Literature Review: Leadership, Management, and GE's Practices

This literature review delves into the concepts of leadership and management, differentiating between the two and exploring their application within the context of General Electric (GE). The review examines the differences between leadership and management, emphasizing that leadership invol...Read More

LITERATURE
REVIEW and ESSAY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
Discussing the difference between the concept of leadership and management....................1
Analysing two leadership theories..........................................................................................3
Analysing the effectiveness of leadership selection and training program at General Electric..6
Contextualise selection and training program at General Electric.........................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Leadership could be defined to as that activity of any organisation that is leading and
forming part of company through the various traits and characteristics of a particular individual.
Leadership is more than managing people within that company as it includes motivating and
showing them the correct path so that they could achieve the target not just that of company but
their own individual goals as well. So in this current literature review we would be including
findings and theories of various authors on about concept of leadership within the context of
General Electric. This is an American multinational conglomerate which means that many types
of business which are engaged into various products are been coming under one particular
umbrella of corporate group. So General Electric is having many business like that of finance,
power, renewable energy, digital, additive manufacturing, oil and gas, lighting, transportation,
healthcare and venture.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Discussing the difference between the concept of leadership and management.
As per the Mackenzie, Golembiewski and Rahim, (2018) leadership should be that part
which is making the people of certain organisation to work in most effective manner not just to
attain the goal of firm but to make them learn about certain things. This process would be
included into both research and practical skills area so that individual ability of organisation
particularly a person is raised. It is said in the old saying of leadership that great leaders of world
or that of particular area are born and not made as this is regarded to as inherent skills or
behaviour of person. This could also be looked up into the form of social influence of individual
which a person would be having so that he could help others in accomplishing some kind of
common task. The main essence of this leadership is been derived from the combination of
several factors like that of communication, function, behaviour, intelligence and vision of that
leader who is been able to lead and guide people or his followers.
Whereas Shao, (2018) defines management as the other and somewhat different process
or theory from that of leadership. As both of them are many a time used as the synonyms of each
other but they both are having differentiated meaning and approach towards the organisation.
Like management only include administration of the people of organisation which would also
comprising activities which are called to as setting up of strategies and planning of that
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organisation. As General Electric is having many types of different activities and products and
about 3 million employees so it is necessary that they are been motivated and working very hard
to attain the goal of company together. Management could be defined to as that discipline so that
all different types of things could be managed by one or two persons in the best possible manner
while leadership is only one single element of management which is associated with influencing
quality of people so that they could work in an efficient manner.
Mone and London, (2018) said that leadership would be mainly based on the trust as they
need to influence people and management would be on control as they need to help them to
work. All the people within the company like that of General Electric need to be inspired and
then manage their activities so that their work could be completed on due time period.
Leadership could not be taught in any form to any person rather they are having the in born talent
of influencing and inspiring their followers in correct manner. They all work as a team to achieve
the target of group, individual and whole organisation. This is not only based on completion of
the activities and at tainting targets but they are also categorised as defeating all other
competitive firms in market in terms of products and price and then becoming the market leader.
Whereas Kuhnert, (2018) included that management could be taken as to all techniques which
are be applied by one particular man in order to manage all other men into one firm. Not only
peoples are managed within its concept but this would also be involving all 5M of management
stating money, machine, men, material and methods.
Leadership is having no particular set out methods or techniques to deal with people as
their work is to influence them so that others could be working in their best possible way out.
While on the other hand management is having set rules of its procedures which would be
including like that of planning, organising, staffing, controlling and leading or directing people
or other 5M of management. Politis and Politis, (2018) viewed that both these used to go hand in
hand so that both of them should be used and applied along with each other which would be
enabling the organisation and each employee of it to gain their own self target like that of
earning money and that of organisation which could be like that of becoming targets in short
span of time. Management would be having many functions which are including like of planning
and staffing of all resources so that all things are going all together in order to gain full success
this would be leading to achieving of targets. While leadership would be one of the function of
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management which involve all people or organisation so that they are working together to lead
their way.
This same difference would be there into manager and leader who both are acting in their
own way to achieve the desired goal of organisation through the main functions of budgeting and
planning of resources. Managers are there into all level of management which are all linked to
the highest and top most management so that they are planning for betterment of company and
all of them are supplying this information to others. But it is not necessary that there is one
leader in all sub level of company as this is not important and their work could be done by the
managers as well. The mission and vision of company should be communicated to both leaders
and managers of firm so that they are telling what is to be done by each of them and how it to be
done. According to Kok and McDonald, (2017) it was said the correct form of communication is
the main key to success in a company which is helping the employees of firm to achieve their
goals. A good leader and manager would be communicating link between all employees and
senior level management. They both should be telling what are the problems or issues that are
faced by employees and what management is planning for them all.
