Over at Jalopnik, Patrick George has uncovered an internal Powerpoint that sets out very clear guidelines for how recalls and other quality problems should be discussed. GM's communications team has been prone to awkward outbursts before, but this takes things to an almost Orwellian level.
GM employees are urged to avoid even mentioning the word "problem", instead calling it an "issue" or "condition" or "matter". There's a longer list of bad words, including "Kevorkianesque" and "brakes like an X car". Rather than detail the whole thing, I want to pose this question: this whole thing is presumably an exercise in media and communications management, but what does it say about a company culture when it actively discourages discussing problems in a frank and honest manner? I personally think that we've reached a point where this kind of heavy-handed attitude – one that expects the public to be too stupid to unquestioningly buy into the company narrative – does not work any longer. And I'm sure that GM isn't the only firm that does this – they just happened to get caught.
from The Truth About Cars http://ift.tt/Jh8LjA
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