General Motors Chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. reshuffled the Detroit automaker's management team on Friday, the company said.
On his third full day as CEO, Whitacre promoted several younger executives and urged the company's employees to move faster and improve the company's culture. Whitacre named Bob Lutz and board member Steve Girsky as special advisers and Mark Reuss as president of GM North America.
In a short statement, Whitacre said, "I want to give people more responsibility and authority deeper in the organization and then hold them
accountable."
"We've realigned our leadership duties and responsibilities to help us meet our mission to design, build and sell the world's best vehicles," he said.
Whitacre, the company's chairman who replaced Fritz Henderson as CEO on Tuesday on an interim basis, held an internal broadcast and told employees to work to change the culture and fight bureaucracy.
It is reported that the Obama administration soundly criticized GM's management culture, saying it was resistant to change.