Analysing two leadership theories.
Leadership could be clearly defined to as process in which individual is influencing
group of people so that they could all achieve common goal of that group. Non of the leader is
been made out of their job title but they would be emerged as leader by their influencing nature
and characteristic. The main essentials of all leaders would be that of motivating people so that
they are doing something which is extraordinary in its own ordinary nature. There are many
types of theories of leadership which are governing the characteristic and knowledge of that
leader. They would be telling us how and why certain people are becoming leaders in their own
field and what is that one trait that is helping them to motive people which is said by Grandy and
Sliwa, (2017). Majorly they would be focusing on the characteristic of one leader however they
could also be relying on the way people are attempting to identify how people are behaving.
Mainly there are 5 major form of leadership including that of trait, behavioural, contingency,
charismatic and transformational leadership theory.
Ruggie, (2017) included that all these types of theories would be dealing with ideology of
how people are pursuing others so that they could have the positive form of motivation onto
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them. This could also be noticed that all type of leaders could be having their own unique idea or
level of knowledge which is making the different from the other one. No two leaders could be
performing or having same quality and skills to manage and motivate people as there are various
type of leadership quality which is making them different from each other. Leaders could be both
less effective and more effective than the other one at the other own which is completely based
on the amount of efforts that each one of them is putting into their work or motivating and
influencing peoples. So we in this literature review would only be studying two types of theories
of leadership which are traits and transformational leadership. Both of them are different from
each other and including some advantages and disadvantages as well.
Firstly we would be learning and gaining knowledge about what is trait theory of
leadership which is based on mainly the characteristic and nature that successful and
unsuccessful leaders are having as said by Goetsch and Davis, (2014 ). By word trait it means the
distinct quality and characteristic which one person or group of persons are having within them
which is making them different and unique from others. So one person or leader would be having
many qualities which would be differentiating them from others that are been divided into many
parts like that of physiological, demographic, personality and intellectual characteristic of all.
These could be defining one successful leader who are obtaining various types of abilities and
skills of specified things which would be making them effective leaders as well.
Savery, (2015) included in their research that there are some traits which is making one
leader different from the other but it is not important that only these traits or characteristic could
be looked up solely to judge a person that whether he could be leader or not. It is just like some
preconditions which should be taken into consideration but they are not alone responsible to look
up for the leader to be potential enough. Among them all there are some important traits which
leaders must be considering as their quality or skills like that of they must be having self
confidence which is the most effective part. They should firstly believing into themselves and
their ideology then only they could be able to influence someone other to do that particular thing.
Successful leader must also be having knowledge of their work and business which they are
undertaking so that they could pass on information about their field to their subordinates. Ingram
and Schwepker Jr, (2015) viewed that honesty and integrity are the two most important part of
their work which is leading to trustworthiness and reliability on the ideas and thoughts leaders.
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This type of theory of leadership would be giving particular idea on about who is a leader
and what are the qualities or traits which they are having which is making them different from
others to be as the leader. However, there are some limitations of this theory which was stated by
Gamero-Burón and Lassibille, (2018) like that of level of complexity within this theory that is
bounding subjective judgements regarding or differentiating good or bad leader. It was also
noted that there are number of traits which are included within this theory i.e., more than 100 of
them are there which is making this list of essential characteristic too long to be included. On the
other hand this theory would be giving detailed and good knowledge about the element and
procedures of leadership thus making the individual easy to access what could be their key
indicator of successful leader.
There is also another type of theory which is included as per this part making that
essential for leader to identify what is leadership and how it is playing important role in
organisation. Change is the most common and natural phenomenon which is also regarded to as
rule of nature that must be occurring from time to time in order to bring about the changes. Thus,
this statement lead to the rise of transformational leadership style or theory under which leader
would be working with their subordinates so that they could insist changes within system of
handling people. Transformational leadership would be defined as per Hickman and Akdere,
(2018) as that which is creating vision so that they could guide and lead their whole team
through the changes with inspiring them all. In the first stage of this theory both the team and
leader would be working together so that they are been able to find out what is that particular
area that is in need for change.
