GM: Maintaining support 1
GM: Sustaining Support in Times of Diminution
Dawn Smith
OMDE 608
Brindley & Walti
November 24, 2008
University of Maryland University College
GM: Maintaining support 2
GM: Sustaining Support in Times of Diminution
This paper was written in response to a prior, unpublished, group case study on GM’s educational
infrastructure. The work is titled, General Motors: A case study on distance education and was
written by a group of students enrolled in a Masters of Distance education course through the
University of Maryland University College. The work was written in 2008 by authors: Carter,
myself (Smith), Ruddek, Suarez, Sudol, and Tipple. All General Motors (GM) sources cited in this
paper were compiled by this group but are cited according to their original documentation.
General Motors University (GMU) is one of the largest corporate educational programs in
the world, training and educating GM employees, their families, and retirees (GMU, para. 3). GM
has a longstanding commitment to employee education which has connected them to a vast
amount of educational resources. According to Carter et al’s (2008) group case study GM’s
educational practices, now, with the current financial crisis, require a fresh look and a reworking of
their system. From the case study’s data, GM’s long standing dedication to education, and robust
educational infrastructure that has resulted from it, will be a great determinate to their organization
holding firm in the midst of inevitable downgrades. This paper will explore GM and GMU’s
current circumstances and propose a downsizing of their educational opportunities (tuition
assistance, courses offered), as well as a the substitution of traditional courses to online or distance
learning (DL) and the increased use of GM’s corporate blog for training purposes.
Overall goals of the proposed support system
GM’s values and educational philosophy are important to consider when proposing a new support
system for their facility. Their values according to the Corporate Responsibility Report (2007)
include engineering and manufacturing for a “greener” GM, maintaining employee and public
safety, and effectively cutting future corporate cost. These values fall strategically into place with
GM: Maintaining support 3
their educational philosophy; “learning enables business performance through the development of
mission-critical skills and capability” (Corp Resp Report, para. 2). With GM’s commitment and
goals clearly identified as ‘developing mission-critical skills,’ and maintaining a safe and ‘green’
work environment and automobile, it won’t be hard for the corporation to assess and refocus their
training to meet these standards and reduce training in other, non-goal focused areas.
In the current economic climate GM management will be required to reduce costs and
streamline benefits like education, making a ‘new’ learner support system more important than
ever. This proposal is both a restructuring and a downgrading of their current system with the goal
of reducing unnecessary training expenditure while maintaining what Anderson calls the
cognitive, affective and systemic services (2004). The focus will be on reducing the training that is
not critical to GM operations, such as courses offered by GMU and other partnering universities.
Currently the company provides annual funding to 30 key institutions that provide programs of
interest to GM, as well as over 25 incentive scholarships (GMU, 2008). Additionally they offer
graduate-level interns and co-ops access to housing, transportation, and travel expenses during
their time with GM. These areas of expenditure are examples of some of the programs that could
be suspended in the future in order to provide GM with a realistic opportunity to remain
competitive during the financial crisis.
Any changes should also include shifting applicable training to the online or distance
learning (DL) environment allowing learners a variety of benefits including “access to books,
research journals, preprints, corporate and government reports and other documents” at a fraction
of the cost (Anderson, 2004). GM’s Corporate Responsibility Report (2007) identifies the
advantages to this type of training:
In 2005, more than 600,000 participants, including GM employees
and dealers, received approximately 1.7 million hours of training
GM: Maintaining support 4
with 23 percent of the hours spent in traditional classrooms, 34
percent on web-based learning, and nearly 43 percent on DL. By
increasing the use of e-learning and DL, GM saved approximately
$8 million in productivity costs.
Two years later, however, GM noted a near reversal of these numbers stating that of the same
number of participants involved “71% of the hours were spent in traditional classrooms, 28% on
web-based learning and 2% on interactive distance learning” (GMU, 2008). These findings
indicate that GM already has much of the structure and faculty in place to administer an increased
amount of online and DL courses, but have not solidified and institutionalized the advantages of
the DL model. With this being the case, and GM’s 2005/2006 corporate responsibility report
clearly identifying its monetary advantage, GM can easily scale back traditional courses and
transfer others to this format as well. The objectives of this support system would include:
1) Maintaining the current internal educational structure.
