Enhancing Strategic Decision Making

at Nucor plants everyone wears green hard-hats except maintenance personnel who wear

yellow so that they can be easily spotted.

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This approach appears transferable and the motivational effects contagious. Iverson recalls

when Nucor purchased a plant and immediately sold the limousine and eliminated executive

parking spaces in favor of a first-come, first-serve system. Iverson greeted employees on their

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Nucor Corp. and the U.S. Steel Industry / 18

way into the plant and recalls one employee who parked in what was the boss’s reserved spot and

commented that the simple changes in the parking system made him feel much better about the

company he worked for.

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Compensation & Bonus System Leadership by example can only induce so much behavior;

one of the more visible aspects of Nucor’s culture is it’s compensation system, particularly the

prominent bonus system. "Gonna make some money today?" is a common greeting on the plant

floor, and discussion of company financials is as common in the lunchroom as basketball scores.

The bonus system is highly structured,