Inside Gm's War Room

This is definitely not your father's General Motors. Hoglund, Wagoner, Losh, Battenberg and Mueller may not exactly be household names in the U.S., but in Detroit they are instantly recognized as belonging to some of the most powerful men in the industry. They are among the 15 members of CEO Jack Smith's North American strategy board, which runs all of GM's U.S. operations.

By gathering every week or so as necessary, in shirtsleeves and without their staffs, crowded around a table in the "war room" at GM's technical center, they have broken a chain of command within the mighty corporation that once rattled as slowly and creakily as castle plumbing. Now these executives act within hours on issues that might previously have taken weeks or months to be resolved -- if ever. Some major topics: Saturn's no-nonsense pay- what's-on-the-sticker pricing; a leasing campaign specially aimed at the California market, a fast exit from profit-draining rental discounts. Even smaller requests get a speedy response. A third shift at a Canadian truck plant? Four engineers needed for a special project? Done.

Within the war room, the atmosphere is informal, spirited, irreverent, eristic -- and often openly critical of GM's past practices. "We used to operate things with these big, written gray-back reports that were massive and hard to read," says Rick Wagoner, chief financial officer and head of worldwide purchasing. "Our staffs would spend all this time writing and proofreading these reports and then sending them around in advance to make sure no one would object. Now people come in here, stand up and fire away." Adds Clifford Vaughan, who is in charge of truck platforms: "Now the buck stops here as far as making decisions and holding people accountable."

The new management method seems to be working. Says executive vice president Bill Hoglund: "We're only about halfway where we want to be. On a scale of 1 to 10, we're about 5. But compared to where we were, we're about a 15."