Ge & Jeff Immelt
3/25/2011
Ge Making Of Ceo
Management of Organizations Case Write-up 1 – GE’s Talent Machine: The Making of a CEO
http://www.papercamp.com/print/GeMaking-Of-Ceo/10993
1.What philosophy, policies, and practices have made GE a “CEO factory” as Fortune called it? General Electric (GE) has traditionally had a hands-on approach to talent management. There is a high degree of involvement of the top management in its people policies. There is a top-down approach to human resource policy. Also, GE recognized the need to be a strategy focused organization early on. The people policy of GE and its HR systems show a high degree of alignment to its strategy implementation. The emphasis on management talent development by four successive CEOs has lead to GE having the most sophisticated of HR processes. Though the operational details of the visions of each of its CEOs since Edison have differed, their philosophies have always concurred on the cornerstones of a good HR strategy, namely an emphasis on nurturing talent, a good performance monitoring and evaluation system and commensurate performance oriented rewards and returns schemes. The philosophy of GE was also to look beyond traditional operational measures for performance measurement to more strategic ones. GE’s policies and processes are uniquely suited to make it a CEO factory. GE has been very successful in achieving a high level of correlation or fit between HR and overall strategy of the firm in two key areas as illustrated in Table 1. Table 1: GE's HR System - Internal and External Alignment Fit Components/Objectives Internal fit – aligning HR components HR planning, recruiting and selection, training and development, performance management and appraisal, compensation and benefits, work organization, communication systems, HR performance measurement External fit – aligning HR system with Strategic objectives, HR deliverables, Culture, Structure GE has within its HR processes, managed to link HR
Ge Making Of Ceo
Management of Organizations Case Write-up 1 – GE’s Talent Machine: The Making of a CEO
http://www.papercamp.com/print/GeMaking-Of-Ceo/10993
1.What philosophy, policies, and practices have made GE a “CEO factory” as Fortune called it? General Electric (GE) has traditionally had a hands-on approach to talent management. There is a high degree of involvement of the top management in its people policies. There is a top-down approach to human resource policy. Also, GE recognized the need to be a strategy focused organization early on. The people policy of GE and its HR systems show a high degree of alignment to its strategy implementation. The emphasis on management talent development by four successive CEOs has lead to GE having the most sophisticated of HR processes. Though the operational details of the visions of each of its CEOs since Edison have differed, their philosophies have always concurred on the cornerstones of a good HR strategy, namely an emphasis on nurturing talent, a good performance monitoring and evaluation system and commensurate performance oriented rewards and returns schemes. The philosophy of GE was also to look beyond traditional operational measures for performance measurement to more strategic ones. GE’s policies and processes are uniquely suited to make it a CEO factory. GE has been very successful in achieving a high level of correlation or fit between HR and overall strategy of the firm in two key areas as illustrated in Table 1. Table 1: GE's HR System - Internal and External Alignment Fit Components/Objectives Internal fit – aligning HR components HR planning, recruiting and selection, training and development, performance management and appraisal, compensation and benefits, work organization, communication systems, HR performance measurement External fit – aligning HR system with Strategic objectives, HR deliverables, Culture, Structure GE has within its HR processes, managed to link HR