Lincoln Electric Management Style

The infrastructure of Lincoln was interesting due to the fact that so much output came from so few people. Efficiency was at the heart of LE, evidenced by various decisions all in the name of saving money. One way that the company stayed efficient, was to employ minimal staff to administrative departments that were part of overhead. In regards to minimalism, the text described the entire facility as “Spartan”, eluding to the fact the company believed in conservatism in decoration. Another efficient infrastructure design was that of the plant layout. Instead of having various store rooms for works in progress, the raw materials entered into one side of the factory and flowed through the plant, being assembled until a finished product came out of the other. The company also reengineered machines to increase their cycle times, and also began producing parts, opposed to buying them. These cost savings helped Lincoln Electric sharpen its competitive edge and allowed them to …show more content…
Overall, the style was participative and somewhat decentralized, yet the text included several excerpts that deviated from this view. One employee explicitly said that the management was authoritarian, going onto say that most decisions rested with the chairman and the president. (I’m not sure how to consolidate the two views, but it seems like there was more evidence for a decentralized and participative view than the other) There was an open-door policy that Willis and Irrgang kept intact from the founder James Lincoln. In extending this direct-line to all employees, it helped foster a culture in which employees could directly get their thoughts to the top of management. Although the employees’ thoughts and objections about certain things were heard, the text made sure to convey that the final decision rested at management’s