This is small case study related to training and development of General Motor

2. “Great people build great companies. Talent
development is not a slogan of GE, it is a way of
life “
“Developing leaders, developing people takes
three things. It takes leadership commitment, it
takes disciplined processes and it takes
commitment to people it works for us”
- Jack Welch, CEO(1981-2001), General Electric Co.
- Bob Corcoran, Chief Learning Officer, General Electric Co.

3. Establishment Of General Electrics
Thomas Alwa Edition, the inventor of the
incandescent light bulb set up The Edition
Electric Light Company(EELC) in 1872 to
conduct experiments on electricity. In 1879 he
invented a carbon filament lamp and direct
current generator for incandescent electric
lighting. The EELC comprised a number of
smaller companies involved in different
businesses ranging from power station and wiring
grids to electrical appliances. The EELC merged
with the Thomas Houston Electric Company in
1892 to form General Electric Co.

4. INTRODUCTION
• General Electrics is one of the worlds biggest
conglomerates with a presence across 160
countries, 11 varied businesses and employee
strength of around 307,000.
• It is one of the first companies to establish a
Management Development Center to train and
develop its employees.
• The programs of GE developed to its employees
created such an impact that later other companies
began to approach GE to try and develop similar
programs for their employees.

5. INITATIAVES AT GE
1st Initiative
The 1st initiative was taken by Ralph Cordiner on taking up
the position of CEO in 1950. Cordiner restructured the
company by decentralizing it by breaking it into various
departments. He felt decentralization would make the
company more manageable for rapid growth. As a result of
this GE had more than 100 divisions as compared to only 8
units present before and it needed to appoint a general
manager for each division.
As a result of this structure the new
managers needed to be trained to enable them to handle
their divisions successfully. Therefore it required to establish
a corporate training center for GE executives.
So, finally the Management Development
Center was set up in the year 1956 at crotonville, Newyork. It
was the world’s first corporate university and a major
milestone in the area of T&D for the company.

6. 2nd
Initiative
In 1981, Jack Welch became CEO and he wanted to cut
redtapism within the company. He was quick to figure
out that crotonville could play an important role for an
open culture at GE. He made sure that the courses
were attended by the best employees at GE who were
nominated by their bosses for the training on their
superior performance. These top performing
employers were called “A Players” and possessed the
4E’s – Energy, ability to energize others , edge and
execution along with passion.
In 1983, he sanctioned $46
million to build a residential building at the center and
by 1984 he himself began to teach at the Crotonville.
Courses Duration Frequency Level / No. of
Participants
Executive
development
Three weeks Once year Highest
potential
managers (50)
Business
management
Three weeks Thrice a year Middle level
managers (180)
Management
development
Three weeks Six to eight
times
a year
Junior level
managers (400-
500)

7. Work-out referred to unnecessary work out of the
system. Through this initiative 40-100 employees started
their views with the facilitators from outside the company
who were generally renowned professors or consultants
from the industry. By 1992, more than 200,000 employees
at GE had undergone Work-Out training. It played a vital
role as an agent in the transformation of GE into a
“Learning Organization”. Crotonville, in its new role,
became a platform where GE employees discuss ideas and
issues facing GE businesses.
WORK-OUT INITIATIVE

8. Quality Overview seminars : Basic six
sigma awareness.
Team Training : Basic tool introduction
to equip employees to participate in
Six Sigma Teams.
Master Black Belt, Black Belt and
Green Belt Training : In-depth quality
training to prepare the team to use
high level statistical tools, basic
quality control tools, change
acceleration process and flow
technology tools.
Design for Six Sigma training :
Prepares teams for the use of
statistical tools to design it right the
first time.
Six Sigma is a quality measure and
improvement program that focuses
on the control of process. It
includes identifying factors critical
to quality as determined by the
customer, reducing process
variation and improving
capabilities, increasing stability and
designing systems to support the
six sigma goals.
In 1995,GE
introduced the six sigma quality
management program to make GE
products defect free. GE asked each
business unit to identify and
develop employee as champions,
master black belts and green belts.
The training was linked to
employee promotion.
Six Sigma Quality Initiative
Six Sigma Training Courses offered
at GE

9. MAJOR TYPES OF T&D PROGRAMS AT GE
GE offered training programs throughout the world. All
the programs were open for enrollment not only for GE
employees but also for customers, suppliers and other
partners. In later as GE expanded, several new courses
were launched to meet new requirements. The faculty
was a judicious blend of trainers and consultants , GE
leaders or distinguished university professors. The
company wanted to make sure it delivered the best
training.
They are divided into two levels:
• Entry level leadership programs.
• Experienced level leadership programs.

10. Entry level leadership programs
These programs aimed at developing individuals
for leadership positions. The major programs
were the Commercial Leadership Programs For
Sales & Marketing(CLP) , Financial Management
Program(FMP) and Information Management
Leadership Program(IMLP). These programs
involved grooming employees across various
locations and functions with the aim of
developing them for top positions by the end of
the program. In addition there were programs for
the operations and engineering areas called as the
Edition Engineering Development
Programs(EEDP).

11. EXPERIENCED LEVEL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS
• Two major programs offered under this category were the
Experienced Commercial Leadership Program (ECLP) and
the Human Resources Leadership Programs.
• ECLP was meant for high potential
individuals seeking a career in sales and marketing. The
programs combined four six-monthly rational assignments
across selected GE businesses combined with intensive
course work. Two of this work focused on marketing and
the other two on the sales.
• HRLP prepared candidates to take up various
roles in the human resource functions of the company. It
consisted of a 2 year program with three eight-month
rotational assignments. The program groomed participants
through two HR assignments and one cross-functional role
in finance, quality or business development.

12. Focus on E-Learning
• GE had started implementing on-line training way
back in 1998. In 2003, GE implemented Learning
Management Software(LMS) to power its
e-learning website called mylearning@ge. It
helped the company impart training to all its
employees globally. The site enabled students to
sign on to personal development page which had
a description of their curriculum. It also had a list
of courses from which could choose courses that
suits them. In 2004 almost 200,000 GE employees
took e-learning courses.

13. Impact of training on GE
• GE had been successful use its diversity to transform
itself into a learning organization where employees
could develop themselves continuously.
• The on-the-job rational assignments that the company
offered enabled the employees to get tremendous
exposure across the varied business segments.
• GE performed very well since 1980’s.
• The company had also been able to generate additional
revenues by providing professional training to other
organizations in various areas like Six Sigma, Work-Out
and various business specific skills.