Harman International Reviews

Pros

There are lots of opportunities for the right talents and right organizational cultural fit. Learning potential in various areas if also great. Famous products and brands.

Cons

Very fast-paced and dynamic environment. Not for the faint-hearted or the laid back. Risk-taking not yet a welcome practice. Innovation could be improved.

Advice to Senior Management

Foster greater product and process innovation. Let people fail some times if they're trying hard and going in the right direction, and if they have the right skills.

Pros

Brands, Products history, Compensation and benefits

Cons

Dictatorial work culture with management having a factory culture mindset. Respect for the employees is absolutely lacking and people are in for a shock when you join for the Brand name but find high misuse of power in the top management with sycophancy and crude treatment of employees. Negative bureaucracy. Technology awareness is bleak at the top and so is the ability to do business in the market. Innovation is impossible at this center.

Advice to Senior Management

Value employees. Empowerment in the centers can be misused to the core. Though a big global org, it is a small start up in the country. Management arrogance will lose the talent necessary for a budding center. Technology team is certainly questionable for not having technical depth.

Pros

Cool company if they stuck to what they know.
Great sounding products, amps, speakers and car audio.
Could retake their proper place as best in class, if...

Cons

Constant change of management after the Harman family was removed.
A puppy attention span
Work hard, do job well, and don't rock the boat

Advice to Senior Management

This company still makes some of the best sounding products in the world, but too bad it can not get out of its own way. You forgot what made the company great, its people. It's people made the technology, it's people had the passion, it's people made the company.

Pros

Being the leader in the automotive infotainment area, possibly on a global scale, Harman offers enough interesting areas of work to satisfy even the most brilliant engineer. The compensation level is on par with the market.

Cons

In the past three or so years, since Harman got "under new management", aggressive and excessive cost cutting lead to overworked and stressed out employees.
It started outsourcing to "low cost countries" later then other companies but it caught up really fast. Benefits took a downturn every year.
All the brands owned by Harman were cheapened one by one.
Management is in a perpetual Brownian like movement, and its decisions are too often not based on 'engineering principles', but seem to be done on a whim.
There is no consistent corporate culture.
One of the best bunch of engineers ever assembled, but management fully "compensates" for it.

Advice to Senior Management

Emphasize less on cost, and put more effort and resources in team building. That is how low turnover can be obtained.
Don't focus that much on the stock price.

Pros

They still have a pretty good product and some of the most innovative engineers in the business.
A good place to gain knowledge from the pros.

Cons

Management is more concerned with the bottom line than people or an excellent product.
Management bonuses continue to go up for decisions that create havoc for employees.

Advice to Senior Management

There is no need to give advice because they already have their own agenda

Pros

Most of the roles offer great challenging work. The company pays at the 50th percentile (not too good but not horrible either). It offers somewhat decent benefits+dental plans.

Cons

Unless you are personal friends with someone higher up, you will not make it in this company; if you are a female, make sure you review Harman's female #s as it relates to leadership before you make a decision about joining the company.

Advice to Senior Management

It would be extremely beneficial for Harman's senior management to participate in leadership development courses or executive MBA. The management is out of touch with recent management techniques and styles. The company has amazing products because of brilliant engineers however, they have completely lost the loyalty of their best employees and will soon lose their competitive edge on product innovations.

Pros

Long history of audio expertise

Cons

New and small office in bangalore, where depending on the group opportunities differ greatly

Pros

Cool Products. Decent benefits. Nice people to work with although not always helpful.

Cons

Poor quality. Poor leadership. Managers are in positions they are not qualified for and do not understand the work being done. Very poor performance review process.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire and retain qualified people. In my area there were many that had been promoted from within. However too much additude of this is how we do this even though it is not an industry best practice since they know nothing different.

Pros

nice environment with quality products

Cons

niche market may not appeal to all

Advice to Senior Management

Keep it up stay quality

Pros

Some of the major brands are still respected and employees are often greeted as celebrities in some markets. Once a collection of some of the brightest minds in audio and a few are still around. Weather in SoCal is good and there's a Jack-in-the-Box within walking distance.

Cons

Contentious work environment. Rare to nonexistent promtion of current employees no matter their contribution despite "focus on acquiring and building talent". Feedback from management rarely matches reality. Incentives are perverse and based on creating unbearable tension between disciplines. Cost cutting has eliminated almost all expertise. Senior management doesn't know the industry, the products or the markets and can't appreciate technical expertise. Empire building and ass covering are the norm. Executive compensation levels make monetary incentives for innovation and contribution from non-executives seem like a pittance.

Advice to Senior Management

Please hurry and sell to someone who knows the business and values people and expertise before your incompetence is discovered and takes the rest of us down too.