Organizational Culture Of The Lincoln Electric Company

The founders of the Lincoln Electric Company left a legacy of an organization culture that promotes high productivity through sound management policies which have stood the test of time. The exponential growth of the company after the death of James F. Lincoln was a direct result of the establishment of a rich culture mix based on values that were widely shared and accepted by the members of the organization. Management empowered employees to become part of the decision making process through the contribution of ideas through the Advisory Board which was elected by the employees from amongst themselves. Reward management systems and all the other artifacts of the Lincoln Electric’s distinguished strong organizational culture will be analyzed in greater detail in this essay.

Every organization has values and beliefs that define what they do and how they do things in the organization. These values have significant influence on how the employees behaves and the general performance of the organization – it is these set of values and beliefs, rooted deep in the company’s organizational structure that depict the “dos”, “don’t” and the “hows”, of the organization and these unequivocally represents the culture of the organization. This concept became popular in the 1980s when Peters and Waterman in their book: “In search of Excellence” presented the profound argument that, the success of any organization is inextricable linked to the quality of its culture. (Carpenter, M., Taylor, B., Erdogan, B. 2009 p183). The purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyse the impact diverse cultures played in the success of the Lincoln Electric Company.

The organization culture as a leadership concept has been identified as one of the many components that leaders can use to grow a dynamic organization. Leadership in organizations starts the culture formation process by imposing their assumptions and expectations on their followers. Once culture is established and accepted, they become a strong leadership tool to communicate the leader 's beliefs and values to organizational members, and especially new comers. When leaders promote ethical culture, they become successful in maintaining organizational growth, the good services demanded by the society, the ability to address problems before they become disasters and consequently are competitive against rivals. The leader 's success will depend to a large extent, on his knowledge and understanding of the organizational culture. The leader who understands his organizational culture and takes it seriously is capable of predicting the outcome of his decisions in preventing any anticipated consequences. What then is organizational culture? The concept of organizational culture has been defined from many perspectives in the literature. There is no one single definition for organizational culture. The topic of organizational culture has been studied from many perspectives and disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, organizational behavior, and organizational leadership to name a few. Deal defines organizational culture as values,

“We will distinguish ourselves through an unwavering commitment to our employees and a relentless drive to maximize shareholder value”; as found within Lincoln Electrics’ Vision Statement (Lincoln Electric 1999-2016). The beliefs and values transferred from company founders and instilled into employees can have an overwhelming impact on corporate culture. By establishing a positive corporate culture one can influence exceptional company performance. This is clearly demonstrated by Lincoln Electric Company, from its early days until its present day. I will present how the Lincoln Electric Company has done just that!

A company’s soul is its personality, its culture, and the values by which it stands; derived from a company’s core beliefs, this intangible asset determines the effectiveness of strategies and the ability to achieve authenticity. Culture consists of group norms of behavior and the underlying shared values that help keep those norms in place (Nelson, 2013). Defining and implementing desired norms of behavior requires wisdom, time, and some intellectual curiosity and emotional investment to understand what motivates employees to perform consistently well, even beyond expectations (Kotter, 2012). “Every company and team has its own identity--a soul waiting to be discovered and used to unlock human energy and unleash new economic value” (Lapin, 2012). While one culture will not work for every company, successful companies determine the desired culture, design, implement, and nurture it. Leaders must revisit their mission, and answer pertinent questions: Why are we in this business and why is our company here? What is the higher purpose for which our organization has come into being? The company’s existence is no accident of circumstance; it is here to do something no other organization can do (Lapin, 2012). Every company has a culture (Moberly, 2014).

An organization’s culture “consists of unseen elements such as assumptions and values that affect organizational life,” it is the “personality” of the company. At Lincoln Electric, even though they “never had a formal organization chart,” the culture is an extremely significant aspect of everyday life and a powerful asset; its rare and hard-to-imitate conceptualization gives the firm an undeniable competitive advantage and “insures maximum flexibility.”

The culture at the Lincoln Electric Company would be described as a strong one. A company culture can be strong or weak influence on the employees of a work place. A company culture can also be a positive or a negative aspect to a company’s bottom line. For example: it would be possible for a company to have a weak culture in management, but lucky with employees who are hardworking and need little direction. This is not the case at Lincoln Electric but I used it as an illustration. In the eyes of the employees interviewed in the case study it seems the strong influence of culture is a positive one in their lives, and is achieving what the company has set out to do.

The Lincoln Electric Company is indeed a success story. It remains the world’s leading welding machines and electrode manufacturer. Notably, estimates indicate that the company may be controlling about 40% of arc welding equipment market. It has two factories in US and 3 more factories abroad with a combined workforce about 3000 excluding field sales staff. However, the immense success the company has registered in its operations is tied to its long-standing management style. This essay discusses the Lincoln Electric Company’s culture and how impactful it has been in maintaining a motivated workforce.

Creating of organizational culture is crucial for organizations and leaders. The success of organization depends on an appropriate

“An organization’s culture may be one of its strongest assets…,” (Principles of Management p. 184). Culture at the Lincoln Electric Company exemplifies this statement, and has since 1914. The Lincoln brothers’ attitude towards the employee has helped skyrocket this once small company to the powerhouse that it is today. Examining this outcome oriented company yields a perfect example of how a strong culture can add to the overall bottom line.

To better analyze and understand the organizational culture of this company I will implement the subjects learned in chapter 8 of unit 3, which are, Organizational Culture Elements p. 102-203.

The company culture of Lincoln Electric is one of teamwork, support and innovation. After reading and reviewing the case study done on Lincoln Electric by Arthur Sharplin of McNeese State University, I have come away with a better understanding of how the company has become the role model for management world-wide.

Lincoln Electric Company of Cleveland Ohio USA`s organizational Culture is exceptional and has earned it the acolade of being the best managed manufacturing company in the whole world. I will explore and attempt to identify culture aspects of Lincoln Electric from several issues such as; the continuing influence of founders of the company, the golden rule, the incentive management plan,the performance appraisal system, how people communicate in the organization, the merit pay plan, the bonus plan, and the management style.

The culture of an organization can have a lot of power. An organizations culture can create unity and help the organization adapt to the external environment. The leadership of an organization has an enormous amount of influence and responsibility in regards to the strategy, structure, practices, and policies of the organization and ensuring they fall in line with the organizations culture. According to Lussier and Achua, “Substantive actions are explicit and highly visible and are indicative of management’s commitment to a new way of doing things.” (p. 364). When new leaders try to initiate change they can encounter employees or members of their organization that are resistant to change and are stuck in the old-culture. A substantive action that shows management is committed to change is to remove or replace the

The culture of an organization is the set of values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and attitudes that helps its members understand what the organization stands for, how it does things, and what it considers important"(Griffin, 49). In other words, "the way things work around here" (Dr. Williams). In order for any small business or large corporation to be successful, the employees must understand what is expected of them. While things might be slightly different in a large corporation versus a small "mom and pop shop", the goal of both is the same. MAKE THE BUSINESS MONEY. The topic of my paper will be on makes a good corporate culture.