Philosophy of Judeo Christian Writings Essay

Explain how the Bible portrays the creativity of God. (25 marks) When read in sequence there are many contradictory statements between Genesis chapter one and two. The origins of the world and order of creation are for example different. Although within the same holy text, the two chapters provide contrasting theories on creation. Many Christian beliefs are based around the idea of creatio ex nihilo, creation from nothing. Yet the very first lines of their ancient text contradict this. They imply that in fact God was â€Å"hovering over the waters† before beginning the creation of the earth. If water was already in existence then God did not create from nothing. Some Christians believe this statement to be a metaphor to help us understand. The waters represent the unknown and unseen, the concept of complete nothingness is too difficult to understand so water’s are introduced. Some point to the phrase â€Å"the earth was formless† to show that perhaps creatio ex nihilo is correct. God doesn’t create the world but moulds it into a more recognisable form; he changes from being a creator to being a designer. Many argue this makes the concept of God less impressive, for if God is not the only eternal thing he is no longer unique. The earth is not God’s idea but more his interpretation. A potter can only make so much with clay as God could only create so much from the chaos of the earth. This limitation means the world is not a creation of God’s but the best he could do with what he had. In Genesis 1 the order of creation is: light, land, vegetation, day and night, creatures of the sea, birds, livestock, wild animals and finally humans. Although humans were made in God’s image they are the final addition to God’s world. The phrasing of this produces confusion for God say’s, â€Å"in our image†, this suggests that there is a group of Gods rather than one ruling over all. This is often seen as God’s recognition of human presence becoming inevitable, so when he says, â€Å"our† he refers to him/herself and humanity. In chapter 2 of Genesis the order of creation is much different. Rather than humans creation being the cherry on the top they are the very first creation from which all else is based. Also the verse says the â€Å"Lord God made the earth† which suggests creation ex nihilo rather than order from chaos. Equally different from the first chapter, God only creates man originally and women come much later. These con tradictions are often the basis of many of the criticisms levelled at Genesis. The difference between God the creator and God the builder is very important and is the basis of all Christian belief. Although there is confusion within the text it is interpreted as being a theory of creatio ex nihilo, separating God from all else in existence. God’s omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence are central to his superiority over humans. Yet if God is truly omniscient then why did he plant the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden from which Eve was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit. If God is omniscient he would have known Eve would eat the fruit and therefore deliberately tempted her, if this is correct then it brings in the morality of God. If God knew all this then he deliberately caused Eve pain which would be an evil act, and thus God is not pure goodness, but flawed like the human race. Secondly if God is omnipresence how can he take a physical presence and walk through the Garden of Eden and have a face to face conversation with Adam. As soon as God takes a physical form like when he breathes into Adam’s nostrils in chapter 2 he is less divine and less unique. God is worshipped because he isn’t human, because he is separate and omnipotent, a force that is beyond human understanding. If he isn’t omniscient or omnipresent does this make him less divine? Differences within the genesis story raise these questions and are the basis of doubt for many non believers. â€Å"The creative God of the Bible is similar to Aristotle’s Prime mover† Discuss. (10 marks) A creative God and Aristotle’s Prime mover are similar in a variety of ways. Both are separate and more powerful than anything of worldly origins. They are both eternal and thus timeless. The very basic idea of a â€Å"higher power† is followed in both these examples. Yet there are huge differences between the two theories. The creative God of Judeo Christian beliefs is very much an active participant of the world, he can talk to the people and act upon the requests of humanity. He has the ability to participate in life and have a direct effect on life. This is very different to the Prime mover idea; Aristotle believed that there is a higher being that is in its entirety passive to life. The prime mover is the original efficient cause that began all the activity within the universe but from that action, has taken no further action. Aristotle believed that in order for his prime mover idea to work, the higher force must be infallible in all ways. He must have no potential for potential involves change which the PM can never do. The only effect that the PM has on the world is to attract the people of it, to him. They are attracted to his perfection, he takes no action, never intervenes and has no plan for it, and this is why he is perfect. He has no flaws because on a very basic level he never makes a decision that can be â€Å"wrong†. Morally he also is passive and so therefore can never be evil. Many argue that this inability or refusal to act make the PM an imperfect idea, for he is not perfect but truly neutral. Within the Judeo Christian religions the problem of Evil and suffering is often a reason not to believe or question the beliefs of others. This isn’t an issue within the PM theory for, the PM never intervenes and therefore all evil is human made, yet equally so is all goodness within the world. Within the Judeo Christian religions it is equally the ability of God to do good that attracts people to believe as it is the recognition that evil and suffering is a part of life. God has an active role to play within humanities existence whereas the PM is simply an unmoved ideal that all people are attracted to.

Can built form influence social problems?

The concept of social problems is linked to a wide spectrum of contrasting definitions. Jerome G Monis defines it as â€Å"these social conditions identified by scientific enquiry and values as detrimental to human well-being†. On the other hand Malcom Spector and Jon I Kitsuse defined them as â€Å"the activities of individuals or groups making assertion of grievance and claims with respect to some putative conditions†. (http://syg2010-01.fa04.fsu.edu/Week_1.htm) Taking into consideration the different approaches to this debate the point that the main reason for people's behaviour is physical form can be argued. Urban form can be seen as one of the reason for social behaviour but to deny the influence of social, economical and political factors is to simplify the complexity of society and the different relationships within it. In any case both arguments will always be episodes in the long saga of traditional controversy. Social problems have been divided into 3 groups by Kenneth C Land (www.soc.duke.edu): Deviant behaviour, including drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, crime and violence. Social inequality and conflict including aging, the ederly, racial and ethnics relations, the sexes and gender inequality, poverty and economic inequality and homelessness. Finally, human groups and social change which include the changes in the economy and workplace. The social problems that can be correlated directly to urban form are seen as the one under the social inequality category and antisocial behaviour. The line of thought that establishes that the built form influences directly to social problems has been named architectural determinism and assume that the layout and form of physical environment would shape, even determine the quality of social life. During the period following the Second World War the architects of the Bauhaus and architects such as Le Corbusier thought that they were in a position to alter society for the better through the medium of physical design. By design we understand the design of a whole town as well as the design of relatively small scale units. Maurice Broady described this as â€Å"the architects who builds a house or design a site plan who decides where the roads will and will not go and who decides which directions the houses will face and how close together they will be, also is, to a large extent, deciding the pattern of social life among the people who will live in these houses. It asserts that architectural design has a direct and determinate effect on the way people behave† ( Maurice Broady 1968 cited in Taylor, N, 1998). The case of the Business Academy located on Bexley and designed by Norman Foster can be an example of how a radical project has changed students behaviour towards education. Very different to the 1960's building where students use to attend lessons, the Academy is an open-plan where lessons are carried out in alcoves and where no division of spaces have been created. The Business Academy has been seen as a success where â€Å"the proportion of children at school achieving five good grades at GCSE has leapt from just 6% to 36%† (www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/b/building/shortlist.htm). The results of this achievement could change the life style of the generation of students attending lessons in the building. The improvement of the education can bring a change for better work opportunities for the students and at the same time will have an impact on the perception of one of London's most deprived areas. A building can also change the perception of the character of a city. Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum transformed Bilbao from an industrial Spanish Basque region to an international tourist destination. But is this, just the building form, which has made the difference? To resume the success of some enterprises or the failure of others in physical terms is to simplify the complexity of society. We can attribute the achievement of the Norman Fosters' project to the conjunction of a different kind of built environment, when compared with more traditional educative centres, and the introduction of new and innovative educational techniques. On the other hand the fact that such an important architect has designed a revolutionary building to be used as a school can have changed people's perception about education. It has built a sense of identity among the pupils and indirectly has lead them to improve their performance. On the other hand Guggenheim Museum has demonstrated the importance of power and identity. It has been part of the political strategy from an elite in order to change the image of one of the most problematic niches of nationalism in Spain, that is Bilbao. It does not only offer an optimistic view of the city but it also can be seen as the attempt of internationalisation of the Spanish culture after the cultural archaism of Francoism. It involves a tourist campaign which had the objective of promoting the city and radical regeneration projects which have improved the services and have transformed the vision of the city. Consequently, built form is only a minor reason for the development of social problems. Social problems find causes in social conditions. Giddens argues that â€Å"everyday lives are, of course, influenced, reproduced and changed by structures of social, economical and political power† (Giddens cited in Dickens 1990, pg 3) and it is extremely difficult to generalise about these affects. Physical space is socially constructed by people's perceptions. What Giddens calls Locales are spaces which â€Å"are indeed usually socially specified for some kinds of activities. Locales carry social meanings and symbols which are widely accepted and which considerably affect social relations† (Giddens cited in Dickens 1990, pg5). They affect how people interpret their own and people's circumstances. Physical space is socially constructed. There is a socially constructed perception in Britain about areas characterised by high, concrete, block of flats. This kind of housing has always been associated with high levels of graffiti, vandalism and litter. Alice Coleman argues â€Å"that vandalism take place in zones where residents are unable to keep a watch over who is entering or leaving their estates† (A. Coleman, 1985, pg158). They are seen as impersonal, stratified dwellings and undesiderable places to live. Crime, antisocial behaviour, unemployment, poverty and inequality are seen as distinctive features of these places. But factors such as poor services, no good transport links, authority government tenure and the meeting of several marginalised groups suffering from what Durkheim called anomya â€Å"condition or malaise in individuals, characterized by an absence or diminution of standards or values, and an associated feeling of alienation and purposeneless† (www.free-definition.com/Anomie.html) are ve ry relevant when considering the main reasons for this kind of problem. People who are not satisfied with society, who have not got the same access to commodities than the major part of the population and that experience from the indifference of institutions, which are characterised by low skill occupations, family disorganisation, poverty, illiteracy and racism suffers are grouped in this kind of residential development which are cheap to build and can accommodate a large number of people in minimal space. These people are the product of â€Å"exacerbation of a logic of economic and racist exclusion† (Savage, Warden & Ward, 2003, pg76). Again we can argue here whether the physical environment is the reason for these problems and again a new example contradicts the simplicity of the architectural determinism discourse. Spain, as almost all European cities is flat based. Almost 80% of the population in Spain live in flats. People in Spain have been brought up living in high density block of flats. The perception of people about living in this kind of housing is completely different to the British one. Being the common norm between the population it does not lead to any of the social problems described above. They are not associated to vandalism and poor quality accommodation. They are the standard residential housing where people live. The areas where vulnerable groups live are characterised by poor links of transport, no easy access to schools, located on the outskirts of the city and who residents are immigrants or part of a minor ethnic group. They are tenure tenants that lack sense of identity with the place where they live, lack of resources and are victims of some conditions that are made difficult to improve their situation. The areas where they live are characterised by the use of cheap materials and an even higher density than in other areas. Families live in small flats where they have to share rooms. The combination of all this features, together with the difficulties to establish zones of autonomy and self management is what, in Spain, generate major social problems and no the fact that people live in this type of housing. Even the new theories which aim to explain social change and society within the context of postmodernity claim that the city will evolve as mean of facilitating interpersonal communication â€Å"Although individuals live in a particular place and participate in community life in and around that place, it is interaction and not place that is the essence of life† (Clark, 2003, pg 139). Once again the importance of predominant social conditions over physical form are highlighted in order to understand the future of the cities or urban form and consequently its social costs. The global village is the sociological destination of the city. The power of media will spread urban values. Information, and no physical design, is being the basis for an explanation of the present and future society and of people way of living and behaviours. Information is the leviathan that will lead future changes and policies. Practically speaking in planning grounds, the future of the city is called â€Å"compact city† and will be the fruit of an urban renaissance supported by governments and elite groups. In its July 12 Spending Review the government announced â€Å"a 50% increase in new social house building†¦an extra 10,000 homes a year†¦and further plans to increase housing supply and improved affordability by funding the Sustainable Communities Plan to deliver 200,000 additional homes in the Thames Gateway and other growth areas† (http://global.factiva.com/en/arch/print-results.asp). The government has named this project urban renaissance and it involves the better use of buildings within developed land to accommodate about 3.8 million new households between 1996 and 2021 and to do this the government â€Å"supports the idea of the ‘compact city', that is a higher density, mixed use development on brownfield land close to public transport nodes† (Burton, 2002, pg 537). This encouraged urban renaissance will imply the adoption of high density constructions in order to satisfy the demand for new housing at minimal environmental costs and this means a high proportion of apartments and terrace houses. The benefits will be â€Å"the conservation of the countryside, less need to travel by car, thus reduced fuel emissions, support for public transport and walking and cycling, better access to services and facilities, more efficient utility and infrastructure provision and revitalisation and regeneration of inner urban areas† (Burton, 2002, pg 538). But which will be the social problems attributed to this new concept of housing form? According to Elisabeth Burton, nine social problems have been seen by population as are related to compactness (Burton, 2002, pg 547-548): * access to superstores * access to green open space * public transport use * extent of walking and cycling * amount of domestic living space * death rate from mental illness * crime * social segregation * death rate for respiratory disease. Again we can argue that although some of the social problems can be seen as a product of this kind of development they are not directly correlated to built form. The invocation of the high-rise horrors of post war urban Britain and the congested squalor of Victorian Britain is where Bowers see the root of this apprehension (Bowers cited in Jenks, Burton and Williams, 1996). For example the difficult access to services may find is cause in the increase in number of users within an area but may also be seen as lack of appropriate infrastructure and therefore a failure in developer and government's attempt of offering the necessary infrastructure for a new development. On the other hand, why does it promote crime and social segregation or how can it be associated to mental illness? When people live in close proximity they are more aware of the existence of neighbours and there are more opportunities to informally interact with your neighbours. The relationship between people living within flats is less gregarious. It also provides casual surveillance and respect for property. For designers and housing providers seeking to promote social equity, and according to the research developed by Elisabeth Burton, higher-density housing such apartments and terraces are the best form of housing, â€Å"especially if they are developed on derelict land in areas where there are plenty of locally-provided services and facilities† (Burton, 2002, pg 558). The extent to which built form influences social problems has therefore been seen as very limited. The confluence of several economic, social, political and environmental reasons results in the creation of social problems. In addition, the weight of the importance of the built form, when taking into consideration the different social problems, tend to change from one country to another depending on the perception of the different kind of built form by the population. This perception will always be shaped according to the culture and socialization the individual has experienced. What in some countries is seen as undesiderable form of housing in others is the common norm. In Britain â€Å"compact city† has been proved to be the best option for future urban development if sustainable reasons are taking into account. The promotion of places that make efficient use of available space and environmental resources will lead to the adoption of high-density development. This residential housing has been seen through history as a reason for the emergence of social problems and people associate this type of built environment to vandalism, crime and social inequality. The introduction of this new model into planning practice will need to be seen together with changes in the population mentality and will meet several difficulties when confronting well rooted ways of thinking. People will have to be educated to accept the change. It will not create additional social problems if it incorporates features that improve people's quality of life like high standard local services and an easy reach of a range of facilities. This new concept of built form will generate debates and modification in people's constructed reality before being able to be generally accepted, a shift in people's attitudes towards the new form of housing. It needs to be an attractive option and it will involve action and investment from government and agencies in order to disassociate false presumptions about this kind of built form.

