The Lincoln Electric Company

Lincoln Electric Company was founded by John C Lincoln in 1906 starting with a start up business in a one room, 4th floor factory to a bigger building and started to expand his workforce to 30 people and had a great expand in their sales as it grew over $50,000 a year. He was humble, preferably to be an engineer and inventor rather than sitting around being labelled as manager. The company also gave each of their employee as paid-up life insurance policy in the 1915. After 2 years, welding schools are introduced. A year after the success of forming a welding school, employee bonus plan was attempted.In the 1919 's, Lincoln Electric 's employees association are formed to introduced some social activities and health benefits to care for the workers. After becoming General Manager, in 1925; a purchase stock plan are enable for all employees. Lincoln bonus plan was finally accepted as a trial by the Advisory Board in 1934.

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.

In conclusion, this incentive system was crucial for Lincoln Electric Company’s success. However, it is difficult for the others to copy because it is based on the culture of competition and justice, which was set up in the very beginning. In the future, the effects of this system might be comparatively lower because machines, which don’t have incentive, are replacing workers in production. However, it still has advantage as there are people in the company, and their innovation in production line design will also benefit the company for long.

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

When James F Lincoln became General Manager, a golden rule was created amongst other incentives. Thirty percent of the stock purchase was prearranged to the employees. Also, the board of Directors initiated a system incentive plan. Cash reward was eliminated still employees were rewarded at the end of the year. A

The Lincoln Electric Company 's culture is a wonderful example of how to create an exceptional culture within your business. Lincoln Electric has been a leading manufacturer in welding machines and electrodes for over 100 years. During this impressive tenure, the Lincoln Electric Company has adhered to its founders’ philosophy that the customer always comes first, the employee always comes second, and stockholders come third. This philosophy is upheld throughout the entire organization, from the executive team down to its factory line workers and is evident in their daily business culture. Displayed through a plethora of initiatives; including employee compensations, a concentration on productivity, encouragement of management and supervisors to participate in active leadership and a general appreciation for its employees ' input and feedback; the working culture in this organization is the backbone of the company’s continued achievements. Through the demonstration of their philosophy, Lincoln 's founders and management team have created a culture that has become a timeless model of employee productivity for the world.

The Lincoln Electric Company has been built on clear and solid ethical principles. The reason for its centenarian success can be found in the fact that the ethic culture of respect and customer orientation fostered by its founder has remained unchanged. James F. Lincoln had a strong Christian background that guided his culture and vision. As he wrote, “The Christian ethic should control our acts. If it did control our acts, the savings in cost of distribution would be tremendous. Advertising would be a contact of the expert consultant with the customer, in order to give the customer the best product available when all of the customer 's needs are considered. Competition then would be in improving the quality of products and increasing efficiency in producing and distributing them; not in deception, as is now too customary. Pricing would reflect efficiency of production; it would not be selling a dodge that the customer may well be sorry he accepted. It would be proper for all concerned and rewarding for the ability used in producing the product” (Lincoln J. F., 1961. p. 64). The culture of the Lincoln’s brothers was centered on satisfying the customer’s needs. Their efforts were not devoted to increasing profits rather to a constant search for cheaper and more effective products that would improve customer’s satisfaction. For the Lincolns customers represented the reason for the company’s existence. He made sure that this philosophy permeated the company until the very last

Lincoln Electric was founded by John C. Lincoln, an engineer and inventor, and was then managed later by his brother, James F. Lincoln, starting in 1907. James applied his christian principles to business management and how the company would be run as a whole. The core of these business practices revolved around honesty and service to the customer and employee. The assumption that he had about his employees was that they required a steady income just as much as the business did, and that the employee and manager should work as a team to be most effective. The employee does not wish to support shoddy work, just as management does not want to pay for shoddy work, and that customers want the best possible value. This translated into the mindset that customer satisfaction is the top priority, employee satisfaction is the second priority, and that stockholders are the third priority.

In 1895, engineer, inventor, and businessman John C. Lincoln started Lincoln Electric Company. His brother James would join him shortly, in his business endeavor, starting in 1907 (Sharplin, A 1989). James managerial style would most closely be described as people-oriented. He once said “Labor and management are properly not warring camps; they are parts of one organization in which they must and should cooperate fully and happily.” (Sharplin, A 1989) Early on, he created the Advisory Board, a committee made up of both employees who were elected by their peers and upper management, including the chief executive officer. The Advisory Board continues still to this day, meeting bimonthly to discuss employee policies, working conditions, etc. Though these meetings, employees have gained such things as health benefits, life insurance, paid vacation time, retirement pension plans, stock incentives, continued on and off site education, and much more. (Sharplin, A 1989)

merit pay plan, the bonus plan, and the management style it is clear to see that the Lincoln

Lincoln Electric Company was founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln, who was joined by his brother younger brother James in 1907 (Lincoln Electric, Inc., n.d.). From the very beginning these no-nonsense brothers set about building a company that valued its customers first, prioritized frugality, focused on delivering ever increasing value and lower consumer costs. The company has a borderline fanatical commitment to achieving competitive advantage through an employee incentive system that drives productivity well beyond any norms for the industry, or manufacturers as a whole. To this day, the influence of the founders is clear in the entire structure of the company and its operating philosophies.

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.”

* 1900-1919 – James F. Lincoln joined the company and implemented the “piece-work system”. * 1920-1939 - Lincoln Electric introduced the Fleetweld® 5 coated electrode, * Lincoln Electric employees earned paid vacations, among the first in the nation * 1940 – 1949 - World War II brought a dramatic expansion of Lincoln Electric 's business * 1950 – 1969- James F. Lincoln continued to enhance Incentive Management promote “formal merit rating

The company's philosophy has centered on Christian ideology. Lincoln Electric Company has an astounding reputation of being generous company in terms of giving bonuses and other benefits, which the company continues to embrace since the early beginnings of the company. Because of that, it achieved tremendous success by properly motivating its employees.

The Lincoln Electric Company was founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln. The initial investment to get the company off of the ground was $200, and it was not until a few years later in 1907 that they manufactured their first welding equipment.