General Electric Internal/External Factors Essay Example

Today’s economy still fights to try and create new ways to reduce harmful gas emission and find alternate means of energy.General Electric has taken this challenge and worked on many projects help the environment that today’s society is currently creating. One thought was to reduce the amount of emissions and General Electric has stepped up with the new Integrated Compressor Line (ICL). The ICL has reduced both CO2 emissions and reduced the use of 38, 250 liters of lubricant oil for each unit’s life (GE, 2008).

These are just some ways that General Electric has thrived over the years. They have followed the fact of watching the economy and building strong leaders to help plan and control all aspects of the company.The emergence of globalization has caused numerous companies to change the way they function as an organization. Globalization affects all the functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. General Electric Company is on the forefront of globalization and has adapted to meet the needs of a new global marketplace.

For the function of planning, GE has made changes with respect to globalization. By throwing out the old top-to-bottom model of planning, GE has created teams of junior staffers, taken for their ability to think creatively.The company has also begun to make interactions with clients and suppliers, which is a dramatic shift from the close-to-the-vest approach of yesteryear (Byrne, 1996). In regard to organizing, GE has effectively shifted from an industry leading manufacturer, to a service-focused international conglomerate with activities in energy, construction, financial services, and health services (Auchard, 2008). In a recent speech, CEO of GE Jeff Immelt made it perfectly clear that GE will

maintain a global approach to running itself, now and in the future.Immelt said "I am a globalist.

You are a globalist. We all believe in the strength of the global economy," (Auchard, 2008, para. 4) as quoted in a recent article. The survival of a company depends on its ability to utilize current, developing, and new technologies.

Technology affects every aspect of business, from manufacturing, to management, to communication. Advances in technology allow companies to enter markets that it was unable to in the past. For example, GE has developed a new technology for MRI machines in the United States and does research in India for low cost.GE then sells them in emerging markets, such as China and other East Asian countries (Auchard, 2008). A venture like this takes an incredible amount of planning and organizing. First, the company needs to locate and assess potential markets.

Then they would have to organize the resources needed to create, manufacture and distribute the product. Next, they need the leadership to influence the creation of the product throughout every stage of development. Lastly, they have to assess if the venture was successful and make recommendations to improve the process now and in future ventures.As a company General Electric is very much about innovation and innovative thought.

This is readily apparent from not only their slogan “imagination at work” but also when one looks back to General Electric’s humble beginnings when their research laboratory was first built. It was during that time when General Electric established one of its main priorities (General Electric, 2008). The research laboratory’s purpose was to discover new things and to figure out a way to put those new

discoveries to use. An example of this would be General Electric’s DLN 2. 6+ Combustion System.

This system was created in response to higher gas prices and more stringent emission requirements. It not only saves fuel but lowers CO2 emissions (General Electric, 2008). The development of the DLN 2. 6+ Combustion System shows that even today General Electric still makes goals and objectives to help them grow while bringing “innovative technology to the world” (General Electric, 2008).

Bringing innovative technology to the world is not a simple task. This task would require a large amount of resources. Fortunately, General Electric has found a way to obtain the needed resources.Over the years General Electric has spread to locations around the world which in turn has given them access to vast resources within each country.

In countries that are experiencing enormous growth such as China General Electric has been able to build and develop resources successfully (General Electric, 2008). General Electric prides itself on not only the quality of its products but also the quality of its leadership. The CEO of General Electric Jeff Immelt believes in looking at the big picture and how General Electric fits into that picture (General Electric, 2008).As such he believes in everyone making a contribution to both his or her jobs and the entire company (General Electric, 2008). Also since Jeff Immelt became CEO General Electric has been recognized in polls as America's Most Admired Company and of the World's Most Respected Companies they have also seen a variety of successes in discovering and producing innovative products (General Electric, 2008).

As a company General Electric prides itself on integrity along with innovation. As such they

have very strong governance principals that they follow in order to maintain fully compliant.General Electric’s principals outline everything from the role of the board and management to the policy on poison pills (General Electric, 2008). Their principals provide the framework that General Electric uses maintain their high compliance standards which have earned them their 10. 0 rating from Governance Metrics (General Electric, 2008). Over the years General Electric as a company has grown to include locations worldwide.

As General Electric grew its workforce changed and began to include people from diverse backgrounds speaking a multitude of languages.As General Electric continues to grow worldwide they have the ability to call upon their diverse workforce to aid them in creating goals that will allow them to advance within other countries such as China or India (General Electric, 2008). General Electric recruits employees of various backgrounds from all over the world. The career portal on their website offers jobs in their various locations in many different countries written in the peoples native languages. This helps General Electric obtain talent from various countries (General Electric, 2008).General Electric also has network groups such as the GE Womens Network, the African American Forum and the Asian/ Pacific-American Forum.

The goal of these groups is to attract and retain talented individuals of various backgrounds and to provide a place for individuals of similar backgrounds to get together and obtain support within their work environment (General Electric, 2008). By having these types of group within there organization General Electric makes it easier for their goals to be achieved.These groups help to create cohesion within the company and a clear understanding of everyone's roles. Ethics influence’s

all four of the functions of management at General Electric. General Electric uses technology to better the world. General Electric's planning is based around their roots.

They started small and worked their way up. Setting goals from a barn in his back yard Steinmetz convinced the higher up’s that the company would benefit from a research laboratory. By having a laboratory the company could perform more tests and grow in the technology to help others.While Steinmetz and Whitney might not recognize the facilities today, they would feel very comfortable with the lab’s mission — spurring GE's growth by bringing innovative technology to the world (General Electric, 2008). General Electric’s organizing goes hand in hand with the planning because once you have the plan you must put the ball in motion.

The company needs a certain type of people to and a certain work environment to promote the atmosphere needed to bring their mission to light. GE’s mission is to bring innovative technology to the world.GE’s leadership is the top personal that sees that all the planning and organizing goes they way the company would like it to. GE encourages their personal to learn as much as they can in order to move up into a leadership position. The leadership of the company makes sure that they are teaching and letting any personal that would like to learn in order to advance that they can. Their controlling is like the leadership part but has more of a structure to it.

For example a way they control things is with rules, regulations and policies. With out those things there would be ciaos.So over all the ethics in General Electric appear

to be very good with high standers to keep the company moving and afloat. Overall the manager is just one person who requires the help of their staff to follow through on all of the offices work throughout the day. The biggest tool the management has is to delegate task out to the team so that all parts of the job are completed.

By assigning different task to their employees they have the ability to complete more tasks and to see how well an employee handles themselves under the extra responsibility.For example the manager can delegate the task of controller to an individual in one division of the office to see how they handle the job. In the end delegation is another part of the manager’s job in order to complete all task in a timely manner . Understanding the principles and basic functions builds a strong foundation for any manager and company. So looking back you will see that following the basic principles and functions of management will help to build a strong career.