Leadership in General Electric

Introduction General Electric (GE) is a large company that operates from the United States. According to Forbes Magazine, it is the second largest company in the world after JPMorgan Chase. Forbes compared the performance of GE with that of other companies in certain aspects like sales, market value and assets.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Leadership in General Electric specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More GE has different segments among them capital finance, energy infrastructure, consumer, technology infrastructure and industrial segments. In order to achieve its goals and remain competitive, GE requires sound leadership because without good leadership, the company would not be able to achieve its business goals. This essay focuses on leadership at GE. Importance of Leadership at GE It is agreeable that the importance of leadership in any organization cannot be overlooked because organizations require colle ctive effort to achieve their goals. Human nature is characterized by confusion and disagreements in the absence of a competent leader. This makes it difficult for organizations to achieve their goals. Since GE is a company that is comprised of many workers who work towards achievement of a common goal, some form of leadership is essential. Although the need for leadership in organizations has been in existence for many years, its importance has increased due to changes in business activities. For instance, production methods have become complicated while specialization has increased. A good and effective leader at GE would be like a dynamo. Such a leader would be responsible for generating energy that would enable workers to achieve organizational goals with ease. The success that GE has achieved so far is largely attributable to good leadership. Dynamic leadership is important because it plays an important role in boosting the morale of employees and ensuring that they achieve org anizational goals (Nelson 4). GE relies on good leadership to encourage workers to increase their performance through continuous efforts. The organization fully understands that forceful or authoritarian means are not suitable methods of achieving organizational success. Good leadership supports authority by creating influence and inspiring workers to take certain actions. It plays an important role in different managerial levels in the organization because without sound leadership, it is impossible for management to perform its functions. While organizational structures play an important role in ensuring that organizations achieve set goals, they do not offer all relationships that are required by workers in an organization. Employees who have common interests are not bound by formal relationships because they aim at achieving organizational goals.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF L earn More As a result, informal relationships effectively regulate and control the behavior of workers. Good leadership ensures that there is cooperation between management and workers. This enhances beneficial collaboration, which is aimed at achieving organizational goals. To achieve successful leadership, leaders should involve their subordinates in all decision making processes. This is because involving them in decision making processes makes them feel that their value in organizations is recognized. However, it is important for leaders to employ necessary powers in order to ensure that implementation of policies that have been designed is effective. Leaders should be able to give clear and understandable instructions to their subordinates in order to ensure that organizational goals are achieved. Impact of Good Leadership at GE Good leadership at GE would impact the organization in different ways. The first way through which good leadership would impact GE is that motivation of workers would be increased. Good leaders have the ability to inspire the people they work with. This is because they have a solid understanding of business activities that an organization performs and things that motivate workers. Good leaders use information about workers to design appropriate messages, meetings and other interactions to ensure that the workers work hard to achieve high results. This type of motivation helps organizations to achieve set goals because messages that are designed take into account workers’ needs (Iqbal 45). The second impact of good leadership at GE is that the organization would experience a decrease in conflicts. Groups that lack effective leaders are characterized by persistent conflicts. Employees engage in constant power struggles as they try to test the competence of leaders that are in charge of different operations. Effective leaders enjoy respect from other employees and this reduces unnecessary conflicts. In addition, good leaders possess excellent interpersonal communication skills, which enable them to resolve organizational conflicts. The third impact of good leadership at GE is that the ability of the organization to retain its employees would be increased. Good leaders communicate transparently and constructively and this enables them to develop trust among their employees.