Coca-Cola Companys Culture - Case Study Example

? Group #6 By: To fully understand a company’s culture we must first know a little about the company’s history. This paper is merely focusedon the coca cola company and the culture which has made the company so successful thus far and, in my believe; will keep them profitable for many years to come. Coca cola in general was invented in 1886 by a man named john Pemberton. Since then the company has expanded and is currently serving more than 200 different countries. Coca-cola is a global company; however, the culture appears to be the same regardless of the location the company is in. Much of the similarity in the culture has to do with the company’s mission and values that they truly appreciate. The paper will go much in detail about the Coca-Cola Company’s culture. Some topics will be on teams and how these are enforced within the company and how the culture helps motivate employees to achieve the company’s goals. The paper will also explain to some extent how the companies values are integrated in their culture which helps employees adhere to the same values. It helps gain understanding of whether the policies of the company contribute to the sustaining and nurturing of effective team roles and how that can lead to the rise and management of potential conflicts in the company. Corporate Culture Affecting Individuals and Groups and Organization’s Performance Corporate Culture of a business firm shapes the process of conducting business operations and activities. It signifies the different types of behaviors and relationship patterns reflected by the business enterprise in the course of dealing with its internal and external stakeholders and organizational people. The business culture of Coca-Cola encompasses the parameters of integrity, passion, empowerment, commitment and diversity as the key standpoints in motivating the people to work in a spirited fashion. The organizational culture of Coca-Cola ignites the passion within the individuals to perform in an exalted fashion so as to continually work to promote creativity and innovation in their job pursuits. The people also work as Change Agents in the enterprise domain (“Our people, culture, vision and values”; “Workplace Culture”). To this end the above cultural paradigms of Coca-Cola tend to have an impact on the Job Performance criterion of the people in the concern. Job Performance is defined as the effective value gained from the different behavioral reflections of the employees that in turn tend to have an impact, positive or negative pertaining to the mode of accomplishment of organizational goals. Though these behavioral sets can be effectively controlled by the individual employees yet individual behavioral types like ‘Task Performer’ and ‘Citizenship Behavior’ are related as such that help in the effective goal accomplishments while ‘Counterproductive Behavior’ is taken to negatively impact the goal accomplishment function. ‘Task Performers’ and ‘Citizenship Behaviors’ are those employees that proactively work to transform the resources available with the concern in the form of technology, human and financial capital to produce desired set of goods and services and those that without any need for earning rewards move to form effective interpersonal relationships with other organizational people and also such that tend to defend the concern and boost the motivation levels respectively (Colquitt, LePine and Wesson 37-50). The work culture of Coca Cola encourages people to actively work in an empowered fashion to help accomplish organizational goals effectively. Moreover, the business culture of the firm being open motivates the people to work in a coordinated fashion to achieve end goals. In terms of Applications of Performance Management, the management team at Coca-Cola tends to work on the process of Management by Objectives where the employees mutually coordinate with their managers to perform a given set of objectives within a stipulated time period. Evaluation of the performance of the employees is conducted based on the degree of achievement of the objectives set (Colquitt, LePine and Wesson 55; “Employment: Our People”). Organizational Culture of Coca-Cola as Nurturing and Supportive of Teamwork Three different components are mainly identified with the cultural framework of an organization like firstly ‘Behavior’ that relates to the different types of conducts or events reflected by the company; secondly ‘ingrained values and internal beliefs’ that in turn contribute to the development of objectives for organizational values and mission and finally the third component relates to the Assumptions’ held concerning the company’s mission and visionary values (Lussier and Kimball 160). The organizational culture of Coca-Cola is found to be composed of value sets related to centralization of decision making functions and also focuses on dependability on a formal or hierarchal work system. This fact thereby tends to reduce the parameter of independency or autonomy in the concern to motivate the people to work in a team framework. The management of Coca Cola in the modern context has rightly incorporated the practice of decentralization thereby contributing in the development of several functional teams wherein the people in the different teams are adequately trained to take potential decisions on their own (Griffin 414). Placing a Premium on Individual Contribution Commitment of employees to the organization generally takes three main types like Affective, Continuance and Normative. Affective commitment relates to the employees such that when they tend to share an emotional bond with the company. This emotional bond thereby instigates the people to perform in a committed fashion for