...1.) How difficult a challenge did Welch face in 1981? How effectively did he take charge? When Jack Welch accepted the position of CEO of GE in 1981 he faced a number of looming challenges which firstly included taking the reins of the company following a complete reorganization by a strong, successful predecessor. The second major challenge he faced was the new globalized marketplace in which GE had to compete. Welch had to act fast before GE's territory was taken over by global growth from foreign companies. The third challenge was the beginning symptoms of a contracting economy which, by 1982, would become a deep recession. Jack Welch approached the first challenge of taking over from a successful predecessor by deciding that keeping the status quo would not guarantee GE future success. He felt that GE was to be a standard; they needed to be “better than the best”. This fierce drive to restructure the company during the next 5 years, immediately after the organization had barely finished their prior restructuring, also helped solve his other immediate challenge: the economy. He effectively implemented a new strategy, “Fix, Sell, Close.” If a business could be fixed so it could be #1 or #2 in its competing category then it was kept, otherwise the business was sold or closed. In order to prepare for the incoming global competition, Welch decided to part ways with 12 of his 14 previously hired business heads. The new business heads had to fit a certain billing: “strong commitment...
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...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 motivate employees, Welch used a strategic exercise called Destroy...
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...Executive summary 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...
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...Management Principles and Practices MGT101 Case Study – GE Electric Motivation Gemma Blandford Word count 1315 (excluding references) Introduction General Electric (GE) was founded in 1878 by Thomas Edison. Since then GE have developed businesses in the areas of Appliances, Aviation, Consumer Electronics, Electrical Distribution, Health Care, Lighting, Oil and Gas, Energy, Finance for both Business and Consumers, Rail, Software Services and Water. They are now one of the most diversified companies in the world. Findings In 1960 Jack Welch joined General Electrics in the plastics division in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA, where he developed his leadership skills and ideas. In 1968 Jack Welch was made the company’s General Manager; for GE in 1981 he was elected Chief Executive Officer. His vision was to become one of the most competitive business enterprises in the world. Shortly after Jack was elected he identified the organisation was bureaucratic - the environment was controlling, upper management made the rules and the juniors followed. The lower level in the hierarchy is controlled by the upper ones, and the planning and decision making is done in one place. The higher levels in the hierarchy have more freedom in doing their work as compared to the lower levels. In this case GE was represented by 9 layers of management from the shop floor to the CEO. Unfortunately in a bureaucratic environment people are afraid to speak out; employees find it difficult...
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...Organizational Change of the 20th Century “Jack Welch the Man With the Plan” By: Schavalia A. Holmes HR587, Professor: M. Luckett TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 3 JACK WELCH BECOMES GE’s CEO 4-5 JACK WELCH ON GLOBALIZATION 5 JACK WELCH, LEADER, HIS MANAGEMENT STYLE REVEALED 5-7 JACK WELCH OUTLOOK ON WHAT MAKES A GOOD LEADER 7-11 JACK WELCH METHODOLOGY INCORPORATES KELLER’S MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE COURSE TCO’S ……………………………………………………………………………………………………12-13 JACK WELCH BEST CEO (MANAGER) EVER, OR IS HE THE “GRINCH WHO STOLE MASSIVE EMPLOYEES LIVELIHOODS? 14-16 CONCLUSION 16-17 BIBLIOGRAPHY 18 INTRODUCTION How do you take a company through restructuring and enable it to sustain the change and make it one of the largest multinational corporations in the world? Well, John F. Welch Jr. (Jack Welch) succeeded in doing just that. Welch climbed the corporate ladder and became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GE. Jack Welch (Welch) used integration techniques, well developed strategies, and made many acquisitions, while selling off or closing down its less productive companies and divisions. His task was to reinvent GE’s culture and change business operation by converting managers into leaders. He empowered his employees, gave them special rewards, devised training programs and opened the door for employees to acquire stock options. Welch’s mission was to transform the GE organization into a “boundary-less company...
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...Jeremy Daniel Managing Change May 2, 2008 Case Write-Up Final – GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welsh’s Leadership 1.) How difficult a challenge did Welch face in 1981? How effectively did he deal with it? What major lesson can we learn from his “first stage” that should be incorporated into our general “planned change” framework? Jack Welch faced several difficult challenges when he came into office in 1981. One of his primary areas of concern had to be replacing the retiring CEO Reg Jones. Jones had had great success during his time at GE, particularly in terms of growth of strategic planning with the organization. He restructured the organizational levels of the company to handle the tremendous volume that his strategic planning process was producing. Many of these processes used within the business community as benchmarks to follow. The public perception of Reg Jones was also very high, as he had been recognized with “CEO of the Year” honors multiple times, as well as “CEO of the decade.” Welch had to be up to the task of replacing a man that many in the industry considered a legend. Another major challenge Welch faced that can’t be overlooked is the external environment when he took over as CEO. At the same time he was charged with the task of replacing his successful predecessor, Welch also had to deal with a U.S. economic recession. Additionally, there was an increasing amount of rivalry from global competition that compounded the problems being faced...
