The cardinal rule I learned in MBA school to earn a Corporate Finance degree, was that I work for the shareholder - my actions are unbiased, and I protect shareholder wealth with proper decisions. Unfortunately, that can’t happen within the caustic environment of Ford management.
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My experience, and I know that of many others. Honesty, truth, doing the right thing for the company, and following process is NOT valued or rewarded at Ford. In fact, you WILL be punished and harassed into submission all with the support and buyin of HR. Even in the face of clear violation of process, HR will simply brush over the facts, flip the script, and hide behind the manager and say you clearly have an attitude problem. HR is the whipping tool of our bad Ford management. The goal is always to get an employee to give up and become a mindless follower. Once you submit, you are then considered a model employee. Once I began keeping all opinion, ideas, and feedback silent; I became a top achiever. Mouth shut no matter what you see is the model behavior which is why we have so many quality and launch problems. Regardless of the CEO, as long as people live in such a high level of fear and stress, things will not change. AND they won't change regardless of how many new "kids" you hire because the Ford culture created and maintained by HR and senior management refuses to see they are the root cause.
@3lpv Is right
All the people who stand up and do the right thing get selected for lay-off actions
This includes
The people who tell the truth to auditors (while superiors cover up issues)
The people who tell the truth about project status.
The people who tell the truth when asked about project viability.
Most who get selected for lay-off because they were true to themselves and the truth are ok with it because they are unwilling to be untrue to themselves.
The honorable people self select to leave or are selected for lay-off.
The dis honorable people multiply. What is the old saying? Birds of a feather flock together.
@3dzr That's all good until you're part of an SRD. Or poor evaluations. Or blacklisted. Or denied that promotion and/or incentive.
Ford is basically one huge good ole boys network. Follow the unwritten rules and tow the line and you're good. If you don't......
All you s— ups and slave mentality!!! F the boss and his/her boss. Life is short! Do what's right and don't worry about the s— up bosses.
Ford is a jurassic dying disaster of a company.
C-ap products and lame logo. Loose the oval already.
DTF Wind tunnel, UAW mite want to consider taking that disaster over, Ford management should investigate that place, the people that run the garage are kindergarten c— smiths with zero education.
Yes, don't talk to him.
I would agree with the comments around culture of fear and backstabbing.
I worked for one LL6 who ran smear campaigns against anyone others admired. He was very good at getting others to repeat nonsense that ruined people’s careers.
I worked for another LL6 who use to threaten to get you fired if you didn’t follow him blindly. He forced the team to work 12 hour days literally every calendar day for 6 months because he over promised a deliverable. The whole while he promised that we were accruing comp time off the books that we could take later in the year. Everyone planned to have Oct-Dec off. Then come Oct he claimed we had all made it up and we were owed no comp time. The team went to the LL5 and the LL6 lied and denied everything. LL5 backed the LL6. Half the team quit, the other half sat and did nothing for 6 months to recoup the time from the forced death march.
Both of these tools still are LL6 at Ford, and still behaving the same way. I transferred to another area.
I’m an LL6 who has been given a number of special assignments directly from my LL3. He would also contact me directly with questions, sometimes on the weekend. In my 1:1s with my LL5 I‘d share the status of the “special assignments” as if it was just another assignment. I never mentioned the questions. My LL5 was never pleased to hear about the assignments and I would explain that it wouldn’t be good for either of us if we refused or made a big deal of it. It was always an uncomfortable situation because I didn’t feel I could refuse or let it impact my other assignments. I never discussed my LL5 or LL4 with the LL3 because that would not end well for anyone. If I was asked about the status of something unrelated to my assignment I would parrot what I’d heard in the last staff meeting. I suppose my discomfort with the special assignments speaks volumes about the Ford culture.
PIece of advice - no matter how much you may hate or mistrust your people leader, always tak to them first no matter what level you are at in the company.
Yes, Ford has an open door policy; however, you should only approach the next up management in extreme cases. To do so on a regular basis is not good for one’s reputation. Also, as someone else alluded to, even if your next up seeks you out, you need to be very apolitical and don’t air dirty laundry to them.... that will make things worse in your area, not better.
@1gcp+17BnVVna I think the point what many of the posts here are describing is the culture at Ford of the really bad behavior of many in Ford management. Behavior that is very much rewarded and promoted. Worked many places in my career and have never seen such cut throat behind the scenes behavior. I think it is very much due to the climate of fear of constant headcount cutting over the past 20 years. I also think Ford really wants its employees to be in a constant state of fear. That they somehow think it is getting them better performance. As we well know, and studies have show, it doesn't. All it does it stifle creativity, sow fear, and encourages people to live their work days like they are in the Hunger Games.
I've been reading the posts on this site for several years now and thankfully have not experienced much of what some of the commenters have posted. I would never attempt to disparage any supervisor to his boss except in extreme and dire circumstances i.e. health and safety concerns. In the same instant I would not avoid conversation with any person higher up on my management chain. What should I be afraid of? A little professional courtesy can pay dividends into the future. My impression is that some of the posters seem to feel life (corporate life) is fair but it really is not. If your in a bad situation you have two choice wait it out or find something else to do. I've done this for the 17 years that I've been at Ford this time, and for the most part have been pretty satisfied with the outcomes.
Talking to boss's boss is not a good thing.
When I was new, I was once asked by my boss's boss to get something done on an email and she cc'd my boss. I promptly got it done. I sent an email back the next day saying it is done and again cc'd my boss on the email.
In my next 1-1 my boss said out of nowhere - "talk to anyone you want ok, I am ok with you talking directly with without even asking me, good job". I took it as sarcasm and when I spoke with a few collogues I was told that's what it was meant to be taken as.
@fov Are kidding me? Did you read my comment while guzzling whisky? I am not a backstabber because I do not indulge his questions about people and I never go to him to complain about my id–t boss. I answer his questions about the status of projects and nothing more. You may want to take a remedial reading class.
The code at Ford is though shalt not talk to anyone outside of your supervisor and your immediate coworkers. All other communication should go thru channels your supervisor sanctions.
That being said it goes against my personal moral code so if a Ford employee asks me for help I help them no matter who they are. If you have a good boss they will be supporting of this. But most at Ford will not.
I have had my bosses boss ask technical questions which I answer. I have had my bosses boss ask questions about personnel which I politely decline to answer. I feel bad about not telling my bosses boss what’s up with personnel, but that is tattle tailing, and my current boss is a flaming xhole and everyone knows it including his boss. He just needs to have the courage to address the xhole.
@ahj+17BnVVna so you do understand that the reason your boss's boss comes to you to find out what's going on makes you one of the despicable backstabbing people referenced on this site. Just because YOU don't seek him out DOESN'T forgive your behavior. Also, keep in mind that your boss's boss likely doesn't trust you because if you're selling out your boss and peers, you'd sell them out too.
My boss's boss comes to me to talk about whats going on. I dont seek him out because I have nothing to say to him on a personal level and I am certainly not going to tell him that my immediate boss has their head in the clouds.