General Electric Company

Baldrige framework is a project that is focused on empowering different organizations to realize their goals, record improvements in their results as well as being able to become more competitive in the market (Baldrige, 2015). The size of the organization, sector of industry in this case does not matter as the ultimate goal of this program is to makes sure that every organization is able to make its objectives and goals a reality. There are very many organizations around the world that use the Baldrige framework for the purpose of improving the quality of the products as well as being involved in the production of sustainable results (Baldrige, 2015). For that matter, those organizations that will be recognized as United States role models are guaranteed to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, one of the most important Presidential awards. After receiving such awards, the rewarded companies are always encouraged to share their best practices with the other companies. This has helped in improving the effectiveness in operations and results of the other organizations hence leading the development of United States of America as well as global economy.

Organizational Profile

Organizational Description

General Electric Company is a finance and technological organization which is involved in the development and production of products that are used for the generation, transmission, control, distribution, and utilization of electricity (General Electric, 2014). Even though most of its operations are controlled by the Board of General Electric, it is important to note that the executive wing of the company is headed by Mr. Lawrence H. Culp Jnr, who is also the chairmen to the board. The General Electric is involved in the production of different products and services such as water processing, aircraft engines, business and customer financing, security technology, medical imaging, industrial products as well as the media contents (Ngoie, 2014). The General Electric is considered to be one of the most important company in the electric and technological industry. This is based on the fact that it has effectively diversified its operations into different sectors such as oil and gas, aviation, power, transportation, healthcare, GE capital as well as the appliances and lighting. For that matter, its customers are from different sectors of the market.

Every segment of this company is involved in the production of products and services which are sustainable and are able to meet the needs of its customers effectively. The mission of General Electric Company is to develop a highly effective and reliable industrial generation that is able to build, move, power and cure the world (General Electric, 2017). On the other hand, it vision is to associate with business organizations which are able to connect to its level of competencies as well as those that operate in the markets where it is considered to be the key player. Because the company’s principle is to produce high quality and sustainable products, the workforce of the General Electric Company is composed of employees who are highly competent and self-driven to meet their personal professional goals as well as those of the company.

Organizational Situation

General Electric Co. is among the companies that have chosen to diversify in order to develop a competitive advantage in the market. According to the information from the research study conducted by Schmiedel, Vom Brocke & Recker (2014), diversification helps in reducing the occurrence of risk in the market by allowing the allocation of investments among different types of financial instruments, industries as well as other categories. For that matter, it aims in maximizing the returns on investment through spreading of the risk to different sectors in the market that have the ability of reacting different to the same event (Ngoie, 2014). Furthermore, the ability of General Electric Co. to remain competitive can be linked to the fact that it has been involved in the development of different innovative strategies such as proper identification of the trends that can shape its operations and landscape and application of achievable goals which are focused on the current business environment.

Leadership

Senior Leadership

The senior leadership of General Electric Co. plays an important role in setting and achieving the organizational goals. According to Schmiedel, Vom Brocke & Recker (2014), effective and quality oriented leaders are often able to use a variety of leadership styles depending with the situation at hand. They can use transitional, charismatic, democratic, people-oriented as well as laissez-Faire leadership styles. Every department and segment in the company is provided with the Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) as well as regulations that are meant to help the employees to only engage in ethical activities in the company. Furthermore, the senior leadership advocates for the development of mentorship and career development programs for the junior employees facilitate the development of more competent workforce for now and future survival of the company (General Electric, 2017). One of the most important culture of General Electric is that both the employees and customers are its most important stakeholders. For that matter, the leadership of the company ensures that there is the application of open and effective communication with both employees and customers. 

Governance and Social Responsivities

According to the information from the study by Schmiedel, Vom Brocke & Recker (2014), responsible governance helps in the development of effective, entrepreneurial and prudent management skills which have the ability of delivering long-term success to both the company and the involved community. The ability of General Electric to achieve these goals has been as a result of the result-oriented nature of the senior leadership of the company such as Mr. Lawrence H. Culp Jnr who its CEO. With reference to the fact that General Electric has diversified its operations to different sectors, its products and services have addressed significant number of the public concerns such as those found in the healthcare, water supply as well as in electricity distribution (Thompson, 2017). Furthermore, General Electric is only involved in hiring of employees and doing business with suppliers and distributors of high integrity in order to promote the development of ethical behaviors in the company. in terms of corporate social responsibility, the General Electric has sponsored different community projects, such as water treatment plants and provision of scholarships to the promising but needy students.

