Management Perspectives at Ge

Management Perspectives at GE

1. Does the pattern of management developments at GE over the last century seem to reflect the pattern suggested by management theory? Explain your answer.

As the article suggests, I believe that GE was an innovator when it came to management theory. It seems that they were always a step ahead of everyone else. That being said, just because they were innovators, doesn’t mean they didn’t follow the suggested pattern. Given the information from this article I would say that they did indeed follow the pattern. Their implementation of a R&D sector seems to be a type of classical management as it focuses on the organization as a whole. Then came the pension plan and profit sharing, which seems to be a behavioral tool. This switched the focus to the happiness and well-being of the employees. Lastly, the centralized decision making seems to imply the systems perspective. It takes into account that a decision made in one segment of the company is likely to effect the company as a whole.

2. Which of GE’s management innovations seem to draw on a behavioral-management perspective? Explain.

As stated in my previous answer, I believe the innovations that seemed to draw on a behavioral-management perspective was the implementation of the pension plan and profit sharing. In the article there is mention that this was done in lieu of getting a union involved in the company. Unions are typically brought in to ensure the fair treatment of employees and GE wanted to take the initiative to do that without any intervening. This to me shows that their focus was on employee happiness and doing what GE felt would make the employees more productive as a group.

3. How does contingency perspective explain the management changes that GE has made over the years?

It seems that GE has taken the time to analyze what works best for them. The fact that they’re ahead of the game and seem to be developing new strategies at all times shows that they...