2) Reducing expenditure by eliminating unnecessary (not job specific) courses,
degrees and certificates.
3) Reducing expenditure through temporary suspension of tuition assistance and
university funding.
4) Transferring applicable courses to an online or DL curriculum.
5) Promoting increased use of the corporate blog for employee training purposes.
Elements of the current and future system
Currently GM offers a variety of educational resources including substantial occupational training,
partnerships and subcontracting with private universities and unions, and the creation of their own
educational institution, General Motors University (GMU). GM uses these facilities to focus on
training employees in areas such as: foundation skills, job specific or process-related techniques,
management and leadership development, and on-the-job training (GMU, para. 8). GMU also
GM: Maintaining support 5
offers programs allowing not only their workers but also their families and retired workers access
to lifelong learning opportunities. While this is a huge advantage for GM employees, reducing or
temporarily suspending funding to non-workers and non-work related courses, while increasing
the focus on necessary training for GM operations, is essential to their survival.
How to organize and staff the services
GM uses its 14 colleges in the US and Europe to build diverse partnerships which will allow them
to provide diverse consumers with appropriate transportation. By providing European suppliers
with location specific training and point of consumption work locations, GM posits that they save
a substantial amount of time and money that would otherwise be used to ship assembled vehicles
to dealer locations (Carter et al., 2008). The proposed support system will reduce or eliminate
training at some of the 14 colleges but will maintain and merge necessary training to existing,
high-traffic, learning facilities. With these priorities in mind, GM corporation will maintain its
crucial locations in Europe thereby enhancing their future global outreach and allowing them to
maintain a competitive edge in their industry.
How to achieve the goals and objectives within the existing resources
Because of GMU’s existing online and DL infrastructure the shift to more online or distance
learning courses would be achieved with the money saved in the temporary suspension of
unnecessary courses and degrees as well as the suspension of tuition assistance and the funding of
partnering universities. Although suspending some items would affect workers, its temporary
nature and the continued educational benefits of DE courses would ultimately affect workers very
little.
As stated in Carter et al. (2008) GM also promotes employee learning through their home
for corporate blogs. These learning communities focus on seven areas of interest within the GM
GM: Maintaining support 6
family ranging from vehicles to leadership and more. By promoting the use of the blog as a tool for
employee training GM can reduce the cost of training even further. Although blogs are not
considered academic in nature they do offer a form of training that the academic classroom does
not always employ. Blackmun and Thibodaux (2004) say that these types of learning communities
offer staff members a more egalitarian form of learning; this form of learning allows employees to
explore subject matter through the contribution of other employees, to improve their
understanding of a topic, and to move forward with a fresh perspective or approach on a topic. This
interactive element is not only practical but also constantly available, and can have a more
significant and immediate impact on learning than a classroom environment allows.
How to evaluate the proposed practice
In order to evaluate the support system it must be measured against the corporate goals of efficient
job training, worksite and vehicle safety, and environmental responsibility. University and
Corporate staff would achieve this by completing an evaluation of their existing structures in order
to prioritize which key features to retain. This process can be facilitated by the following guiding
questions:

Which courses are specifically geared toward fundamental GM procedures?

Will the internal educational structure withstand the removal of these courses?

How much money would be saved by cutting out certain courses, tuition assistance and outside
university funding?

Would the money saved cover the cost of converting existing courses to the online or DL
environment?
In order to ensure a successful downgrade attention would need to be paid to monitoring
expenditure, income, and employee efficiency. This information would then allow GM executives
GM: Maintaining support 7
to see if their revised educational philosophy is meeting their new institutional goals.