Strategic Planning

Strategy Development

The production of high quality products that can meet the needs of customers in different markets is the primary intensive growth strategy for General Electric Company. The company has been able to realize its strategic growth through the development of new products which provide the company with the opportunity of increasing its sale revenues (General Electric, 2017). According to the information from the research study conducted by Schmiedel, Vom Brocke & Recker (2014), the ability of a company to develop a more effective strategic planning will depend on the level of research conducted on the proposed plan. General Electric maintains high-productivity research and development processes. Furthermore, market penetration is considered to be secondary strategic plan employed by the company. The management of General Electric makes sure that the already produced products are able to reach significant number of customers within the shortest time possible.

Strategy Implementation

The short-term and long-term action plans for the General Electric are focused on enabling the company to realize its goals of earning return on investments on the company’s opportunities. The short-term action plan of General Electric is to facilitate progress based on the digital technology adoption in all of the industries in which the company operates (General Electric, 2014). On the other hand, the long-term action plan is to effectively grow within the renewable energy market. The key factor that led to the development of these plans is the increased demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly products in the market (Thompson, 2017). In order to determine if the plans are successfully achieved, the company will be involved in the analysis of the growth of its market shares and the demands for its products in the market.

Customer Focus

Voice of the Customers

Customers are the most important stakeholders in General Electric. For that matter, every activity that is performed within the company is focused on making the company be able to satisfy the need of the clients (General Electric, 2017). The customers are provided with the most effective channel that they can use to air their views about the quality of the products and services as well as the changes that need to the introduced. Such channels include the company’s customer care department and company’s self-service portal. Ngoie (2014) indicated that those companies which are successful in a competitive market are often able to satisfy the needs of their customers. General Electric determines the customer satisfaction, dissatisfaction and engagement through the analysis of the previous company sales and revenue incomes as well as by scrutinizing the feedbacks and suggestions provided by the customers.

Customer Engagement

General Electric’s products and services are composed of different forms of value addition elements such as availability, convenience and technical support (General Electric, 2014). These are the key factors that can be used to define General Electric’s product offerings. Furthermore, the company is involved in transparency operations hence always ready to provide its customers with the necessary information regarding the production, packaging and distribution of its products. With reference to the fact that General Electric has effectively diversified its operations into different markets, its customers are grouped into different market segments such as oil and gas, aviation, power, transportation, healthcare, GE capital and the appliances and lighting. Because the company recognizes that these customers have different needs based on their market segments, it has established a highly experienced public relation department is able to build and maintain positive relationship with the customers.

Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management

Measurement, Analysis and Improvement of Organizational Performance

According to the data from the research study conducted by Schmiedel, Vom Brocke & Recker (2014), measuring the performance of the company is important since it provides the management with the opportunity of aligning its strategic activities with the strategic plan. General Electric uses two main approaches for measuring its performance, these include the Balanced Scorecard and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). In a situation whereby there is negative or slow performance rate within a particular department, the top management of General Electric intervenes by reviewing the possible causes of such developments. Most importantly, negative performances that directly affect the customers are given the first priority during the review process. Furthermore, the results obtained from these performance determination tools are used by the company to project its future performance in the affected areas.

Knowledge Management, Information and Information Technology

Information technology is one of the most significant sector that General Electric has significantly made a lot of investments. For that matter, the company is focused on hiring highly qualified employees who are able to introduce new skills into the company (Thompson, 2017). Furthermore, the company always take its employees to different types of refresher courses in order to enable them learn new skills that can be used to produce products and services that are able to meet the current market demands (Ngoie, 2014). Securing of company data as well as those of its customers has enabled General Electric win the trust of its customers. This has been done through educating the employees on the best network security practices as well as by encrypting the data.

Workforce Focus

Workforce Environment

The human resource department of General Electric is tasked with the role of hiring highly professional workforce that is able to produce products set to meet the requirements of the customers. Furthermore, it is involved in assessing the capability levels and needs of the workforce through examination of personal, departmental and segmental performance index after every month and annually (General Electric, 2014). In order to promote the well-being of the employees, the company has provided every one of them, either in permanent or contract basis of employment, with an insurance cover as well as guaranteed job security. Ngoie (2014) indicated that providing incentives to the employees is one of the most effective of promoting motivation. General Electric has come up with different mechanisms of supporting its workforce through the provision of incentives such as bonuses for highly performing employees, timely promotions, and appropriate job compensations.

Workforce Engagement

General Electric’s organizational culture is innovation. As a result of the increasing number of customers who are pushing for more affordable, better and reliable products and services, the company has resorted to engage its employees in taking part in the innovative activities (Ngoie, 2014). With reference to the results from the research study performed by Schmiedel, Vom Brocke & Recker (2014), it is justifiable to note that continuous engagement of the employees will enable them to develop the right skills that can help their respective organizations to realize their goals. This is among the strategies being employed by General Electric Company. There are different methods that are applied by the General Electric management to measure the workplace engagement, these include pulse surveys and employee net promoter score. Furthermore, the company offers short courses to its employees in order to provide them with the updated knowledge regarding the developments in the market as well as to enable them progress in their professions.

