...“e-business” before. Do some research and briefly indicate why you think that this term better defines what GE did rather than “e-commerce” GE’s CEO, Jack Welch, once described their e-business as, “an elixir, a tonic that has changed the DNA of GE forever.” (Bartlett, 2002) During Welch’s final years as CEO, he was faced with the strategic decision of introducing GE onto the internet. GE Plastics had already begun using the internet as a way to conduct business and Welch used this division as a building block for the conversion to a digital workplace. The difference between GE and so many other companies is their competitive culture and their drive to succeed. Therefore, when Welch introduced his fourth strategic initiative, embracing e-business, he expected the best from his employees, set far-reaching goals, and demanded that all of GE’s large divisions begin to develop their own website. Welch’s expectations and the scope of the fourth strategic push is what differentiate GE’s term of “e-business” from “e-commerce.” As Welch began to realize the potential the internet could have on GE’s businesses, he encouraged all the business leaders to get a mentor to help them understand this potential. He also required regular meetings of all business division heads so they can learn from what other managers experienced as well as create ideas to overcome obstacles. Since GE sees failure as unacceptable, Welch wanted to give his full support to the company during this transition. To...
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...Case Study Analysis: GE’s Talent Machine Brandie Buffins Grand Canyon University HRM – 635 Acquiring, Developing, and Leveraging Human Capital September 19, 2012 Case Study Analysis: GE’s Talent Machine General Electric (GE) has been well known and valued for embracing quantifying talent as well as rising talent when it comes to leadership. This organization makes sure that this is a key factor when it comes to their business planning. GE requires learning sessions all year long, which entails outside organizations along with GE leaders to allocate amongst one another the best ideas out there for staff enhancement opportunities. Staff receives support in attending such training programs, spending at least 1billion dollars a year. Such cost is seen as an investment from GE on their staff as it is seen development of skills and qualities essential to growing into a good successful leader which ultimately benefits GE. GE has been polishing a succession planning processes at a level unmatched by any other organization to keep performance levels far above the ground. We all have known about GE’s infamous yearly, “‘Session C’ leadership and organizational talent reviews, which are designed to identify individuals suited for bigger roles or individuals who can be groomed to take on higher positions. The annual intensive review has enabled GE to announce successors the same day leave notifications are delivered. Constantly reviewing the talent pool on a variety of layers...
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...area. In this class I have learned that to be a successful company there is another area of concern that is structure of management and how it affects the company. When looking at General Electric Company and why this company is successful conglomerate company. I had to find out what a conglomerate really details. In Order to be a successful conglomerate Company the company must spread resources into this many unrelated businesses gives great stability even in the event of a complete collapse of one of the market, but it also makes many of the decisions the upper management must make incredibly complex. According to The Financial Times, General Electric (GE) is today the “World’s Most Respected Company” (“Facts”). Most of this admiration is due to the variety of operating segments that the company provides. For example, GE businesses are classified into ten categories: Commercial Finance, Consumer Finance, Consumer and Industrial, Energy, Equipment Services, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Insurance, NBC, and Transportation (“Company”). The conglomerate design is put into use when an entity has holdings in many unrelated businesses. This form is also known has the H-form because it is basically a holding company that comes about from unrelated diversification. This holding company form of organization is similar to product departmentalization but requires less cross entity interaction. Since the branches of the entity are non-related each is completely responsible for its own profits...
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...Management and Leadership Paper Tracy Harriss MGT/330 March 30, 2010 Tonya Moore Management and Leadership Paper General Electric (GE) was founded by Thomas Edison in 1890 (GE, 2009). The company was established as the Edison General Electric Company and was a conglomeration of Thomas Edison’s many businesses (GE, 2009). In 1892 the Edison General Electric company merged with competitor Thomson-Houston Corporation and changed the name of the company to General Electric (GE, 2009). Today GE employs more than 323,000 individuals around the world (GE, 2009). GE is a leading company with a diverse product line including lighting, industrial products, medical equipment, transportation, and power transmission (GE, 2009). These products were all a part of the original company foundation created by Thomas Edison (GE, 2009). GEs structure and success have led to several recognitions in the business industry. In 2009 GE improved its ranking on the Fortune 500 list from sixth to fifth (CNN Money, 2009). GE was also ranked as number one on the 2010 Forbes Most Sustainable Companies and Most Admired Companies (Coster, 2010). The success and recognition is a sign of strong management, leadership skills and commitment. Through the years GE has had a number of leaders who have built a strong company with a combination of diverse products (GE, 2009). The initiatives driven by these leaders have led to growth, reeducation in cost, controllerships that allow the company to capitalize...
