Management in Coca-Cola Company - Term Paper Example

Management in Coca-Cola Company Management is a diverse terminology that draws scholarly interest. According to Griffin (2011:12), it refers to the act of controlling, coordinating resources and environment as well. Therefore, in organizations, management is a professional way of administering to its available resources in pursuit of profits and growth. Management puts a company on the lead to goal achievement. Management is key when it comes to company reputation since the way management handles its operations, earns a perception from employees and other shareholders. Coca-Cola is a global company that manufactures a variety or soft drinks, tea, bottled water and sport juices (Lopez, 2012:7). The company has been successful over the past years in terms of growth and market share globally. It uses franchising business model whereby it only manufactures the concentrate and then sells it to its franchised outlets. Its management is crucial to this success since it lays down the platform on how processes are done. To create an order in its operations, the global headquarters makes all major decisions like promotional advertisements and branding while every regional level implements them hence creation uniformity in the market. This research paper will seek to establish the management of resources and operations and the resultant success in Coca-Cola Company. Functions of Management Though management’s functions might vary, it carries out four key functions. In planning function, it identifies tasks to be done and offer procedure on how to perform them. It also declares and specifies the deadlines for the responsibilities. The main intention of planning is to work towards aspiration achievement both short term or long-term. Management controls by comparing performance against previous or set standards (Aswathappa & Dash. 2007:23). This enables the organization to set boundaries on business activities. Measuring of performance enables the organization to plan the next course of action as a corrective measure. Its organizing function encompasses dividing roles and tasks among employees as a mechanism of implementing of plans. Influencing may also mean motivating of employees. Therefore, through influencing, the management provides guiding principle on activities that are pilot to goal achievement. Influencing increases productivity in an organization since people are motivated (Griffin, 2011:12). Therefore, operations management ensures that production of goods is within the undeviating time possible, with the least amount of resources and customer needs addressed efficiently and effectively. Management Strategies in Coca-Cola Company The company’ success and profitability is a fruit of its management strategies that keep its operations on track to goal achievement (Bodden, 2008:8). Its management involves itself in environmental scanning whereby it collects data, analyzes it, and provide information for strategy planning. This scanning helps it identify the present internal and external opportunities as well as threats. Therefore, it is essential to carry out the environmental analysis frequently for a continuous improvement in the organization. Strategy formulation is another milestone for success to Coca-Cola Company (Marr, 2010:286). It has a definite course of action on how to achieve the organizational goals. In other words, this may refer to the road map that the company should use in order to achieve its goals. The senior level management is bestowed with the responsibility for the formulation of long-term strategies, and shaping them. As the same time, the front line managers make decisions on tactical strategies; they make short-term decisions. Another key function within the company is strategy implementation. Once the company establishes its strategy, putting it into operation is of significance (Jennings, 2011:27). The implementation process involves designing its structure, distributing resources, formulating a decision making channel, as well as managing available resources. The last step is strategy evaluation whereby, appraisals of the factors influencing the business, performance evaluation, and corrective measurers are determined. This evaluation keeps the organization on track to realize its goals and objectives. It is important to note that strategies management occurs in a sequential manner and it is a continuous process (Dransfield, 2001:76). The interaction of each stage with the others is important for a fruitful execution. Principles of Management Coca-Cola Company has adopted Henry Fayols principals of management in its structure and operations as below. The company divides work among individuals and groups. This makes sure that every specific task is attended to. A work-division principle makes sure there is full utilization of human resources are in coca cola. Every employee has his or her piece of work to perform within a set period of time and description, therefore, no idle resources hence high production. The organization also applies the principle of authority in which it is the right to give instructions and commands, and get them obeyed. Authority and responsibilities go hand in hand since if one has authority, there are also expectations from him. Coca-Cola Company has levels of management where by every level has to give certain orders and perform specific responsibilities (Levinson, 2003:12). The company observes discipline with a lot of seriousness. To enhance discipline, the management has set code of conduct that stipulates employees’ interactions and behaviors. As a result, penalties are set for those who disobey the set rules and standards. To create