In the early afternoon, three Nucor electricians got a call from their Hickman, Arkansas, plant colleagues. The Hickman mill's electrical grid had failed, which meant the mini-mill couldn't melt the usual auto parts, appliances and mobile home parts it uses to produce steel. But why should an outage in Arkansas concern anyone at plants in other Nucor locations? Here's why. At Nucor, steelworker production bonuses are based not only on what their own mill does, but on how others fare also. When a grid goes out, it hurts all. That's why when Hiclunan's electrician colleagues called for help, people didn't need top manage-ment to tell them to go; they responded on their own. Two electricians from the company's South Carolina plant boarded the first plane they could get to Memphis. Arriving at 11:00 p.m., they rented a car and drove two hours directly to the Hickman mill. The third electrician, from the company's Decatur, Alabama, plant, was in Indi-ana, visiting another Nucor site. He immediately drove to Hickman. Combined with Hickman staff, they camped out on site and worked 20-how shifts to mobilize the plant in three days-much less than the anticipated week. They received no extra pay for their effort.
Operating in a single North Carolina location then, and in an underdog role to U.S. Steel and other giants, the lean mini-mill company in 2013 has approximately 22,000 employees and is the largest steel producer in the United States with revenues of $18.91 billion. Between 2002 and 2006 its 387 percent return to share-holders beat almost all companies listed in the Stan-dard and Poor stock index. However, like most com-panies, Nucor's market value suffered due to the Great Recession. Successful organizations, like Nucor, take advantage of down times to strategically position themselves for when things improve. Analysts predict as the economy gets stronger, Nucor's sales, revenues, and earnings per share will to grow again. The Nucor culture includes some symbolic actions, like every employee's name being placed on the cover of the annual report. There's something egalitait.r: the culture as well, such as present CEO Daniel DeMic_ flying commercial jets rather than having his ow ii .1,1- ing his own parking space in the headquarters 1,:t every other employee, or making the coffee when is his turn. In 2005, when the average CEO pay of big com-panies avenged 400 times that of the hourly employee, at Nucor, DiMicco's was 24 times that of his steelworkers. Plant managers' incentives are based on the com-pany's overall return on equity, rather than specific results from their own mill. As one stated, "At Nucor, it's not my plant versus someone else's, as they're all 'our' plants. When one plant has a problem it's everyone's problem."
What are the most relevant concepts from the chap-ter reflected at Nucor? Comment specifically about the following:
Maslow's hierarchy of needs Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory Expectancy theory Equity theory Goal-setting theory