Coca - Cola

Coca Cola

Coca cola is a beverage company that operates in all parts of the world. Its success can be attributed to the good management of the company. This paper discusses the leadership system at the company and the strategies that have been used to facilitate success. The paper is based on research and interview done to an employee at the company.

Planning of the organization

The CEO of the company has a team of top managers that meet to come up with plans that are to be implemented in the company. During the meeting, plans are made to ensure all employees play a role in making decisions. When the decisions are made, communication is done to employees of the various departments in the implementation process. It means that some employees may not be involved in making of the major decisions in the company. Planning is also done at the departmental level. These plans are developed with the guide of the plans made at the higher level of management.

Organizing

The Coca-Cola Company is organized into different departments and each department has a head. Some of the departments include production department, marketing and sales. These departments do specialized tasks in daily activities. The company is also organized into regions such as Europe, Japan and Latin America (Isdell, 2012). These regions have a president has a head. These leaders had better know the markets they lead and plans are made at this level so that peoples' need in the region are met.

Leading

The company has leaders at the different levels. There are leaders at the head office in the company and the various levels. Each leader guides the employees in achieving the objectives that are set by the company.

Controlling

This function involves delegation of powers to the leaders in the company. The leaders at the departmental level are responsible for controlling of the company activities. This involves evaluating whether the achievements of the department are in line with the set objectives. If the achievements fall below the planned objectives, the leaders have the responsibility of making changes in strategy to ensure that the goals are achieved.

Leadership at Coca Cola Company

As discussed, the CEO of the company (Muhtar Kent) values team works in making of decisions. This is why he has to call meetings from time to time. The CEO likes working with a team when making strategic decisions. According to leadership theory, the CEO of Coca Cola Company can be said to be democratic. He considers the arguments presented by other leaders in his team. It is assumed that the leaders in the team represent the opinion of other employees in their functional areas.

This method of leadership is important because it acts as a motivation in the work environment. The employees own the plans made and this makes them participate fully in their implementation. It means that plans in the company are made after intensive consultations hence are of higher quality. It means that the CEO has great trust in the employees at the company.

Considering that the company has several functions and regional areas of operations; it is difficult to follow up how leadership is exercised at the lower levels. However, it is expected that the leaders at the functional areas consult with their employees to come up with plans on how to achieve objectives defined. Democracy at lower levels is a recommended strategy in the view of the company CEO. However, the success of the company requires making decisions depending on the situation. In some instances, dictatorial leadership style should be used. The leaders may adapt contingent leadership style to ensure that activities in the company run as expected.

Teamwork

At coca cola, teamwork has been an emphasis in all departments. In every department, such as sales department among others, employees work in groups to accomplish the assigned tasks. When the employees work as a team, they feel that they are valued and each of them learns from the other. This improves the effectiveness in the production process because the skills of each employee have improved with time (Isdell, 2002). Solving of various problems in the organization is made easy because the employees share ideas on various problems they deal with.

In the teams created in the department, a major goal is to ensure that tasks are done easily. Whenever new methods of completing tasks are identified, the employees are encouraged to communicate the proposals so that work is made easy. This freedom encourages innovation in the various activities, in the organization. The teamwork created improves efficiency in the departments and the overall performance of the coca cola company.

Teamwork is extended in the top management. The planning process is not made by one individual, but a team of top officials meet and discuss the important issues. When ideas from the team members are brought together, problems are made easy. The team decisions start from the departmental level and the decisions are passed to the top management as proposals. Teams make the employees feel that they are trusted and work hard to support the activities of the organization.

Teams in Coca Cola Company are a serious activity and this is why there are meetings from time to time in the company. The good communication channel that is ensured in the company emphasizes the culture of teamwork. Even though the company has a tall organizational structure, there is a way of ensuring that the top management knows the demands of a certain group (Isdell, 2002).

The functional team members involving the heads of the various departments usually meet at the end of the month to make plans as a team. This facilitates coordination, such that the activities of each department are in line with the overall needs of the company. The teams in each department, on the other hand, meet at least one day of every week to evaluate their activities. At the end of every month, there are briefings from the members of each of the teams, which give directions of certain issues. It also helps find out whether there are any problems in each of the department (Stahl, 2007).

The study reveals that the teamwork is an important aspect of the coca cola company. It encourages creativity, enhance productivity and motivate the employees in the company. This is one of the reasons behind the success of the company in all the countries it operates in.

Motivation of employees

Alderfer called ERG bases motivation at Coca Cola Company on the theory. The theory supports the idea that employees need existence needs, relatedness and growth needs. The theory is applied in various ways.  The company ensures that there is a good pay for the employees. The good pay ensures that the existence needs of the employees because the employees can meet their basic needs through the good salaries. The employees are satisfied with their pay hence do not have a reason to find for alternative jobs.