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Leadership in General Electric specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This would give employees at GE a voice and make them feel valued. As a result, the organization would reduce employee turnover since they would be satisfied. Effective leadership is among the most important things that employees consider before they build their loyalty to specific organizations. High employee turnover is harmful to organizations hence it should be avoided through effective leadership. The fourth impact of good leadership at GE is that it would fa cilitate development of talent among employees. Good leaders identify ways of expanding their organizations through talent development. As a result, they strive to nurture employees who have talents in different fields. They evaluate them thoroughly and provide constructive criticism, after which they initiate mentoring programs for those who portray potential for growth. This equips employees with adequate leadership skills, which makes it easy for a smooth organizational transition, when some leaders leave their leadership positions. The fifth impact of good leadership is that GE would achieve better organization of different tasks and activities. A good leader is able to see a big picture of an organization and work hard to ensure that the organization succeeds. This helps him/her to conduct a keen evaluation of how things are done. A good leader notices problems and weaknesses in an organization and comes up with suitable solutions. Good leadership would therefore enable GE to a chieve better organization of different tasks. The Best Leadership Styles at GE There are different leadership styles that GE can use to achieve its objectives. The first type of leadership style that GE should adopt is democratic or participative leadership style. This is a type of leadership style that involves employees in decision making processes. Democratic leaders encourage employees to exercise creativity. Democratic leadership style would be suitable at GE because it would increase job satisfaction among employees since they would take part in decision making processes. In addition, it would make it possible for them to enhance their skills in different areas. Employees feel motivated, when they take full control of their destinies, and this makes them more productive. Although it might take longer to make decisions under democratic leadership style, the results are usually impressive. It is appropriate in team environments because quality is of great importance (Dereli 25) .Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The second type of leadership style that can be applied at GE is Laissez-Faire leadership style. Leaders who adopt this type of leadership give their employees an opportunity to perform their duties on their own without interference. They also allow them to perform their duties with utmost freedom and even determine deadlines. Leaders offer team support only by advising workers. They do not involve themselves in what the workers do. A higher level of success is achieved, when individual workers have adequate experience and skills. The most important reason why this leadership style would be beneficial is that it would create job satisfaction among employees at GE because they enjoy autonomy. This would increase productivity and guarantee achievement of organizational goals. The third leadership style that GE should adopt is task-oriented leadership style. This type of leadership style focuses on ensuring that tasks are completed in good time. Task-oriented leaders clearly define tas ks that should be accomplished, create necessary structures, organize, plan and continuously monitor every task. They also carry out other important tasks like developing and ensuring that performance standards are followed by workers. Task-oriented leadership style would be beneficial because it would ensure that there is effective time management in order to meet set deadlines. The fourth leadership style that GE should adopt is transformational leadership style. This is one of the best leadership styles that organizations should apply in order to achieve their goals. Transformational leaders work towards achievement of the best results through inspiring other workers. This ensures that high productivity is achieved since all workers are fully involved. However, organizations should be careful, when using transformational leadership because sometimes transformational leaders need experts to give them advice. This implies that GE should apply both transformational and transactional leadership styles. Transactional leaders are responsible for ensuring that routine tasks are completed in the right manner while transformational leaders focus on developing initiatives that enhance organizational performance (Leadership Styles 5). The final leadership style that GE should adopt in order to achieve its goals is relationship-oriented leadership style, which is also known as people-oriented leadership style. In this type of leadership style, leaders focus on supporting and organizing workers to help them to perform their tasks effectively. It is participatory in nature and encourages employees to work as teams and apply their creativity. People-oriented leaders handle workers respectfully without discrimination. They are approachable and respond to the needs of all workers in good time. When team members need them, they are always available. This leadership style is suitable because it would enable GE to develop a strong team that workers would like to be part of. Th ey would be ready to engage in activities that are considered risky because their leaders would be available to assist them, when they need assistance. Conclusion Leadership is very important in any organization because without good leaders, organizational goals cannot be achieved. Good leaders build strong teams that play an important role in achieving organizational goals. Since GE is among the world’s largest companies, it should apply suitable leadership styles in order to achieve its goals. This essay has discussed some of the best leadership styles that GE can apply. The essay has also discussed the importance of leadership at GE and the impact of good leadership. Works Cited Dereli, Mahce. Leadership Styles. New York: VDM Publishing, 2010.Print. Iqbal, Talha. The Impact of Leadership Styles on Organizational Effectiveness. New york: GRIN Verlag, 2011.Print. Leadership Styles 2013 Web. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm. Nelson, Lauren. The Effect of Good Leadership. 2013. Web. https://bizfluent.com/list-7200020-benefits-good-leadership-.html. This case study on Leadership in General Electric was written and submitted by user Leyla L. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.