Question NO 1:

While most companies have difficulty producing sufficient quality candidates for top
management succession, how has GE been able to create a surplus? What philosophy
policies and practices have made it a “CEO factor6y” as Fortune and Economist call it?

Really producing sufficient quality top executives is very difficult task for companies, but
if we see case of General Electric, it was producing managers not only for own, GE was
producing these executives in enough quantity to meet the need of industry.

The philosophy adopted by GE includes some techniques, policies and practices

which enable GE to fill vacant top positions. Following are these techniques that we
have analyzed in this case study.

Continuous Improvement:

Management development process of GE was very effective in which employees are

developed step by step. Every manager was continuously involved in diversified and
innovative task in which every employee is rotate in different departments which enable
the employees to be expert in almost every field. The company was providing on job
training to its employees through training programs conducted in university which was
established by GE. Self succession plan and session C was also good for improving and
polishing talent.

Focus Strategy:

To fill the vacant top positions GE was focusing on internal source. For this GE was
conducting a lot of training programs for its employees because when these were trained
by company, it was easy for company to adjust existing employees at top positions.

Emerging Culture:
Company is try not only to gain objectives but also to merge the new employees with
the existing culture followed at GE. New employees are encouraged to adopt the culture
of GE which was very helpful in transferring the culture and value from senior executives
to junior executives.

Company Strategy:
Company was considering the employees as the asset of the GE. Company was not
only focusing on business development but also on employees development. It was
spending 10% of its pre tax income on employees development. It was also giving
training to employees in university established by GE

Meritocracy:
In GE employee’s performance was measured by quantitative and qualitatively and
the basis of this evaluation the employees were promoted.
 While concluding we analyze that actually GE’s policies and practices were so good
that it was producing the surplus managers. Values, culture, training programs, and
performance appraisal measures are factor that help GE in exposing and polishing the
talent of employees.

Question No2:
How generalizable are GE’s , management development policies and practices? How
transferable across cultures? Across industries ? Aross companies ?

Overall policies and practices are very good and fulfill the requirement and need of
management development. These policies and practices are generalizable in every where
in world up to some extent not completely. Their extent of generazibility depends upon
the circumstances and situation and environment of geographical areas, laws and
regulations of state because these factors vary from culture to culture. E.g. moral values
and ethics followed in American culture are not followed in Pakistan so we cannot say
that policies adopted by HR department in American organizations fully implemented in
HR department of Pakistani organizations.

Transferability across Culture, Industries and Companies:

Of course policies and practices are implemented in European culture but it seems
very difficult to implement these policies in Asian culture because HR policies have to
deal with human behavior and culture. Human behaviors are different in different
countries in same situations.
In GE employees are recruited which are fresh graduate. Then these employees were
polished by GE by taking into account future requirements. Employees at GE have only
and only experience in GE company but This situation may not happened in other
organizations because they do not have such employees who are trained and developed
by only one company because almost all organizations are involved in external hiring, so
policies to develop employees cannot be implemented in those companies.

How we transfer policies and practices to other culture, industries and companies. For
transferring these policies it is necessary to change and create the circumstances and
situations according to that of GE. HR departments have to deal with factors like value,
culture and behavior and these things are different from culture to culture, company to
company.