Rationale/conclusions
The changes recommended here will require a determined effort by GM management in order to
keep the benefits of a robust educational system while at the same time reducing cost. This will
mean that employees will have to sacrifice benefits they thought were secure. While not easy,
these changes are necessary considering the current state of the nations financial situation, and the
medium-term outlook for the automotive industry. By focusing on providing quality distance
education in areas of vital competitive importance while efficiently utilizing the strength of their
current infrastructure, GM and its employees can look forward to maintaining the reciprocal
benefits of an educated workforce. These benefits are inline with GM’s educational goals of
“enhancing business performance through the development of mission-critical skills” and provide
the path to GM’s corporate goals of “engineering and manufacturing for a “greener” GM,
maintaining employee and public safety, and effectively cutting future corporate cost” (Corp Resp
Report, para. 2). This educational restructuring package provides GM with the chance of meeting
this not only as a challenge, but also as an opportunity.
References:
Anderson, T. (2004). Student services in a networked world. In Brindley, J.E., Walti, C.
& Zawacki-Richter, O. (Eds.), Learner support in open, distance and online
learning environments (p. 95-108). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks-und Informationssystme
der Universitat Oldenburg.
Blackmun, E.V., & Thibodaux, P.P. (2004) "Learning Communities" Learner Support in
Open, Distance and Online Enrironments by Jane E. Brindley, Christine Walti
and
Olaf Zawacki-Richter, Editors. Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Universitat
Oldenburg, 2004.
GM: Maintaining support 8
Carter, K., Ruddek, C., Smith, D., Suarez, C., Sudol, T., & Tipple, R. (2008). General
Motors: A case study on distance education. Unpublished manuscript.
General Motors Corporation. (2007). 2005/06 Corporate responsibility report. Retrieved
October 30, 2008, from http://www.gm.com/corporate/responsibility/reports/06/
700_social/4_forty/740.html
General Motors University. (2008). Student Center. Retrieved November 20, 2008,
from
http://www.gm.com/corporate/careers/student_center.jsp?p=scholarships
General Motors University. (2008). Life at GM. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from
http://www.gm.com/corporate/careers/life_at_gm.jsp?p=gmu
Appendix
General Motors: A Case Study on Distance Education
Founded a century ago, General Motors (GM) is a global automobile production company that
employs over 250,000 workers . GM requires substantial occupational training to maintain
operations and has developed a variety of ways to train its employees including ‘subcontracting’ to
private universities and the creation of a self-contained learning institution, General Motors
University (GMU). Global collaboration is currently a top priority for GM. Through ICT, the
company can recruit, hire, and train, a culturally and educationally diverse workforce worldwide.
This workforce can help GM to meet its goals of engineering and manufacturing for a “greener”
GM, maintaining employee and public safety, and effectively cutting costs during these
challenging times (GM Corporate Responsibility, 2007). GM’s philosophy surrounding workforce
learning and development is, “Learning enables business performance through the development of
mission-critical skills and capability” (Corp Resp Report, para. 2).
GM Learner Characteristics
GM: Maintaining support 9
GM’s size and scope place heavy demands on the GM training department to meet a broad
spectrum of learner needs. The learner characteristics breakdown into three general categories:
1) Employees with a strong educational background (graduate and undergraduate) who need to
continuously learn leading edge-techniques to enhance their personal and organizational
effectiveness; these employees are very comfortable with learning and utilizing educational
technology.
2) Employees with a solid educational background (undergraduate and high-school) who
GM wants to train in company management, process and technology techniques; these
employees are typically at the first or middle-management level and fairly comfortable
with learning and utilizing technology.
3) Employees with high-school or lower education whom GM wants to train in jobspecific tasks; these employees have limited educational and technological skills and
thus require a high level of support.
GM Training
Key learning outcomes for GM employees are focused on areas such as: foundation skills
training, job-specific/process-related training and techniques, management/leadership
development, and on-the-job training (GMU, para. 8). GM’s longstanding commitment to
employees has resulted in an extensive array of employee training resources. On a broad scale, GM
has three mechanisms for facilitating education and training to its global workforce:
1) An in-house university.
2) Partnerships with top-ranked universities around the world.
