Nucor Company: Solving Problems Faced by Nucor Essay (Article)

Introduction

The matter of refocusing the corporate objectives, as well as changing the primary development direction of the company is closely associated with the necessity to change the marketing strategy, as well as improving the company culture for making the personnel better motivated and inspired for performing changes. The case of Nucor company clearly shows that focus changes are crucial for the company’s development, however, the changes may be costly enough from the perspective of resources needed, however, the results depend on the overall management strategy. Therefore, the paper will be aimed at solving the possible problems that Nucor faces after restructuring.

Analysis

The case of Nucor Company is mainly based on the necessity of the company to change the business orientation focus, and consider undertaking the changes associated with the corporate culture, compensation principles, and corporate management strategies. These three aspects of business performance are mainly associated with the opportunity to improve the entire business and manufacturing performance of the Nucor Company and learn to allocate resources more effectively, as changes are often regarded as resource costly activities.

Considering the cultural changes, the key employee relations principles should be considered:

1. The managerial team should regulate relations within the company for the workers’ earnings to be equal to their productivity.
2. The workers should be confident that they will not become unemployed if they do their jobs properly.
3. The workers should be treated fairly.
4. If they are not treated fairly, they have a right to appeal

Therefore, all the changes performed in the cultural sphere involve the opportunity for the workers to follow the quality of their work, influence changes in the corporate culture changes, as to regulate some aspects of employer-employee relations. Hence, as is stated in the case study, Nucor managed to create an egalitarian company culture that involves all the benefits for the workers, including profit sharing, scholarships for employees’ children, insurance, etc. The company is also committed to having a lean corporate staff. Therefore, the case of the Nucor organization may be regarded from the perspective of the organizational structure effectiveness, as well as the necessity to restructure the scheme of salaries for improving the effectiveness of the management system, as well as improving the overall performance of the manufacturing activity. Considering the key solutions of the case, the levels of changes described by Buono and Kerber (43) should be considered:

Either as an aftermath or consequence of level one or two work or as an independent action, level three work focuses on fundamentally changing how work is accomplished. Rather than focus on modest improvements, reengineering focuses on making major structural changes every day to substantially improve productivity, efficiency, quality, or customer satisfaction. This level presupposes focusing on “big pictures” elements such as analysis of the marketplace, out-sourcing, purchase/sale of subsidiaries, truly out-of-the-box” thinking, and substantial change in the management and support systems of the company.

Corporate management principles of the company have changed after the implementation of the mini-mills equipment, and further changes of the general management principles. In the light of this statement, it should be emphasized that mini-mills installed for improving the production rates may be managed by the basic responsibility principles.

A compensation strategy that is divided into three levels may be regarded as effective for the organization with stable income, however, if the income has been increased by implementing a new manufacturing strategy, the leveling and structuring of the compensation strategy may be changed. These changes should be performed by the segmentation of the responsibilities.

Solution

The problems that may be associated with the performed changes require thorough restructuring of the managerial strategy. These changes will involve improved manufacturing, benefit, and regulatory control. The key solution recommendations are as follows:

1. Define the key benefits management principles, stakeholder aims, and strategic aims of the organization.
2. Create an effective business communication system that is needed for controlling most aspects of business performance. Additionally, this will be needed for communicating and discussing the key organizational changes with the workers and CEO.
3. Implement an effective training initiative. Employees should be able to use the new resources and equipment effectively. Hence, they should be trained and motivated.
4. Explain the new strategic aim of the organization for employees. This will be required for decreasing the resistance intensity.
5. Offer personal counseling (if possible). This is helpful for the overall management of changes, and fears associated with changes.
6. The compensation system should involve fine-tuning. Bonuses and fines stimulate workers and make them more responsive. (Frame, 112)

Conclusion

Considering the changes performed in Nucor Company, it should be emphasized that the actual importance of the restructuring may be explained by the intention of improving the manufacturing output of the company. However, changes should be performed to the compensation and communication systems that will help improve the motivation level of the workers, as well as improve the general feedback and responsibility.

Works Cited

Buono, Anthony F., and Kenneth W. Kerber. “Creating a Sustainable Approach to Change: Building Organizational Change Capacity.” SAM Advanced Management Journal 75.2 (2010): 4.

Frame, J. Davidson. The New Project Management: Tools for an Age of Rapid Change, Complexity, and Other Business Realities. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.