The Lincoln Electric Company Case Study Essay

The strategy of Lincoln electric is known for its highly unique ideas for paying working according to the number of pieces they produced at works which means higher performance and productivity leads to higher pay roll. He believed in generating the best productivity and utilizing the company’s resources properly. A global organization is complex and has different task and requirement which needs different skills, education, experiences, knowledge and background. And that is why there is different kind of degree and education is available. Each major requires specific knowledge, like marketing, management accounting etc. the companies have segment in its organization also which divides the members into different groups each group have

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.

Lincoln Electric had a unique organizational strategy with numerous creative ideas. First, to keep and better motivate its employees, the company implemented a special incentives system which effectively distributed profits inside the firm. These incentive “were expressions of mutual respect for each person’s importance to the job to be done” (Lincoln, 1961, p. 11).

Lincoln Electric (LE) has been a producer of electrical and welding technology products since the late 1800's. The company remained primarily a family and employee held company until 1995, then approximately 40% of its equity went to the public. James Lincoln, one of the founders, developed unique management techniques that effectively motivated the employees. These management techniques were implemented as an unusual (for the era) structure of compensation and benefits called "incentive management". The incentive management system consisted of four key areas: factory jobs based solely on piecework output; a year-end bonus that could equal or exceeded an individual's regular pay; guaranteed employment; and limited benefits. Management

Primary features of the Lincoln Electric business model and employment system are displayed through the company’s overall strategy, philosophy, compensations and benefits policy, leadership, and communication within and outside the organization.

The founder, James F. Lincoln used his Christian upbringing as the basis for his vision of how he defined entrepreneurial success. The customers ' needs are first priority, the employee second, and the stockholders are last. Quality and cost efficiency are the two most important factors considered in their product engineering and manufacturing. The hierarchy is stringent, however, the culture of the company is greatly people-oriented. This company has a strong culture that is instilled in new employees from the beginning and continuously practiced by every member of every facet in the organizational structure.

Besides, managers in Lincoln Electric Company were not high in the sky, they worked and lived with workers in daily life, they had free atmosphere at work and they strengthened the feeling that workers were managing themselves.

2. Lincoln needed continued organizational development just as Lincoln’s equipment needed continued maintenance to remain viable. James Lincoln was a principled visionary and an organizational development innovator[d]. However, he did not prepare successors for assuming the critical role that continued organizational development. Neither of his successors, first William Irrgang and later Georges Willis, had contributed anything of note in developing the organization to meet Lincoln’s changing environmental demands. In particular, during Willis’s tenure, Lincoln did not even practice organizational maintenance: “By 1992, nearly all of the newly acquired plants, plus France, were operating in the red [and corporate executives] paid little attention [p 7].”Lincoln needed to develop the Asian organization and to develop the entirety ofLincoln as a wholly integrated organization in order to meet the demands of its expansion effort.

Elements of Lincoln Electric’s management system that made it so popular in the U.S. such as piece-rate work, bonuses, and

In this case analysis I will be analyzing and summarizing my understanding of the organizational culture of the Lincoln Electric Company, based on key pointers and a Harvard Case Study by Arthur Sharplin. In my analysis I will be using the framework from chapter eight of the textbook “Principles of Management” by Carpenter, Bauer and Erdogan to discern aspects of the company’s culture. The company is said to have a distinctive management culture and manufactures welding equipment. It is located near Cleveland, Ohio USA. Lincoln Electric Company is considered to be one of the best managed manufacturing companies in the world.

In 1989, Arthur Sharplin produced a case study, Sharplin (1989), outlining the organizational structure and culture of the Lincoln Electric Company. This report will be focused on analyzing Sharplin’s case study to discern aspects of the Lincoln Electric Company’s culture. First, we will discuss John & James Lincoln and their influence on the development of the culture of the company. We will discuss their Christian influence, and how applying the golden rule of doing to others as you would have them do to you, helped them shape their company. Additionally, we will discuss the company performance appraisal system, the way people communicate in the company, the merit pay plan, the bonus plan, and finally, the management style. After

“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.

The the founders of this company had the spirit of innovation .John Lincoln who was the main founder of this company,remained the president but dedicated most of his energy on his innovative job.This innovative attitude still can clearly been seen in the comany’s activities.From the paper,it can be found that all manufacturing are in line with the latest innovation.James F.Lincoln also brought in Advisory Board which meet with the Chief Executive Officer twice a month.This policy is still practice in the company.

One of the first things that stands out in reading the article as it relates to continuing influence on the company is that James Lincoln asked employees to help him with company operations and formed a committee that met two times a month. This committee helped in getting the number of hours worked each week reduced from 55 working hours to 50 working hours. Seeing the need to continue to make the workplace a desirable one, the company decided to provide a fully paid life insurance policy as well as starting a welding school. The founders continued to have influence on the company by continuing to make it a great place to work. The developed vacation plans and workplace benefits to keep morale high and retain quality workers. They even created a pension plan and a system that allowed the promotions to occur from within. Founders remained engaged in seeing the company prosper and never lost

AurtherSharplin wrote a case study on Lincoln Electric Company [1]back in 1989 to document their success and what led to it. The company was very successful at the time of this study and it is a well written document. The case study finds many factors for the success of the company which appears to have a truly altruistic approach to business. In my case analysis I will not only look at the positive and negative attributes of the company, but I will also look at modern available data to see how well has the company faired and compare corporate policy changes. Meeting with a company and discussing with its leadership its success is not the only factor which should be considered now that we have an additional 24 years’ worth of data. The