A Victim of a Sexual Assault Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A Victim of a Sexual Assault - Research Paper Example It is important to understand what a sexual assault means before proceeding to the possible damages that such as crime can attract. Any type of physical contact involving sexual organs that are unwanted is sexual assault. Many people perceive sexual assault as forcible rape, not knowing that it is only a type of sexual assault. This means that there are different types of sexual assaults recognized by the law. Sexual assault may be in the form of rape, inappropriate touching, child molestation, attempted rape, groping, sexual harassment, elderly sexual assault and sexual intercourse where one party says no to or any other sexual activity that a person says no to. The concept of assault comes about if the victim of the sexual ordeal did not consent to the sexual contact that they were subjected to. However, according to Smothers, if the victim is a child or is intoxicated, he or she is not capable of giving legal consent to sexual contact. The sexual ordeal in such a case qualifies to be called a sexual assault. In fact, the law stipulates that sexual assault with a person who is intoxicated becomes sexual assault, regardless of the intoxicating substance that the assault victim was under the influence. These substances may include â€Å"date-rape† drugs, alcohol, drugs or any other intoxicating substances. It is also important to note that if a person feels or thinks that they are a victim of sexual assault by having undergone any of the above ordeals, he or she is advised by the law to inform the police immediately. Reporting is important for many reasons such as preventing the same sexual offender from assaulting others, providing psychological closure for the victim and creating certainty about the victim’

Effective and Efficient Strategies of Managers Essay

Effective and Efficient Strategies of Managers - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that  the role of managers in the modern world has reshaped with greater responsibilities. Manager is not only expected with the skills like good communication, interpersonal skills, planning and long term forecasting capabilities, good decision making and leadership skills but in fact now a manager is expected to be a motivator who is capable of motivating and satisfying his subordinates as well as he has to become a role model for his team to show them how to cope up with problems and how to reduce any sort of tensions and stress during work.This study outlines that it is difficult to generalize the factors which are responsible for high motivation, as different people are motivated by different factors or elements. The causes and level of motivation differs on the basis of the personality and needs of different individuals. Researchers have presented different intrinsic and extrinsic factors responsible for motivating and encouraging the managers in o rder to work harder. In this regard, most famous theory is that of Abraham Maslow known as hierarchy of needs. Yet people discuss a lot about stress but most of them do not know what stress really is. Most of them have an opinion that stress is something that happens to them, a kind of incident, situation, event such as an accident, injury or job loss etc. While other thinks that stress is something related to their body, a reaction that a body takes, or something happens to their mind or organs or behaviour in a response to some event.

Immigration Admissions and Control Policies Essay

Immigration Admissions and Control Policies - Essay Example To fulfill the second objective of the U.S. immigration policy, the administration should increase the level of restrictiveness in the external immigration control policy. The administration should also revise the internal immigration control policy in order to apprehend the undocumented immigrants more efficiently. Undocumented and unauthorized immigrants should not be given any opportunity to enter the United States. People who are not well educated or those who do not possess good character should not be allowed to enter the United States. The reason is that most of the people belonging to these categories do not find employment even in financially stable countries and get involved in illegal activities, such as, drug trafficking. The U.S. government should take special measures to restrict the entry of such individuals. To fulfill the third objective of the U.S. immigration policy, the administration should create awareness among the public that not all immigrants are bad. The administration should make public aware of the fact that it is only a small number of illegal immigrants who are actually involved in criminal activities. Most of the immigrants are very peaceful and abide by the rules and regulations of the country. Immigrants are fully aware of the fact that getting employment is not an easy task in the United States. This fact makes them work hard to keep their jobs and continue earning money. Moreover, they abide by the laws of the companies and maintain brotherly relationships with coworkers.

Answering the question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Answering the question - Essay Example This passage indicates that the playwright for â€Å"Frozen† did not merely take a story or ideas, which can be re-resented with originality (like a re-telling of a classic fairy tale) but rather used words that someone else had written, enough words to fill a very short essay, and simply copied them. This copying is across a line. There are people who make their living by writing, and that is real work that demands real respect. Clearly Lewis was earning money from her book sales, and the writer of the magazine piece was being paid for her work as well. The playwright thus had no right to simply steal their language. Everyone in any kind of schooling knows the difference between plagiarism and acceptable usage, and ways to avoid plagiarism such as re-phrasing to not steal someone else’s words, or providing citation, which were both offers available to the playwright had he chosen to follow them. Furthermore, if he felt that he desperately needed those lines for his artistic achievement, the playwright could have contacted either writer for their consent, but obviously chose not to. The use of the exact same language as someone else has used is nothing less than theft. Themes, story outlines, characteristics of characters, these are all things that exist outside of an artist once they put their product into the world, but the words someone has written are sacred. Or should be at

Key learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Key learning - Essay Example It is important to learn that determination makes individuals to aspire for a better performance in the next stage. Support from others reassures people that they are not alone in the current circumstance and gives them strength to move on (Lewis 47). This is a key learning point because the neutral zone acts as a redefining moment in the life of an individual. This understanding can an individual learn that difficulties are temporary and that they will go away once he or she succeeds out of this zone (Lewis 47). This is an important learning point because it underscores effectiveness as an indicator of good leadership. This draws from the role of a leader in coordinating the activities of the team and providing direction (Lewis 48). It is crucial to learn that fairness and honesty creates a trusting environment and leads to success because it wins the support of the team towards a leader’s plans. This way, the leader does not strain mobilizing group members for action (Lewis 49). Learning not to overact to resistance and opposition is important because it help to remain objective. This way, a change leader gets time to plan how to counter the resistance in a way that does not scare away the support of the team (Lewis 51). It is important to learn that low trust makes individuals fear for the welfare and this makes them not embrace the change thus disrupting the success of the transition. The change leader needs to convince the team that their welfare is his or her concern (Lewis 52). There is need for change leaders to persuade the team of the efficacy of the intended change plan inviting their participation in the change process. A compelling vision implores people to be proactive in realizing the goal of the change process (Lewis 54). Change process needs leadership and coordination in order to remain harmonious and consistent.