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...Case Study Write Up: GE’s Two Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership Teri Raven, EMBA 709 “GE’s Two-Decade Transformation” analyzes the leadership of Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric. When he took over GE as CEO in 1981, Jack Welch had big shoes to fill. His predecessor, Reg Jones, had been referred to as a “management legend” and been voted “CEO of the Year” and “CEO of the Decade” 3 and 1 times, respectively. Jones had led the company for 8 years and had done well both professionally and politically. Upon his initiation as CEO in 1981, the Wall Street Journal had already likened Welch’s replacing Jones to replacing a legend with a “live wire.” The business climate was shaky when Welch took over in April 1981, with the economy in recession. Welch had only one option: success. And to achieve success in the current climate, he would need his team to be “better than the best.” In fact, the choices were to be #1, #2, or nothing at all. He soon used this philosophy in his categorization of businesses into core, high-technology, and services. Welch’s 10 year vision was to lead GE to a state in which it would be viewed as “the most profitable, highly diversified company on earth, with world quality leadership in every one of its product lines” (Bartlett/Wozny); he sought to achieve this via a massive restructuring of the business. His philosophy of “fix, sell, or close” businesses was born, yet the reality was often that in the economic state of that time,...
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...SME 710 – Service Strategy and Design Case Study 1: GE’s Growth Strategy – The Immelt Initiative Name: Ping Lei Student ID: 10320346 Please prepare an analysis of this case. Your write-up should be 4 to 7 pages. Questions that should be addressed are: 1. How difficult was the task facing Immelt assuming the CEO role in 2001? What imperatives where there to change? What incentives to maintain the past? 2. What do you think of the broad objectives Immelt has set for GE? Can a giant global Conglomerate hope to outperform the overall market growth? Can size and diversity be made an asset rather than a liability? 3. What is your evaluation of the growth strategy (a strategy for a giant global conglomerate with a portfolio of mature industrial businesses) Immelt has articulated? Is he betting on the right things to drive growth? 4. How does this case illustrate how strategic intent needs to be matched by both organizational capability and managerial competence; and show how such assets were developed? 5. Examine how broad strategic objectives can be translated into a program of implement able actions. 6. Demonstrate how Immelt’s strategy went beyond optimization to innovation. 7. Show how this new strategy focused on customers. 8. Analyzes how this new strategy emphased services. Was enough done to balance the portfolio of products and services? 9. After 4 ½ years, did Immelt succeed in his objectives...
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...In this assignment I was able to use relevant leadership theories to critically analyse and evaluate the leadership of Jack Welch. I first provided a brief insight into Jack’s background, outlining what made John F. Welch into the man we know today as Jack Welch. Secondly, shed some light on the financial position and the culture of General Electric (GE) in the early 80’s when Jack assumed the mantle as its Chairman and CEO. Thirdly, I discussed his changing leadership styles over the years. Finally, I give my opinions on how I would have lead differently if I was faced with the same situations. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. Welch’s Background 5 3. The situation – GE before Jack Welch 7 4. Jack Welch the leader 7 5. Discussion – How I would lead differently 10 6. Conclusion 11 Reference List 12 1. Introduction Leadership is a complex concept and there are different ways of becoming a leader. Leadership is the process of influencing an organized group toward achieving its goals. (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy, 2012). Leadership is about influencing and not dominating others, leadership occurs when other people happily accept the goals of as organization as their own (Hogan, 1994). Because the behavioural patterns of employees vary depending on their individual circumstances, it is important that leaders to develop an empathetic approach towards resolving the issues of employees. Leadership theorists associate this ability with emotional...
