MGT 541 BUSINESS STRATEGY
CASE ANALYSIS: CHANGE MANAGEMENT AT GE
GROUP 2
Aashka Jadeja AU1916009
Bharvi Chheda AU1916007
Mitva Gandhi AU1713070
Parth Thaker AU1613041
Sakina Chikani AU1813020
Sanket Garg AU1812019
What has been the change management strategy of Jack Welch?
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate incorporated in
New York City and headquartered in Boston. It was centralized in 1930; Decentralized in 1950
and 1960 strengthen its corporate staff and develop sophisticated planning systems
Challenges:
• Economy In Recession
• Highest Unemployment Rates since Depression
• High Interest Rates
Strategies:
• Mr. Welch implemented different strategies; they all had three key focal points in mind,
however. He tried to centralize, while taking out layers of bureaucracy, the chain of
command structure. When deciding how to do jobs better, he needed input from all
sectors of the GE family. He needed to be open to management both up and down the
chain of command.
• Jack Welch wanted a style of leadership focused on openness, candor and facing reality.
Pace, simplicity and self-confidence characterized the community he wanted to develop.
• Corporate restructuring was believed to be the foundational constant change factor to be
established throughout the organization and given the importance of “NEED OF THE
HOUR”. The Objective was clear for any & all types of businesses, Fix-sell or close,
based on performance, cost & Market position, to maintain lead or chase the leader.
• Making optimum usage of economic downturns for preplanned investments & selling off
not so attractive portfolios after dismantling.
• Reducing the reporting & communication hierarchy to directly reach the business to
CEO. Decision making & planning now consists of 10-15 reports directly to CEO from
6-8 reports passing through a 4 level hierarchy.
• Bringing in & encouraging the working culture/ mindset to “HOW DO I ADD VALUE?”
from what job to get done. Downsizing staff with an expectation of handling a broad set
of job profile & requiring to provide personal inputs in parallel of Organization vision.
• “Companies are not global, businesses are.” Is the right perspective for expanding &
creating portfolios for the road ahead into globalization?
• Focusing on practical questioning while reporting to correctly assess the situation & to
forecast “Position in market”, “Industry Attractiveness”
Comment from the point of view of change initiatives brought in at GE.
Change initiatives were implemented to bring improvements among Employer-Employee
relation & coordination for problem solving & innovations (adding value) by the name of
“WORK-OUTS”. To improve process efficacy of the businesses by comparison with its
industry leaders & competitors for sole purpose of achieving cost-effective state of functioning
& increased productivity under the name of “BEST-PRACTICES”.
Hiring a consultancy firm to run both these program across all sectors of GE.
WORK-OUTS
Presenting the ideas & innovations to the unit boss looking for scope of improvement & giving
immediate approval on them. Employees feel part of the family plus satisfaction of being heard
encouraging responsibility & accountability, brings clarity & uniformity within the organization.
BEST PRACTICES
Data analysis of how successful business within the industry carry out operations, to dig out key
learnings for GE, gives In-Depth knowledge of the market. To adopt or invent new processes
that adds more value to the existing portfolio, Offer cost effective quality to the consumers,
increased brand value perception, perhaps increased goodwill.
Both of these initiatives have underlying qualities of catering to changes & need of working
culture, benchmark for future generation of GE, leaving behind a legacy to live up to. Setting up
leadership standards. Strong & self-confident company personality & image that must be carried
forward.