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...Jeremy Daniel Managing Change May 2, 2008 Case Write-Up Final – GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welsh’s Leadership 1.) How difficult a challenge did Welch face in 1981? How effectively did he deal with it? What major lesson can we learn from his “first stage” that should be incorporated into our general “planned change” framework? Jack Welch faced several difficult challenges when he came into office in 1981. One of his primary areas of concern had to be replacing the retiring CEO Reg Jones. Jones had had great success during his time at GE, particularly in terms of growth of strategic planning with the organization. He restructured the organizational levels of the company to handle the tremendous volume that his strategic planning process was producing. Many of these processes used within the business community as benchmarks to follow. The public perception of Reg Jones was also very high, as he had been recognized with “CEO of the Year” honors multiple times, as well as “CEO of the decade.” Welch had to be up to the task of replacing a man that many in the industry considered a legend. Another major challenge Welch faced that can’t be overlooked is the external environment when he took over as CEO. At the same time he was charged with the task of replacing his successful predecessor, Welch also had to deal with a U.S. economic recession. Additionally, there was an increasing amount of rivalry from global competition that compounded the problems being faced...
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...create innovative products and then create the need from the consumer. He was passionate about his products and its quality. Jobs never released a product that he felt was inferior in any way. He knew his vision and his success come from the clear understanding and following of the vision (Young Entrepreneur Council, 2013). His vision and direction really helped the company sustain a competitive advantage. It became clear in the stock market that people believed not necessarily in the company but rather in the Jobs visionary leadership. When Jobs would take a sabbatical, the stock would drop and when he would return, stock rose (Wearden, G, 2011). Jack Welch Jack Welch was the CEO of General Electric (GE) for 21 years. GE is the only company that was listed in the original Dow Jones index that remains today (GE, 2014, para 3). Today, it operates in more...
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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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...Entrepreneurial School of Thought This school sees strategy formation as a visionary process and is fell under the descriptive school of strategic management. The chief architect of the strategy is the CEO of a company. This school took formal leadership seriously and CEO is responsible for strategy formulation. It stressed on mental state and processes such as instinctive knowledge, belief, wisdom, experience and insight of a single leader. The leader should be visionary in formulating strategy. The entrepreneurial school promotes strategy as a process which has a clear image and sense of direction which can be termed as a vision. Entrepreneurial strategy often occurs in startup companies and organizations in trouble and needing a turnaround. For any organization to sustain success it must engage in some form of entrepreneurial activity in order to effectively compete in the marketplace and continue to increase stakeholder value. In this school the organization becomes responsive to only one person, the CEO and vision is the central concept of this school. Vision is the mental representation of a leader and it outlines what the organization wants to be or how it wants the world in which it operates to be. It is a long term view and concentrates on the future. It can be emotive and source of inspiration. It serves as a guiding idea and often tends to be a kind of image than a fully clear plan. Visions are often flexible so that the leaders can change them as they like. Visionary...
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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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...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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...9-399-150 REV: MAY 3, 2005 CHRISTOPHER A. BARTLETT MEG WOZNY GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership On September 7, 2001, Jack Welch stepped down as CEO of General Electric. The sense of pride he felt about the company's performance during the previous two decades seemed justified judging by the many accolades GE was receiving. For the third consecutive year, it had not only been named Fortune's "Most Admired Company in the United States," but also Financial Times' "Most Admired Company in the World." And, on the eve of his retirement, Fortune had named Welch "Manager of the Century" in recognition of his personal contribution to GE's outstanding 20 year record. Yet while the mood at GE's 2001 annual meeting had clearly been upbeat, some shareholders wondered whether anyone could sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. And specifically, many worried if any successor could generate the 23% per annum total shareholder return Welch had delivered in his two decades leading GE. It would be a tough act to follow. (See Exhibit 1 for financial summary of Welch’s era at GE.) The GE Heritage Founded in 1878 by Thomas Edison, General Electric grew from its early focus on the generation, distribution, and use of electric power to become, a hundred years later, one of the world’s leading diversified industrial companies. A century later, in addition to its core businesses in power generation, household appliances, and lighting...
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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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...analysis of GE's sustainability efforts and missteps, from the years in which the company was under the leadership of Jack Welch to ongoing activities today. Abdul H Shakur DeVry University – March 2016 Sustainability Operations Professor: Brad Bergman | GE's Sustainability Assessment Week 2 Assignment | AbstractAn analysis of GE's sustainability efforts and missteps, from the years in which the company was under the leadership of Jack Welch to ongoing activities today. Abdul H Shakur DeVry University – March 2016 Sustainability Operations Professor: Brad Bergman | GE's Sustainability Assessment Introduction General Electric, (GE) the 1892 brain child, and merger of two companies Thomson-Houston Electric and Edison General Electric. Early on the main products included light bulbs, motors, toasters, elevators, and other appliances. From the humble beginnings the General Electric Company (GE) has grown into a monolith. The company now manufactures products such as engines for airplanes, petroleum production equipment, power and nuclear generators. Also GE is a common household name and has long been one of the top providers of household appliances. GE is reponsible for producing some of the greatest innovations that the world has known. GE, while famous for big innovation is also recognized for aggregious environmental infractions. In an article in Vanity...
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