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GE INTERNATIONAL
"As one of the world’s most diverse and best performing global enterprises - recognized
repeatedly for leadership and innovation - they offer our employees an environment where what
we imagine we can make happen, developing new technologies and services to grow our
businesses.
About the company
GE traces its beginnings to Thomas A. Edison, who established Edison Electric Light Company
in 1878. In 1892, a merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric
Company created General Electric Company. GE is the only company listed in the Dow Jones
Industrial Index today that was also included in the original index in 1896.
Today GE is a diversified technology, services and financial services company with operations
in more than 100 countries and with over 300,000 employees worldwide. The Company has 11
global businesses, ranging from Advanced Materials, Commercial Finance, Consumer Finance,
Consumer and Industrial, Energy, Equipment and Other Services, Healthcare, Infrastructure,
Insurance, NBC Universal, and Transportation.
GE is a company where possibilities are unlimited. You can change jobs, change industries, even
change career direction, without ever changing companies. Our diversity provides limitless
educational opportunities, which is unmatched in world business. We invest $1 billion per year
in training our people.
BIBLE OF GE
‘THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER’
Former CEO Jack Welch (now retired), introduced this concept at GE. During his work period
GE was prized most deal-making, cost-cutting and efficient organization. Every day, everyone
at GE has the power to influence company’s reputation — everywhere they do business. The
Spirit & the Letter helps to ensure that, after more than 125 years, we still conduct our affairs
with unyielding integrity. For well over a century, GE employees have worked hard to uphold
the highest standards of ethical business conduct. They seek to go beyond simply obeying the
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law — they embrace the spirit of integrity. GE’s Code of Conduct articulates that spirit by
setting out general principles of conduct everywhere, every day and by every GE employee.
GE’s code of conduct
The laws and regulations governing the business conduct world wide
Be honest, fair and trustworthy in all your GE activities and relationships.
Avoid all conflicts of interest between work and personal affairs.
Foster an atmosphere in which fair employment practices extend to every member of the diverse
GE community.
Strive to create a safe work place and to protect the environment.
Through leadership at all levels, sustain a culture where ethical conduct is recognized, valued
and exemplified by all the employees.
It also provides other information regarding the rules and regulations of the business like hoe to
deal with the government; customers etc. Employees and leaders who violate the spirit or letter
of GE’s policies are subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of
employment.
OTHER IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE
Six sigma
Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-
perfect products and service. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure how
many "defects" you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them
and get as close to "zero defects" as possible. To achieve Six Sigma Quality, a process must
produce no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. An "opportunity" is defined as a
chance for nonconformance, or not meeting the required specifications. This means we need to
be nearly flawless in executing our key processes.
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Fair practices
Fair employment practices do more than keep GE in compliance with applicable labor and
employment laws. They contribute to a culture of respect. GE is committed to complying with all
laws pertaining to freedom of association, privacy, collective bargaining, immigration, working
time, wages and hours, as well as laws prohibiting forced, compulsory and child labor and
employment discrimination. Beyond legal compliance, we strive to create an environment
considerate of all employees wherever GE business is being conducted.
Base employment decisions
On job qualifications (e.g., education, prior experience) and merit. Merit includes an individual’s
skills, performance, values, leadership and other job-related criteria. without regard to a person’s
race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, age,
disability, veteran status or other characteristic protected by law.
Provide a work environment
Free of improper harassment and bullying.
Respect the privacy rights
Of employees by using, maintaining and transferring personal data in accordance with GE’s
Employment Data Protection Standards and related procedures found at integrity.ge.com.
(While seeking to maintain employee privacy, GE reserves the right to monitor use of company
property, including computers, e-mail, phones, proprietary information, etc., in accordance with
applicable law.)
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Take lawful affirmative actions
In the United States, and elsewhere if required by local law, to increase opportunities in
employment for women, minorities, people with disabilities
and certain veterans.
Working Environment
Employees’ performance can only flourish in a sound work environment.
That is why GE is committed to supporting its leadership culture through systems and policies
that foster open communication, maintain employee and partner privacy, and assure employee
health and safety.
Operating with Integrity
The way they deliver results is as important as the results themselves. GE seeks to lead in
workplace and marketplace integrity by respecting the human rights of everyone touched by our
business, and by enforcing legal and financial compliance.
Work and Life Balance
Naturally, the passion that our people bring to their work extends to their own private worlds,
and GE is committed to enabling a healthy balance between the two. GE encourages our people
to meet their work commitments while balancing their own life responsibilities.
To support this balance, flexible work arrangements are an integral part of the way we conduct
business. The Company also offers many programs and resources to support employees
including financial management, family counseling and more.
