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Jack Welch And The General Electric Management System Essay

Management at a Company

Jack Welch and the General Electric Management System

Introduction

The management's actions at a company shape the company's future, deciding either failure or success. Furthermore, to maintain an edge in the competitive industry, organizations are well known to alter management styles to keep up with the times. This paper analyses the management at General Electric (GE). An American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Boston, General Electric is a manufacturer of several large scale machinery and equipment. The company produces aircraft engines, oil and gas production equipment, medical imaging products, and industrial products. The company also provides services such as power generation and financing. This paper discusses the management styles the company has employed since its inception, the major changes in each management style affected, and the impact those changes had on the company. This paper further provides an innovative idea that can bring about a positive change in the company and lead to success.

1. Evaluate two key changes in the selected company's management style from the company's inception to today. Indicate whether you believe the company is properly managed and provide support for your position.

Globalization During the last decade, under the leadership of CEO Jeff Immelt, GE attempted expansion by implementing policies that promote globalization. These policies shifted the focus of the company to international enterprise, transcending nations to operate globally. This shift is well described in the sentence issued by Immelt to Financial Time's Crooks and Marsh (2012), which states, "When I became CEO [in 2001] we were 70 percent inside the US industrially. Now we are 60 percent outside the US." The globalization policies brought about the following changes in the company's operations: manufacturing plants were outsourced to developing countries, the various divisions of company head offices were relocated overseas, research and development centers were concentrated overseas, the local workforce was engaged in GE overseas operations, and there was an increased focus on exports. The changes are discussed further in the paper, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of the change. The globalization attempt was to create an avenue to exploit international economies of scale across GE's business portfolio and take advantage of emerging international opportunities (Grant, 2016). One such global opportunity arose during the 1997 Asian financial crisis; GE accumulated quality assets at discount prices by investing acquired distressed assets in the region to leverage off an eventual upturn. This strategy had paid off for GE in the past during the US and European recessions in the 1980s. This approach was also used to yield returns in the mid-1990s during the Mexican crisis.

Digitization In 1999, Welch launched the program destroy-your-business.com to introduce this new initiative. The program encouraged line managers to visualize how the business managed might be 'crushed by the dot-com juggernaut' (Grant, 2008). Digitization encouraged internal reflections in all parts of the organization, and this internal review brought about improvements in internal processes and the discovery of profitable new market opportunities.

My personal opinion is that GE is properly managed. GE has grown into an industrial powerhouse under the management, which has administrated the company over the years. The company has experienced significant yield, valuation, and industrial growth. GE has so thrived under good management that being one of the 12 original companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Index, GE is the only company remaining on the index after 116 years. This success-level could not have been achieved if the company could not have been properly managed to adapt to changing technology, to diversify into emerging markets, and to remain sufficiently profitable over the years.

2. Explain senior management's role in preparing the organization for...

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…on the company's ability to remain flexible like a small business regardless of the large size the company has attained. However, the low level of attention the current CEO Jeff Immelt is paying to maintain the company's flexibility raises concern about the company's adaptability in the future to keep a competitive edge. This concern is exacerbated by the highly uncertain macroeconomic environment in the US and the dynamic nature. Moreover, coupled with the increasing importance of internet-related technology, a great deal of flexibility is required to keep up with technological advancements (Caselli, 2012). Thus, it is of greater importance now more than ever for GE to retain flexibility across all levels of management to respond to the fluctuations in the global and local environments in a way that can be profitable.

To effect any change successfully, communication has to effectively exchange ideas and feelings with other people in an organization through any medium. Effective communication is usually the greatest challenge an organization encounters when attempting any form of change. To implement a change successfully and seamlessly, the communication has to be successful between those who will extend the cooperation and support to implement a change and be directly or indirectly affected by the change. Such people to be affected by any change are the stakeholders, and the stakeholders' acceptance of the change to be implemented has to be achieved to obtain successful results from the change program (verland, 2016).

To achieve successful communication with the stakeholders, the stakeholders must receive full informaion about the change to be effected and understand the change's purpose. The stakeholders should be allowed to add ideas to be considered in the process of implementing the change. This method is the best for implementing successful change as research has proven that changes implemented in an open and consultative manner…

Sources used in this document:

References

Biggeri, M., & Bortolotti, L. (2020). Towards a 'harmonious society'? Multidimensional development and the convergence of Chinese provinces. Regional Studies, 1-13.

Caselli, M. (2012). Trying to measure globalization: Experiences, Critical Issues, and perspectives (Vol. 4). Springer Science & Business Media.

Crooks, E. & Marsh, P. (2012, April 25). GE chief upbeat on US manufacturing. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/b29d94ae-8edc-11e1-ac13-00144feab49a

Fernández-Aráoz, C. (2020). Jack Welch's Approach to Leadership. Harvard Business Review.

Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons.

Grant, R.M. (2008). Cases to accompany Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Sixth Edition. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Lee, C. K. (2007). Against the law: Labor protests in China's rustbelt and sunbelt. Univ of California Press.

Lou, J., & Wang, S. (Eds.). (2008). Public finance in China: reform and growth for a harmonious society. The World Bank.

O'Boyle, T. F. (2011). At any cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the pursuit of profit. Vintage.

Øverland, A. P. (2016). Communication and Change Management. In Always On (pp. 215-222). Routledge.

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