Making the identification of the theory of change should be the most important step that
both leader and the team member are to take so that they could plan according to this. Then the
leader would be creating vision onto their subordinates in order to guide during the change
procedure with the essence of inspiration. Then last one would be execution of the change this
should be committed by all group or team members. One of the best example of transformational
leadership is that of Franklin Roosevelt who was the Former US President and was having the
characteristic of this theory of leadership. This type of leadership which would be enhancing
motivation and morale of people working within one team this is increasing the performance of
subordinates within the job so that they are able to perform in effective manner. Majorly
Gardner, Grantcharov and Dunkin, (2018) included that transformational leadership is helping
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the team members so that they would be working in most efficient manner with the leader being
a role model for all of them.
Analysing the effectiveness of leadership selection and training program at General Electric.
Both the above mentioned type of leadership should be affecting the working and job
performance of all employees at the General Electric as the company is having many types of
people who are working into conglomerate. The transformational leadership should be brining
about certain type of changes within company which would be regarded to as for betterment only
so that employees of General Electric are able to identify area for change and then help their
leaders in making those changes. Whereas the trait leadership would be helping to access which
type of quality and knowledge should the leader must be having in order to track down changes.
If the company is selecting both these type of leadership theories then surely the would be
heading towards the success of their team and their company. Vergauwe, Wille and De Fruyt,
(2018) said that transformational type of leadership should be showcasing what are the problems
which employee are facing while doing their work or performing their duties and responsibilities.
These problems and issues of employee would be that which is calling for the change and
modification of rules and policies of company. This must be taken under consideration if the
employees are not happy in the organisation then they would not be able to work in company due
to problem which they are facing. McGrath, (2018) said that trait theory of leadership is
identifying what are the qualities that are required in the successful leaders of all times. This
would be enabling the management to identify who are those individuals within their company
who are having potential qualities to be an effective leader. This is essential for the team and
management to determine that whether company is required to have any person who could be
guiding and leading their team members so that they are been able to achieve their targets.
Goal and mission of General Electric would be that of building, moving, powering and
curing the world with their industrial revolution and having their focus on connecting core
competencies with that of market leader. So in order to attain this mission of company it is
required that whole organisation is been working as one particular team so that they are able to
make certain changes. These transformations are vital in way to achieve goal and objectives of
company which is only possible at the time when leaders are taking their responsibilities to be
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able to work and join all people as one single team. Slater and Barker, (2018) said that these
must be done in all sub-division of company like that of marketing, production, human resources
management and selling or distribution department which is making company to be like as one.
Apart from this leadership skills and development it is also required to have the correct
type of training program which is also important as on the part of individual workers. Training is
always helping the company to underpin the best from the rest personality from whole
organisation. Those who are having certain skills but they are not been able to apply it as due to
lack of knowledge would be leading to need of training and development programmes. A good
and successful leader must always be helping their team members during their growth stages so
that skilled and qualified workers could be knowing to be resourceful for company. Training
program which organisation is adopting in order for the employees must be chosen only after
assessment of skills or knowledge which they are not having. Guraya and Barr, (2018) included
that the training programmes and the leadership skills that prominent and efficient leader is
planning to conduct should be effective in all respect.
New sort of opportunities could be identified at the time of training and development
programs which is aimed at creating employee career into this development process. Both these
building training programmes and the effectiveness of leadership would be work of human
resource management. Thus, Laureani and Antony, (2018) concluded that if members if team is
wanting to have good and effective leadership style then there is requirement of proper planning
and then its execution as only that could be helpful for attainment of goals and objectives of firm.
Contextualise selection and training program at General Electric.
On the basis of the knowledge and skills of firm there is always requirement of creating
good source of competitive advantages so that they are been able to meet the goal of firm. There
is always a diversified composition of team within all type of company especially if its
conglomerate then there would surely be variety of people who are working. As they are from
various background and culture having diversified knowledge and qualification in various fields
so it is essential that company is making its efforts in binding and bridging the gap between them
all. According to Wegman and Guenole, (2018) it was said that the type of leadership would be
wholly depending upon type of company and which type of people are there working into. As
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General Electric is a company which is having diversified employees who are employed within
organisation so it is required to analysis the need and way to inspire and motivate them.
