Ge's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership

Evaluating his approach to bringing about change in his organization. Comparing his approach with that of Jack Welch.

Based on what you know so far, evaluate the Brooks approach to workforce reduction? What did Brooks do right and what did they do

Synopsis: Doug Aiken took over Tech Depot and replaced the symbolic leader who founded the company, when Aiken took charge he immediately introduced a new management plan, measuring everything from sales of products to employees. He saw himself as the omnipotent leader (mgt p39) Sales dropped after two years and everything Aiken was working for diminished. He did not gets the results that were expected by the company. Many of the staff expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs The board decided they were in need of a new CEO, so they hired

According to Farrey’s detailed description of former General Electric CEO Jack Welch and his 20-70-10 model, which he used to improve his efficiency and profitability at GE by eliminating the weakest performers every year, the author seems to agree with Welch’s belief that children can thrive even without the benefit of highly competitive team sports. However,even the views of Jack Welch himself seem to contradict both Farrey’s and Welch’s own arguments at times. For example, although Welch is adamant that he and his teammates at the Pit succeeded without the benefit of coaching, first rate equipment, or picturesque facilities, as an adult Welch seems to change direction as he emerges as the leader of GE. While some critics considered Welch’s approach to be vindictive and censorious, it was highly effective in propelling GE to its highest level of success, nevertheless. Consequently,this weakens the effectiveness of Jack Welch as an example of Farrey’s argument since the improvement in the bottom line at GE clearly shows the favorable outcomes of highly competitive environments.

Lincoln comment that labor and management are properly not warring camps;they are parts of one organization in which they must and should coorperate fully and happily has made an easy effort to organize employees in the organization.

The leave of Steve Jobs on medical reasons and the handed control to the company’s COO, Timothy D. Cook which emerged another challenge for the entire company.

Did GE in the Welch era fulfill its social responsibility duty? Could it have done better? What should it have done?

John was President from 2001 to 2004. He has been a director since 1978 and was also Chairman of the Board from 1978-2009.

I appreciate you adding more historical information throughout your post. I find that both Jack Welch and Dennis Hightower were at the right place at the right time and they ultimately were able to successfully implement the needed change for their respected companies. In today’s business world and taking consideration of the growth of globalization, leaders and organization should recognize that change is continuous. Jick & Peiperl (2011) expands on this issue by stating:

Throughout my time at GE Capital I dealt with a number of difficult customers. The most memorable situation was dealing with a customer in a team leader capacity. The customer was serviced by a member in my team who had incorrectly misguided the customer towards a situation that had the potential to become a legal matter. As a team leader I advised the team member to close the call. I intercepted the call and reviewed the information. After reviewing, I took it upon myself to contact the customer and discuss the incorrect information he was given. I apologised for the inconvenience and provided the customer with the correct information that ensured no legal action would be taken. I offered further assistance to the customer and reassured them

In his first year at the Fredericksburg plant Hinrich implemented many changes that included reducing worker idle time by redesigning employee job responsibilities, installing more efficient machinery and working to attain QS 9000 certification. Although these changes were made slowly, the supervisors and staff seemed to be on board and support the changes as they came. This was likely due to Hinrich’s diligence in including them in the process. Hinrich had a goal of not only meeting the budget, but also exceeding it, and doing so with all of his employees on board. If Hinrich is successful he will help the Fredericksburg plant to meet its goals as well as help GM meet its goals and maybe even change its genetic code.

Background Information- General Electric Company, known as GE the world over, is an American-based, multinational corporation headquartered in Connecticut. In 2010, the company reported in excess of $150 billion in revenues, net income of over $12 billion, and almost 300,000 employees. It operates through four basic segments: Energy, Technology Infrastructure, Capital Finance and Consumer and Industrial Production. In 2011, GE was ranked the 6th largest firm in the United States as well as the 14th most profitable. Since its founding by Thomas Edison in 1990, and becoming one of the original 12 companies listed on the Down Jones Industrial Average in 1986, GE has been iconic in its relationship as an American innovator. In fact, GE founded RCA in 1919 to further the use and disbursement of international radio, just one example of their early commitment to innovation (GE Fact Sheet, 2012).

Jack Welch is among the celebrated chief executive officers globally. He was the manager of the General Electric Co. Welch always appears in the list of the best, the smartest, the toughest bosses whole of the America. He has changed the company’s bureaucracy in terms of planning and systems. The paper will discuss Jack Welch as one of the most prominent industry leaders. He and his colleagues have been instrumental in turning around a large company. Additionally, the paper will examine the condition of General Electric Co. when Welch took over. Furthermore, the paper will address the transformation of the Company since then. More importantly, the paper will investigate the strategy that was used to

     When Jack Welch was named CEO of General Electric, Welch saw a company in trouble even though the business world saw GE as an intrinsically healthy corporation, secure in its position as a world industrial leader. Welch knew that the company was too large to fail yet GE was too unwieldy to adapt for further growth. The changes he instituted restructured and revolutionized GE and made Welch the most respected CEO in business today. After reading the book there were three parts that really stood out for me.

Jack Welch’s vision of what GE was possible of gave the company a vision for twenty years while he was the CEO and chairman. He states, “leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.” (Winning, pg 67) He not only allowed for employees to stretch, but demanded it. In teaching workers to stretch Welch knew that workers “may fail. In fact, they probably will fail. But stretching, and stretching the business, is going to improve performance results.” (Jack Welch on Leadership, pg 105) He also states that “only by setting the performance bar high did it become possible to discover people’s capabilities.” Jack Welch’s emphasis on candor and breaking the bureaucracy of modern business separated him from his contemporaries. He excited others of the possibility of being the biggest and best company in the world and rewarding his best employees that shared the values of GE. According to FORTUNE Editorial Director Geoffrey Colvin In "The Ultimate Manager, Welch leads the annals of management history not for anticipating the new world's changes ahead, but for acting on them: "His great achievement is that having seen it, he faced up to the huge, painful changes it demanded, and made them faster and more emphatically than anyone else in business. He led managers into this new world, which we still inhabit, and just as important, he showed business