Self-Managing Teams at General Electric Aircraft

The organizational behavior issues that I reported in this paper pertain to self-managing team ups at widely distributed Electrics aircraft railway locomotive assembly facility in Durham, North Carolina ( here(predicate)after referred to as GE). The article Engines of Democracy from Fast Company magazine is particularly interesting because the self-managed teams at General Electric fit the definition from our class text, organisational mien (1998), almost perfectly. According to this bear, Among the management responsibilities altogetherotted each self-managing team is that of continually assessing the move of the team and redesigning the jobs of the teams members (p. 152).Through out(a) the article, examples of job and sour changes do at GE were noted. The majority of these changes were made to existing order processes prior to the opening of the make, while the quest for continuous improvement has impelled other changes since the facility opened. You will find various examples of these changes throughout this paper. Although our physical body text Organizational Behavior (1998) just touches on self-managing teams, the situation at GE seems to be a hybrid of not only self-managing teams (p. 152), just now of quality circles (p. 151), and TQM (p. 150).I chose the article Engines of Democracy because I believe that independent work teams dismiss be achieverful in many situations. Unfortunately, they do not formally exist at Commonwealth Edison (my employer), which is a traditional hierarchical company. I in like manner chose this article because jets fascinate me. Simply say, I am amazed by the fact that some issue that is so heavy is qualified to fly so high and so fast. In the article, Charles Fishman (1999) sums up my feelings when he states That soulfulness who lives in Topeka can decide on a whim to go to Tokyo, and be there in less than a day, is truly miraculous (p.180).In this paper, I assimilate highlighted several success factors at GE, and examples be included where it is appropriate. The success factors included are (a) aggroup Dynamics and Job Satisfaction, (b) Employee Selection and Skill Level, (c) Work Methods, (d) Employee Pride and Motivation, and (e) vocalizing Remarks about committedness.The research methods used to create the GE organization are most similar to the Explicit Theory. Robert Henderson and his managers were responsible for opening the GE plant in Durham, North Carolina. Mr. Henderson fixed that the assembly work would be make in the most radical fashion possible. In researching how this would be done, Henderson and his team researched best practices, by visiting other factories looking for ideas and methods that would empower his employees with authorization and independence (Fishman, 1999, p. 188).The GE organization also has a hint of the litigate Research Method, although it does not appear that it was intentionally used in the discipline of the organization, nor do all of the stages of the Action Research Model apply to GE.The GE plant has a staff of 170 employees, and 1 plant manager. squads are responsible for the intersection pointion of engines from start to finish, and they are told only 1 thing the date the engine needs to be on a truck. Team members handle all other facets of management. In the empowered atmosphere, decisions are made by consensus. The concept of teamwork is obvious, and a remark of employee by Keith McKee, who stated I have 15 bosses all of my teammates are my bosses (Fishman, 1999, p. 192) is indicative of the work environment. In addition, the former plant manager, Paula Sims stated that We call this the feedback capital of the world (Fishman, 1999, p. 192). No one is exempt from feedback. Early in Ms. Sims assignment, an employee told her that there was no need for her to micromanage the employees, because when she told them to do something, it would get done. I find this refreshing.In Organizational Management (19 98), job propitiation is defined as a delightful feeling that results from the perception that ones job fulfills or allows for the fulfilment of ones important job values (p.107). Since the article makes no mention of the euphonyment of job satisfaction, I believe we can measure employee satisfaction by the turn over rate, which is less than five-percent annually. The article also includes some individual remarks relating to job satisfaction. For example, employee Pat Miller commented on old jobs that he held, I had not input at all-none. Im much happier here. I italics added can change what goes on (Fishman, 1999, p. 184).With members of the plant conducting interviews of authorization co-workers, GE uses extensive interviews that encompass el dismantle skill areas to evaluate candidates. Interviews have been known to last 8 hours, and they include interactive exercises.It was also decided that all employees should be FAA-certified mechanics. This is the only GE facility that has such a requirement. The rationale behind this thinking is that candidates will already possess priceless training if they are hired. As stated by Robert Henderson, who was in pip of opening the facility, That would mean that wed start with a better aegir of employee (Fishman, 1999, p. 188). This remark fits the same line of thinking of another successful businessman, Ron Wolf, General Manager of the Green Bay Packers. Mr. Wolf stated in his book The Packer Way Nine Stepping Stones to Building a Winning Organization, that the root of the nine keys to winning is to hire the best(Attner, Wolf, 1998).The GE workers strive to advance it simple. For example, the floor in an assembly building is painted blue, so when move are dropped, they can be easily seen. To hold certain move in view before they are permanently installed, technicians began using beeswax. Also, all tools have foam cutout areas so that they are not left out of place. This addresses both productivity and sa fety issues.The plant utilizes what GE employees call multiskilling, which nub that all employees know all of the jobs. Derrick McCoy, a GE employee, stated Multiskilling is how the place is kept together(Fishman, 1999, p. 186).As Mr. Fishman (1999) mentions in the article, property alone can not motivate people to perform as well as GE employees have (p. 182). The book Organizational Behavior (1998) shows that Abraham Maslow would agree, as testify by his Needs Hierarchy (p. 83). Based on Maslows model, money would satisfy physiological and safety needs at best.Pride and satisfaction fuel motivation at the GE plant, as there are no performance incentives. GE team members are so elevated that they sweep out trucks so that no damage occurs to their finished product while they are being shipped via truck. Mr. Fishman (1999) reports that GE employees believe that their job is not to make jet engines, but to make jet engines better (p. 202).Commitment and the drive for perfection is taken very seriously by GE employees. This is evidenced by comments like those of employee Bill Lane, who said Ive got a 3-year old daughter, and I figure that every plane we build engines for has someone with a 3-year old daughter riding on it (Fishman, 1999, p. 180).Employee Duane Williams, referring to problems that workers normally complain about, said well, we have a chance to do something about them. I cant say, They dont know whats outlet on, or, They made a bad decision. I italics added am they (Fishman, 1999, p. 186). Certainly cargo comes from self-esteem and being appreciated. Again, Duane Williams remarked that I was never valued that much as an employee in my life. But here, I couldnt wait to get to work every day. Thats no BS (Fishman, 1999, p.184).So how effective is this independent plant? The GE plant has not missed a legal transfer date on their CF6 engine in 38 straight months. The be of producing the CF6 engine has been reduced by 30 percent since 1995, which is even more astonishing since this engine has been in production for twenty years.When faced with the altercate of reducing plant costs by $1.2 million, the expense council that was assigned to address this issue provided a proposal within 3 weeks. This plan finally superceded the plant managers plan that had been submitted earlier.Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the team occurred when the plant was given the opportunity to build a new-sprung(prenominal) style of engine, the CFM56. From the time of the announcement that GE would build this engine, the team produced its premiere engine 9 weeks later. This was done at a cost that was 12% to 13% less than the Ohio plant, which had been manufacturing this engine style for years.Finally, the best tribute to the employees came from Robert Henderson, who even with the goal of making the plant as radical as possible, stated I was just constantly amazed by what was accomplished here (Fishman, 1999, p. 188).