The Lincoln Electric Company Culture

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.

The effectiveness of the company’s doctrine is attested to by its continued growth after

James F. Lincoln’s death in 1965. This illustrates that the culture he had founded was strong

enough to ensure the company continued to prosper even in his absence. When still in infancy,

the company suffered major setbacks including being gutted down but bounced back to employ

about 30 workers by 1906 while sales kept growing too. James Lincoln pioneered an advisory

committee that was elected from the staff members. The innovation, akin to a tradition, has

persisted to date whereby the CEO meets with the Advisory Board twice every month. This kind

of representation is critical in ensuring that the employees’ interests are taken care of. This

certainly is a disincentive for go-slows and strikes as the grievances can be routinely handled at

the highest positions. By initiating innovative personnel relations policies, James Lincoln set a

foundation of employee satisfaction that has continued to distinguish the company from others in

terms of workforce motivation.

Notably, the company has perfected the facet of employee satisfaction by employing a

variety of ideas and 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