Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 22

Case study - Essay Example r, it is a popular belief amongst experts from the industry that GE should bring change – change in people handling and change in the approach to work at GE. The million dollar question then arises: What is GE doing wrong despite such huge training investments and what area does it need to concentrate on to improve the current working attitude of its people. These questions can only be answered by exploring the approach that GE’s CEO Mr. Jeffrey R. Immelt has adopted to deal with his employees. G.E has a centralized organizational structure. The article mentions that executive recruiter Peter Crist says companies that once poached GE talent now look beyond it to alternatives such as Danaher (DHR), United Technologies (UTX), and even Tyco (TYC), which are viewed as "decentralized, sophisticated, and young." Jeff Immelt practices a democratic style of leadership and the leadership theory that he follows is a traits theory. The quote that best supports the approach says: ‘within GE, the talk is about the new traits leaders will need to thrive, a subject thats reviewed every five years. "We are working on 21st century attributes," explains Chief Learning Officer Susan Peters.’ The above quote shows that human traits are given more importance and Immelt strongly believes that there are some common traits shared by all leaders and that these can be learnt at the Crotonville Management Center. Moreover, the dinner weekends that Immelt organizes and the focus that he has started to give to his employees also support that he practices a democratic form of leadership. Immelt seems to be making both programmed and non programmed decisions as on one side he is only following the old and timed practices of GE’s human resource management, but on the other side he is experimenting with his new ideas of bonding with his employees. Instead of bringing out a change in how employees are trained he believes that what GE has been doing is in the best interest of its