Organisational Leadership Final OSA

FINAL ONLINE SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Commerce in International Business
Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Management
Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing Management

PROGRAMME
Bachelor of Commerce in Corporate Communication
Bachelor of Commerce in Supply Chain Management
Bachelor of Commerce in Human Resource Management
MODULE Organisational Leadership

YEAR Two (2)
INTAKE July 2023 Semester 1
DATE 21 November 2023
SECTION A [100 MARKS]
Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
The strategic leadership of GE CEO Jack Welch
The late former chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE), Jack Welch was heralded by many as the greatest leader of
his era. During his two decades at GE's helm, he transformed the organisation from a $13 billion (USD) maker of
appliances and lightbulbs into one of the most valuable companies in the world, while building a reputation for himself as
a management guru. What made Jack Welch so successful? What were the secrets and principles behind his approach
to work and life? Jack Welch became GE’s CEO in 1981 at the age of 45. Upon taking office, he initiated a series of
changes to improve the performance of GE’s diversified business portfolio, with the hope of fundamentally reshaping the
company over the next five years.
Despite resistance to change within the company, Welch was aware that past performance could not define future
success, and an organisation would not go anywhere without a sense of crisis. Transformation and innovation are keys
for survival. Three months after taking over as CEO, Welch set a vision for each business unit that they had to be #1 or
#2 in their markets; if not, they had to fix, sell, or close the unit. This later became one of his most famous strategies.
Within the company, Welch sought to streamline GE with layoffs, eliminating the laborious strategic planning system,
dismantling the bureaucracy, and abolishing the nine-layer management hierarchy. As a result, GE’s revenue expanded,
and operating profits soared to $2.4 billion by 1985. In the late 1980s, following GE’s massive restructuring effort, Welch
proposed to develop an approach to management characterized by speed, simplicity, and self-confidence. To this end, he
launched Work-Out and Best Practices, two closely linked initiatives that aimed at promoting aspired culture and
management approaches. At Welch’s request, GE promoted the Work-Out programme throughout the company. It
consisted of a group of 20 to 100 employees who were selected and invited to a discussion to share views about their
own departments and how they could be. After Work-Out was implemented, Welch sought out ideas that could raise GE’s
productivity, and that led him to create Best Practices. This programme was designed to develop effective processes by
studying and analyzing the best practices of other high-performance companies.
To align GE’s established human resources system with the company’s strategic targets, Welch also radically overhauled
GE’s compensation package by extending stock options to management compensation, and reengineering its bonus and
option allocation system in a more aggressive manner to ensure it was closely linked to the key strategies of the day. In
the 1990s, Welch created a new strategic concept called ‘integrated diversity’ and worked to make GE ‘a boundary-less
company,’ which he described as “a company where we knock down the walls that separate us from each other on the
inside and from our key constituencies on the outside. “The idea was aimed at encouraging employees to seek out and
share new ideas. To make this happen, he changed the way bonuses and options awards were delivered to honour
innovative and resource-sharing efforts. Moreover, Welch also introduced the notion of ‘stretch’ to set performance
targets to motivate higher levels of performance of managers, which he described as “using dreams to set business
targets, with no real idea of how to get there. In late 1990s, before his retirement, Welch adopted Motorola’s Six Sigma
quality programme to improve the company’s products and production procedures. In 1996, he announced that GE aimed
to attain its Six Sigma goals within five years. Although Welch had previously built up a top-notched management team,
the closer he got to his planned retirement date, the more he wanted to enhance the GE’s quality for his successor.
Therefore, he modified his four types of managers to describe GE as a company that needed only ‘A players’ – managers
who had vision, leadership, energy and courage. Within only 20 years, Jack Welch grew GE’s market cap by over 30-fold
to $450 billion, making it the most valuable company in the world. During his tenure, he not only developed GE’s
business with strategic vision, but also championed the company’s international operations amidst increasing global
trade and cultural exchange.
Jack Welch was an outstanding, legendary leader and strategist who took a fresh look at his work every day and made all
necessary and aggressive changes. In his two decades leading GE, he recorded an average of 23% annual total
shareholder return. Welch believed that an effective way to bring about forceful changes was to empower employees and
allow them to unleash their energy, intelligence, confidence, and productivity. Evidence has proved that employees have
become more creative and open-minded with more possibilities through GE’s Boundary-less Company initiative. Real life
has risks, failures, and vulnerabilities, things that people try to escape. However, as perceived by Welch, one who cannot
see the world with simplicity and rationality cannot make right and reasonable decisions. If a company fails to face reality,
whether it be soaring costs or growing market competition, it will result in shrinking market share, reduced profits, high
employee turnovers, and investment withdrawal. Welch called for developing a candid culture at GE where he
encouraged employees to reach out directly to leaders to seek advice. For Welch, the role of leaders was not to control
people but rather to guide and lead. Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the
vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.
(Adapted from source: https://www.ceibs.edu/new-papers-columns/22566)
Answer ALL the questions in this section.
QUESTION 1 (25 Marks)

Jack Welch has been described by many as a transformational leader. With reference from the extract,
argue for or against this assertion.

Drawing from the extract and using suitable examples, discuss how Jack Welch demonstrates the elements
of leadership.

As the human resource manager at GE, you have been tasked with employing job enlargement and job
enrichment as further strategies for motivating staff. You plan to start with the reception staff whose
primary duties include answering, screening, and forwarding incoming phone calls, greeting and
welcoming guests, and directing visitors to the appropriate persons and office. Based on this:
- Provide a detailed explanation of how you will enlarge the job of the receptionists. (12.5 Marks)
- Provide a detailed explanation of how you will enrich the job of the receptionists. (12.5 Marks)

Taking into consideration Jack Welch's leadership at GE and his expectation of the employees, elaborate on
the type of individuals that you think will be best suited to work in GE in terms of emotional intelligence,
values, personality, and ability. Ensure that you clearly substantiate your response.
END OF PAPER

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FINAL ONLINE SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Bachelor of Business Administration

Bachelor of Commerce in International Business

Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Management

Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing Management

Bachelor of Commerce in Supply Chain Management

Bachelor of Commerce in Human Resource Management

MODULE Organisational Leadership

The strategic leadership of GE CEO Jack Welch

Answer ALL the questions in this section.

QUESTION 1 (25 Marks)

QUESTION 2 (25 Marks)

QUESTION 3 (25 Marks)

QUESTION 4 (25 Marks)

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