Leadership & Nucor Corporation

The essay is on Nucor Corporation. Nucor was established by an auto manufacturer Ransom E. Olds, first the name of the corporation was Oldsmobile, later it became Rep Motor Cars and eventually, it changed to Nuclear Corporation of America which was involved in nuclear instruments and electronics business. In the year 1965, the company faced bankruptcy but it was installed by Ken Iverson who later became the president of the company.

Throughout the time of Iverson the whole steel industry had to face problems like competition, labor relations and a decrease in the demand, but in spite of all these the sales of Nucor continued to grow around 17% per year and so he is named after the steel maker of the year by New Steel Magazine. Iverson divided the company in two businesses one of them is a production of steel from recycled scrap metal and the other one is putting together steel joists for use in nonresidential construction. In the year 1972, the company was named Nucor Corporation.

The vision of Iverson Iverson was the one who changed the direction and destiny of Nucor and because of his leadership and vision, the company has become successful. Iverson wanted the company to be successful in future also but he believed that it would be the biggest challenge for the company to grow at 15-20% per year with parallel earnings. The Four design elements Organizational structure: Nucor is a Flat organization with a decentralized structure and a short hierarchy that is as follows: Chairman / Vice Chairman / President Vice President / Plant General Manager

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Department Manager Supervisor Besides this the structure is also divisional as each of the plants has separate general managers and employees who are responsible for those specific plants. In the year 1998 here were only 6 board members in the company, the head office consisted of 22 members including the clerical staff, Whereas there were around 250 to 300 employees at the company’s 25 plants with a general manager. The plants were given the rights to take their own day-to-day decisions without confirming from the head quarters as this will save a lot of time.

The communication between the employees was a

also informal in order to quickly solve the issues. At the pants, the employees were also given the chance to share their own ideas and views. Iverson believed that it was risky but the risk is worth taking as it may sometime be helpful and may contribute to betterment and success.

Systems:

Technology: Nucor had no specific Research & Development department with the special group and officer it outsourced R & D and used the technological advancement that they produced.

In the beginning, Nucor adopted the mini-mill concept which converted the scrap steel into finished steel with the help of small-sale electrical furnaces. The mini-mill system had a cost advantage. In the year 1987due to the demand of flat steel products, Nucor built a new mini-mill that had the capability to make flat steel. Nucor was also the first company to adopt the technology developed by SMS Schloemann-Siemag, a company from the western Germany. By 1977 Nucor had successfully built two more mini-mills using the SMS technology whose competition came in 1995. in 1987 Nucor formed a joint facility with Yamato Kogyo.

In 1994 Nucor established a plant in west-indies that manufactured iron carbide a substitute for scrap steel to reduce the cost, but in 1998 Nucor closed it as it was uneconomical. Nucor developed new plants as well as modernized the existing ones. To build new plants and modernizing the existing ones Nucor involved its employees even though they knew that some of them would be failures but still they did so believe that this will benefit them. They allow the employees to select the technology as technology is rapidly changing so in this way employees contribute to finding and adopting advanced technology.

In1991 Iverson was awarded National Medal of technology.

Financial: the financial systems of the company are also updated for its operations and plants in all states which include mini-mills and integrated steel producer. Information System: the information system of Nucor is also very efficient. Every week each plant sends data related to six variables that are related to operations to the headquarters these variables include: orders, bids, inventory, production, shipment, and backlog.

Each plant also sends a monthly report to the headquarters showing the compression of actual and budgeted figures of cost, contribution, return on asset and sales revenue. The company works very hard to keep the reports rationalized and it free from being overloaded by information. People: The people at Nucor are very happy with their companies they consider Nucor at the best employer. As Nucor takes care of the employees the employees also are loyal and motivated. It may appear strange that there is no labor union at Nucor but it’s true.

According to one of the employee himself they do not need the union as the management do not layoff the employees or fire them, At Nucor they all work together as a team, they do not need adversaries or divisiveness, they have the right to talk among themselves and solve the issues and problems easily. Due to these reasons, people like to work at Nucor.

Organization culture: An organizational culture is a distinct group of norms, beliefs, and values that are communicated and shared among the people and groups within an organization.

Usually, these values and norms direct the way people act among themselves, plus with the stakeholders of the company. The organization culture at Nucor is very strong, People at Nucor have trust in their company, and they are loyal and motivated and happy with their work environment. The company, on the other hand, takes cares of its employees, compensate them well. The company believes in learning from mistakes and failures. People there work together in unity and solve problems under mutual consensus which helps them to solve the problems in a better way.

Employees are also free to share their ideas and grievances with the management. There is a tradition that the general manager has to have an annual dinner with each and every employee and meeting with groups having of 25 to 100 people at a time where they can discuss problems related to business. (Schein, 2004)

Conclusion Under the guidance and leadership of Iverson Nucor has become a strong and successful company. Iverson has high hopes from the company; he has placed special attention on the four designing elements.

Because of the emphasis on these factors the company is at this stage. It is very important to have proper systems, technologically update, have continuous and proper information sharing, have relations with the employees, provide them job-security and incentives to motivate them and last but not the least it is very important to have a culture that is strong and has the capacity to change. References Schein, E, H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. 3rd edition. Location: John Wiley and Sons.

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