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The Lincoln Electric Company

An inventor by the name of John C. Lincoln designed and developed the electric motor in such a way that it could not be topped by any competitor; however, his passion for inventing kept him from wanting to manage the company he created. So in 1907 John hired his brother, James F. Lincoln, to manage the plant and this is when it all started, the success and growth of a billion dollar company. The Lincoln Electric Company, the world’s largest arc-welding manufacture and top producer of industrial electric motors, now employees over 4000 people and sales have topped $1 billion. But, how did they gain this overwhelming prosperity? Many have tried to figure it out, even studies have been conducted on Lincoln Electric’s organizational structure, James’ incentive management practices, and the keys to their success, and still no one has mastered it. They still operate today the same way they did year’s ago and it is working...for them. However, what does the future hold for Lincoln Electric? Will they be able to keep up with their high demand of productivity without lowering employee job satisfaction? We will examine different factors of Lincoln Electric such as the companies communication between employees, their problem solving techniques, and their conflicts, but the two most important factors we will analyze are:
The incentive reward system - Its pro’s and con’s
An effective organizational change process to position the firm’s incentives system for the future. Lincoln Electric did not feel it was important to regularly communicate with all of their employees, which is the reason behind the advisory board. The advisory board is a group of employees that meet bi-weekly to discuss any new ideas on ways to improve operations, increase productivity, job satisfaction, and how to raise profits. If an idea is implemented and

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