General Electric leadership attempts to motivate people via the constant threat of losing their jobs. Instead of providing true leadership, GE leaders try to make GE plants compete with other GE plants for jobs and project funding. Not a good team building approach. I have been in meetings where GE expertise is withheld from other GE plants simply because of the job and project funding COMPETITION GE leadership has imposed against each plant. How much are we paying these leaders to lead? Come on guys! This method is simply stupid.
But actively encouraging workers to fear for their job doesn’t make them more competitive and productive; it makes them panicked and incautious. Job insecurity hurts health, makes people burn out, and reduces job satisfaction and performance.
There’s obvious good reason to be nervous. In many cases, finding a new job after losing one takes months, and gets more and more difficult.
GE is frequently criticized for creating excessively competitive cultures and internal politicking. I have read many post about GE's "buddy system" in Greenville, South Carolina. And with the people I know that work in Greenville, I believe this "buddy system" to be prevalent and is the key determining factor of those selected for the layoff list.
This culture has been created by GE Leadership and is an overall symptom of ineffective and inadequate leadership. GE should be working as a global team and not pockets of competition with self preservation goals. Another GE buzz-phrase that I hate is "working in silos" . These GE Silos are the direct result of inadequate and ineffective leadership. Stop the buzz phrases, start leading, and stop ruining my life!!!. LOL