Motorola’s downfall and Corporate School

Motorola has one of the most comprehensive and effective corporate

training and education programs in the world and, in a recent leap of
ambition, our own corporate university.

In 1979, Bob Galvin, then Motorola’s CEO set up the Motorola Executive
Institute, an intensive, one-time course for 400 executives that tried to
give them an MBA in four weeks. The participants learned a great deal,
but again, the ultimate results were disappointing.

Galvin, who understood that change had to force its way through a
company from the top down, had been driving home the point that those
who lead often lose their power—or their right to lead—because they’re
unwilling to change. He now realized that the top probably wasn’t going
to lead the attack until all employees wanted change to take place.
Motorola had to educate everyone and make people see the need for
change.

Our charter was not so much to educate people as to be an agent of

change, with an emphasis on retraining workers and redefining jobs. Our
first order of business was to analyze the jobs that existed then, in 1980,
and try to anticipate what they’d look like in the future. The first thing we
learned was not to look too far ahead. If we made a two-year projection
and trained people for that, then change didn’t arrive quickly enough for
people to make the shift. We had to anticipate, plan curricula, then train
separately for each incremental change. We had thought progress would
be made in leaps, but it took place one step at a time.

To meet the quality target, we developed a five-part curriculum. First

came statistical process control, which consisted of instruction in seven
quality tools. Basic industrial problem solving was second. Third was a
course on how to present conceptual material, a tricky assignment for an
hourly worker presenting a technical solution to an engineer. Fourth was
a course on effective meetings that emphasized the role of participant as
well as that of chairperson. Finally we had a program on goal setting that
taught people how to define objectives, how to describe them in writing,
and how to measure progress.

False Assumptions
They assumed that once the courses were described, the people who
needed them most would sign up to take them but they didn’t.
People resisted formal classes, self-help material was developed but it
failed too.
Motorola hired people in the old days for life. People grew up in their
jobs, acquired competencies and titles, moved from work force to
management. But a lot of competitors, hired people, used their skills,
terminated them when their skills were out of date, then hired new people
with new skills. So this was an issue of outdated skills.
Senior manager’s conception that they needed only a briefing to
understand the new quality systems but this didn’t changed their behavior
patterns and made life difficult for middle managers.

Motorola University will be a global institution. We are already working

on a formal relationship with the Asia Pacific International University,
based in Macao. Motorola University is presently open to the employees
of our suppliers, of our principal customers, and even of our educational
partners, but we envision a time when the university will accept students
from outside our immediate community of companies and institutions,
people who will not necessarily work for Motorola or any of our suppliers
or customers at any time in their lives.
At the same time, one of our goals is to have the best graduates of the best
institutions want to work for us. To achieve that, we must attract young
people into our classrooms so they’ll know how good we are, and, just as
important, so they’ll know they have to take certain steps in their own
development in order to work for us or someone like us as adults.