Process Management

Work Processes

The products being produced by General Electric are set to satisfy the needs of the customers in different market segments. For that matter, the production process is influenced by the nature of market and the needs of the customers. For example, those products produced in the healthcare sector are meant to meet the needs of the healthcare providers and the patients while those produced in the transportation segment are meant to satisfy the needs of the customers in that sector (General Electric, 2017). Based on the fact that there are very many companies that are producing produces which serve the same purpose as those from General Electric, the company has made sure that its products become unique through the application highly innovative strategies that are meant to promote sustainability and customer satisfaction.

Operational Effectiveness

General Electric has been able to control the cost of its operations through embracing of new and effective technology. For example, the company has installed software that allows for the automation of activities in different departments such as accounting, marketing communications, payrolls and management of the employees (Ngoie, 2014). Furthermore, the company has employed supply chain management strategy that allows for effective management of demands, development of strong customer relationships and enhanced product development and commercialization. Every process and activity taking place in the company is governed by standard operating procedures thus leading to the enhancement of product quality and safety. The employees are also well-trained on how to deal with emergency and disaster occurrences in the company.

Results

Product and Process Results

Based on the numerous feedbacks that the consumers of the General Electric’s products have submitted, it is justifiable to note that these products have adequately met the needs of large percentage of the customers (General Electric, 2014). This is a positive result. In case of the occurrence of negative results or feedbacks, the company has a got a well-developed and highly competent quality control and quality assurance departments that are able to examine the cause of such problems and provide appropriate guidelines.

Customer-Focused Results

The increasing demands for the General Electric products is a clear indication that most of the customers feel satisfied (General Electric, 2014). Despite the fact that there are some incidences where the customers have raised issues regarding the effectiveness of the distribution channels used by the company to supply their products into the market, such issues are often responded to by the highly competent customer care and public relation department.

Workforce-Focused Results

General Electric recognizes that its employees are the people who have made it to be able to realize its goals. This is with reference to the fact that General Electric workforce is composed of highly professional and competent employees who have the ability of performing their roles in an effective manner (Thompson, 2017). Furthermore, the introduction of refresher courses and application of hiring approaches that are focused on quality have helped the company to realize these important results.

Leadership and Governance Results

The senior leadership, under the management of company’s CEO, has played an important role in helping the company to achieve its goals (General Electric, 2017). Some of the key traits of General Electric’s CEO that have enabled him to become an outstanding leader include the ability to motivate, supervise, encourage and lead by example. Furthermore, the company has been able to comply with the legal regulations on production as its activities are legally and ethically approved. The company is also involved in different CSRs activities which have enabled it to realize its strategic plans and objectives.

Financial and Market Results

General Electric has been recording an increasing in its financial strength every year. This is because the company is employing more effective strategies that has enable it to register an increase in its revenue (Thompson, 2017). Furthermore, it is using modern technological approaches that have enabled it to produce high quality products which are preferred by significant number of the customers in different market segments within which it operates. The increase in market share has enabled it to record high return on investments.

Summary

General Electric is a multinational company with its headquarters located in the United States of America. Its ability to become successful has been linked to the nature of diversification that it has adopted. The company is operating in different market segments such as oil and gas, power, healthcare, transportation, appliances and lighting among others. As a result of the diversified nature of its customers, General Electric has been involved in the innovative activities and process which are set to enable it realize its operational goals. Furthermore, the human resource department has been involved in the hiring of highly professional employees as well as organizing refresher courses for the workforce in order to provide them with up-to-date information regarding the market demands. The company has also made sure that the needs of the customers are addressed through the production of high quality products and services as well as through the application of highly competent public relation department and customer care services.

References

Baldrige. (2015). 2015–2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework: A Systems Approach to Improving Your Organization’s Performance.

General Electric (2014). General Electric, 2014 Annual Report. A New Kind of Industrial Company.

General Electric (2017). General Electric, 2017 Annual Report. Imagination at Work. Retrieved from: https://www.ge.com/

Ngoie, O. M. (2014). General Electric Company Case Study. Research Gate. 1-16

schmiedel, t., vom brocke, j., & recker, j. (2014). Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Organizational Cultures’ Support of Business Process Management. Information & Management, 51(1), 43-56.

Thompson, A. (2017). General Electric’s (Ge) Generic Strategy and Intensive Growth Strategies. Journal of Business Management.