Quality of work life
GE assures complete support to all its employees on both professional and personal fronts. Apart
from creating a friendly and stimulating work environment, GE also extends support to its
employees in their domestic lives.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AT GE
1) Leadership at GE
GE views its leaders as an extension of HR with the capacity to communicate how each
employee fits within the overall business strategy. A leader must: create a culture of compliance
in which employees understand their responsibilities and feel comfortable raising concerns
without fear of retaliation; encourage ethical conduct and compliance with the law by personally
leading compliance efforts; consider compliance efforts when evaluating and rewarding
employees; and ensure that employees understand that business results are never more important
than ethical conduct and compliance with GE policies
Leadership Development
The Corporate Leadership Development group's mission is to run training programmes to
develop high-performing leaders, introduce and drive cultural change, and spread key corporate
initiatives. These programmes can be held at business-owned training facilities like the GE
Energy Learning Center in Florence, Italy or at our head quarters in Brussels. Such facilities
bring people together to work, learn, and share across boundaries. It is also where we introduce
newly acquired companies to our culture, offering them a network of peers enabling them to
share best practices and business successes.
GE also offers intensive management training through special leadership programmes. These
programmes are designed to accelerate learning for high performing employees, using a variety
of methods from e-learning to action learning, from boot camps to leadership summits. A core
curriculum is managed at a corporate level, but each GE business complements these with
business specific just-in time learning opportunities.
All Leadership development programmes have similar core objectives:
Educate employees- focusing on leadership, change, and Six Sigma.
Communicate and strengthen our employee's commitment to GE and the GE Values.
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Build bridges across boundaries by letting people interact across businesses, functions, and
hierarchies.
Enhance our customer focus; build relationships with strategic customers and other key
stakeholders.
GE works at being a true learning organization - instilling learning not only as part of the
everyday work life but also counting on employees to help train their colleagues in their field of
expertise
2) Communication
GE views communication as the most critical element. The most important thing that they see
with the HR function is that there always is a constant dialogue, as they don’t like to hide things
in GE. GE offers several channels for raising concerns. Use the channel that is most comfortable
for its employees.
GE Board of Directors
An employee may report concerns about GE’s accounting, internal accounting controls or
auditing matters, as well as other concerns, to the Board of Directors or the Audit Committee.
GE corporate ombudsperson
The GE Ombudsperson process allows an employee to voice his integrity questions and
concerns,
Within the business
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Generally, the supervisor or manager will be in the best position to resolve an integrity concern
quickly. However, the direct supervisor is not your only option. Other resources include:
• Your compliance leader or auditor
• Company legal counsel
• Next level of management
3) Measuring performance
Beyond the idealized growth traits, GE also upholds four basic actions to drive performance:
imagine, solve, build and lead. Stemming from those action-oriented qualities are the
foundational values that represent GE and its common set of beliefs: passionate, curious,
resourceful, accountable, teamwork, committed, open and energizing. This specific set of
corporate values lies at the heart of GE’s unique approach to leadership development.
Ongoing appraisal processes and evaluations help to measure performance and also to sustain the
values that GE leaders aim to embody. “Your ticket to entry at GE, your base premise to be a
part of this game, is you have to perform and you need to have the GE values,
4). STRESS MANAGEMENT
Factors such as increasing completion, corporate restructuring and downsizing have compelled
employees to work for longer hours to meet their deadlines. This stress could lead to various
health problems. At GE, they have professional agencies to organize regular stints of aerobic
exercises, meditation and dancing sessions for employees as part of stress management. They
also provide counseling to the employees how to manage work and stress.
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5) ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
It is a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other
organizations, this system of shared meaning is, on closer examination is a set of key
characteristics that the organization values.
Individual effort is much more important than group or collective efforts
Rebels are heroes (Jack Welch was an effective rebel against most of GE's official management
practices throughout his career before he became CEO)
Going around the hierarchy is encouraged (this is the hidden purpose of work-out, not team-
based participation and improvement)
Competition is king, internally and externally
Loyalty is determined by performance
Poor performers lose face publicly
Communications are direct and confrontational
Leadership comes from individuals, not groups or teams
At General Electric, they have all begun programs aimed at keeping women professionally
engaged. The results are starting to show, as more women who skipped out on companies that
did not offer them intellectually challenging work resurface at companies that do.
G.E. has women's networks, coaching and mentoring programs, and family-balance policies. But
Susan P. Peters, vice president for executive development, says G.E.'s insistence that "everyone
has quantity and quality to their work" may be most responsible for the fact that 15 percent of its
officers are women, up from 9 percent in 1997.
Jeanne M. Rosario is a case in point. While rearing her two children, she worked truncated hours
and even turned down a big promotion. But, she said, G.E. never put her on a mommy track.
"They gave me as much work as I could handle; they always let me be the one to say, 'No more!'
“She said. Ms. Rosario, 53, is vice president for commercial design and services engineering at
G.E. Transportation, making her G.E.'s highest-ranking woman in technology.
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Women’s network
The GE Women's Network (GEWN) was formed to support the professional development of
women at GE, with the mission of fostering professional women's development to help grow,
attract and retain successful women throughout GE. Development is focused on leadership,
advancement and career-broadening opportunities in a variety of ways including information,
education and networking with other men and women to learn best practices.
