The purpose of this assignment is to fully develop the outline you created in the Topic 6 Values Alignment Review Outline assignment and to develop a comparative analysis based on your research about the effectiveness of leadership and governance within a publicly traded auto manufacturer.
Part 1: Values Alignment Review Paper
In business, communicating complex ideas clearly through writing requires precise organization. This can be significantly aided through the process of organizing the content first in outline form from which the focused prose can be included, crafting the outline into a complete, stand-alone product.
Review the feedback you received regarding your submission for the Values Alignment Review Outline (Part 1: Detailed Outline) from Topic 6.
In 500-750 words, complete the following:
1. Transform the information you documented in the Topic 6 Values Alignment Review Outline into a fully developed paper, suitable for an executive audience. Be sure to present evidence in your submission that you have corrected the issues or applied improvement suggestions made by your instructor.
2. In the section addressing “competitive pressure,” extend your discussion to also address what way(s) your personal vision, mission, and values will encourage innovation within the groups you intend to interact with in your future professional role.
Part 2: Auto Industry Firm Analysis
At the capstone level, you are expected to be able to apply your classroom experience to external (real-world) situations. You will demonstrate your mastery of this by applying your experience in this class and expanding on the outline you submitted in Topic 6 (i.e., Values Alignment Review Outline) and the paper you completed in Topic 3 (i.e., CLC – Team MEGA Values, Mission, and Vision) to apply your learning to a researched auto company.
Although an outline is not a required deliverable, it is strongly suggested that you complete one, replicating the technique you used in the Topic 6 outline assignment. Do not start writing the prose until your outline is complete and properly organized.
In 500-750 words, complete the following in a persuasive, written business communication approved for an executive audience:
1. Research a firm in the auto industry that competes in at least one of the four markets covered in the simulation. Articulate how their publicly stated vision, mission, and values information compares to what your team documented and applied throughout the simulation.
2. What specific metrics/KPIs will you use to measure the effectiveness of this firm’s leadership and governance as this relates to the firm’s execution of and conformity to its values, mission, and vision?
3. If innovation in a large organization might be summarized as “change that adds value,” identify a change or innovation that this organization could have made which would both add value and improve the metric/KPI you have established as meaningful? Be sure the reader clearly understands the impact on value and on the identified metric/KPI.
Values Alignment Review Paper and Auto Industry Firm Analysis
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Values Alignment Review Paper and Auto Industry Firm Analysis
In the topic six assignment titled Values alignment review outline, the student names, team values, mission statement, and vision were developed for the MEGA simulation project (Grand Canyon University, 2024). Hence, this paper develops a comparative analysis of the research undertaken on governance and leadership effectiveness within a publicly traded auto manufacturer. It is subdivided into two parts. Part 1, titled Values alignment review paper transforms the information from the topic six assignment into a developed paper suited for executive audiences and extends the discussion to address the ways the personal mission, vision, or values encouraged innovation within the groups we intend to interact in our future professional roles. Part 2, titled Auto industry firm analysis, applies the issues learned to an auto company researched competing in one of the markets in our simulation and articulates how does its publicly stated mission, vision, or values compare to what the team applied or documented in the simulation. Part 2 also provides the specific metrics used for measuring the firm’s governance and leadership effectiveness as it relates to the auto company’s execution or conformity to its established vision, mission, or values. Lastly, it identifies an innovation or change that could be made in the organization to improve the KPIs or metrics established or adds value.
Part 1: Values Alignment Review Paper
Transforming the information documented
Values, vision, and mission statements perform various roles in projects or programs. Vision or mission statements and values help projects or organizations communicate their purpose to stakeholders, inform the development of strategies, and develop measurable objectives to gauge the strategies' success (University of Minnesota, 2015). As the senior executives of the MEGA simulation team, we developed team values, a mission, and a vision statement to guide decision-making. As the MEGA simulation team, our vision entailed targeting all fifty states within the U.S. and assisting customers in securing auto loans from banking institutions for people who needed help to make cash purchases. The MEGA team’s mission involved empowering families within the U.S. with affordable, safe, and family-sized vehicles by focusing on transparency, customer satisfaction, and reliability. Values like responsibility, empathy, growth, trustworthiness, teamwork, reliability, and respect guided the MEGA team (Grand Canyon University, 2024).
Consequently, the instructor suggested various changes or improvements the MEGA simulation team made. The instructor requested that the MEGA simulation team ascertain the members' weaknesses and strengths. The instructor also asked that the determination of whether the weaknesses and strengths exhibited by the team members satisfied the defined vision or mission and the team’s values. The team members applied the improvement suggestions through discussions to discuss their weaknesses and strengths. The discussions also determined if the team members felt comfortable with the strengths or weaknesses helping achieve the defined mission and shared values or vision. The executive team submitted documentation from the talks for approval to the instructor or board of directors. The executive team also agreed to support each other and govern themselves in conformance with the established team. The agreement to commit ourselves to the MEGA team was guided by the vision or mission statements developed when acting on behalf of, as fiduciary agents or the company’s employees, to improve individual or team performance (Grand Canyon University, 2024).