Learning and talent management in an organisation Research Paper

Learning and talent management in an organisation - Research Paper Example Learning and talent management are two of them. They incorporate high importance into the organizations and their performance depends on these areas notably. With advancements of all sorts, and organizations moving into international groups and chains, the field of talent and learning management has held more ground than ever before since these two areas impact the performance in a direct manner. Organization as a whole consists of unit of members, activities, functions, hierarchy, tools and techniques and machinery(Cannon & McGee 2010). However the proper functioning of the abovementioned factors and entities is largely subject to management and their proper working which is usually ensured with the help of human resource organization and department. The importance of Human Resource Management: Human resources have played a vital role in every era, however in modern times, they have become the backbone of effective working and performance of an organization, the umbrella of human re source management is quite scattered and entails many entities that are directly impacting the performance of organization( Sims, 2002). The two of these are the learning management and the talent management. These modern trends are fast adopted and even the small scale organization that operate in different parts of the world, aim at ensuring and incorporating the factors and elements of human resource management. Their implication falls upon the other departments of organization as well and with so much global operations and functional departments, the effectiveness can be enhanced multiple times with the usage of talent and learning management(Collings & Scullion 2011). In such situations no organization can imagine surviving and excelling amongst the competitors who have employed these means as well as others for effectiveness and productivity. The supply chain mechanism, the introduction of technology and various other advancements overall have made it vital for organizations a nd institutes to establish talent management sections. These two areas can be incorporated into the boundaries of H.R (Human Resource) and hence it can be said that with the advent of these two areas, the H.R principles and departmental working has strengthened in parallel. These two can be termed as the modern era existence of human resource organization (reference). Talent management: It is the organization and managing of the talent in terms of the personnel. Its scope entails those who come fresh to the organization, those who are already recruited. The impact of talent management is multi folds; it has an impact not only on the individuals but the organization and the manner in which it operates. It brings about transparency and efficient working procedures in the organization with no favoritism and biases in decision making. Talent management serves as an independent department and discipline and has its regular members, the top management, the persons involved in conducting i nterviews, the observers, those who make decisions and those who are involved in other participatory processes (Hatum, 2010). In pasts the organizational success were largely related to resources, the policies and other variables, however in modern times if there is any variable that outweighs others, that is that of personnel and individuals involved in the organization. Winston Churchill long ago predicted and stated that in times ahead, the major decisions (Kolarevic 2003), successes in terms of organizations and overall performances in different walks of life and institutions would be largely dependent on the minds and abilities of individuals. While in past they were being ignored or their roles were

Review of a presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Review of a presentation - Essay Example The progress in the identification and discovery of the lupus disease has paved the way for immunology application in its study thus making the foundation for its current treatment. The disease has shown uneven prevalence interns of race and gender. It is more prevalent in black American women their white counterparts. Lupus is classified in to five types where each type presents different signs and symptoms and causes. This type includes Discoid lupus erythematosus, subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus, drug-induced lupus, neonatal lupus and SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus. The real cause of lupus has not been established yet. This is so due to the many factors that are contributed with the real development of and diagnosis of the disease. Currently, there is no single specific test for the disease and it can last some time before it is established. These calls for several tests to establish the disease like Medical history, Blood tests, ANA test, Skin Biopsy and Kidney biopsy. The disease manifest itself in different symptoms like pain or swelling in joints, muscle pain, fever with no known cause, red rashes, most often on the face, chest pain when taking a deep breath among others. The disease is believed to be caused by epigenetic factors, which are demonstrated by a study of a set of chemical reactions that switch part of the genome on and off at a strategic location and time. Lastly, the re is no cure for the disease but the most applicable treatments aims at treating the symptoms. Evaluation History of lupus The history of lupus disease can be split in three broad periods: Classical era- this period is dated back in the 13th century where the name of the disease was coined. Several physicians gave the disease different names depending on their own thoughts and presentation of the disease. Example of these physicians was Rogerius in 13th century who coined the name lupus describing the facial lesions caused by the disease. Neoclassical Era- this perio d began back in 1872, and it was marked by description of the disease’s dissemination manifestations by Osler. Modern era- this was marked by the discovery of LE cells in1948 in the bone marrow of patients with acute disseminated lupus erythematosus by Hargraves and his colleagues. This was followed by the discovery of immunology of the disease by Moore in 1950’s and systematic occurrence of the disease in patients by Arnett and Shulman in 1954. Epidemiology The disease has shown prevalence of 20 to 150 cases per 1000,000 people. Its prevalence is more in African American Women compared to their white counter part at 164 and 406 respectively situation which has tripled for the last forty years. The prevalence of the disease is highly exhibited in women due to their estrogen hormones aged 20-45 years of age. Lupus disease is highly prevalence in Asians, Afro- Americans, Afro-Caribbean and Hispanic Americans. Classification Lupus disease is classified in to five types wh ere each type has its own specific cause. 1. Discoid lupus erythematosus which result in scar causing skin lesion and can lead to the development of SLE. 2. Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Mostly commonly in women aged 15-40 years of age manifested inform of skin lesions. 3. Drug-induced lupus which is cause by continuous use of specific drugs like procainamide and guanidine. 4. Neonatal lupus. It is passed from the mothers and appears as skin rashes

The electoral system Essay Example for Free

The electoral system Essay How are the number of electoral votes decided for each state? How many electoral votes are in your home state? Which Presidential candidate (Obama or Romney) won your state’s electoral votes in the 2012 election? 2. Briefly explain the â€Å"pros and cons† of the electoral system. Why do we have the electoral system? What are some arguments against it? 3. In a few sentences, explain what you think. Should the U.S. maintain the current Electoral College system, move toward a national popular vote system, or use the â€Å"proportional voting† system for the Electoral College used by Maine and Nebraska? Electoral College consists of 538 electors chosen by the candidates political party. Electoral voters are decided by the equal number of members in its Congressional Representatives plus two for your senators. There are 16 electoral votes in the state of Georgia which is the state I am from. Mitt Romney won my states electoral votes. We have the electoral system because with popular votes it would be unfair to the smaller populated states if the larger populated states voted more to one way than their state. Also if a candidate was from the south he or she would be more likely to campaign in those states and not in the northern states. Then those states may feel like they wouldnt be â€Å"their† president. It is also good because there is less likely to be a dispute over the outcome of an Electoral College vote than a popular vote. Some cons are that is may turn off some voters if their state isnt voting for the political party they are wanting to vote for. The arguments against it are that it is undemocratic that the people should decide who their president is not congress. In my opinion I agree with the Electoral voting, at first before I read more about how it works I did not agree. Now that I have read about it I believe it is really the only way that smaller states have any say in who the president is. Also I believe its a good idea to keep the candidates from campaigning more in one part of the country than the other are only the larger states with a larger population. The only thing I can see that would be bad would be if your state is not voting for the political party you would vote for. http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/map/historic.html http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#whyec http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html