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...C A S E S T U D Y I N F O R M AT I O N S H E E T humansynergistics.com Best Practice Case Study: Improving Leadership Performance at GE Financial interview with dr. linda sharkey by richard sharp Dr. Sharkey is currently Executive Director of Executive Networks, Inc. and author of Optimizing Talent: What Every Leader and Manager Needs to Know to Sustain the Ultimate Workforce Linda Sharkey understands leadership. As Executive Director of Executive Networks, Inc.—an organization that connects key HR heads from the largest corporations in the world—she provides members with new ideas, advice, practical materials and “early warnings” on key trends and innovations. She is also Strategic Partner with the Vaya Group (formerly Corporate Insights), where she plays an integral role in their talent practice, and a founding member of the Marshall Goldsmith Group. Her past includes serving as V.P. of People Development at Hewlett-Packard, where she was responsible for establishing and driving the company’s talent management initiative, including a groundbreaking assessment process, which enabled the company to see the behaviors it most valued and culture it supported. But what Sharkey is best known for is the work she did with leaders at GE—championing a process that was described by CEO and business icon Jack Welch as a “best practice in leadership development.” At the core of that work are the surveys and inventories that Sharkey used while doing research for her dissertation—specifically...
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...LaShara Jones Business Management 3600 01/28/2015 CASE STUDY: Management at work * Does the pattern of management developments at GE over the last century seem to reflect the pattern suggested by management theory? Explain your answer * Yes, GE development seem to reflect the pattern of management theory. In example, their blue book theory was in place to help manage the management every move. This prime example was one that was led by founders in the history of business. The company also focused on offering their employees pensions and profit sharing which went hand in hand with the basis of HR functions which is one of the basics of the administrate side of the classical management perspective. With Ge being a leader in profit and products for the everyday use of consumers. GE develop the strategic management approach within their company which helped with business opportunities and challenges. Adding in mathematical modeling to be able to make their manager make better managerial decisions. Adopting these early ideas only allowed the company to advance in reaching success over time. * Which GE’s management innovation seem to draw on a classical management perspective? Which seem to draw on behavioral management perspective? How does the contingency perspective explain management changes the GE has made over the years? Explain each of your responses * Classical management ‘blue book” .The blue book theory focus on management every move but it also...
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...The purpose of this paper is to prepare a summary of the Harvard Business School Case Study “How GE Teaches Teams to Lead Change” and indicate whether or not GE is successful and what lessons if any can be learned from their LIG program. In 2007, Steven Prokesch attended the four day Leadership Innovation and Growth (LIG) program at General Electric’s leadership development center in Crotonville, New York. A year later he revisited the 19 senior managers who had attended with him to see how much influence the program had made. “The answer was plenty, “ Prokesch writes. New initiatives had been launched and businesses created. Manager’s genuinely trying to modify their roles and behavior in order to stimulate and promote growth. Prokesch cites five main reasons for LIG’s success in bringing about those changes. 1. Team training accelerated the pace of change by giving managers an opportunity to reach consensus on the barriers to change and how best to attack them. 2. Participants were encouraged to consider both the hard barriers to change (organizational structure, capabilities, and resources) and the soft (how the members of the leadership team individually and collectively act and spend their time). 3. The traditional management challenge of balancing the short term and the long term—or simultaneously managing the present and creating the future—was explicitly addressed. 4. The course created a common vocabulary of change—“literally words that became part...
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...AM FL Y TE Team-Fly® 29 Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch Abridged from Get Better or Get Beaten, SECOND EDITION Robert Slater McGraw-Hill New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-07-141684-6 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-140937-8 All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps. McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. For more information, please contact George Hoare, Special Sales, at george_hoare@mcgraw-hill.com or (212) 904-4069. TERMS OF USE This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“McGraw-Hill”) and its licensors reserve all rights...
