Jack Welch was the Chairman and CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001.
In an interview held with Jack Welch, he expressed his opinions about GE and its core competency: the development of people. Welch states that any person that GE has a chance to reach their dream. He calls GE a ‘people factory’ rather than a plastic or engine factory. GE wants people that both are people that can sweat and dream. GE is a company where everyone sees everybody, it’s a transparent company. Welch also mentions that his job is to make better jobs. When the interviewer stated ‘Corporations only care about profits’, Welch had something to say. Welch mentioned that corporations are people, that corporations ‘sweat, bleed, hurt, and have families’, Corporations are not bricks and machines. Welch also states that the only thing a company can do is provide satisfied customers that make it successful, that all employees participate in.
A term that was coined by Jack Welch was boundaryless organization. This is defined as an organization that elimates traditional barriers between departments as well as barriers between the organization and the external environment. This is made clear when Welch mentions that GE is a company where everyone can see everybody, meaning it’s easy to communicate and work with people in different levels or departments, especially when he calls GE ‘transparent’. Our book mentions several other types of boundaryless organizations such as modular organizations, strategic alliances, and learning organizations.
I was also able to relate this interview with Jack Welch to the term People-Orientated Culture. Organizational Culture refers to a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that show employees what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Our book lists several different Organizational Culture profiles and typologies such as innovative culture, aggressive cultures, outcome-orientated cultures, stable cultures, and team-orientated cultures to name a few. Our book refers to people-orientated cultures as cultures that value fairness, supportiveness, and respect for individual rights. These cultures tend to have the saying ‘people are their greatest asset’, which is supported when Welch states that corporations are people, not bricks and buildings. It is also related when Welch states that GE’s core competency is the development of people. It is easy to see that GE cares about it’s employees and values them.
How important do my fellow team members believe a company's culture is to a company? Do you believe this relates to a person-organization fit? What could some potential problems be if the employee does not have a good person-organization fit?
I believe that a company's culture is important and does relate to a person-organization fit. We looked at Zappos earlier in the semester and their company culture is quite different than others. Personally I think Zappos is the kind of company I would enjoy working for, but there may be people out there who wouldn't enjoy the fun and motivating aspects at work. Some people believe that work is a place where work needs to be done and in a professional setting. Therefore that is why I believe a company's culture definitely affects person-organization fit.
ReplyDeleteSome potential problems could be an employee being unmotivated, not happy, not a team player, and not getting work done on time. It is very important that an employee has a good person-organization fit.
Tara Tolomeo
I agree with Tara in the idea that a company's culture is important and almost directly relates to person-organization fit. Where someone would love to work for Zappos and or Google because their personalities are more on the outgoing side of the scale, someone who is on the opposite side of the scale may have a hard time adjusting if they could at all. Some people might view the environment of either company to be distracting and unproductive. All of these things relate to a company's culture and the way that someone could survive within a company is based upon this.
ReplyDeleteIf an employee is unhappy when they show up to work or they simply hate their job in general their progress will be absent. They cannot do their best at work because they are not interested.
A person who wants to keep a more professional outlook on work again, may not appreciate an environment such as Google or Zappos where everything is upbeat and live. Some people need to focus and participate in a quieter setting.
Raymi SmithWe see the affects of that on our own campus. Where some people can operate or need noise around them to operate. Others visit the quiet study floors in the library. the same goes for people in organizations.
Raymi Smith
Our book states that culture may be related to increased performance. Our book also states that culture is a more powerful way of controlling and managing employee behaviors than organizational rules and regulations. Culture plays a very important part in a business. If an employee does not match up with a business's culture, this can potentially effect an employees performance. Before working at a company, an employee should research the job, and understand the company culture before interviewing.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Brooks
I recently heard a presentation from the HR manager from Target. He manages 10 stores in Illinois and 10 stores in Iowa. Part of his presentation was how important it is to research the company you are interviewing for. First of all so you are prepared going into an interview, but also so you know if you will like the job. He was telling us how many college graduates they hire and within 6 months they end up quitting. This is why it is so important to know a company's culture before interviewing and accepting a position. Quitting does not only affect you it also affects the company.
ReplyDeleteTara Tolomeo
I think that a companies culture should fit the beliefs, morals or ideas an employee has. Like Tara stated above there are companies like Zappos who have fun work environments but this may not be what every working individual likes.
ReplyDeleteYou want employees to be comfortable at work. Having a good person-organization fit not only helps the employee but the company as we discussed in class. In a previous class discussion we discussed how if there is a high employee turnover rate this cost the company money. Having to train an employee and use other resources to have new employees getting started.
If employees are comfortable at work this will continue to increase performance at work as stated in the text and by Lauren above. Every organization is ran differently and prior to working for a company you should look into the culture and do some research.
~Apollonia