Pay Roll System Project Proposal Computer Science Essay

Pay Roll System Project Proposal Computer Science Essay Visual Basic was one of the first languages along with Paradox and Dbase designed to take advantage of GUI interfaces with visual programming in mind. We can build the menus, forms and reports of a program by visual drag and drop operations. Then complete the coding by filling in the skeleton programs developed during prototyping of the programs interface. Coding VB pioneered the use of standard 3rd party components such as VBX and now ActiveX. 6 8.2 Java 6 1 TITLE Payroll system 2 CUSTOMER SMITH News Agent, Watford. 3 BACKGROUND/OVERVIEW In Smith news agent, they are doing paper work calculation for employees monthly salary. And they are maintaining all employees details and salary details in paper works. They have to keep all details for long time for shop purpose. It takes long time to do all employees salary calculation. To solve the entire problem I decide to develop a system for payroll. All data are going to store in a database and all calculation is going to calculate by system. 4 MAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE SYSTEM In the system, Manager or Assistant Manager can login as an administrator. They can add employee details like First Name, Last Name, Address, Phone No, NI number, Bank Details, Tax Code, etc. For salary calculation they can enter employees working hours for that month. If they want they can add bonus also. Automatically the system will calculate the salary and it will generate the reports. Administrator can view and print the reports and details and if they want they can delete the employees details. 5 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM In Tax Code, there are two type of Tax Code in using. Those are: 5.1 Tax Codes end with a letter This Tax Code is made up of several numbers and a letter. This type of Tax Code is called Suffix codes. For example: 647L, 375K, etc (paypershop, nd). 5.2 Other Tax Codes This Tax Code has two letters. There is no Number or is the letter D followed by a Zero For example: BR, D0, and NT (direct, nd). In payment type, they are paying regular hours, bank holiday hours and holiday hours. They are not paying for sick hours. 6 SOLUTIONS FOR PROBLEM STATEMENT For Tax Code problem, I am going to use second type of Tax Code method (Other Tax Codes). For payment type problem, I am going to add a column called Pay Type. When they enter working hours they can select what type of working hours. For example: REG Regular BH Bank Holiday SICK Sickness Hours 7 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 7.1 AIMS The main aim of the project is to develop a system to store employees all details and working hours. The system has to calculate the payment and tax. The system also generates the reports. 7.2 OBJECTIVES To understand the current system I went to Smith news agent (my customer) store and met the manager. I collected the details about how they are doing current salary calculation and how they are keeping are records. It is unstructured interviews. To study a similar system I went to Dowson house hotel and met the manager. I got some details about how their current system working, how they are calculating the payment and tax and how they are storing their employees detail. To study about Unified Modelling Language(UML) It is help to create the logical design of the System. For e.g. Activity diagram, Use case diagram, Class diagram. To study about programming languages Java, Visual Basic.Net To study database applications Oracle, Mysql Design the system Testing and implementation Test the system and make sure it works according to the customers requirements, which includes verification and validation. Install the developed system in store. And train the manager and assistant manager. Get feedback from the manager and assistant manager. Make any change if they want changes or new features. 8 Literature review 8.1 Visual Basic.Net Visual Basic was one of the first languages along with Paradox and Dbase designed to take advantage of GUI interfaces with visual programming in mind. We can build the menus, forms and reports of a program by visual drag and drop operations. Then complete the coding by filling in the skeleton programs developed during prototyping of the programs interface. Coding VB pioneered the use of standard 3rd party components such as VBX and now ActiveX. Now, VB.NET has many new and improved language features. The .NET framework comes with ADO.NET, which follows the disconnected paradigm, i.e. once the required records are fetched the connection no longer exists. Error handling has changed in VB.NET. A new Try-Catch-Finally block has been introduced to handle errors and exceptions as a unit, allowing appropriate action to be taken at the place the error occurred thus discouraging the use of ON ERROR GOTO statement. Security has become more robust in VB.NET. In addition to the role-based security in VB6, VB.NET comes with a new security model, Code Access security (David, Chittibabu 2004). 8.2 Java Java was designed to be easy to use. Therefore it is easy to write, compile, debug, and learn than other programming languages. Java is object-oriented because programming in Java is cantered on creating objects, manipulating objects, and making objects work together. This allows you to create modular programs and reusable code. One of the most significant advantages of Java is its ability to move easily from one computer system to another. The ability to run the same program on many different systems is crucial to World Wide Web software, and Java succeeds at this by being platform-independent at both the source and binary levels. Java is one of the first programming languages to consider security as part of its design. The Java language, compiler, interpreter, and runtime environment were each developed with security in mind. In Java, multithreaded programming has been smoothly integrated into it, while in other languages, operating system-specific procedures have to be called in order to enable multithreading. Multithreading is a necessity in visual and network programming (Herbert 2007). 8.3 My Front End GUI After a lot of research I was decided to use VB.Net for my front end GUI. There are some good features in VB.Net. For example, we can build the menus, forms and reports of a program by visual drag and drop operations. Then we have to complete the coding. Like these there are lot of features. Why I did not chose the java? There are lot drawbacks. Java language programs runs on a virtual machine. Therefore it runs slowly and it takes more memory-consuming. In java, No separation of specification from implementation and No preconditions and post conditions. And Exceptions not caught within a method must be declared as thrown by that method. The default look and feel of GUI applications written in Java using the Swing toolkit is very different from native applications. 8.4 ORACLE (PL/SQL) Oracle is the No 1 database and has the most advanced feature set. Oracle is made up of a set of processes running in our operating system. Oracle database system has the following properties: Atomicity: That is Results of a transactions execution are either all committed or all rolled back. Consistency: The database is transformed from one valid state to another valid state. Illegal transactions arent allowed and, if an integrity constraint cant be satisfied then the transaction is rolled back. Isolation: The results of a transaction are invisible to other transactions until the transaction is complete thus increasing the security on data. Durability: Once committed (completed), the results of a transaction are permanent and survive future system and media failures and thus ensuring maintenance and protection of data (Steven, Bill 2005). We are using PL/SQL (procedural SQL) language to use the Oracle. With PL/SQL, we can use SQL statements to manipulate Oracle data and flow-of-control statements to process the data. Moreover, we can declare constants and variables, define procedures and functions, and trap runtime errors. PL/SQL is a block-structured language. A PL/SQL block has three parts: a declarative part, an executable part, and an exception-handling part (In PL/SQL, a warning or error condition is called an exception). 8.5 MySQL MySQL is open source Relational DataBase Management System (RDBMS). It is using Structured Query Language (SQL). The Mysql has lot of advantages. It is available on many different operating systems. We can use in different platform. It is free to use for personal, private, or development use. It is using Indexes like primary key index and unique index to avoid duplicate row data. We have the opportunity to optimize searching against even large amounts of text located in any field indexed as such. 8.6 My Back End I decided to use Oracle (PL/SQL) to use back end. In oracle, lot of advantages are there. PL/SQL makes it easy to detect and process predefined and user-defined error conditions called exceptions. Anonymous PL/SQL blocks can be embedded in an Oracle Pre-compiler. And one of the main advantages is recent version (10g) oracle has the concept of Flashback technology. Flashback provides an Efficient recovery from human errors Faster database recovery Helps in simplifying the management and administration processes Why I was rejected the MySQL? There are some drawbacks. The indexes take up disk space. Normally the space usage is not significant, but because of creating index on every column in every possible combination, the index file would grow much more quickly than the data file. In the case when a table is of large table size, the index file could reach the operating systems maximum file size. The indexes slow down the speed of writing queries, such as INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE. Because MySQL has to internally maintain the pointers to the inserted rows in the actual data file.

Tis: A Memoir Frank McCourt Essay -- English Literature

Tis': A Memoir Frank McCourt Tis' by the Irish born author, Frank McCourt retells his life as a young immigrant making his way in New York City. He wants to succeed in the land of opportunities however, he is dashed by the reality that an Irishman who has rotten teeth, bad eyes, and no high school diploma has no real chance. He finds himself in the lowest of jobs, scrubbing the lobby of a swanky hotel. I am going to discuss the mental effect poverty has on McCourt in Tis. The American way of life make Frank feel like an outsider. In Ireland, everyone was an equal and they all struggled together. However, across the water, there are girls with tanned legs and boys with broad football shoulders and pearly white teeth. Frank did not even dare open his mouth for fear of being laughed at for his appalling dental hygiene. Tis is more about the emotional side of poverty Frank is still poor - he describes cheese sandwiches as a delicacy - but he is no longer at risk of dying from starvation. He generally finds places to sleep and food to eat He wants the comfort a...

Gunslingers :: essays research papers

Gunslingers The wall beside Gerard exploded as a high velocity bullet struck the already heavily battered bricks and sent them shattering outwards in a spray of red shards. Gerard stood still, one hand casually flicking the ignition wheel on his lighter. As he lit the end of his cigarette, another volley of bullets stuck the wall behind which he was hiding. Bullet holes riddled it like holes in a Swiss cheese, and the cover was becoming steadily more useless. He took a puff and tucked the black lighter back into the pocket of his trench coat. He put two fingers to the cigarette and removed it from his lips to breath out the slow stream of smoke whilst his opponent continued to waste his bullets and his time shooting aimlessly at Gerard. A row of bullets riddled the wall five feet to his right and he called out, â€Å"Hey, nearly got me that time.† In a mocking voice. His enemy muttered a curse and Gerard heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The cowardly bastard had called for backup. Oh well, the more the merrier. A fresh stream of shots, this time from a multi-barreled rotary cannon spat out along Gerard’s cover. He watched with casual indifference as the red brick wall slowly disintegrated around him, slowly reducing his cover to just the tiny section of masonry that he hid behind. There was an ominous silence broken only by the sudden thump as an entire section of wall collapsed to the ground. Gerard heard the sound of one of his adversaries reloading their weapon. He dropped the cigarette on the ground and stamped it out with his boot. He reached within his trench coat and withdrew a shining silver revolver. He slowly and almost carelessly loaded one shot after another into the weapon, occasionally jerking his head to one side as a stray bullet clipped the edge of the wall. As he placed the last shot in the ancient weapon he spun the wheel and gripped the handle. He then paused for a moment until his opponent’s clip ran dry again and he heard the sound of the rotary cannon be ing loaded again. Gerard took one step to the left and with barely a glance calculated exactly how far his opponents were from him. In the same fluid motion as he completely removed himself from cover, he leveled the revolver at the two enforcers across the deserted plaza from him and squeezed the trigger.

Seatbelts :: essays research papers

When travelling at slow speeds in your car the wearing of a seatbelt has little effect of your body when you brake. So why is it important to wear your seat belt? A driver or passenger travelling in a car is moving at the same speed as the car. If the car suddenly stops, the body of the rider inside will keep moving forward at the same speed. This demonstrates inertia. The tendency of a moving object to keep moving, or of a stationary object to remain at rest. Basically Newtons first law; that a body stationary or moving with constant velocity will want to continue to do so, unless acted on by a force. Lets understand what is happening here. First drive along in your car at 60 km/h on a backstreet with no traffic, then brake gently and slowly. You will notice that the seat belt doesn’t really do much to hold your body. Now do the same again but this time break as quickly and sharply as you can. Your body will be thrown forwards with great force, and your seatbelt will be literally holding you in place. Now your body was what is commonly referred to as being "thrown forwards", however this is not the case. Your body was actually not slowing down much at all and your velocity relative to the car initially was much greater. The car began to slow down due to breaking and your body in accordance with Newtons First law wanted to continue to move at the original constant velocity. Now if your seat belt was not there to provide an opposing force, to your momentum and inertia, by holding you from going forwards, you very likely would have been thrown into the dash or steering wheel. Lets look at this mathematically. m= your mass in kilograms for this purposes 70kg V= final velocity 0 m/s U= initial velocity 60 km/h or 16.6 m/s straight line S= distance taken to stop 42 m t= 3.8 a= -4.368 m/s/s Now your momentum at 60km/h is P=MU So P= 70kg*16.6m/s P=1162 Kg m/s Impulse I=MU/t I=70*16.6/3.8 I=305N So your body will weigh about 610kg when you are breaking hard, a force it is difficult for any person to withstand. Now in the context of a head on accident at around 60km/hr the force exerted on your body is greatly increased. In the event of such an accident it will take the car approximately 0.4 seconds to stop.

General Electric: From Jack Welch To Jeffrey Immelt

S w 908M09 GENERAL ELECTRIC: FROM JACK WELCH TO JEFFREY IMMELT Ken Mark wrote this case under the supervision of Professor Stewart Thornhill solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization.To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, c/o Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email  protected] uwo. ca. Copyright  © 2008, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2008-04-18 INTR ODUCTION General Electric (GE) was a U. S. conglomerate with businesses in a wide range of industries, including aerospace, power systems, health care, commercial finance and consumer finance. In 2007, GE earned US$22. billion in net profit from US$170 billion in sales. In 2008, GE expected to generate US$30 billion in cash from operations. Driving GE’s growth was what many commentators considered to be the â€Å"deepest bench of executive talent in U. S. business,†1 the result of two decades of investment in its management training programs by its former chief executive officer (CEO), John F. (Jack) Welch, Jr. The current CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, took over from Jack Welch four days before September 11, 2001, and had spent the last few years preparing the firm for its next stage of growth. GENERAL ELECTRICGE’s roots could be traced back to a Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory where Thomas Alva Edison invented the incandescent electric lamp. GE was founded when Thomso n-Houston Electric and Edison General Electric merged in 1892. Its first few products included light bulbs, motors, elevators, and toasters. Growing organically and through acquisitions, GE’s revenues reached $27 billion in 1981. By 2007, its businesses sold a wide variety of products such as lighting, industrial equipment and vehicles, materials, and services such as the generation and transmission of electricity, and asset finance.Its divisions included GE Industrial, GE Infrastructure, GE Healthcare, GE Commercial Finance, GE Consumer Finance, and NBC Universal. 2 1 Diane Brady, â€Å"Jack Welch: Management Evangelist,† Business Week, October 25, 2004. Available http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/04_43/b3905032_mz072. htm, accessed November 12, 2007. 2 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/General_Electric, accessed November 12, 2007. at Page 2 9B08M009 For more than 125 years, GE was a leader in management practices, â€Å"establishing its strength with the d isciplined oversight of some of the world’s most effective business people. 3 When he became chairman and CEO in 1972, Reginald Jones was the seventh man to lead General Electric since Edison. Jones focused on shifting the company’s attention to growth areas such as services, transportation, materials and natural resources, and away from electrical equipment and appliances. He implemented the concept of strategic planning at GE, creating 43 strategic business units to oversee strategic planning for its groups, divisions and departments. By 1977, in order to manage the information generated by 43 strategic plans, Jones added another management layer, sectors, on top of the strategic business units.Sectors represented high level groupings of businesses: consumer products, power systems, and technical products. 4 In the 1970s, Jones was voted CEO of the Year three times by his peers, with one leading business journal dubbing him CEO of the Decade in 1979. When he retired in 1981, the Wall Street Journal proclaimed Jones a â€Å"management legend. † Under Jones’s administration, the company’s sales more than doubled ($10 billion to $27 billion) and earnings grew even faster ($572 million to $1. 7 billion). 5 Jack Welch Becomes CEO In terms of his early working life, Welch had:Worked for GE not much more than a year when in 1961 he abruptly quit his $10,500 job as a junior engineer in Pittsfield, Mass. He felt stifled by the company’s bureaucracy, underappreciated by his boss, and offended by the civil service-style $1,000 raise he was given. Welch wanted out, and to get out he had accepted a job offer from International Minerals & Chemicals in Skokie, Ill. But Reuben Gutoff, then a young executive a layer up from Welch, had other ideas. He had been impressed by the young upstart and was shocked to hear of his impending departure and farewell party just two days away.Desperate to keep him, Gutoff coaxed Welch and his wife, Carolyn, out to dinner that night. For four straight hours at the Yellow Aster in Pittsfield, he made his pitch: Gutoff swore he would prevent Welch from being entangled in GE red tape and vowed to create for him a small-company environment with big-company resources. These were themes that would later dominate Welch's own thinking as CEO. 6 In his memoirs, Welch noted that the CEO’s job was â€Å"close to 75 per cent about people and 25 per cent about other stuff. †7But Welch knew that his path to become CEO of GE was anything but smooth. As he recalled: 3 General Electric, â€Å"Our History: Our Company. † Available at http://www. ge. com/company/history/index. html, accessed June 4, 2007. 4 Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny, â€Å"GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership,† Harvard Business School Case, May 3, 2005, pp. 1–2. 5 Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny, â€Å"GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jac k Welch’s Leadership,† Harvard Business School Case, May 3, 2005, p. 2. 6 John A.Byrne, â€Å"How Jack Welch Runs GE,† Business Week, June 8, 1998. Available at http://www. businessweek. com/1998/23/b3581001. htm, accessed June 4, 2007. 7 Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, p. xii. Page 3 9B08M009 The odds were against me. Many of my peers regarded me as the round peg in a square hole, too different for GE. I was brutally honest and outspoken. I was impatient and, to many, abrasive. My behavior wasn’t the norm, especially the frequent parties at local bars to celebrate business victories, large or small. 8For Welch, there was a seven-person â€Å"horse race† to become CEO that was, in his words, â€Å"brutal, complicated by heavy politics and big egos, my own included. It was awful. †9 In the end, however, Welch prevailed, becoming CEO in April 1981. Later, he learned that he had been left off the short list of ca ndidates until late into the process. Welch recalled: I didn’t know that when the list was narrowed to ten names by 1975, I still wasn’t on it. . . . One official HR [human resources] view of me stated at the time: â€Å"Not on best candidate list despite past operating success.Emerging issue is overwhelming results focus. Intimidating subordinate relationships. Seeds of company stewardship concerns. Present business adversity will severely test. Watching closely. †10 1981 to 1987: Number One or Number Two and Delayering Welch wanted the company to do away with its formal reporting structure and unnecessary bureaucracy. He wanted to recreate the firm along the lines of the nimble plastics organization he had come from. He stated: I knew the benefits of staying small, even as GE was getting bigger. The good businesses had to be sorted out from the bad ones. . . We had to act faster and get the damn bureaucracy out of the way. 11 Welch developed this strategy base d on work by Peter Drucker, a management thinker, who asked: â€Å"If you weren’t already in the business, would you enter it today? And if the answer is no, what are you going to do about it? †12 Welch communicated his restructuring efforts by insisting that any GE business be the number one or number two business in its industry, or be fixed, sold or closed. He illustrated this concept with the use of a three-circle tool.The businesses inside the three circles — services, high technology, and core — could attain (or had attained) top positions in their industries. The selected few included many service businesses, such as financial and information systems. Outside of the three circles were organizations in manufacturing-heavy sectors facing a high degree of competition from lower cost rivals, such as central air conditioning, housewares, small appliances and semiconductors. Employment at GE fell from 404,000 in 1980 to 330,000 by 1984 and 292,000 by 198 9.The changes prompted strong reactions from former employees and community leaders. Welch was the target of further criticism when he invested nearly $75 million into a major upgrade of Crotonville, GE’s management development center. 13 Welch saw leadership training as key to GE’s growth. 8 Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, p. xii. Ibid, p. xiii. 10 Ibid, p. 77. 11 Ibid, p. 92. 12 Ibid, p. 108. 13 Ibid, p. 121. 9 Page 4 9B08M009 In addition, Welch undertook a streamlining exercise.By his estimate, GE in 1980 had too many layers of management, in some cases as many as 12 levels between the factory floor and the CEO’s office. The sector level was removed, and a massive downsizing effort put into place. Compared with the traditional norm of five to eight direct reports per manager, GE senior managers had 15 or more direct reports. Successful senior managers shrugged off their workload, indicating that Welch liberated them to behave like entrepreneurs. They argued that the extra pressure forced them to set strict priorities on how they spent their time, and to abandon many past procedures.Observers believed GE was running two main risks: having inadequate internal communication between senior managers and people who now reported to each of them; and the overwork, stress, demotivation and inefficiency on the part of managers down the line who had extra work assigned by their hard-pressed superiors. In 1989, an article in the Harvard Business Review reported â€Å"much bitter internal frustration and ill-feeling among the troops at GE. †14 During this period, Welch earned his â€Å"Neutron Jack† moniker, a reference to a type of bomb that would kill people while leaving buildings intact.On the other hand, Welch could see that changes had to be made to make GE more competitive. He recalled: Truth was, we were the first big healthy and profitable company in the mainstream that took actions to get more competitive. . . . There was no stage set for us. We looked too good, too strong, too profitable, to be restructuring. . . . However, we were facing our own reality. In 1980, the U. S. economy was in a recession. Inflation was rampant. Oil sold for $30 a barrel, and some predicted it would go to $100 if we could even get it.And the Japanese, benefiting from a weak yen and good technology, were increasing their exports into many of our mainstream businesses from cars to consumer electronics. 15 But Welch’s strategy was not simply a cost-reduction effort: from 1981 to 1987, while 200 businesses were sold, 370 were acquired, for a net spend of $10 billion. The turmoil that these changes caused earned Welch the title of â€Å"toughest boss in America,† in a Fortune magazine survey of the 10 most hard-nosed senior executives. In tallying the votes, Welch received twice as many nominations as the runners-up. Managers at GE used to hide out-of-favor employees from Welch†™s gun sights so they could keep their jobs,† Fortune said. â€Å"According to former employees, Welch conducts meetings so aggressively that people tremble. †16 But Welch’s credibility was bolstered by GE’s stock performance: After years of being stuck, GE stock and the market began to take off, reinforcing the idea that we were on the right track. For many years, stock options weren’t worth all that much. In 1981, when I became chairman, options gains for everyone at GE totaled only $6 million.The next year, they jumped to $38 million, and then $52 million in 1985. For the first time, people at GE were starting to feel good times in their pocketbooks. The buy-in had begun. 17 14 â€Å"General Electric Learns the Corporate and Human Costs of Delayering,† Financial Times, September 25, 1989, p. 44. Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, pp. 125–126. 16 â€Å"Fortune Survey Lists Nation’s Toughest Bos ses,† The Washington Post, July 19, 1984, p. B3. 17 Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, p. 173. 15 Page 5 9B08M009Late 1980s: Work-Out, Boundaryless and Best Practices Welch used GE’s Crotonville facility to upgrade the level of management skills and to instill a common corporate culture. After reading comments from participants, Welch realized that many of them were frustrated when they returned to their offices because many of their superiors had discounted the Crotonville experience and worked actively to maintain the status quo. Welch wondered: Why can’t we get the Crotonville openness everywhere? . . . We have to re-create the Crotonville Pit [a circular, tiered lecture hall at Crotonville] all over the company. . . The Crotonville Pit was working because people felt free to speak. While I was technically their â€Å"boss,† I had little or no impact on their personal careers — especially in the lowerlevel classes. . . . Work-Out was patterned after the traditional New England town meetings. Groups of 40 to 100 employees were invested to share their views on the business and the bureaucracy that got in their way, particularly approvals, reports, meetings and measurements. Work-Out meant just what the words implied: taking unnecessary work out of the system. 8 Work-Out sessions were held over two to three days. The team’s manager would start the session with a presentation, after which the manager would leave the facility. Without their superior present, the remaining employees, with the help of a neutral facilitator, would list problems and develop solutions for many of the challenges in the business. Then the manager returned, listening to employees present their many ideas for change. Managers were expected to make an immediate yes-or-no decision on 75 per cent of the ideas presented.Welch was pleased with Work-Out: Work-Out had become a huge success. . . . Ideas were flowing faster al l over the company. I was groping for a way to describe this, something that might capture the whole organization — and take idea sharing to the next level. . . . I kept talking about all the boundaries that Work-Out was breaking down. Suddenly, the word boundaryless popped into my head. . . . The boundaryless company . . . would remove all the barriers among the functions: engineering, manufacturing, marketing and the rest.It would recognize no distinction between â€Å"domestic† and â€Å"foreign† operations. . . . Boundaryless would also open us up to the best ideas and practices from other companies. 19 Welch’s relentless pursuit of ideas to increase productivity — from both inside and outside of the company — resulted in the birth of a related movement called Best Practices. In the summer of 1988, Welch gave Michael Frazier of GE’s Business Development department a simple challenge: How can we learn from other companies that are achieving higher productivity growth than GE?Frazier selected for study nine companies with different best practices, including Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox and Toshiba. In addition to specific tools and practices, Frazier’s team also identified several characteristics common to the successful companies: they focused more on developing effective processes than on controlling individual activities; they used customer satisfaction as their main gauge of performance; they treated their suppliers as partners and they emphasized the need for a constant stream of high-quality new products designed for efficient manufacturing.On reviewing Frazier’s report, Welch became an instant convert and committed to a major new training program to introduce Best Practices thinking throughout the organization, integrating it into the ongoing agenda of Work-Out teams. 20 18 Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, p. 182. Ibid, pp. 185–187. 20 Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny, â€Å"GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership,† Harvard Business School Case, May 3 2005, p. 5. 19 Page 6 9B08M009 To encourage employees to put extra effort into reaching their goals, Welch instituted the idea of â€Å"stretch. He was frustrated with the compromise that was occurring as work teams tried to lower targets and top management tried to raise targets. With stretch, teams were asked to develop two plans: the first reflecting what they expected to do; and the second that reflected the toughest targets they thought they had a chance of reaching. Welch explained: The team knows they’re going to be measured against the prior year and relative performance against competitors — not against a highly negotiated internal number. Their stretch target keeps them reaching. . . Sometimes we found cases where managers at lower levels took stretch numbers and called them budgets, punishing those who missed. I do n’t think it happens much anymore, but I wouldn’t bet on it. 21 1990s: Six Sigma and the Vitality Curve One well-known program popularized by GE was process improvement, or Six Sigma. As a result of GE’s Best Practices program, Welch learned from Lawrence Bossidy, a former GE executive, how AlliedSignal’s Six Sigma quality program was improving quality, lowering costs and increasing productivity. Welch asked Gary Reiner, a vice-president, to lead a quality initiative for GE.On the basis of Reiner’s findings, Welch announced a goal of reaching Six Sigma quality levels company-wide by the year 2000, describing the program as â€Å"the biggest opportunity for growth, increased profitability, and individual employee satisfaction in the history of our company. †22 Subsequently, every GE employee underwent at least minimal training in Six Sigma, whose terms and tools became part of the global language of GE. For example, expressions like â€Å"CT Q,† were used to refer to customer requirements that were â€Å"critical to quality† in new products or services. 3 Whereas Six Sigma was focused on process improvement, to develop GE’s talent pool, Welch looked to differentiate his people. He remarked: â€Å"In manufacturing, we try to stamp out variance. With people, variance is everything. † Welch knew that identifying and ranking people in a large organization was not a simple task. GE began using what became known as 360-degree evaluations, in which managers and supervisors were evaluated by their subordinates and their peers as well as by their bosses. One exception was Welch. He did not get evaluated by his subordinates. I’ve peaked out,† he said. Nor did he evaluate the top executives immediately below him. 24 Next, Welch put in place an assessment based on a â€Å"vitality curve,† roughly shaped like a bell curve. He asked his managers to rank all their staff into the â€Å"to p 20,† â€Å"the Vital 70† and the â€Å"bottom 10,† with the intent to force executives to differentiate their employees. The â€Å"top 20† were groomed for larger assignments, and the â€Å"bottom 10† were coached out of the organization. In addition, Welch advocated categorizing employees as â€Å"A, B or C† players.He explained that how both assessment tools worked together: The vitality curve is the dynamic way we sort out As, Bs, and Cs. . . . Ranking employees on a 20-70-10 grid forces managers to make tough decisions. The vitality curve doesn’t perfectly translate to my A-B-C evaluation of talent. It’s possible — even likely — for A 21 Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, p. 386. Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny, â€Å"GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership,† Harvard Business School Case, May 3, 2005, p. 12. 23Matt Murray, â€Å"Can GE Find Another Conductor Like Jack Welch? † The Wall Street Journal Europe, April 13, 2000. 24 Frank Swoboda, â€Å"Up Against the Walls,† The Washington Post, February 27, 1994, p. H01. 22 Page 7 9B08M009 players to be in the vital 70. That’s because not every A player has the ambition to go further in the organization. Yet, they still want to be the best at what they do. Managers who can’t differentiate soon find themselves in the C category. 25 Welch reinforced the importance of the ranking system by matching it with an appropriate compensation structure.The A players received raises that were two to three times the increases given to Bs, and the As also received a significant portion of the stock option grants. C players received no raises or options. Welch admitted: Dealing with the bottom 10 is tougher. . . . Some think it’s cruel or brutal to remove the bottom 10 per cent of our people. It isn’t. It’s just the opposite. What I thi nk is brutal and â€Å"false kindness† is keeping people around who aren’t going to grow and prosper. There’s no cruelty like waiting and telling people late in their careers that they don’t belong. 6 In GE’s people review process, known as â€Å"Session C,† managers were expected to discuss and defend their choices and rankings. During these sessions, Welch was known to challenge his managers’ talent decisions aggressively, expecting them to defend their choices with passion. Welch was prone to making quick judgment calls on talent, and these snap decisions could be perceived both positively and negatively. An observer commented: Welch is impetuous, inclined to make lightning strikes and wage blitzkrieg.His decisions on people, assets, and strategies can be made in a heartbeat; one bad review with Jack may be the end of a long career. And the record shows that many of Welch’s snap decisions have turned out to be stupendous blu nders. 27 One example was Welch’s purchase of Kidder Peabody, then one of Wall Street’s most prominent investment banks. Although his board of directors was opposed to the idea, Welch’s persuasive arguments carried the day. But merging the two cultures proved more difficult than he imagined. Welch stated that at Kidder Peabody, â€Å"the concept of idea sharing and team play was completely foreign.If you were in investment banking or trading and your group had a good year, it didn’t matter what happened to the firm overall. †28 In addition, Kidder Peabody was hit by two public scandals: insider trading and fictitious trades that led to a $350 million writedown. Another example was NBC’s partnership with Vince McMahon in January 2001 to launch the XFL, an alternative football league to the NFL. After losing $35 million on the venture in four months, and accompanied by falling viewership, the league shut down in May 2001. 29 Some managers were worn down by the constantly evolving programs.A chemist who once worked for GE Power Systems stated: It’s management by buzzword. People chant Jack’s slogans without thinking intelligently about what they’re doing. I’ve been stretched so much I feel like Gumby. All Welch understands is increasing profits. That, and getting rid of people, is what he considers a vision. Good people, tremendous people, have been let go, and it is hurting our business. 25 Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, p. 160. Ibid, 2001, pp. 160–162. 27 Thomas F. Boyle, At Any Cost, Vintage Books, New York, 1998, pp. 1–12. 28 Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut, Warner Books, New York, 2001, p. 222. 29 Eric Boehlert, â€Å"Why the XFL Tanked. † Available at http://archive. salon. com/ent/feature/2001/05/11/xfl_demise/index. html, accessed January 11, 2008. 26 Page 8 9B08M009 I’m trying to meet the competition, but his policies aren ’t helping me. It’s crazy, and the craziness has got to stop. 30 Welch believed otherwise: â€Å"No one at GE loses a job because of a missed quarter, a missed year, or a mistake. That’s nonsense and everyone knows it. . . . People get second chances. 31 Over his tenure as CEO, Welch had grown GE’s market capitalization by 27 times, from $18 billion to $500 billion. The company was trading 28 times forward earnings versus about 24 for the Standard & Poor’s 500. 32 See Exhibit 1 for selected GE information over 25 years. After two decades as GE’s CEO, Welch retired, nominating Jeffrey Immelt as his successor. Immelt was one of three candidates short-listed for the job. Observers noted that Immelt was â€Å"starting his tenure at the end of an unprecedented bull market and in the midst of a global economic slowdown. 33 Despite GE’s consistent earnings growth even during the economic downturn, GE’s stock had fallen 33 per cent f rom its high of about $60 per share in August 2000. Many attributed this steady drop to the anticipation surrounding Welch’s departure. 34 Immelt’s first day on the job was September 7, 2001, four days before the terrorist attacks in the United States. The Transition from Welch to Jeffrey Immelt Immelt joined GE in 1982 and held several global leadership positions in GE’s Plastics, Appliance and Medical businesses. 5 At GE Medical, his last assignment before becoming CEO, Immelt became a star by: persuading a growing number of cash-strapped hospitals to trade in their old-fashioned equipment for digital machines that were capable of generating more dynamic images much faster. He inked lucrative, long-term deals with such hospital giants as HCA and Premier, and bought a number of smaller companies to round out his product line, all the while growing GE’s market share from 25 per cent to 34 per cent and moving the company into services such as data mining. 36Only the ninth man to lead GE since 1896, Immelt followed in the footsteps of his predecessors by abandoning the leadership approach favored by Welch. In contrast with Welch’s need to control and cajole his management, Immelt was â€Å"less a commander than a commanding presence. †37 â€Å"If you, say, missed your numbers, you wouldn’t leave a meeting with him feeling beat up but more like you let your dad down,† said Peter Foss, a longtime friend and colleague of Immelt’s and president of GE Polymerland, part of GE’s plastics business. 38 Immelt believed that leaders exhibited three traits: 30 Thomas F.Boyle, At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the Pursuit of Profit, Vintage Books, New York, 1998, p. 223. 31 Ibid, p. 274. 32 William Hanley, â€Å"An Eye on GE as Jack Bows Out,† National Post, August 23, 2001, p. D01. 33 Daniel Eisenberg and Julie Rawe, â€Å"Jack Who? † Time, September 10, 2001, p. 42. 34 Ibid. 35 â€Å"Jeff Immelt, CEO. † Available at http://www. ge. com/company/leadership/ceo. html, accessed January 6, 2008. 36 Daniel Eisenberg and Julie Rawe, â€Å"Jack Who? † Time, September 10, 2001, p. 42. 37 Jerry Useem, â€Å"Another Boss Another Revolution,† Fortune, April 5, 2004, p. 112. 38Daniel Eisenberg and Julie Rawe, â€Å"Jack Who? † Time, September 10, 2001, p. 42. Page 9 9B08M009 It’s curiosity. It’s being good with people. And it’s having perseverance, hard work, thick skin. Those are the three traits that every successful person I’ve ever known has in common. 39 Immelt aimed to continue GE’s transition â€Å"from a low-margin manufacturer to a more lucrative services company. †40 During Welch’s tenure, although revenues from services had grown from 15 per cent of revenues to 70 per cent, the majority of the revenues came from GE Capital (renamed GE Consumer Finance and GE Commercial Finance).In 2001, Immelt believed there was still room to grow services in many of its divisions, such as aircraft maintenance and monitoring contracts, and medical software and billing services. 41 There were differences in strategic approach as well. Whereas Welch had courted Wall Street by setting — and hitting — pinpoint earnings targets, Immelt gave the Street’s short-term demands a back seat to long-term strategy. Whereas Welch rapidly rotated managers through different divisions to develop generalists, Immelt wanted to keep them in place longer to develop specialists.Immelt explained: I absolutely loathe the notion of professional management. Which is not an endorsement of unprofessional management but a statement that, for instance, the best jet engines are built by jet-engine people, not by appliance people. Rotate managers too fast, moreover, and they won’t experience the fallout from their mistakes — nor will they invest in innovations that don†™t have an immediate payoff. 42 By 2007, Immelt had divested GE units representing 40 per cent of revenues.To grow $20 billion a year and more, new investments were made in areas where sizeable players had an advantage. Infrastructure and infrastructure technology, according to Immelt, was â€Å"a $70 billion business that will grow 15 per cent a year for the next five years. That’s a business where small people need not apply. †43 In addition, Immelt was focused on growing revenues in emerging markets such as China, India, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Latin America. Immelt believed that the international arena was where GE’s future growth would come:In 2007, for the first time in the history of GE, we’ll have more revenue outside the United States that we’ll have inside the United States. Our business outside the United States will grow between 15 per cent and 20 per cent next year. We’re a $172 billion company. In 2008, with the U . S. economy growing at 1. 5 per cent, we’ll grow revenue by 15 per cent because we’re in the right places with the right products at the right time. 44 39 David Lieberman, â€Å"GE Chief Sees Growth Opportunities in 2008,† USA Today, December 14, 2007, p. B1.Daniel Eisenberg and Julie Rawe, â€Å"Jack Who? † Time, September 10, 2001, p. 42. 41 Ibid. 42 Jerry Useem, â€Å"Another Boss Another Revolution,† Fortune, April 5, 2004, p. 112. 43 David Lieberman, â€Å"GE Chief Sees Growth Opportunities in 2008,† USA Today, December 14, 2007, p. B1. 44 Ibid. 40 Page 10 9B08M009 EXHIBIT 1 GE: Selected Information from 1981 to 2008 ($ billions) Revenues Net Profit 1981 27. 2 1. 7 1986 36. 7 2. 5 1991 52. 3 2. 6 1996 79. 2 7. 3 2001 125. 9 14. 1 GE Stock Price 1975-2008 (Logarithmic, Adjusted for Dividends and Splits) 000 W elch announces retirement in 2001 Stock: $9. 31 Jack Welch becomes CEO Stock: $0. 65 Jeffrey Immelt becomes CEO Stock: $32. 58 $ 100 Best Practices Delayering, Six Sigma Bought 370 businesses Sold 200 businesses 10 e-business Stretch 1 Work-Out! Boundarylessness #1 or #2 Source: Case writers. Stock information from finance. yahoo. com, accessed January 5, 2008. 1/2/2007 1/2/2005 1/2/2003 1/2/2001 1/2/1999 1/2/1997 1/2/1995 1/2/1993 1/2/1991 1/2/1989 1/2/1987 1/2/1985 1/2/1983 1/2/1981 1/2/1979 1/2/1977 1/2/1975 0. 1 2006 163. 4 20. 7 General Electric: From Jack Welch to Jeffrey Immelt The need for Jeffrey Immelt to develop into a level 5 leader is imperative for GE to continue to grow and prosper in the current economic conditions of global expansion and constant change. Immelt can also benefit GE by becoming a level 5 leader by focusing on developing and empowering employee values and intrinsic motivations rather than facilitating initiatives to carry out his own vision. By Immelt developing into a level 5 leader and creating an open and trusting environment, he will empower employees to rebuild GE’s infrastructure that can hold strong and prosper through the new and demanding global expansion.Jack Welch led the way that was authentic to him and what economic conditions valued at the time. He was successful by giving the company of GE a clear vision and opening up opportunities for employees to efficiently carry out his objectives. He gave stability to shareholders at a time of economic worry and more than doubled GE’s market cap. Although his prac tices deemed profitable he did not build internal company infrastructure that would carry GE into the future. Instead he weakened internal relationships and did not empower employees to use their talents to embark on new and innovative projects.Immelt is faced with the challenge of getting the GE employees to develop a trusting and open relationship that can grow GE into new markets and hold stable in a time of constant change. His humility and professional will create a new environment for GE that will be profitable from long-term investments, social responsibility, and employee empowerment. Immelt is already leading in his own authentic way by being people-oriented and concentrating on effectiveness rather than efficiency.If he can continue to stay true to his authentic values while developing them further into a level 5 leader, GE will manage to stay competitive in the new economic market. Although authentic in his actions, Jack Welch had uprooted the GE internal infrastructure t o become a number generating, cash focused conglomerate that did not serve the intrinsic needs of GE’s talented employees. GE seemed to be thriving under Welch’s reign with stock prices continually rising and it’s market cap growing from $18 million to $500 billion. However there are more factors to a company that tell about its â€Å"success† than its cash generating enterprises.Many of the employees at GE felt worn down and stretched too far with their expectations being forced to drive success from extrinsic motivators and short-term returns. After thorough evaluation of the movement of CEOS from Jack Welch to Jeffrey Immelt, lays the fundamental management problem of a change of company values led by a previous level 4 leader, Welch, to a level 5 leader, Immelt. The GE company needs to recognize and be led to the different values that Jeffrey Immelt believes in order to drive success under a new environment.Immelt is focused more on long term strategi c investments that will require invested energy and cooperation from his employees to finally reach the high numbers and stock price returns that come along with the change to a strong infrastructure. While Welch was CEO he inspired the GE company by providing them with the vision that GE was meant for big returns, rapid expansion, and continually expanding market caps. He proved he was a level 4 leader by being focused on efficiency, and committing to a clear vision that â€Å"stimulated higher performance standards†.Everyone was aware of Welch’s vision: to act fast, push bureaucracy out of the way, and to generate numbers and cash. People who did not meet the results-delivered mindset were let go and ideas that did not deliver immediate results were abandoned. This level 4 leadership did not allow for the employees of GE to develop and grow the intrinsic values of the company and themselves because they were too nervous and focused on delivering results from small-ri sk projects. Welch did not focus on developing people; instead he focused on developing numbers.For example, his â€Å"vitality curve program† cut the â€Å"bottom 10% of employees† and rewarded the â€Å"top 20%†. The Vitality Curve organized people into three categories based on their past performance and deliverables. Although Welch implemented a number of â€Å"leadership development† programs, they ironically did not focus on molding leaders but molding opportunities for profit-centered growth. The underlying problem was that the employees of GE were expected to carry out Welch’s vision and return high profits to stockholders.It wasn’t that Welch wasn’t clear on his objectives or ways to complete objectives; it was the fact that employees were focused on completing work to produce Welch’s vision instead of using their own talents and ideas to grow the company’s infrastructure that could endure future economic condit ions. By Welch being a level 4 leader he facilitated employees to meet expectations in an efficient and demanding manner, which crushed innovation and employee self- fulfillment. According to Fortune Magazine â€Å"Welch conducts meetings so aggressively that people tremble.†Although this type of tough leadership produced high profits, it left employee satisfaction and infrastructure stability wounded. Welch was constantly implementing new projects and workshops that supported his vision and gave employees clearer objectives of his vision that produced results. Each time he implemented a new project GE stock prices rose; but this was at a time where the environment GE was competing in was domestic and results driven, which didn’t demand long term company infrastructure but rather thrived on short term high profits.Welch led the way the economy demanded, which led him to success and high numbers. Welch’s methodology was based upon cost cutting, efficiency, and de al making which would deliver high, reliable profits. Welch led at a time of an economic recession with high unemployment, high interest rates, and domestic competition. The idea of developing society and GE employees was put aside to develop high profits, which gave stockholders a sense of dependability and stability in a time of unknown and economic turmoil.This focus worked at the time, but would not continue to work in the current economy that holds new values and expectations. It is crucial that Immelt become a level 5 leader that invests in long term, strong infrastructure to continue to be able grow, expand, and stay profitable. For Immelt to become a level 5 leader he must discard the idea that â€Å"leaders must be the ones providing the direction or vision† and instead enable the implementation of additional drivers, such as employees or opportunities, that will take GE from good to great.Immelt is leading at a time of economic global slowdown and increased global c ompetition, which demands an infrastructure that can endure a change of markets and compete at a global level. Immelt’s responsibility isn’t to have one vision that the entire company follows, but to inspire GE employees to evaluate their own visions that correspond to their intrinsic values and allow them to act upon them with trust and resources. To enable and inspire employees to re-create the GE infrastructure Immelt needs to pave the way for employees to re-build their trust with GE and himself by increasing their motivation through a more open environment.Immelt can act upon becoming a level 5 leader and making GE into a growth engine for the future by investing in leadership programs that focus on developing employees as leaders and allowing them to create their own vision through their own intrinsic values. Welch’s leadership development programs focused on trimming the company’s edges instead of developing them to pave the way for number growing opportunities and profit based endeavors. Immelt can have leadership programs that ask employees to evaluate what values they have for their work and what are areas that can be improved to help them reach their goals.Immelt can also share his inspiration to facilitate external growth by moving markets into developing countries through risk taking, sophisticated marketing, and innovation. He can prove to employees that he wants them to embark on meaningful, long-term projects by notifying them that rotations will be removed to allow for specialists that are the most knowledgeable in their field, and therefore have the ability to produce the most effective long-term projects and returns.Immelt can teach the employees of GE of his values and leadership practices through company wide meetings, emails, or letters. He then needs to be mindful to follow through with his values to foster an open and trusting environment. Jeffery Immelt is leading as CEO in a time of worldwide growth and exp ansion that demands a different type of leadership style than the efficiency based style of Jack Welch in order for GE to stay profitable, and continue to be a leader in the business market.In addition to changing leadership styles in order to keep GE growing profits, Immelt has the opportunity to make GE employee’s jobs more meaningful and fulfilling by creating an open and trusting environment that will enable them to use their talents to carry out visions of their own that resonate with their intrinsic values. It is imperative that Immelt become a level 5 leader that will force GE to move from being a cash generator to a growth engine that will thrive in the current global expansion. General Electric: From Jack Welch to Jeffrey Immelt The need for Jeffrey Immelt to develop into a level 5 leader is imperative for GE to continue to grow and prosper in the current economic conditions of global expansion and constant change. Immelt can also benefit GE by becoming a level 5 leader by focusing on developing and empowering employee values and intrinsic motivations rather than facilitating initiatives to carry out his own vision. By Immelt developing into a level 5 leader and creating an open and trusting environment, he will empower employees to rebuild GE’s infrastructure that can hold strong and prosper through the new and demanding global expansion.Jack Welch led the way that was authentic to him and what economic conditions valued at the time. He was successful by giving the company of GE a clear vision and opening up opportunities for employees to efficiently carry out his objectives. He gave stability to shareholders at a time of economic worry and more than doubled GE’s market cap. Although his prac tices deemed profitable he did not build internal company infrastructure that would carry GE into the future. Instead he weakened internal relationships and did not empower employees to use their talents to embark on new and innovative projects.Immelt is faced with the challenge of getting the GE employees to develop a trusting and open relationship that can grow GE into new markets and hold stable in a time of constant change. His humility and professional will create a new environment for GE that will be profitable from long-term investments, social responsibility, and employee empowerment. Immelt is already leading in his own authentic way by being people-oriented and concentrating on effectiveness rather than efficiency.If he can continue to stay true to his authentic values while developing them further into a level 5 leader, GE will manage to stay competitive in the new economic market. Although authentic in his actions, Jack Welch had uprooted the GE internal infrastructure t o become a number generating, cash focused conglomerate that did not serve the intrinsic needs of GE’s talented employees. GE seemed to be thriving under Welch’s reign with stock prices continually rising and it’s market cap growing from $18 million to $500 billion. However there are more factors to a company that tell about its â€Å"success† than its cash generating enterprises.Many of the employees at GE felt worn down and stretched too far with their expectations being forced to drive success from extrinsic motivators and short-term returns. After thorough evaluation of the movement of CEOS from Jack Welch to Jeffrey Immelt, lays the fundamental management problem of a change of company values led by a previous level 4 leader, Welch, to a level 5 leader, Immelt. The GE company needs to recognize and be led to the different values that Jeffrey Immelt believes in order to drive success under a new environment.Immelt is focused more on long term strategi c investments that will require invested energy and cooperation from his employees to finally reach the high numbers and stock price returns that come along with the change to a strong infrastructure. While Welch was CEO he inspired the GE company by providing them with the vision that GE was meant for big returns, rapid expansion, and continually expanding market caps. He proved he was a level 4 leader by being focused on efficiency, and committing to a clear vision that â€Å"stimulated higher performance standards†.Everyone was aware of Welch’s vision: to act fast, push bureaucracy out of the way, and to generate numbers and cash. People who did not meet the results-delivered mindset were let go and ideas that did not deliver immediate results were abandoned. This level 4 leadership did not allow for the employees of GE to develop and grow the intrinsic values of the company and themselves because they were too nervous and focused on delivering results from small-ri sk projects. Welch did not focus on developing people; instead he focused on developing numbers.For example, his â€Å"vitality curve program† cut the â€Å"bottom 10% of employees† and rewarded the â€Å"top 20%†. The Vitality Curve organized people into three categories based on their past performance and deliverables. Although Welch implemented a number of â€Å"leadership development† programs, they ironically did not focus on molding leaders but molding opportunities for profit-centered growth. The underlying problem was that the employees of GE were expected to carry out Welch’s vision and return high profits to stockholders.It wasn’t that Welch wasn’t clear on his objectives or ways to complete objectives; it was the fact that employees were focused on completing work to produce Welch’s vision instead of using their own talents and ideas to grow the company’s infrastructure that could endure future economic condit ions. By Welch being a level 4 leader he facilitated employees to meet expectations in an efficient and demanding manner, which crushed innovation and employee self- fulfillment. According to Fortune Magazine â€Å"Welch conducts meetings so aggressively that people tremble.†Although this type of tough leadership produced high profits, it left employee satisfaction and infrastructure stability wounded. Welch was constantly implementing new projects and workshops that supported his vision and gave employees clearer objectives of his vision that produced results. Each time he implemented a new project GE stock prices rose; but this was at a time where the environment GE was competing in was domestic and results driven, which didn’t demand long term company infrastructure but rather thrived on short term high profits.Welch led the way the economy demanded, which led him to success and high numbers. Welch’s methodology was based upon cost cutting, efficiency, and de al making which would deliver high, reliable profits. Welch led at a time of an economic recession with high unemployment, high interest rates, and domestic competition. The idea of developing society and GE employees was put aside to develop high profits, which gave stockholders a sense of dependability and stability in a time of unknown and economic turmoil.This focus worked at the time, but would not continue to work in the current economy that holds new values and expectations. It is crucial that Immelt become a level 5 leader that invests in long term, strong infrastructure to continue to be able grow, expand, and stay profitable. For Immelt to become a level 5 leader he must discard the idea that â€Å"leaders must be the ones providing the direction or vision† and instead enable the implementation of additional drivers, such as employees or opportunities, that will take GE from good to great.Immelt is leading at a time of economic global slowdown and increased global c ompetition, which demands an infrastructure that can endure a change of markets and compete at a global level. Immelt’s responsibility isn’t to have one vision that the entire company follows, but to inspire GE employees to evaluate their own visions that correspond to their intrinsic values and allow them to act upon them with trust and resources. To enable and inspire employees to re-create the GE infrastructure Immelt needs to pave the way for employees to re-build their trust with GE and himself by increasing their motivation through a more open environment.Immelt can act upon becoming a level 5 leader and making GE into a growth engine for the future by investing in leadership programs that focus on developing employees as leaders and allowing them to create their own vision through their own intrinsic values. Welch’s leadership development programs focused on trimming the company’s edges instead of developing them to pave the way for number growing opportunities and profit based endeavors. Immelt can have leadership programs that ask employees to evaluate what values they have for their work and what are areas that can be improved to help them reach their goals.Immelt can also share his inspiration to facilitate external growth by moving markets into developing countries through risk taking, sophisticated marketing, and innovation. He can prove to employees that he wants them to embark on meaningful, long-term projects by notifying them that rotations will be removed to allow for specialists that are the most knowledgeable in their field, and therefore have the ability to produce the most effective long-term projects and returns.Immelt can teach the employees of GE of his values and leadership practices through company wide meetings, emails, or letters. He then needs to be mindful to follow through with his values to foster an open and trusting environment. Jeffery Immelt is leading as CEO in a time of worldwide growth and exp ansion that demands a different type of leadership style than the efficiency based style of Jack Welch in order for GE to stay profitable, and continue to be a leader in the business market.In addition to changing leadership styles in order to keep GE growing profits, Immelt has the opportunity to make GE employee’s jobs more meaningful and fulfilling by creating an open and trusting environment that will enable them to use their talents to carry out visions of their own that resonate with their intrinsic values. It is imperative that Immelt become a level 5 leader that will force GE to move from being a cash generator to a growth engine that will thrive in the current global expansion.