Culture Paper; General Electric

Culture Paper; General Electric

According to General Electric (2005), “A project consists of a group of work orders that are executed as a coherent whole with specific resource, cost, and time objectives” (www.ge.com). General Electric or GE, is a diversified technology, media and financial services company dedicated to creating products that make life better. General Electric Company engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of various products for the generation, transmission, distribution, control, and utilization of electricity. The company operates through eleven segments: Advanced Materials, Commercial Finance, Consumer Finance, Consumer and Industrial, Energy, Equipment and Other Services, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Insurance, NBC Universal, and Transportation. Through these segments, it delivers network television services; operates television stations; and provides cable, Internet, and multimedia programming services. In addition, the company offers various financial and other services, including consumer financing, commercial and industrial financing, real estate financing, asset management and leasing, mortgage services, consumer savings and insurance services, and specialty insurance and reinsurance. GE’s products include major appliances; lighting products; industrial automation products; medical diagnostic imaging equipment; motors; electrical distribution and control equipment; locomotives; power generation and delivery products; nuclear power support services and fuel assemblies; commercial and military aircraft jet engines; chemicals for treatment of water and process systems; and engineered materials, such as plastics, silicones, and superabrasive industrial diamonds. The company provides various services, such as product services; electrical product supply houses; electrical apparatus installation, engineering, repair, and rebuilding services; and computer-related information services. GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. A company as large as this needs an organized and detailed methodology to project management. GE uses a module to plan, schedule, monitor, and control the execution of project work to maximize maintenance efficiency and minimize costs.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture refers to an organization’s values, beliefs, and behaviors. Gray and Larson (2002) define it as, “…a system of shared norms, beliefs, values, and assumptions, which bind people together thereby creating shared meanings” (p. 97).

Firms with strong cultures achieve higher results because employees sustain focus both on what to do and how to do it. At General Electric (GE), corporate values are so important to the company, that Jack Welch, the former legendary CEO of the company, had them inscribed and distributed to all GE employees, at every level of the company.

The sum is greater than its parts at GE as both business and people diversity is utilized in a most effective way. A major American enterprise with a diverse group of huge businesses, GE is steeped in a learning culture and it is this fact that makes GE a unique company.

As Jack Welch puts it: "What sets GE apart is a culture that uses diversity as a limitless source of learning opportunities, a storehouse of ideas whose breadth and richness is unmatched in world business. At the heart of this culture is an understanding that an organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive business advantage” (Kotelnikov, 2005). GE even consults their project management services to