Relatedness needs are also met by the cultural events that all employees attend. The forums provide the employees from different cultural backgrounds a platform that they can interact and learn from each other. When this happens, the employees can easily interact with each other and work for the achievement of the set goals in an organization.

The development needs of the employees are achieved by ensuring that they receive training from time to time. When employees are trained, they perform their duties better and the results are that they increase the chances of being promoted (Griffin, 2007). Promotion is based on the performance of duties hence there is no discrimination. This is important because the employees work hard with the hope that they will receive promotion.

Generally, good pay at the company is an important issue because it has been observed that Coca Cola is the best paying companies in Atlanta. This helps motivate and retain the employees. The company encourages employees to invest in a company and this makes them feel part of the owners of the company. Employees who have interests that are common are allowed to form groups. This ensures good relationships in the company (Stahl, 2007).

Goals and objectives

The Coca Cola objectives are made taking into consideration its mission as well as the vision it already set. The goals and objects that are set should be such that they facilitate the mission and vision of the Coca Cola Company. The objectives made by the management should facilitate the mission of ensuring that people are inspired and refreshed all over the world.

The top managers in the company usually set the objectives of Coca Cola Company. The team of top management meets and discusses the objectives that they are to pursue in order to achieve their mission. After the goals are set, the team members who include the head of functional areas and regions the company operates in then meet with their employees and come up with specific goals that are related to the general goals that are set by the top management. It is during his time that the employees get a chance to participate in goal setting and at the same time, propose strategies that will facilitate the achievement of goals. 

The proposal of the appropriate strategies for implementing the set goals is a continuous process because the teams in the functional and regional areas are expected to propose strategies of dealing with problems that arise in departments. This ensures that the implementation strategies are updated to meet the needs of the situation. 

How to solve conflicts in the Coca Cola Company

Conflicts are common in any organization. People working together may fail to agree with each other on various issues. To deal with the conflicts, the company adopts a strategy that ensures that the public does not know about the conflicts. When the conflicts involve employees, the matter is reported to the senior management for hearing. There are good communication systems in the company that ensures that senior managers know the conflicts. The senior management then advises the employees accordingly and the conflicts are brought to an end (Griffin, 2007).

In some cases, conflicts between employees and the management may arise. The conflicts can be solved through special committees that listen to the issues raised by the employees. When the committee has considered the propositions of both sides, the committee comes up with recommendations that both sides of the argument should agree with.

In some cases, conflicts with other companies and other third parties happen. The company is more willing to solve the conflicts using special committees that listen to both sides of the argument. The impartial parties, then decide the best decision that both parties should agree on. If any of the parties is not comfortable with the decision of the impartial committee, they can take the matter to court where the problem is finally solved.

The methods that Coca Cola use to deal with conflicts are meant to ensure that the issues do not reach the public. Some conflicts can adversely affect the public image of the company and this is why it is necessary to avoid the information reaching the public. When there is no other option of dealing with the issue, then the court can help solve the issues.

The most recent restructuring occurred in 2013 where some leaders in the company left their positions while other positions in the company were changed. The responsibilities of the bottling department were also changed. There were also changes in the franchising department. The responsibilities of some top management officials were also changed. The changes were received well by the shareholders with the believe that the company will be in a position to perform better. However, fear was created in the company because employees started feeling unsecure.

First, the employees were not consulted in making the changes. The information was just communicated by the top officials. The management was aware that the employees would not easily accept the changes. Consultations would have wasted a lot of time because some employers would not accept all the changes.

The changes also affected the employees because some of them felt that they had lost the responsibilities they previously had. This created fear among the other employees. Even though the strategy of arriving the decision was effective, it had greater negative effects to the employees because of the feeling that they were not  involved in the decision making process.

In conclusion, coca cola is a company that is doing well because of the different management strategies that the management adapts. Even though the company exercises democratic leadership style, there are some cases where it does not need to consult everyone. The company involves its employees in major decision-making processes. An example is the decisions relating to the objectives and strategies for achieving the set objectives. The motivation of the employees is based on the theory that was proposed a long time ago but remains valid. The company ensures that the different needs of the employees such as development and relatedness needs are solved. The recent organizational change did not please the employees of the company because many employees were not consulted. However, the approach was the best because consultations would have wasted time and decisions would not have been agreed upon.

References

Griffin, R. W. (2007). Fundamentals of management: Core concepts and applications. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin.

Isdell, E. N., & Beasley, D. (2012). Inside Coca-Cola: A CEO's life story of building the world's most popular brand.

Stahl, J. (2007). Lessons on leadership: The 7 fundamental management skills for leaders at all levels. New York: Kaplan Pub.