transfer to other GM plants in the US requires knowledge and application of a variety of OB concepts and topics we’ve discussed this semester, including individual and cultural differences, teamwork, management style, interpersonal relationships and communication, job performance, job satisfaction and engagement, job design, and voice & participative decision making among many others.

Listen (Links to an external site.) to the background on the NUMMI case or read the transcript (Links to an external site.), conduct additional background research as needed (please cite!), and then apply the knowledge and theory you’ve learned this semester in several of aforementioned topic areas to answer the following questions about Freemont, the Japanese Toyota plant, NUMMI, and the Van Nuys plant.

1. Conduct a basic organizational culture diagnosis of the original Freemont plant.
2. Conduct a basic organizational culture diagnosis of the Japanese Toyota plant.
3. How did organizational culture change from the original Freemont plant to NUMMI even with the same employees working there?
4. The goal of NUMMI was to pilot the “Toyota Way” at GM. Using what you’ve learned about organizational culture, structure, and change explain why the manufacturing plant at Van Nuys did not have the same results as the NUMMI plant.
5. What role, if any, did the ASA Model play in improving the quality of GM products following the NUMMI pilot?
6. Since 2015, GM has continued to decline in both the US and global market share of automobile sales. Today, they face stiff competition from brands that are leaning in to new innovations and green technology. If GM decided to change their organizational culture significantly today to try to meet those challenges, what three things would you recommend they do in order to ensure a smooth change process?

Your culture diagnosis report up should be approximately 8-10 standardly formatted pages (double-spaced, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins, 12 point font, in text citations as appropriate with full references at the end). It is probably easiest to write this as an essay, but you may also answer each question individually if you would prefer. Writing significantly under or over the page limit will result in a 10-point deduction. Your culture diagnosis report is due to Canvas by Friday, Dec. 13th at 11:59 pm. No late submissions will be accepted, no exceptions.