the company. The commitment level of the people governed by the Continuance factor relates to the profit gained by the people in terms of their stay and the cost factor adhered to their leaving the company. Finally, the point of Normative Commitment for the organization works on the point that employees tend to reflect a feeling of guilt while deciding to leave the company. For the above factors the people are found to work in a committed fashion for the company (Colquitt, LePine and Wesson 68-78). Commitment of the people to the company is enhanced by the management of Coca-Cola through sustained communication practices thereby developing the potential and willingness to serve of the employees. Effective training programs are held from time to time both on-the-job and off-the-job to enhance the operational potential of the people relating to changes in the external environment. Similarly effective reward programs, financial or otherwise are created to boost up the performances level of the people in the company. The contributions rendered by the people are evaluated and recognized at team meetings by the managers in order to encourage the people to work in a proactive fashion to fulfill organizational goals. Furthermore, several benefits are also tied to the individual employees in terms of medical and retirement plans to contribute to the enhancement of financial security paradigm for the organizational people. Finally, the organizational culture of Coca-Cola rightly renders importance to the inclusion of diversity such that an equal opportunity environment is generated for the different classes and categories of people to perform and earn rewards. Managers in Coca-Cola focus on eliminating the emergence of bias based on diversity while tending to evaluate and reward the performances of the employees in the company (“Employment: Our People”). Organizational Teams in Coca-Cola: Conflicts and Collaboration In the Coca-Cola Company the employees are divided along the different operational teams related to sales, marketing, accounting, production and operations. In the different teams the people are required by the company to work to fulfill the values of the company in terms of focusing on the parameters of innovation and creativity. People in the different teams are encouraged by their managers to work in an empowered fashion thereby making decisions on their own to fulfill the goals set. This parameter thus contributes in making the employees feel valued in the company. Different types of meetings are held by the management of Coca-Cola. The meetings are either monthly or weekly and are used for briefings or to evaluate their job performances. This fact reflects how the management of the company works in nurturing the effectiveness of potential communication within the organizational setting. The above communication practices integrate the employees with the organizational managers thereby effectively collaborating to meet the goals of the company in an integrated fashion. Effective collaboration between the managers and the people relating to the different functional teams render true significance to help achieve the objectives of the company. The employees and managers, along with being collaborative, operate in an innovative fashion to help in meeting the different needs of the diversified consumer pool. Meetings are called in by the managers to not only develop the level of collaboration and effectiveness of the teams but also in order to appraise the team’s performance based on the amount of collaboration and innovation involved (Boone and Kurtz 281). Functioning of the Teams Teams in Coca Cola operate based on a matter of consensus rather than working to elect leaders or supervisors. The notion of self-direction rightly relates to these people in the teams for they need to act and decide on a number of different issues that were generally taken care of by the people in the supervisory roles. To gain the above objective the individual people pertaining to the different teams in the company are given potential training on four different tasks thereby contributing to the generation and sustenance of flexibility. Similarly training is also provided to the people to enhance their interpersonal skills thus contributing in the development of their potency to listen, influence and motivate and to become effective negotiators in the long run. Finally, these people are also required to make potential managerial decisions on their own concerning the convening of meetings and delegation of team roles in order to perform well in a self-directed environment. (Snell and Bohlander 326). Decision Making Process in the Teams To facilitate the decision making process in the different functional teams of the company spread across international borders the management body of Coca Cola focuses on enhancing the process of decentralization. The process of decentralization helps the different people involved in the teams to get duly empowered in taking decisions on their own thereby contributing in the meeting of the objectives of the concern segmented across different departments. Apart from rendering decentralization in the decision making process of the teams the company also focuses on creating management development courses for both the general and management staffs of the company. The management development courses are built on a case study method to help integrate the learning of the participants with real world scenarios. Case Study based management development courses at Coca Cola are developed by eminent researchers thereby working to enhance the decision making ability of the people (Pendergrast 277). Decisions making activities in the different teams are generally influenced by the changing