The Lincoln Electric Company Culture Essay Example

policies. These include The Lincoln Electric Employees' Association that provides social and health coverage. This instills the feeling of being cared for and therefore valued by the company. It shows the workers that they were respected and their welfare is at the heart of the company and they are not merely workers. Other than providing favorable wages (even adjusted for inflation), the company also organizes paid vacations for the staff.

Other incentives initiated over the years include bonuses and the reduction of working hours from 55 to 50 per week as a result of the nascent advisory board’s intervention. setting aside stocks for workers has also been instrumental in creating both a sense of ownership and belonging to the extent no other competitor company prides itself with productivity as high as Lincolns Company.

While the Lincoln Electric Company manufactures similar products as its competitors and even considering that the company’s products are amongst the most favorably priced in the market, it is incredible that the company has achieved the kind of success that other companies can only wish for.

Certain attributes of James Lincoln must have played a crucial role in working towards establishing such cultured management practices. He was a principled individual who had strong faith in what he was pursuing. His activities were guided not by the greedy pursuit of profits but he instead endeavored to be guided by ethical beliefs as demonstrated by his desire to ensure the company’s customers never ended up regretting making a purchase of any of the company’s products. As such the company is modeled on the desire to produce quality and reliable products. This is true as evidenced by the

almost nonexistent market returns and the absence of customer complains.

While Lincoln was greatly influenced by Christian ethics and principles he had grown up with, he nonetheless never attempted to indoctrinate his staff. However, his faith and passion for quality are evident in his desire to avoid profitability by deceiving customers. His attitude towards employees was also instrumental in establishing a culture that considered the employee an integral player in the organization. He believed that employees had a real desire to work for an industry or company that also has an agenda of ensuring that he or she was assured of a constant income. This is possibly what drove him into introducing a series of financial rewards and job security policies as well as pensions for the company’s workers believing that in return, they would be both loyal and more productive.

The company aligned its pay for individual employees with what they had accomplished. The company desired to see its employees prosper and achieve the desired status they individually wished for. This created the desire to accomplish more thereby acting as an incentive to accomplish more. In the long term, this translated into higher productivity and success for the company.

Such personnel policies that encourage employee growth within the company is certainly a morale booster; the company advertises jobs internally. The company also believes in talent rather than academics as entry jobs may not even require a degree or diploma. The culture also encourages employees to play part in decision making by creating a non-authoritative atmosphere where employees can contribute ideas comfortably. The organization’s structure also allows for flexibility characterized by minimum supervision which inculcates a sense of

responsibility. Nevertheless, the success of the company is attributable to an all rounded management approach that has the employees as crucial players in the organization’s business.

Reference

Sharplin A. (1989). THE LINCOLN ELECTRIC COMPANY*. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from http://www.academia.edu/10977223/Lincoln_Electric_Harvard_Study