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...Leadership Leadership is the process of influencing an organised group towards accomplishing its goals (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2015). It is a processed approach of achieving the goals and objectives of an organisation through people. Leadership mind sets are profoundly influenced by culture and in many ways mirror the environment. Leaders are usually projected to see the "big picture" in the organization and are stimulated to direct the relations, interdependence among people, activities, functions and tasks Workout brings large groups of employees and managers from different levels and functions of the company together to address problems. In the case study of General Electric Workout the CEO Jack Welch appeared to be a transformational leader. His main goal was to make GE the world’s most competitive enterprise, he knew that it would take nothing less than a revolution to transform that dream into a reality. Theorist James McGregor Burns describes transformational leadership as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. Mr. Welch’s leadership style had a component of commitment, honesty, credibility, intuition, aggression and customer oriented. He was very meticulous and monitored the elements which he assumed were of leadership traits. Mr. Welch believed that a true leader is one who portrays strong dynamism...
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...Robert Nardelli was heavily criticized for his leadership style and methods he used during his tenure as CEO of Home Depot. The purpose of this paper is to describe Robert Nardelli’s style of leadership and take a position on whether or not his actions rose to the levels of unethical. This paper will attempt to incorporate the trait theory, behavioral theory, and situational and contingency theories then determine whether Roberts’ Nardelli’s actions were ethical or unethical. History Robert Nardelli was born in Old Forge Pennsylvania on May 17, 1948. Nardelli served in the Reserve Officers Training Corp. While serving in the reserves in 1971he earned a B.S. in business. Upon graduation Nardelli joined General Electric (GE). His father had also been employed there as an engineer and middle manager. In 1975 Nardelli went on to earn an M.B.A. from the University of Louisville, in Kentucky while working at GE. BY the year of 1988 Nardelli had climbed the corporate ladder and had become a company vice president. During his time at GE , they passed him over for a general management position so he left to take a position as a division leader with Case Equipment Co. Later, Nardelli returned to GE as the head of its appliance-manufacturing subsidiary in Canada from 1991-1992 and then held the top jobs at GE Transportation Systems from 1992–1995) and GE Power Systems 1995–2000). Under his leadership GE Power Systems’ sales grew from $5 billion to $20...
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...GE Case Study 1. While most companies have difficulty producing sufficient quality candidates for top management succession, how has GE been able to create a surplus? What philosophy, policies, and practices have made it a “CEO factory” as Fortune called it, and “easily the world’s best machine for churning out corporate talent” as The Economist described it? GE leveraged best in class HR practices the level of sophistication in their polices gave them the opportunity to adopt practices that which in turn lead to the growth of leaders form within the company. The culture within GE was known for the development of leaders within, which helped drive a continuous improvement model for managers. The vision of the continuous improvement for managers was to become a expert in every field, or least in most of them. GE also provided job training to its employees through a university that was established through GE. They invested 10% of pre tax income to the development of its employees. 2. How generalizable are GE’s management development policies and practices? How transferable across cultures? Across industries? Across companies? GE is very successful in step-by-step development of their employees and management team. This allowed them to merge new employees with the culture that existed within the company with little push back as new employees adopted the culture quickly. GE also spent time in their recruitment process, which focused on graduates out of Universities...
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...GE’s Two-Decade Transformation Case Analysis March 17, 2005 For: Anne Becker From: Scott Ashby 999004953 _ Phil Parkinson Judy Lee 04003094 Gianni Liburdi 049003649 Executive Summary This report’s objective is to provide analysis of the leadership challenge that General Electric (GE) is currently facing, and to recommend solutions. The primary problem is determining what kind of candidate is required to replace retiring CEO Jack Welch. This has left GE to question how much does the company want to change policy over the previous era, and where does the company want to be in future? Detailed examination of the impact Jack Welch has had as CEO over the past twenty years reveals a leadership style that is the driving force behind a successful transition from a corporate model that was highly centralized and bureaucratic to one that is dynamic, flexible, and many times more profitable. If GE wishes to sustain and build upon the progress of the Welch era, it would do well to nominate a new CEO from within the organization who is familiar with his brand of leadership, and who can continue to provide it for many years to come. 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 3 Statement of Problem ...............................
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