3) A partnership with the United Workers of America (UWA) union to provide lifelong
learning opportunities to current employees, their families, and retirees; and also to retrain
GM: Maintaining support 10
laid-off workers.
GM University
The GM University (GMU) is one of the largest corporate educational programs in the
world having 14 colleges that facilitate GM’s technical/managerial training programs (GMU, para.
3). In total, GMU offers 3,200 courses to its employees. The 2005/2006 corporate responsibility
report explains that:
“In 2005, more than 600,000 participants, including GM employees and dealers, received
approximately 1.7 million hours of training with 23 percent of the hours spent in traditional
classrooms, 34 percent on web-based learning, and nearly 43 percent on DL. By increasing
the use of e-learning and DL, GM saved approximately $8 million in productivity costs.”
(GM Corporate Responsibility, 2007)
GMU Partnerships & Joint Development Programs
To augment its educational infrastructure, GM has built many strategic alliances. Such
alliances have been formed between “global networks of leading universities, e-learning
companies, and technology companies,” and contribute greatly to the company’s success (Clarke
& Hermens, 2001, p. 257). Examples of these alliances are those between GM and: Georgia-based
Gwinnett Technical College (GTC), Grantham University (GU), United Auto Workers (UAW),
Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), and Ellis College. Gwinnett’s website (2008)
advertises several programs for potential GM mechanics to attend in order to become certified
repair technicians or to prepare for various other employment opportunities with GM.
In the case of the UAW, GM has developed a joint program allowing workers, families,
and retirees to access a variety of lifelong learning opportunities. This program is aimed at helping
employees strengthen basic scholastic skills, earn college degrees, better apply their technical
GM: Maintaining support 11
skills and knowledge at work, and strengthen employee job security (UAW-GM Education
website, 2008). Through various training courses, each of these colleges seeks to help employees
build professional skills that can be linked to improved individual performance and increased
business results.
GMU Europe
GMU Europe has developed 600 e-learning courses in multiple languages which can be
accessed through GM’s internal intranet, Socrates. GMU intranet, Socrates, provides training and
information 24/7 and
allows employees access to communications and self-service applications from anywhere in the
world. Since its creation in 2001 this tool has been providing a fully-personalized portal into every
GM key process (Castiglione, 2008). Other distance learning formats include live one-way video,
two-way audio and interactive keypads for quiz sessions (GM 2005/2006 Corporate
Responsibility Report).
GM has twenty-seven training employees based in different European countries who work
with GMU North American to implement global curricula and training to GMU Europe. GM has
also begun efforts to train its most reliable local parts suppliers in Europe for the purpose of
expanding their technological capabilities (Mayer, 2007). By providing this training to suppliers in
Europe, and increasing worker proficiency, GM theorizes it saves considerable time and cost by
producing higher quality parts and subassemblies closer to the point of consumption.
An example of these online classes is GM's Technical Education Program, a global
corporate-sponsored continuing education program. GM employees in the field of engineering and
manufacturing are supported by the company which covers
tuition, registration fees, admission costs and reference books. In addition, this program partners
GM: Maintaining support 12
with nearly 24 universities around the world (GM Tech Education,
2008).
Another initiative to promote learning among GM employees is, “GM’s home for
corporate blogs”. These blogs cover seven topics of interest in the area of vehicles, leadership,
driving and more, some of which have been created by GM employees and others which allow
public access (http://www.gmblogs.com).
Challenges
The major challenge that the GMU currently faces is financial resources. The significant
competitive challenges in the automobile industry plus the recent global financial meltdown have
resulted in a major organizational crisis (CNN, 2008). The expectation is that GMU’s financial
budget will be extensively cut, requiring a lay-off of staff plus a significant overhaul of its
complete program to reduce costs. The program overhaul is expected to significantly reduce the
number of courses offered, to rapidly shift to the most cost-effective course delivery method, to
reduce support facilities, and to reduce educational funding to universities and tuition assistance.
These reductions will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the morale and motivation of both
the training staff and learners.
