GE : imagination at work

职 业 加 油 站 Career DevelopmentMa Haiyan: Enjoy My Dual RoleWhen we talk about living double lives, we’re reminded of classicfictional characters and superheroes like the iconic Batman. Incomics and films, Bruce Wayne, the man behind the Batmanmask, is a playboy billionaire who spends money like water butdons a mask at night to fight crime. Not everyone who livesa double life wears a mask or works in the shadows–some ofthese unique individuals work at GE. Ma Haiyan is one of themserving as both the general manager of the Go Blue Team of GEHealthcare and as the ombudsperson in charge of listening toemployees’ concerns.Since Haiyan has joined GE ten years ago, he has devoted himselfto the company. Because he was the compliance manager ofthe legal department of GE Healthcare, he assumed the role asombudsperson as his part-time job in 2003. Whether serving asthe compliance manager or the ombudsperson, he is faced witha variety of integrity problems. As the latter, he not only needsto deal with conventional integrity violations related to GE’spolicies, but also listens to employees’ concerns and helps themsolve these problems, while providing advice for their careerdevelopment.When employees report vital problems in person or by email,Haiyan puts the case into the ombuds system and coordinateswith relevant departments including HR, legal and finance tosolve the problems to protect the company from risks. This is therole GE hopes its ombudspersons will play.Haiyan has his own opinions on the position of an ombudsperson.“The ombudsperson is a special communication channel GEoffers to all employees. In order to keep this channel open, theombudsperson should have integrity and credibility, becausewhen employees go to report their concerns, trust is the mostimportant aspect of that relationship as opposed to the authorityor title the ombudsperson has. What’s more, the ombudspersonshould have a clear map about the company’s structure andhave extremely rich career experience. In this way, employeescan gain fair and objective advice. When employees trust theombudsperson, they are willing to open their hearts and talkabout their concerns. And after talking, employees will be morerelaxed and get what they were looking for. This is the value ofthe work.”Zhang Tianbing: Being the“Ears” and “Mouth” of theCompanyApart from finishing their own work, some engineers in GE needto handle the integrity concerns reported by colleagues. ZhangTianbing at GE Transportation is a primate example of such anengineer. Tianbing joined GE in 2003 as an R&D engineer. As amechanical engineering manager, he has not only led the ICSmechanical engineering team at GE Transportation Engineering, butalso served as the ombudsperson listening to everyone’s concerns.Tianbing received a series of reports every day, not only when employees find violations in policies’ implementation or issues ofintegrity in IP protection and EHS, but also about the problems affecting employees’ daily work. Faced with these complications,Tianbing relies on patience and good judgment to deal with each problem that arises. “Actually they are not easy to tackle, since I amnot an expert in every field. When something complicated happens, I need to decide what area it belongs, then go to the respectiveexperts in that field such as Legal or HR to solve the problem,” Tianbing said.Years of experience have given him a deep understanding of being an ombudsperson. He thinks that it is very important to play theroles of “ear” and “mouth” for a branch of the company. “Admittedly, the solution of the problem is significant, but first we should listenpatiently to everyone’s concerns and suggestions and report them to related departments and leaders in a timely manner. In that waywe can all work together to solve problems, and navigate for the company’s safe development.”Since 2003, Haiyan has dealt with dozens of integrity cases.“This job covers a wide array of aspects, even including givingdirections when employees can’t find some locations. It seemsthat I am like the chief of the complaint department, handlingissues and solving problems in a timely manner,” Haiyan said.“The main task of an ombudsperson is to listen to employees’concerns and help them alleviate their unpleasant moods.I remember one time an employee left the GE site withoutauthorization, and then his family called us worried because hehadn’t returned home either. While the company and police triedtheir best to find this particular employee, he suddenly appearedand returned to GE after disappearing for 72 hours. He was veryembarrassed and extremely sad, but he was unwilling to tell uswhat happened. At that time, what he needed most was comfortand someone to talk to.”27 GE & ME“There is an old saying in China: The blacksmith needs to be harder than steel. First, a qualified ombudsperson should be honest; second,he or she should always be objective and base decisions on facts; third, he or she must be an approachable and patient listener; fourth,he or she must pay attention to the communication and cooperation in problem-solving and inform of employees the results.”When talking about his life outside work, Tianbing said that he enjoys spending time with his families. At the weekend, he often cooks forhis families or goes hiking with his wife. We believe that he will keep up his good work by being the “ear” and ”mouth” of GE in the future.GE & ME 28