factors in the external consumer environment like alterations in the demand and buying behavior of the consumers. The management culture of the company rightly enhances the process of decentralization along with the parameter of flexibility relating to the functioning of the different departments. Enhancing the parameter of flexibility along with empowerment contributes effectively in augmenting the potential of the people in taking the right decisions to fulfill the objectives of Coca Cola (Williams and Curtis 24). Emergence of Conflicts The team operated in a very collaborative fashion from its very inception such that each of the different team members had a chance of being able to maintain effective interpersonal relationships. This mode of interpersonal communication contributed in enhancement of knowledge and expertise at the individual level such that a diverse group of employees pertaining to different age groups and experience levels were aptly incorporated in the larger team. Team meetings were convened on a weekly to monthly basis through the issue of an internal memo such that the different people tended to share the same opportunity in presenting their views and ideologies. Herein though the team functioned on a highly collaborative framework yet it was decided that it would be headed and controlled by a team leader. This team leader functioning as the central whip of the group gained feedback from the different recipients and highlighted the best and effective recommendation placed after rendering potential evaluation. However the inclusion of such diverse groups of people pertaining to varying age and experiences also happened to become a source of potential conflict. People belonging to lower age groups bearing potential talents often complained that their potentials were getting concealed by the existence of people pertaining to older age groups. This fact led to a fight of ego between the people concerned leading to the rise of conflicts. Another reason for the emergence of conflicts among the people involved in the self-directed teams owes to the problem concerning the rise of role ambiguity between the employees. Lack of proper communication and division of tasks or roles between the people involved in the different self-directed groups leads to the emergence of frustration in the minds of the employees and their supervisors. This rise of conflicts led to the distraction of interests of the individual team members from achieving the common interests and goals or tasks allocated to the different groups. Mechanism of Conflict Resolution Conflict having emerged in the team required a process to be taken by the group leader to help resolve the same for the further progress of the group effort to rightly accomplish the stated goals. Herein the group leader focused on rendering a specific intervention program such that to enhance the level of communication with the conflicting members either on a one-to-one basis or on a group basis. Such modes of communication were to be taken to help in making the people understand the benefits of inclusion of a diverse workforce and also in bringing out effective solutions to highlight the different potential views rendered in by the people. Further in addition to the intervention program the group also considered it important to create an external office or an Ombudsman to act as an effective arbitrator to contribute in the resolving of the conflicts raised. Creation of an Ombudsman also helped in rightly reducing the feelings of biasness being conducted while focusing on solutions such that an external person, not earlier involved in the team to take care of the conflict resolution part. People pertaining to the Ombudsman are adequately communicated to act in a neutral and unbiased fashion in effectively hearing the reason for the emergence of the conflicts and then understanding in whether and how to provide the right amount of consultancy or action required to settle the dispute that has risen. Conclusion The paper tends to draw theoretical insights pertaining to the analysis of the corporate culture of Coca Cola and its support to the inclusion and effective performance of the different teams in the company. The new management era in Coca-Cola works on the process of decentralization coupled with the endeavor of fostering creativity and innovation that in turn contributes to the formation of self-directed teams. Focus is also rendered on the reasons for which conflict is generated between the people involved in such teams and how the management of Coca Cola works to manage and reduce such conflicts. Works Cited “Our people, culture, vision and values”. The Coca-Cola Company. 2009. Web. November 23, 2012. “Employment: Our People”. The Coca-Cola Company. 2010. Web. November 23, 2012. Colquitt, Jason A., LePine, Jeffery A., and Wesson, Michael J. Organizational Behavior. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2011. Griffin, Ricky W. Fundamentals of Management. United States: Cengage Learning, 11-Oct-2007. Boone, Louis E., and Kurtz, David L. Contemporary Business. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons, 26-Jul-2011. Lussier, Robert, N., and Kimball, David Charles. Applied Sports Management Skills [With Access Code]. United States: Human Kinetics, 30-Jan-2009. Pendergrast, Mark. For God, Country, and Coca Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. United States: Basic Books, 16-Mar-2000. Snell, Scotyt A., and Bohlander, George W. Managing Human Resources. United States: Cengage Learning, 01-Jan-2012. Williams, John and Curtis, Tony. CIM Coursebook 06/07 Marketing Management in Practice. New York: Routledge, 14-Jun-2012. “Workplace Culture”. The Coca-Cola Company. 2012. Web. November 23, 2012. Read More