In order to increase its chances of sustaining itself in the global marketplace, and
maintaining a strong presence in the United States, GM must cut costs while increasing the
functionality of its product. This can only be done by building a strong research base in
automotive engineering and sharing this with the global marketplace. Pacepartners.org, which
was initiated at Michigan State University in 1991, is involved in this process. Today, there are 20
schools in the United States and 20 international schools—with newly opened PACE institutions
GM: Maintaining support 13
in China and India. Pacepartners.org is about GMs commitment to global technological
advancement. Over the decades GM has developed an efficient training and leadership
infrastructure that addresses the needs of employees with all levels of cultural and educational
backgrounds. Given the current financial crisis, it would be wise for GM to focus on increased
global education and networking through consortiums and partnerships. This may strengthen the
company’s presence in the US.
Opportunities
GM identified an urgent need to develop leaders in key international markets who were
capable of delivering exceptional business results within a short time of taking on profit and loss
responsibility in their roles as Managing Directors. Their answer to this was a two-day course
facilitated by the CEO and six members of the GM Strategy Board. During the two days, the
Managing Directors are tasked with solving real-time business challenges. This program has met
GM’s business goals better than the old program – which instead sent managers and executives to
external universities (Managing Directors Summary, para, 2).
Conclusion
From the perspective of the DE professional, the development of GM’s expansive training
enterprise to date is surely a success story – but how will the company maintain this training
superstructure as it begins to face considerable financial challenges? While GM’s core learners are
its employees and dealer partners, its global business strategies sometimes necessitate that GM
provide training to new and different audiences or take different approaches to training its
traditional learners. Due to contemporary solvency concerns, while GM constantly seeks to
maintain its business in the US and abroad, it must do so in a manner that continues to produce
measurable results and is cost-efficient to deliver. These initiatives must now be accomplished in
GM: Maintaining support 14
a rigidly cost-effective manner (perhaps by decreasing the training hours spent in the classroom
and increasing the hours spent using distance learning methods) – and the execution of this plan
will certainly present corporate leadership with quite a challenge over the upcoming months/years.
References:
American Society for Training & Development. (2008). 2003 Award winners: Excellence
in Workplace Learning and Performance. Retrieved November 03,2008, from
http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/BDC2ACD0-4FB1-440A-8B66E4C645B9F70E/0/020404awardbook.pdf
Al-YamamahCollege. (2004). General Motors to set up auto-training centre in Saudi
Arabia. Retrieved November 3, 2008, from
http://www.alyamamah.edu.sa/newsdetail.php?nid=972
Bolch, M. (2006). Bearing fruit. Society for Human Resource Web. Retrieved November 03,
2008, from http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/0306/0306bolch.asp
Clarke, T., Hermens, A. (2001). Corporate developments and strategic alliances in elearning. Education + Training, 43(4/5), 256-267. doi
10.1108/00400910110399328
Davenport, R. (2005). Listen up!. American Society for Training & Development Web.
Retrieved November 03, 2008, from
http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/7A17F103-17A2-4944- 9396B9456092F93C/0/Oct2005_trends_astdmember.pdf
General Motors Corporation. (2007). 2005/06 Corporate responsibility report. Retrieved
October 30, 2008, from
http://www.gm.com/corporate/responsibility/reports/06/700_
GM: Maintaining support 15
social/4_forty/740.html
General Motors University. (2008). Life at GM. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from
http://www.gm.com/corporate/careers/life_at_gm.jsp?p=gmu
Grantham University. (2008). General Motors Approved Course List. Retrieved October 30,
2008, from http://www.grantham.edu/other/gm_courses.php
Gwinnet Technical College. (n.d.). General Motors ASEP program. Retrieved October
2008, from
30,
http://www.gwinnetttech.com/auto/content.cfm?PageCode=programs_outline&Pr
ogRamOutlineID=346
Gwinnet Technical College. (n.d.). List of programs and outlines. Retrieved October
30,2008, from
http://www.gwinnetttechnicalcollege.com/content.cfm?PageCode=programs_list
&keywords=&DepartmentID=75
Lerman, R. (2008). Building a wider skills net for workers. University of Dallas at Texas Web.
