GE is a behemouth. I work for a small division of a larger division, that itself is packaged into an even larger division. It is very tough sometimes to understand this corporate vision, see it and hear it and then apply it to your day to day job. And then you see press releases come out about your company that you were not aware of. It is the nature of a large company that is so fragmented across so many markets - it is a virtue of the company you work for, and good or bad you will see it as an employee.
A lot of GE leadership is fraternal - you have to have been a part of their corporate audit staff, leadership development programs, or have gone to a highly ranked business school. Advancement outisde of those ranks is possible, but much tougher, and the higher you get, the more this will become apparent.
I thought communication throughout the leadership ranks was not that great. There was little to no transparency (even though it was preached) and the workers doing the work were the last to know about very important company developments. This might be attributed to the staff that is working within my group - but I have heard stories about this occuring else where.
GE is all about resources and scarcity. If in 2005, you can do a job with 5 people, by 2010, you will only have 1 person to do the job and they will most likely have 15 other jobs attributed to them by the lack of resources. Employees are expected to effectively manage this seeming impossibility, day in and day out. I think this would wear someone out over an entire career - I personally do not plan on staying here much longer than 5-7 years. Already, I work 9+ hour days and am expected to check my mail on weekends. This might again be a localized occurence for just me and my business, but I think it is a repetitive theme throughout GE. I am all about working better and smarter, but at some point there are just not enough hours in the day to do what is put on your plate.
