General Dynamics Employee Reviews about "middle management"

Pros

Opportunities to advance, do other jobs

Cons

Middle management is a mess

Pros

They are still in business some how...

Cons

Upper Management promoted by the ' Hey Buddy Club' Employees that are good at their job are held back unable to advance. Middle Management ignored and brushed aside until BIG Issues come to light. Computer based training is practically useless, not department specific and waste of time. Upper Management PREFERS to have morale LOW, apparently happy employees are bad employees. Quality Control is forced to be more Production oriented than Quality oriented. Company brings in more and more ' Contractors ' instead of allowing incoming workforce to actually gain experience. And also at a much higher pay that not only takes money away from a family, but also TAKES EXPERIENCE AWAY FROM THE NEW INCOMING WORKFORCE. That is a major issue. Overloaded with unnecessary paperwork that takes time and concentration away from doing the actual job.

Pros

GD has some excellent folks in finance and accounting. GD has the ability to get the supporting vendors paid quickly. Some extremely talented people at the non-managerial level.

Cons

Unfortunately, GD Wireless services has serious challenges when it comes to professional management of the enterprise. The organization middle and senior management is completely untrained with respect to managing a business in the private sector. Just because someone was an excellent NCO, does not mean they can function in the non-governmental sector. Supply chain and logistics managed from the seat of the pants. Multiple violations of Sarbanes Oxley regulations. GD wireless services has lost market share consistently in the last 3 years.

Pros

Real World Mission of supporting troops and second hand making a difference. Very good Christian folks for the most part. There is a team attitude with a couple exceptions to the rule.

Cons

This is an organization from WWII. Little has changed since, nor is it likely. The paneling is original from the period as is the rest of the place. The expectations of some are great, while others loaf. There is a nepotism of sorts in that it is a very tight group that has run the place for decades. Change management is preached, but not implemented. There are a couple big time asses that somehow manage to stay in middle management despite their incredible ineptitude and lack of people skills.

Pros

Some extremely talented people in the industry have worked there at one time or another.

Cons

The extremely talented people have left, either voluntarily or not. Mediocrity ensures that you will have a long life at GD. Weak middle management continues to foster that environment. Social ties trump merit. The HR department protects itself. Belt-tightening efforts have cut muscle and bone, rather than fat. What it is left is complete inertia.

Pros

Top Fortune 100 performer. Challenging but rewarding work.

Cons

Middle management sequestration in 2013

Pros

Good benefits, good people. Great working with the Military. The purpose of what we were developing made for a good attitude and environment. Work-life balance was easy to maintain.

Cons

Work and company can move very slow. Lots of middle management layers. Lots of old technology in use on projects. Company not very flexible or agile - started losing out on new R&D and interesting advanced tech.

Pros

Every other Friday off. The people are generally friendly and the atmosphere is overall good. The facility is somewhat up to date and there is investment in employee health.

Cons

Some middle management needs to be removed. Old thought processes interfere with streamlining procedures. Things are harder than they need to be.

Pros

a great group of people

Cons

A few VP's (the good ones) retired when faced with the direction the company is going. Middle management too busy kissing upper managements rears to get ahead (or to actually stay employed) so the focus on what's happening outside of the company is lost. They want to save money but they choose to ignore some of the unnecessary spending that goes on in middle management, specifically business development. For as many 'smart' vp's that are there you think someone would of figured out by now that your employees are ripping you off. Middle management can't make a decision unless they consult numerous other people (popular vote seems to win).HR dept - doesn't protect the employee, protects the company. One can receive an 'exceeds performance' on their PC and still get terminated while someone who gets 'below' can retain their employment.