order within the company, the management has established a unity of command. Workers receive directions from a specific manager, else, a confusion state would arise since any manager can give orders to any worker; it is essential to establish a chain of report. In Coca-Cola Company, there is unity of direction since all the employees work towards the organizational goal. The guidelines provided to every employee direct their output to the set goal. In addition, the interest of an individual employee does not over take the interests of the company. Employees put the interests of the company before theirs’ since the company goals are priority. Remuneration influencers such as economic conditions, cost of living, business success and growth and cost of living are considered when establishing salaries and wages. This makes sure that employees are happy, motivated, and can live in good standards of living. Resulting from the business model of franchising in Coca-Cola Company, decentralization is feasible (Bodden, 2008:28). Each regional outlet makes branch based decisions and subordinations. There is a chain of command in the company. This means that all managers starting from the chief executive have authority granted within their docket. The front manager has the least authority while the chief executive exalts the most. The line managers gather information from the market environment and communicate up to the senior managers (Philips & Gully, 2011:37). Obedience to the scalar chain of command renders coca cola a great deal of success. Coca cola handles all of its employees in as equal as feasible. This creates a sense of commonness amongst the employees. For its success, Coca-Cola Company management focuses a lot on innovations and inventions through the use of technology. It embraces technology in its daily execution of technology and promotions therefore able to identify any opportunity in the market and use the shortest time possible and resources for production (Dransfield, 2001:82). This has granted the company a competitive edge as a leader in the market arena. It is evident that Coca-Cola Company’s success is an outcome of valuable and proficient management of both operations and resources. It actively and continuously scans and evaluates the market to discover opportunities that can give it more profits. For example, the magnitude of customer satisfaction will make them research on how to cater for the less satisfied customers; this may result to inventing a new type of drink hence tapping these additional customers (Kiuchi & Shireman, 2002:41). Through good management, the company has been able to earn a good reputation. This is due to the production of quality goods, involvement in community social responsibility and enticing advertisements. Their involvement in those actions makes society receptive to Coca-Cola products. More over, customers are wiling to be associated with coca cola, which is an opportunity for it to sell more and gather market information. The use of sophisticated technology in their production makes sure that production is done at ease, uses shortest time possible and voluminous production. This production efficiency enhances product supply in the market, minimizing chances of product shortage. Employment of well skilled and trained employees enhances the ease of operations and management because employees deliver what is expected from them and provide new ideas to the management to tackle challenges. To boost employees’ knowledge and skills, coca cola has a training program whereby employees are trained continuously when an innovation occurs. These trainings equip the concerned employees with common information. Therefore, a common market understanding and knowledge across all the employees is guaranteed (Marr, 2010:288). In conclusion, as evident from this paper, the organizational structure enhances work division because every department has its specific job description and expectations. This creates an order in the company and makes it easier for it to achieve its set goals. To crown it all, the company has specific set goals that it works to achieve; objects are set to help it realize the goals. The management explains goals to every shareholder to create a common mindset. Setting of rules and policies makes sure that guidelines are followed in execution of every task. The rules also regulate employees’ behaviors and interactions while in the organization therefore, promoting ethics and understanding; conflicts are minimal. In case of a conflict or crisis, mitigation measures come in handy and solve it amicably. Bibliography Aswathappa & Dash. 2007. International Human Resource Management. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Bodden, V. 2008. The Story of Coca-Cola. Minnesota: The Creative Company. Dransfield, R. 2001. Corporate Strategy. London: Heinemann. Griffin, R. W. 2011. Fundamentals of Management. New York: Cengage Learning. Hill, C.W. & Jones, R. G. 2012. Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. New York: Cengage Learning. Jennings, M. M. 2011. Business Ethics: Case Studies and Selected Readings. Mason: Cengage Learning. Kiuchi, T & Shireman, K. W. 2002. What we learned in the Rainforest: Business Lessons from Nature. New York: Berret Koehler Store. Levinson, S. 2003. Wrestling with Diversity. Rome: Duke University Press. Lopez, D. 2012. Brand Development of Coca-Cola Company (UK): Exploring new branding opportunities for Coca-Cola Company (UK). Munich: GRIN Verlag. Marr, B. 2010. The Intelligent Company: Five Steps to Success with Evidence-Based Management. London: John Wiley & Sons. Philips, J. & Gully, M. S. 2011. Organization Behavior. Masdon: Cengage Learning. Read More