JLR reviews

Staff are purely a resource against headcount - no merit is given to individual skills or talent. The entire product development system is flawed but the management structure (and subsequent bonuses) actively discourage management responsibility or preemptive problem solving, so blame is shifted downward to the working level who end up scapegoated to deflect from the fundamental problems. All direction is top-down with the expectation that everyone aligns to it, so raising legitimate issues to resolve in a timely fashion marks people out as 'troublemakers'. As a result issues are swept under the rug or palmed off. All of this has resulted in a supremely demotivated workforce, and a management structure who don't seem to care. Firefighting and reactive last-minute change is the business norm, and as a result large numbers of staff are off sick with stress or simply leave the business. Engineering staff have virtually no interaction with the products they develop.

Appalling leadership culture - top-down, autocratic, little thought into how to foster positive working environment. Resulting in… Worrying levels of engineers leaving. Disillusioned engineers wanting stability in business direction, a clear message from the senior leadership team, and clarity in career progression. Processes are beyond antiquated, attempts to streamline have failed repeatedly resulting in inefficient and unaccountable processes which are eating the business from the inside out (increase ‘management’ overheads for these processes, correction of mistakes, poor process governance) Resource planning - literally, non existent. Managers (LL6s) have very little control over their teams, and the business has no effective tools in place to manage resource planning/balancing Project planning - weak. Plans are going to be complex given the complexity of the products being developed, however the recognition of this and hence the need to work cross-functionally is patchy at best. Project planning is not seen as a skill or competence, instead the majority (across all grades, inc director level) genuinely believe project planning is simply about creating a Gantt chart on excel. Project governance - laughably bad. Issues that are flagged as major issues at gateways are swept under the carpet and gateways steamrolled regardless. Which leads nicely onto to… Project Risk management - also links to weak project planning. PRM doesn’t exist in a practical sense. Corporate risk management - dysfunctional, somehow has failed to act on the various elephants in the room, elephants that have been in the room for many many years! (CO2 fines & electrification, antiquated business processes, weak leverage on the supply-base, Jaguar brand positioning outside of U.K./EU market, high cost-base…as a few examples)