Report on Ford Motor Company Automaker company

Introduction of Ford Motor Company Automaker company

The intervention was supported by the management of Ford Company because of the manager's interest in the improvement of the information system in the organization. Ford Company had to build capacity in their workplace to the purpose of increase in the sustainability of the company in the targeted market. Before the intervention, Ford management decided to reject anything new and foreign to focus on company’s own capabilities and strengths. Before the intervention of systems thinking (ST) in Ford, the company invited Daniel Kim, Russell Ackoff, and Peter Senge to get detailed information about systems thinking (ST) and its implementation in the organization for the increase in profitability.

Ford Company was capable to secure a high-profit margin, produce remarkable outcomes, and a better communication system in the organization before the intervention of systems thinking (ST). After the intervention of systems thinking (ST), workforce faced many challenges and issues concerning with energized existing mental models and new languages. Although, champions of systems thinking (ST) projects moved outside the organization which was also a reason behind this real-world problem (Seligman, 2005). The paper will discuss the situation at Ford motor company before and after the intervention of systems thinking (ST). Paper will also elaborate on the effectiveness and success of the intervention for Ford Motors Company.          

Analysis of Ford Motor Company Automaker company

In this section of the paper, detailed information about the system thinking, Edison project, and practitioners of Systems Thinking with associated challenges, success factors, and capacity building by systems thinking are presented. Analysis section also consists of information about the results of such efforts and sustainability-related outcomes.   

1)      The Systems thinking at of Ford Motor Company Automaker company

According to the information shared in an article, Ford introduced systems thinking (ST) at Ford workplaces and organizations to integrate all information system working in Ford. Systems thinking (ST) was supported by the managerial staff of Ford because they were focused to reanimate the company's quiescent but vigilant immune system.  A team of 6 to 8 people working on the system improvement project decided to implement a new system known as systems thinking to encourage mental models to think differently about problem generation, solution, and articulation (Vemuri & Bellinger, 2017). The project team also took the support of mentors and teachers to understand cognitive abilities and thinking patterns to begin a new journey of systems thinking (ST) in Ford Company.

The systems thinking (ST) concept was introduced in the company as management was focusing on modification of a behaviour towards the solution of problems and challenges. According to an article, many people working in the Ford factory areas are engineers who are taught in the Newtonian paradigm. Thus these people have limited information and expertise for non-linear systems thinking. Systems thinking (ST) was then presented to enable employees deconstructing problems and change in the thinking models (ZENIUK, 2019).    

2)      The Edison Project of Ford Motor Company Automaker company

Fragmented IT infrastructure of Ford Company was critically reviewed and evaluated in 2003. The project was named as Edison Project because of its purpose to shed light on complexities linked with data transferring process, warehousing system, and building new workplaces for Ford Motors Company. In the shared network serves, Ford Company was facing issues in the integration process. Additionally, in use, IT infrastructure was quite time consuming and costly which was required to change or modify. In this project, the team has a better understanding of issues developed an accurate picture of IT infrastructure to identify and highlight the major weaknesses of network servers working for customers and types of applications developed by employees. Stock and flow computer models and Causal loop diagrams were used as supportive thinking tools by the Edison project team.

Additionally, a new shared server was developed for the improvement of IT infrastructure without blaming a problem or fixing an existing problem. According to the information shared by Seligman in a research article, Edison project team also identified and introduced three major themes related to the successful integration of the project. The project team concluded that the new system can be developed for applications and IT infrastructure through improved technology in assembly line processes and factory based operations. The first theme was technology in this scenario. While on the other hand, the second theme was adoption.

 The second theme was linked with the first theme as it was about the adoption of technology for various business and operational processes. In this theme, customers were encouraged to introduce and implemented their owned infrastructure after the primary identification of their willingness towards software applications and system integration. The Edison Project has significant importance in the history of Ford Motors Company as it had the objective of improvement in the customer interaction and experiences with IT infrastructure by removal of barriers. The second theme was a source to work on this organizational objective or goal. Adoption of the right technology and improvement of integrated servers through the reduction in the complexities linked with application system could generate a positive impact on the relationship between customers and IT department of Ford Motor Company.

While the third most important theme identified by the Edison project team was named as the network effect. In this theme, the project team presented their views about the need for network effects understanding and consecutive advantages for the customers of the company regarding infrastructure defragmentation. Thus, after clear understanding about cost and benefits of these themes project team was capable to take appropriate decision for changes in the IT infrastructures. Research and website based articles written on Edison project of Ford Motor Company also stated that the prime attention behind Edison project was to increase the speed of EV (Electric Vehicle) development (Buss, 2017).                    Ford’s practitioners of Systems Thinking and the challenges

At the time of systems thinking intervention, only a small band of practitioners were working on the projects of Ford Company’s systems thinking. These practitioners had the duties of analyzing the existing thinking models in the company and identifying the gaps for improved thinking models. However, most of these practitioners were working on the small projects and behind the scene rather than working on the front with an active team of ST experts.

Furthermore, to give sense they all shared of being medieval monks preserving the arts and sciences through the Dark Ages. In 2001, situation of systems thinking (ST) was changed in a positive way as Marv Adams took initiative for high visibility systems thinking (ST) based analysis in the company at different levels and started speaking about a wider range of audience about what they learned from the execution of project and management experiences earned from the small IT operational projects. During this time practitioners also used tools including causal loop diagrams (CLDs) and presented benefits of systems thinking (ST) in a big picture form.

These benefits were dependent upon two major decisions. The partial benefits were caused by causal loop diagram use in the systems thinking (ST) projects. Although, remaining partial benefits were caused by this big picture of systems thinking (ST) community. The community of systems thinking (ST) was working on public projects more than private and internal projects of the company. Moreover, in accordance with the shared information by secondary article, practitioners were also interested to start the increase in the IT community of the company throughout the selected period of time.                 

