Harley Davidson Organizational Change Paper
Harley-Davidson was founded in 1903 by William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson and later on Arthur’s brothers William and Walter Davidson joined in the establishment of the company (Harley-Davidson, 2008). “The factory in which they worked was a 10 x 15-foot wooden shed with the words ‘Harley-Davidson Motor Company’ crudely scrawled on the door” (Harley-Davidson, 2008). As years followed, William Harley brothers joined in the incorporation of Harley-Davidson (Harley-Davidson, 2008). The company only started out with three employees, but then in 1906 the staff size increased to six full time employees (Harley-Davidson, 2008). With the increase of employees came “a new factory measuring 28 x 80 feet” (Harley-Davidson, 2008). Year after year Harley-Davidson continued to grow. In 1907, Harley-Davidson Motor Company was incorporated. “The stock” was “split four ways between the four founders; “staff size has more than doubled;” and factory size is doubled as well” (Harley-Davidson, 2008).
Like all corporations, Harley-Davidson had its issues with other competitors. Trying to compete with other competitors around the world led to Harley-Davidson merging with American Machine and Foundry Company (AMF) in 1969 (Harley-Davidson, 2008). Event though merging increased production, there were still problems with quality of the product and competitors.
During the mid 70’s and early 80’s Harley-Davidson suffered from a reputation of poor quality. This reputation combined with a Japanese influx of low cost, reliable motorcycles, convinced management that drastic steps in production efficiency were needed to respond to the new competition (Young & Murrell, 1998, para 3).
Harley-Davidson was bought back in 1981 by a group of 13 managers from AMF. “Therefore, in March of 1981, Vaughn Beals (an executive of the then parent company-AMF), along with a group of motorcycle division executives, bought back the company...