This is the major requirement in all type of companies which are working within as they
are having employees who are of various nature and characteristic so it is important to bring
them all together so that they could work as team. In this type of team it is required to have
training and development programmes so that each employee is getting opportunities to grow. It
is the work of leader that he is motivating and helping their all employees to work in efficient
manner Whaley and Gillis, (2018) said. It was selected that General Electric should be using and
applying trait and transformation theory of leadership so that they could identify the area which
is needing to have the change which leader should be pursuing what type of quality. Trait theory
is analysing which characteristic of a successful leader should be there so that one specified
problem is been solved out which is also required as essentials part.
CONCLUSION
In the whole discussion and literature review part on the various types of leadership
theories which General Electric should be using and applying within their day to day working.
All the theories of leadership are equally essential for a company but to adopt them all could be
difficult part for them. So we have analysed that General Electric should be using trait and
transformational theory of leadership both of them would be helping firm in way that is effective.
As if company is in need to have certain type of changes then they could be using the
transformational theory which is helping them to access what are the modification that are
required and how these changes could be applied within company. It was also concluded that
company must be engaging into various type of training programs which is helping their
employees to grow and develop. Both these type of leadership and training programmes is
necessary for organisation so that they are not finding it difficult for attainment of goal and
objectives of firm.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals:
Gamero-Burón, C. and Lassibille, G., 2018. Work Engagement Among School Directors And
Its Impact On Teachers' Behavior At Work. The Journal of Developing Areas. 52(2). pp.27-
39.
Gardner, A.K., Grantcharov, T. and Dunkin, B.J., 2018. The science of selection: using best
practices from industry to improve success in surgery training. Journal of surgical
education. 75(2). pp.278-285.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Grandy, G. and Sliwa, M., 2017. Contemplative leadership: The possibilities for the ethics of
leadership theory and practice. Journal of Business Ethics. 143(3). pp.423-440.
Guraya, S.Y. and Barr, H., 2018. The effectiveness of interprofessional education in healthcare:
A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences.
Hickman, L. and Akdere, M., 2018. Effective leadership development in information
technology: building transformational and emergent leaders. Industrial and Commercial
Training. 50(1). pp.1-9.
Ingram, T.N., and Schwepker Jr, C.H., 2015. Sales management: Analysis and decision making.
Routledge.
Kok, S. K. and McDonald, C., 2017. Underpinning excellence in higher education–an
investigation into the leadership, governance and management behaviours of high-
performing academic departments. Studies in Higher Education. 42(2). pp.210-231.
Kuhnert, K., 2018. Leadership Developmental Level and Performance: An Investigation of
Gender Differences. Journal of Adult Development. pp.1-8.
Laureani, A. and Antony, J., 2018. Leadership–a critical success factor for the effective
implementation of Lean Six Sigma. Total Quality Management & Business
Excellence. 29(5-6). pp.502-523.
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Mackenzie, K. D., Golembiewski, R. T. and Rahim, M. A., 2018. Introduction. In Current
Topics in Management (pp. 9-24). Routledge.
McGrath, M., 2018. Safety education: culture, leadership and learning in the workplace: a
critical discourse analysis(Doctoral dissertation).
Mone, E. M. and London, M., 2018. Employee engagement through effective performance
management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.
Politis, J. D. and Politis, D. J., 2018. Examination of the relationship between servant leadership
and agency problems: gender matters. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.
Ruggie, J. G., 2017. The theory and practice of learning networks: Corporate social
responsibility and the Global Compact. In Learning To Talk (pp. 32-42). Routledge.
Savery, J.R., 2015. Overview of problem-based learning: Definitions and distinctions. Essential
readings in problem-based learning: Exploring and extending the legacy of Howard S.
Barrows, 9, pp.5-15.
Shao, J., 2018. The moderating effect of program context on the relationship between program
managers' leadership competences and program success. International Journal of Project
Management. 36(1). pp.108-120.
Slater, M.J. and Barker, J.B., 2018. Doing social identity leadership: Exploring the efficacy of
an identity leadership intervention on perceived leadership and mobilization in elite
disability soccer. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. pp.1-22.
Vergauwe, J., Wille, B., and De Fruyt, F., 2018. The double-edged sword of leader charisma:
Understanding the curvilinear relationship between charismatic personality and leader
effectiveness. Journal of personality and social psychology. 114(1). p.110.
Wegman, L.A., and Guenole, N., 2018. Placing job characteristics in context: cross-temporal
meta-analysis of changes in job characteristics since 1975. Journal of Management. 44(1).
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Whaley, A. and Gillis, W.E., 2018. Leadership development programs for health care middle
managers: An exploration of the top management team member perspective. Health care
management review. 43(1). pp.79-89.
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