4)      How did they achieve success, if they ever did?

Ford Motors Company achieved success because of improved strategies and efforts of managers. The project team worked on the simplification of the infrastructure and network servers to improve services. Complexity could draw negative impact on the customer experiences and IT infrastructure. Various research and studies have identified complexities to be addressed. Thus in the light of these, it is clear that project addressing all these complexities will further be improved for the ease of customers and IT staff.

Dynamic system tools specially designed for internal programs of the computing infrastructure was commissioned by a research study which was focused on defragmenting. At that time, systems thinking (ST) had also many changes required for the purpose of successful completion. However, apart from all these overall project outcomes were decreased as unanticipated obstacles were removed. Additionally, the decrease in speed of program working also projects unsuccessful experience of systems thinking (ST). The limited success of this project or systems thinking were caused by many additional factors including integration and computing environment.            

5)      State of Ford’s capacity for Systems thinking (how it was built and who was involved?)

The management of the Ford Company was looking forward to enhancing the capacity of the production section and other processing areas to control increased time and cost. Moreover, systems thinking (ST) could provide them with support to accomplish goals for sustainable development in the competitive market. Ford capacity for systems thinking was developed by the introduction of new infrastructure and mental thinking models. There were two major goals were developed in the support of ford’s capacity for systems thinking (Williams, 2010). The goals are enlisted below:

a)      Replace existing mental models with modern mental models

b)      The second goals are linked with the spread of awareness about ST basics.   

6)      Who were Ford’s partners in building Systems Thinking Capacity?

According to the Bremer (2016), Ford Motor Company worked collaboratively with many specialized team members and experts of systems thinking to enhance the capacity of Ford Company (BREMER, 2016). Russel Ackoff was also a mention who presented give major points about the implementation and details of systems thinking (ST). Moreover, Mark Bertolini and Ray Anderson also worked as partners in building systems thinking capacity. Ray used the ecology of commerce to transform interface into an environmental friendly company and increased sustainability.

7)      Were there any takeaways from the experience?

The systems thinking capacity was introduced in Ford motor company that worked for the improvement of services provided by the company. Having worked with the intact teams is important to leverage that considers different policies, procedures and processes. The whole process is designed efficiently to address the requirements of the company. In Ford motor company, it is often considered that the sources are under the immune system and work with the deep structures. The system resists the changes, reward system, financial priorities, appraisal system, and management development strategies. When it comes to taking away the experience from the experienced workers of Ford motor company there is no better opportunity as compared to learning from the direct experience in Ford Company.

In the case of Ford motor company, the worker experience MAP that is multidisciplinary action projects and it can be used to develop real breakthrough (Seligman, 2005). There are different corporation facts of an organization such as history, traditions and services that can be accessed by the workers in Ford motor company. The workers and experienced members of Ford Motor Company are overwhelmed from the number of changes and all the improvement programs. The services are developed to satisfy and increase the skills of workers.

The individuals do not have enough time, commitment and energy to commit the programs alone. The demand for experience is exceeding the capacity due to large scale initiatives. There are some difficulties in getting initiated to implement the guidelines. The services are under the power sources and all workers are connected by a strong relationship. The process enables us to recognize how complex the system was for the workers. The workers operating the complex system have choices to learn more or to take high leverage changes that make a difference in both categories (Vemuri & Bellinger, 2017).  

8)      Evaluate the end result of Ford Motor Company Automaker company

Very often it is observed that many of us working in system thinking and organizational learning community face certain types of frustration. This frustration is related to creating sustainable communities and the corporate environment in the company. The workers and experts of Ford motor company were also facing such kind of issues. In order to reduce their efforts and overcome the challenges, the management introduced practising system thinking that enables to gain an understanding of dynamics of the system. One of the best benefits of practising system thinking is to deal with incontrovertible issues and to develop an integral part of Strategies for Major corporations. In this process, the network effect was developed to benefit infrastructure defragmentation and analyses the change in business that affect services provided by the company. Implementing system thinking improves the power of thinking under a system approach and to generate IT environment for the workers to progress.

Implementation of the new system was to deal with limits to success and induce a positive impact on the leverage point in the system. The system enabled the Ford motor company to develop the capacity of working efficiently. The system is further connected to applications and services unable to implement policies and measurements to improve the services. The model helped the management to identify cost impacts, the position of the business more clearly, developed to an understanding about the benefits regarding the change in the system, and help in building trust between customers and information technology providers in Ford Motor Company.

Eventually, there was an increase in the rate of adoption of systems thinking capacity. The system was beneficial to propose change and how it can be overcome by using different tools in the wider system. On the basis of analysis, it can be concluded that the systems thinking was beneficial to overcome the challenges and thinking process in the companies (Vemuri & Bellinger, 2017).

Conclusion of Ford Motor Company Automaker company

The whole discussion concludes that Ford Motor Company was looking forward to identifying opportunities for expansion and increase in capacity. Increase in capacity could provide Ford financial benefits. Various partners including mentors, teachers, professionals of other organizations and researchers worked collaboratively to present new thinking system and mental models for the future operations of the company. Systems thinking also created problems and issues for the company but also improved customer interaction with the IT infrastructure. Analysis and evaluation concluded that decision was a successful decision. However, we can consider this project success oriented but at a limited extent as it increased some new challenges but also resolved many previous issues faced by customers about application complexities and improper integration of the network servers. The new proposed plan for the infrastructure improvement and capacity enhancement was based on three major themes which includes technology, adoption of technology, and network effects. Analysis conclude that network effect can have several benefits and advantages.       

References of Ford Motor Company Automaker company