General Dynamics Mission Systems reviews

Upper Management, period. Defense budgets are shrinking and new programs are scarce, but C4S business pursuit group has been losing a lot of new and follow-on programs, and is not going after enough new business. C4S carries a lot of dead weight overhead because there are too many layers of managers left over from when C4S was a larger, more profitable business. So the main solutions for this have been constant layoffs of non-management employees since 2011, benefit cuts - like cutting 40 hours of paid time off and no raises for 2013 -- and shutting off R & D for future programs. Upper Management does not even ackknowledge on-going layoffs any more -- people are walked out the door and management communicates nothing, allowing the rumor mill to be the only source of information. Management seems unconcerned about whether there are enough employees left to do the real work and is only working to keep those layers of management in place -- even if there's little left to manage.

Most effort in any company should be focused on obtaining, maintaining or satisfying customers. Not at GD. Most effort is spent inside political battles and meandering through the complex organization structure. Most decisions are made at the VP and above levels, leaving Sr. Managers and even Directors with little to no authority. The favorite phrase when trying to settle a contentious subject or come to a decision: "Let's take it offline." Which in layman's terms means, "Let's not discuss it ever again."