1. Which approaches to employee development are mentioned in this case for Zappos? Which are mentioned for General Electric?
2. These two companies are both well respected and successful but have very different cultures: Zappos is modern and fun, while GE is a huge, competitive, traditional company. How would you expect the cultural differences to affect the choice of developmental methods at the two companies?
3. For each of the companies, name one challenge the company is facing, recommend a form of employee development, and explain how it could help the company meet the challenge you identified.

At first glance, Zappos.com , the online retailer, appears to have little in common with General Electric, the multinational conglomerate. Hit hard by the recession, GE is in the throes of scaling down its financial services subsidiary, GE Capital, by an estimated 40 percent. Zappos, on the other hand, is tapping into changing consumer habits and ramping up for 30 percent growth over the next 12 months.
Yet surprisingly, these two organizations with their rapidly shifting environments face similar challenges in motivating and engaging their employees. For Zappos, it’s about creating and maintaining passion in a call-center culture. For GE, it’s about keeping people engaged in a changing climate.