Competitive pressure
The values, vision, and mission I exhibit can encourage innovation in the groups I interact with in performing future professional roles in various ways. Values like respect, reliability, trustworthiness, teamwork, and accountability will be essential for ensuring cohesion, integrity, openness, and collaboration in achieving the goals set by different groups. Innovation will be encouraged in the professional roles pursued when interacting with other groups by enhancing openness, critical thinking skills, and creativity in accomplishing assigned tasks more effectively. My vision will also be instrumental in enhancing innovation or encouraging creativity intended to be interacted with in future professional roles by expanding team member capabilities for networking and collaborating to make appropriate decisions to improve performance or productivity. For example, my vision of assisting different groups in improving their networking skills will ensure more information sharing between members and improvements to the member’s critical thinking capabilities. Lastly, empowering others to achieve their objectives by delivering quality, transparency, and reliability will foster the innovation of other groups by ensuring they develop creative ways for producing superior results in reliable and open ways. By embracing quality, reliability, and transparency, group members from different teams will match the required standards and improve performance through high-quality services or products delivered. Therefore, all must embrace the values, mission, and vision guiding interactions with other groups in the future for performance improvements or innovations to be realized.
Part 2: Auto Industry Firm Analysis
Chevrolet is a GM or General Motors division that began in 1911 on November 3rd. Chevrolet was started by Arthur Chevrolet, Louis Chevrolet, and William C. Durant. Durant used Chevrolet to get controlling stakes in GM and lead him back to the helm of the corporation’s leadership. Chevrolet’s vision statement entails being driven to keep drivers driving for more than eighty years, whereas its values include reputation, professionalism, work ethics, community service, and serving the people. Chevrolet’s mission involves providing its customers with the most appropriate servicing and purchasing experiences within the automobile industry (General Motors, 2023). Chevrolet’s values align and differ with the MEGA team’s shared values in various ways. For example, Chevrolet’s values emphasize professionalism, work ethics, reputation, and the community. In this regard, Chevrolet’s values differ from the MEGA teams because they do not emphasize particular values to ensure work ethics. In contrast, the MEGA team’s values emphasized teamwork, empathy, trustworthiness, responsibility, and respect in ensuring work ethics. Chevrolet’s values align with the MEGA team’s values because they emphasize the need for growth by developing a good market reputation. Chevrolet’s mission aligns with the MEGA team’s mission because they both focus on empowering customers to acquire vehicles. However, Chevrolet’s mission differs from the MEGA team’s mission because the latter’s mission incorporates values like customer satisfaction, reliability, and transparency in improving driving or driver experiences, unlike Chevrolet’s mission. Lastly, Chevrolet’s vision of keeping drivers driving for long periods differs from the MEGA team’s vision because it emphasizes how it intends to keep drivers driving for more extended periods. In contrast, the MEGA team’s vision emphasizes the target customers and the avenues to ensure they can access more vehicles.
A key performance metric, KPI, or specific metric is vital for measuring the effectiveness of governance or leadership in a firm like Chevrolet in conformance to its shared values, vision, or mission. Key performance indicators or KPIs are quantifiable measures for monitoring a firm’s performance in time. Through KPIs, firms can evaluate their processes, activities, or results to determine whether their objectives are being achieved (Kiron et al., 2023). The KPI or specific metric used by Chevrolet to measure the effectiveness of its governance or leadership is collaboration. Through collaboration, Chevrolet experiences effective governance in evolving or remaining aligned with its mission, vision, shared values, and strategic objectives. Collaboration at Chevrolet also ensures the manager’s trust is attained by workers and employee productivity improves (General Motors, 2023). Collaboration is the KPI or specific metric that will be utilized for measuring Chevrolet’s effectiveness as it relates to its vision, values, and mission. Finally, Chevrolet can make various changes in its collaboration to add value or improve the firm's innovativeness. For example, Chevrolet can improve its collaboration with other auto manufacturers to improve the efficiency of its engines and ensure zero emissions to the environment. By increasing its collaboration with other auto manufacturers, Chevrolet would ensure the conformance of its vehicles to environmental regulations or standards. Chevrolet would also ensure it manufactures vehicles that satisfy customers’ needs more effectively and increase the firm’s productivity or profitability in the short and long term (Kiron et al., 2023).
In conclusion, this paper developed a comparative analysis of the research undertaken on governance and leadership effectiveness within a publicly traded auto manufacturer. It was subdivided into two parts. Part 1, titled Values alignment review paper, transformed the information from the topic six assignment into a developed paper suited for executive audiences and extended the discussion to address the ways the personal mission, vision, or values encouraged innovation within the groups we intend to interact in our future professional roles. Part 2, titled Auto industry firm analysis, applied the issues learned to an auto company researched competing in one of the markets in our simulation and articulated how its publicly stated mission, vision, or values compared to what the team applied or documented in the simulation. Part 2 also provided the specific metrics for measuring the firm’s governance and leadership effectiveness related to the auto company’s execution or conformity to its established vision, mission, or values. Lastly, it identified an innovation or change that could be made in the organization to improve the KPIs or metrics established or adds value. Therefore, collaboration must be encouraged in auto manufacturing companies to ensure they improve their manufacturing processes and adhere to environmental or legal regulations.
References
General Motors. (2023). General Motors annual report 2023: Form 10-K (NYSE:GM). https://annualreport.stocklight.com/nyse/gm/23572422.pdf
Grand Canyon University. (2024). BUS-485: CLC-Team MEGA values, mission, and vision. Grand Canyon University.
Kiron, D., Schrage, M., Candelon, F., Khodabandeh, S., & Chu, M. (2023). Governance for smarter KPIs. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/governance-for-smarter-kpis/
University of Minnesota. (2015). Principles of management. https://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmanagement/open/download?type=pdf