Retrieved November 03, 2008, from http://www.issues.org/24.4/lerman.html
Lord, M. (2007). GM shifts gears. American Society for Engineering Education Web.
Retrieved Nov 3, 2008, from http://www.prism-magazine.org/nov07/feature_GMdesign.cfm
Mayer, B. (2007, December 03). GM and Ford train suppliers in Russia. Automotive
News.
Retrieved November 03, 2008, from http://www.autonews.com/
Next Generation Manufacturing. (2008). Mission critical. Retrieved November 03, 2008, from
http://www.ngmanufacturing.com/currentissue/article.asp?art=26508&issue=160
Nixon, J., Helms, M. (2002). Corporate universities vs. higher education institutions.
GM: Maintaining support 16
Industrial and Commercial Training, 34(4), 144-150. doi:
10.1108/00197850210429129
Terlep, S., Jones, D. (2008, November 03). GM's October sales slide likely to exacerbate cash
concerns. CNN Money. Retrieved November 3, 2008, from
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200811031559DOWJONE
SDJONLINE000545_FORTUNE5.htm
UAW-GM Join Activity System. (2007). Education & training. Retrieved October 30,
from
2008,
https://www.uawgmjas.org/j/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14
&Itemid=44
UAW Local 909. (1999). Education committee report. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from
http://www.uawlocal909.org/Standing_Committees/educom.htm
UAW-GM Join Activity System. (2007). UAW-GM Scholarship program for dependent
children. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from
https://www.uawgmjas.org/j/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gi d=30
Zonneveld, J. (2007). GM Dealer Training Goes Global. Human Resource Management
International Digest 15(4). Retrieved November 03, 2008, from Emerald database.
Comments:
Dawn, your grade on the final assignment is an 84, B. You appear to have misinterpreted the instructions for
the assignment somewhat. The goal of this assignment is to design a learner support strategy (instructional
methods and other types of support such as advising, counseling, library, and administrative services) for a
particular context in order to demonstrate that you can apply principles from MDE 608. The GM case study
describes a large but financially struggling unit of a large company offering training to a fairly diverse adult
learner population. Hence, the goal of your final assignment is for you to propose changes or improvements
to the existing GM learner support system based on what you learned from writing the case study. The
assignment instructions provided specific points to be covered, which you include in your response, only
your response is not always on the level of the learner support system, but on that of educational provision.
For example, reducing costs, while a perhaps obvious intervention given the circumstances described, is
GM: Maintaining support 17
not/ cannot be a goal of the learner support system. In other words, the final assignment is a culmination of
your learning in the course. Based on what you now know about learner support and looking at the
particular educational scenario presented by your group, what can you say about what GMU is currently
doing and what changes they might make to their support services for students. For example, think of the
kinds of basic questions that Tait posed as the basis for developing learner support services: Who are your
learners? What are their needs? What resources are available? Some elements in your response make
much sense given the context and you did develop a criteria set (suspending educational offerings that are
not vital to the business mission (those for family members) to enforce the objective of cutting costs, but you
could have defined more clearly in what way and at what level the learner support system elements would
be involved and affected. was With the lack of clear learner support system goals this task is difficult. This is
further evidenced in that you make little reference to the learner support literature or principles from the
course content in 608 in your paper. Overall, your paper flows fairly logically, but it does not give the reader
sufficient information on the different aspects you were requested to cover for a learner support system at
GMU. Regarding presentation, in your introductory paragraph you should not speak to the group process to
develop the case study but rather address the content of your paper. When you mention the case study it
should be cited properly. In summary, your assignment does meet quite meet the objectives of the
assignment and it is not satisfactorily apparent from your paper that you are able to apply principles from the
course in order to design an effective learning environment for particular contexts. We know that you have
worked hard on this assignment, but it seems that you were not sufficiently clear on the objectives of the
assignment. In the future it might help to re-read the instructions and if they seem unclear to ask for
clarification or direction. We wish you all the best in future endeavors, academic and otherwise. Kind
regards, Christine & Jane.