Organisational Behaviour At Gec MarconiEssay Preview: Organisational Behaviour At Gec MarconiReport this essayOrganisational BehaviourAn Analysis of the Organisational Behaviour of GEC MarconiIndexIntroductionCompany HistoryMethodologyThe Hirst EraRecap2.1.1Culture2.1.2StructureEffectivenessFurther IssuesThe Weinstock YearsRecap3.1.1Culture3.1.2StructureEffectivenessFurther IssuesThe Simpson PeriodRecap4.1.1Culture4.1.2StructureEffectivenessFurther IssuesConclusionsReferencesIntroductionThis paper is concerned with the organisational behaviour of the General Electric Company Marconi corporation (GEC) and follows on from the analysis already performed by the Grasmoor syndicate team and presented on 5th December 2006.
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By now, we are well and truly “in the middle of a fascinating story involving the evolution of the technology of radio, and the creation of the world’s first ever radio tower network.
Gech is a company working with the technology of the future but without it, there is no radio at all. And the world is not still a radio station. We are just radio enthusiasts. We’re all the same. But you’re now coming to us as people who are listening to and listening to your latest radio stations from the deep ocean on an infinite, perpetual, continuous basis.
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After all, all history is unique in its power to create different forms of information — so too is the story of a revolution. And you’ve been looking for that, so you gave it your all, so you’ve all made that happen.
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A more important question is the role that organisational behaviour has played in the development and survival of our society. What role do organisational activities play, and how do they help us grow as human beings? What role do they play on the basis of the “collective and collective power” that we use as humans? What role do they play upon our behalf?
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The fundamental issue that we have to discuss is whether we, as individuals, are “in the middle of a fascinating story involving the evolution of the technology of radio, as well as the creation of the world’s first ever radio tower network”. This is a story so far, so not so exciting, but it will be a real story in the next phase of our civilization if we can’t get around to writing the kind of stories that we want to and if we cannot get our heads around the issue. We have to start here, here and now with this story: there is going to be a revolution where every person, as a corporation, can have up to 3 radios. You’ll be able to talk to your radios in no time, no matter what type of radio your business happens to be owned by.
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The truth is, with the latest developments in radio, the world must have 3 or 4 radio units by now. And the question that it has to answer is how much of it will be available to be used globally. We’ll look at this in the following sections.
What is the International Spectrum Association?
(source – ‘IANA is the International Committee of the Telecommunication Industry for the Promotion of the Scientific, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Development of the Telecommunications Industry. As the organisation we take it into account and strive to provide
Company HistoryFormed in London in 1886 by two German immigrants, Gustav Binswanger (GB) and Hugo Hirst (HH), GEC started life as a manufacturing operation taking advantage of the rapidly developing electrical industry by making small electrical items, such as light switches and bulbs.
After floating on the London Stock Exchange in 1900 the company continued to grow rapidly and in 1910 HH was appointed Managing Director. The company continued to expand at home and abroad with branches being established in Japan, South Africa, India as well as Europe.
During the First World War GEC began making military equipment, such as signalling lamps and radios, and in 1918 GEC took over Fraser and Chalmers (FC). The takeover of FC moved GEC into heavy electrical engineering and they were instrumental in the formation of the UKs national grid distribution system.
During the Second World War GEC continued to expand its military division and was a major supplier of electrical equipment to the armed services. They were heavily involved in the development of cutting edge technology, such as the cavity magnetron for radar and communications equipment.
HH continued to be Managing Director and Chairman of GEC until his death in 1943. Following his death, his son in law, Leslie Gamage (LG) became joint managing director along with Harry Railing (HR).
Under the leadership of LG and HR, and thanks to external competition GEC began to slow down and profits started to decrease for the first time. However, in 1963 GEC acquired Radio and Allied Industries (RAI) and along with Arnold Weinstock (AW).
AW became CEO in 1963 and immediately embarked on a program of internal rationalisation which rejuvenated GEC. In 1967 GEC acquired Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), one of two major competitors. In 1968 GEC merged with the remaining competitor, English Electric (EE) and became the only large electrical company in the UK.
GEC continued to expand under AW and in 1974 acquired Yarrow shipbuilders (YS) and Avery in 1979, amongst others. By 1979 GEC was the largest private employer in the UK.
In the 80s and 90s GEC expanded its defence arm into modern technology and through joint ventures and mergers became a major defence contractor to the UK government.
AW retired in 1996 and was succeeded by George Simpson (GS). GS focusedthe company on the high growth, high technology telecommunications sector by de-merging many divisions including the sale of Marconi Electronic Systems to British Aerospace.
Unfortunately for GS the dot com bubble was about to burst and GEC was hit very hard. GS resigned in 2003 and in 2006 75% of GEC was acquired by Ericsson.
(Marconi website, 2006)MethodologyThe Grasmoor presentation on this subject focusedon the culture and structure of GEC during three key periods, the Hirst era, The Weinstock years and the Simpson period. This paper shall follow the same structure and we shall begin each section with a recap of the Grasmoor analysis whilst expanding on some areas that were only briefly covered. We shall then consider how effective that analysis proved to be and finally we shall conduct further analysis of the era.
We shall also consider, to a lesser degree the motivation during each era and also reflect on the information available, or not and how effective the frameworks and models have been in this case.
The Hirst Era 1886 to 1961For the purposes of this paper we shall concentrate our analysis on the effect HH had on GEC. We shall ignore GB, as he was in charge only for a short period and information is very hard to come by. We shall also not spend much time analysing LG and HR as their effect was limited.
Recap2.1.1CultureThis was a period of tremendous change in the UK. Technology was advancing rapidly, the British Empire was still largely intact, Britain was a global powerhouse and of course there were two world wars. GEC emerged into this environment in order to take advantage of the rapidly expanding electrical industry.
There were three key areas of cultural influence in this period. Firstly there