Group Therapy at LTV

LTV is moving into a “group management” structure, trying to find a successful twist on a management system which has been described as one of the most loathsome, but necessary, systems in large corporations. Guiding the new system is LTV President Raymond A. Hay, who left Xerox last January as a group vice president.

Fast growing conglomerates like Gulf & Western Industries, IT&T and U.S. Industries adopted the group management system during the mid-60’s as did older corporations like General Electric, General Foods, CBS and Xerox. The idea is to lump together several divisions of a big, diverse company and put them under one group executive. The problem as it often develops, is that the group executive finds himself below corporate headquarters management but above operating a single division. “A eunuch,” as one former group vice president describes the position.

All of LTV’s three subsidiaries, LTV Aerospace, Wilson & Company and Jones & Laughlin Steel, now have group vice presidents as their chief executives. As each subsidiary grows it will be split into divisions, all under one group vice president. Hay stresses that hisnew group vice presidentswill remain in the field withtheir divisions, but will getshots at corporate headquarters managementposts. “I would expect thatmy successor would comefrom the group vice president ranks,” Hay says.

The new managementsystem is a step towardChairman Paul Thayer’sgoal of converting JimLing’s high flying “holdingcorporation” managementinto “operating corporation” management. LTVwill have the extra layer ofmanagers in place if LTV”redeploys,” as Jim Lingused to say.