GE was honored as one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers.
A "Best" Company for Working Mothers.
Competitive pay and a great job
In addition to great career opportunities. GE offers very competitive compensation and benefit
packages. While plans may vary from business to business, they all are comprehensive and
include such things as:
Stock Purchase Plan
Tuition Reimbursement
Comprehensive Health
Dental Care
Medical Leave
Parental Leave
Life Insurance
Work/Life Connections
Relocation Assistance
Pension Plan
In addition, outstanding employees may be nominated for stock options and managerial awards.
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Providing security for family
GE’s life and accident insurance plans provide eligible employees and their families with
financial protection. And, if you need more coverage than the company provides, you have the
option to purchase additional coverage at excellent group rates.
OTHER SERVICES PROVIDED BY GE TO ITS EMPLOYEES.
Employee Programs
Committed to building stronger GE communities and strengthening education and human
services, the GE Foundation supports various employee programs to encourage personal
philanthropy. Empowering participants to help shape and direct our giving in their communities,
we can support local organizations that address the greatest needs and highest priorities
United Way
GE’s partnership with the United Way goes beyond employee campaigns and financial
contributions.
GE star scholarships for children of GE employees
Each year hundreds of children of GE employees and retirees receive scholarship support from
the GE Foundation through a highly competitive selection process.
Parenting assistance
The company assures complete assistance in childcare and adoption processes. It extends
financial support for the education of the children and also provides parents with the confidential
and expert counseling in raising the child and balancing work and family.
Elder care assistance
The company helps employees find resources foe home safety and making living arrangement
for dependents. It even helps employees develop their own retirement plan.
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Financial assistance
GE Provides resources and information in the areas like budgeting, saving, investment plan,
buying home etc.
Legal advice
It assists in providing legal resources for sorting out problems regarding family, law,
immigration, tenant’s right etc.
Work advice
GE Supports employees with expert advice on issues like handling stress, managing relationships
and dealing with change.
Growth Prospective in GE
Professional growth: Capital Solutions learning culture
Employee personal and professional
development is the key to our overall
success. The most important asset
remains is valued employees. Online,
classroom and one-on-one, joining
GE means joining a culture of
continuous learning, where you have
the opportunity to reinvent yourself.
Drivers of GE's success
The ability to select from among the best practices available the ones most relevant to its
immediate (2-6 year time horizon) needs,
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The ability to flawlessly implement these practices,
Most important - the ability to periodically change its formula of management practices as new
needs emerge - adopting new practices, ruthlessly discarding the old formulas for success before
they led to weakened performance.
GE knows better than most every company in the world how to manage the life cycle of a
business idea: put it in place, exploit it, and then abandon it.
GE’s operating system, referred to as its ‘learning culture in action’, entails year-round learning
sessions where leaders from GE and outside companies share intellectual capital and focus on
generating the best ideas and practices. Conversations about developing talent and reaching
business objectives are side-by-side so there is a continuous link.
GE is very critical on their intake of talent and participates in behavioral skills interviewing in
order to predict behaviors moving forward, specifically looking at how experiences people have
had can translate back into GE.
GE also offers intensive management training outside of its facilities through leadership
programs that maintain a curriculum for GE’s highest performing employees. Beyond its
sophisticated development system, its leaders are groomed with depth and substance through
simple and natural approaches such as consistent ongoing dialogue and ingrained corporate
values paired with various assignments for on-the-job development.
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Implementation and Analysis of Edgar Schein Model
The levels of culture that are comprised in this model are:
Artifacts
Espoused
Assumptions
These levels can be further divided and comprised of the following:
Artifacts
GE is very concerned about its dress code. So it follows strict business casuals as its dress
code.
In the early 1950s Kurt Vonnegut was a writer for General Electric. A number of his
novels and stories (notably Cat's Cradle) refer to the fictional city of Ilium, which appears
to be loosely based on Schenectady, New York. The Ilium Works is the setting for the
short story, Deer in the Works.
Espoused Values
GE emphasized on honesty, building strong relationships with trust as a main factor.
It also has a high inclination on Six Sigma gives much importance on quality and
encourages its employees to adhere to the standards.
GE's values are so important to the company, that Jack Welch had them inscribed in a
wallet sized card and distributed to all GE employees, at every level of the company.
Basic Assumptions
The ultimate test of leadership is enhancing the long-term value of the organization. For leaders of a publicly held corporation, this means long-term shareholder value. GE turned against the notion of lifetime employment in favor of a stated goal of providing employees with the best training and development opportunities, but only conditional employment.
References
1) http://www.ge.com/
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2) http://www.12manage.com/methods_schein_three_levels_culture.html 3) http://en.oboulo.com/how-does-the-organizational-culture-of-general-electric-affect-
organizational-53949.html4) http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/cs_leadership_welch.html
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