The GE Work-Out : How to Implement GE's Revolutionary Method for Busting Bureaucracy & Attacking Organizational Proble - Hardcover

Dave Ulrich; Steve Kerr; Ron Ashkenas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071384162 ISBN 13: 9780071384162

Publisher: McGraw Hill, 2002

Synopsis

Famous "Work-Out" change-management tool explained by the people who helped develop it.

GE's legendary Work-Out program played a key role in the company's phenomenal success over the past decade and has been implemented in many other organizations. Now three executives and consultants who developed the original Work-Out approach at GE­­often working directly with CEO Jack Welch­­discuss the inner workings of Work-Out and their experiences at successfully implementing the program at GE.

Filled with effective assessment and decisionmaking tools, The GE Work-Out provides concrete and realistic guidance for anyone who wants to implement Work-Out and break down bureaucracy and hierarchy within an organization.

About this title

About the Authors

Dave Ulrich is a professor of business administration at the University of Michigan School of Business and the author of the best-selling Human Resource Champions, Results-Based Leadership, and The HR Scorecard.

Steve Kerr is Chief Learning Officer and a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs. He was previously Vice President-Leadership Development and Chief Learning Officer for General Electric, with responsibility for GE's renowned Leadership Development Center at Crotonville.

Ron Ashkenas is the managing partner of management consulting firm Robert H. Schaffer & Associates, and senior author (with Ulrich, Kerr, and Todd Jick) of two previous books about GE.

McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide

From the Back Cover

"Work-Out helped us to create a culture where everyone began playing a part, everyone's ideas began to count, and leaders led rather than controlled."­­Jack Welch, Jack: Straight from the Gut

Implement GE's legendary Work-Out technique for solving organizational problems fast­­and get fast, GE-like results­­in your organization

Bring together the employees and managers who understand a problem best ... Challenge them to develop creative solutions in a single day ... Immediately present and decide on those solutions in a public forum ... Empower people to carry them out within eight weeks ...

These are the basic tenets of GE's famous "Work-Out," the simple, powerful problem-solving technique Jack Welch used to revolutionize GE's bureaucratic culture and restore its standing as one of the world's most successful organizations. The GE Work-Out is a step-by-step guide to using Work-Out to quickly solve problems in your organization, break down obstacles to getting things done, and improve the way your organization works.

"The authors of this book helped us create Work-Out and incorporate it into the fabric of GE. Their book will help you adapt Work-Out to your organization­­with dramatic results."­­William J. Conaty, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, General Electric Company

"Every company, no matter its size, unknowingly builds an inventory of productivity-killing relics in its basement. Work-Out helps to clean them out and keep everyone focused on creatively meeting customer needs. If you want to keep your company fresh and vital, ask your managers to read this book­­and make Work-Out part of your firm's DNA."­­W. James McNerney, Jr, .Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, 3M

"I have seen the effectiveness of Work-Out in both business and government. When I was Governor of West Virginia, we found Work-Out to be invaluable to us in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our state government."­­Governor Gaston Caperton

President, The College Board

"Making fundamental change in organizations is almost impossible, but GE has succeeded. The GE Work-Out explains GE's secret weapon for fast, performance-improving change."­­Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor, Stanford Business School and coauthor, The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action

The GE Work-Out provides hands-on examples and case histories to help you implement GE's heralded Work-Out methodology in your organization. Written by GE employees and consultants who were key partners in the creation and rollout of GE's original Work-Out program­­and unique in that it addresses Work-Out from both perspectives­­this no-nonsense book will help you develop a realistic understanding of what Work-Out can and can't do, as well as the attitudes that must be in place throughout any organization before Work-Out can be successful.

Work-Out has helped GE employees at every level cut through bureaucracy to solve small and large organizational problems quickly. Written by consultants and GE executives who helped develop the original Work-Out problem-solving technique, this practical book provides detailed information on:

The underlying principles of Work-Out

Planning, conducting, and implementing a Work-Out

Customizing Work-Out for your organization

Using Work-Out to develop effective, visionary leaders

Worksheets, tools, and case studies.

Work-Out has been used with dramatic results not just at GE but in many other organizations, including 3M, Home Depot, Sears, and the State of West Virginia. Its genius lies in harnessing the intelligence of the workers closest to a problem. The GE Work-Out shows you how to

Reviews

Many companies have adapted Jack Welch's now-famous strategies for running a business. Taking advantage of Welch's popularity (and expertise), this handbook lays out instructions for implementing GE's "Work-Out" method. Flexible in execution, the method calls for collecting large teams of employees for defining tough business decisions, then breaking into smaller teams to develop solutions. The small teams then meet with a manager in a "town meeting" to discuss their recommendations. The result is change that's brought about by employees themselves. Consultants Ulrich and Ashkenas, along with Kerr (a managing director of Goldman Sachs) were brought together by Welch to create the "Work-Out" method.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw Hill
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071384162
• ISBN 13: 9780071384162
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400