ORGANIZATION AND BEHAVIOUR

Organization and Behaviour



aOrganization and Behaviour

Every business has a set of key characteristics or values that make up an organizational culture which is unique to its business. Organizational behavior examines “the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness” (Robbins, 2005). The purpose of this research paper is to identify and evaluate General Electric's (GE) organizational culture, organizational behavior, and customer service standards. We will also uncover how successful GE has been in implementing organizational behavior concepts in the following three categories: (1) motivation, (2) group behavior, (3) organizational culture.

General Electric has their organizational values posted right on their website. By doing so, they have provided written expectations to their employees regarding ethical behavior and integrity in the work environment. These values reflect the energy, spirit, and solid foundation of the company, articulating a common code of organizational behavior. Also, GE's bold set of management strategies is aimed at increasing innovation and improving productivity to make the company more competitive. GE's organizational culture is considered one of high ethical standard in the corporate world. According to The Age of Ethics (KPMG, 2007) “GE now has one of the best ethics compliance programs in existence”, says Larry Ponemon, national director of Business Ethics Services at KPMG”.

General Electric

Since Thomas Edison started General Electric in 1876, the company has steadily grown into a tremendously successful organization and one of the largest companies in the world. Several management and organizational strategies have been used through out the years in order to attain the current status of the firm. When looking at an organization's cultural appeal, one must first decide what they are looking for; what appeals to me may or may not appeal to someone else. There are a few categories within GE's organizational culture that appeals to me personally. These categories include but are not limited to:

Leadership: It is important for a company to allow leaders to have the freedom and flexibility to contribute their knowledge and expertise in both their daily job and at company levels. “At the top, we don't run GE like a big company. We run it like a big partnership, where every leader can make a contribution not just to their job, but to the entire Company” (Immelt, J., 2005).

Work Environment: A company should provide a pleasant and vitalizing work environment that is easy to balance with my personal life. “GE is an invigorating place to work. Ours is a high-performance culture that emphasizes high-integrity business practices as well as work/life balance” (Our Culture, 2008).

Training and Education Programs: Successful companies provide additional training and educational benefits that will enhance employee leadership capabilities. “We invest nearly $1 billion a year in career development for our employees at every level of professional growth.(Leadership Programs, 2008).

Part of the culture and behavior of GE is the use of sigma six. Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect ...