Jack Welch has been described by many as a transformational leader. With reference from the extract, argue for or against this assertion. SECTION A

$[100$ MARKS$]$

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

The strategic leadership of GE CEO Jack Welch

The late former chairman and CEO of General Electric $($GE$).$ Jack Weich was heralded by many as the greatest leader of

his era. During his two decades at GE's helm, he transformed the organisation from a $$13$ bilion $($USD$)$ maker of

appliances and lighibulbs into one of the most valuable companies in the world, while bulling a reputation for himself as

a manugement guru. What made Jack. Welch so successful? What were the sacrets and principles behind his appraach

to work and life? Jack Welch became GE's CEO in $1981$ at the age of $45.$ Upon taking office, he infialed a series of

changes to improve the performanoe of GE's diversfied business portfolio, with the hope of fundamentally reshaping the

companty over the next five years.

Despile resistance to change within the company, Welch was aware that past performance could not define future

success, and an organisation would not go arywhere without a sense of crisis. Transformation and innovation are keys

for survival. Three months afler taking over as CEO, Welch set a vision for each business unit that they had to be $$1$ of

$12$ in their markets; if not, they had to fix, sell, or close the unit. This later became one of his most lamous strabegies.

Within the company, Welch sought to streamine GE with layolfs, eiminating the laborious strategic planning system,

ismantling the buresucrscy, and abolishing the nine$-$layer management hierarchy. As a result, GE's revenue expanded,

and opersing profits soared to $$2\mathrm{.}4$ bilion by $1985.$ In the labe $1960$s$,$ following GE's massive restructuring effort. Weich

proposed to develiop an approach to management characterized by speed, simplicity, and self$-$confisence. To this end, he

launched Work$-$Out and Best Practices, two closely linked inifiatives that aimed at promoting aspired culsure and

management approaches. At Welch's request, GE promoted the Work$-$Out programme throughout the company. It

consisted of a group of $20$ to $100$ employees who were selected and inviled to a diseussion to share views about theif

own departrents and how they could be$.$ Afler Work$-$Out was implemented, Welch sought cut ideas that could raise GE's

productivily, and that led him to create Best Practices. This programme was desigred to develop effective processes by

studying and anstyzing the best practices of other high$-$pefformance companies.

To align GE's established human resources system with the company's strategic targets, Welch also fadically overhauled

GE's compensation package by extending stock options to management compensation, and reengineering is bonus and

option allocation system in a more aggressive mamer to ensure $Z$ was closely linked to the key strategies of the day. In

the $1990$s$,$ Welch crealed a new stralegic concept caled 'integraled diversity' and worked to make GE 'a boundary$-$less

company," which he described as "a company where we knock down the walls that separate us from each other on the

insibe and from our key consthuencies on the culside. The idea was aimed at encoursging employees to seek out and

share new ideas. To make this happen, he changed the way bonuses and options awards were delivered to honour

imovative and resource$-$sharing efforts. Moreover, Welch also introduced the notion of 'stretch' to set performance

targets to mothate higher levels of performance of managers, which he described as "using dreams to set business

targets, with no real idea of how to get there. In late $1990$s$,$ belore his retirement, Welch adopted Motorola's Six Sigma

qualify programme to improve the company's products and production procedures. In $1996,$ he announced that GE aimed

to attain its Six Sigma goals within five years. Although Weich had previously built up a lop$-$notched manogement team,

the closer he got to his planned retirement date, the more he wanted to enhance the GE's qualty for his successor.

Therelore, he modified his four types of managers to descrbe GE as a company that needed only 'A players' $-$ managers

who had vision, leadership, energy and courage. Whin only $20$ years, Jack Welch grew GE's market cap by over $30-$fold

to $$450$ billion, making it the most valuable company in the world. During his tenure, he not only developed GE's

business with strategic vision, but also championed the company's international operations amidst increasing flobel

trade and culhural exchange.

Jack Welch was an outstanding, legendary leader and strategist who took a fresh bok at his work every day and made al

necessary and aggressive changes. In his two decades leading GE$,$ he fecorded an average of $23\%$ annual fotal