Human Resource Management regarding Coca Cola Company - Essay Example

?Human Resource Management By Insert Presented to Location Due Introduction Coca Cola is among the most successful multinational companies in the world. The company has its operations in more than 200 countries. Coca Cola also generates 80% of its operational revenue from commerce outside the United States. Being the most famous brand worldwide, Coca Cola has come a long way since its invention in 1886. Success of the company has been largely because of its ability to make a distinction of its product from rivals. Image has contributed to the accomplishments of Coca Cola with its logo becoming an advertising icon. Among the factors that have made Coca Cola successful is the creation of a comprehensive work environment. The company has above 700,000 employees ranking among the top 10 private employers in the world. This paper will examine human resources management in relation to Coca Cola Company. Conventionally, personnel management was used to describe the activities relating to the workforce. These activities included contractual responsibility, payroll, staffing, and various managerial duties. Personnel management mainly dealt with administration of the workforce and not resources. The personnel manager’s activities were to guarantee that needs of the workforce were met. The manager was as well the mediator between the management and the workforce. Human resources management, on the other hand, is involved with ensuring both the workforce needs are met and the management objectives are achieved. Therefore, this indicates that the human resources management differs from personnel management in the description of their mission (Ster & Koster, 2007, p. 4). The human resources management includes an extensive image of management’s view of personnel contribution to the organization’s success. Several differences exist between personnel and human resources management. The first difference is the management and leadership role. The personnel management accentuates the transactional leadership style where the leader is not viewed as a job-oriented individual. In this style of management, focus is directed at set procedures, completion of duties, and punishment for not performing or complying with the rules. Human aspects like consideration, concern, lenience, and personal relationships attract less attention. Human resources management, however, creates transformational leaders. This style of management seeks to promote the sharing of business goals by both management and employees. This management is workforce oriented and shares the objectives of the business with its employees (Ster & Koster, 2007, p. 5). The second distinction is that in personnel management the job plan is functional. Pay policies are not based on ability and information. The value in this management is based on the duties outlined in the contract only. The human resources management encourages workforce to view the pay as a motivation to improvement of job performance. The job design focuses on teamwork, job rotation and enlargement as an approach created by the human resources manager. Third, the personnel management ensures that personnel strictly follow the contract of employment. This style of management allows no room for modifications or changes in the contract outline. The human resources management employs a flexible approach to the workforce that entails open contract agreements. The employees granted the freedom to choose working systems that suit them. This style ensures that the employees are free hence more input leading to the benefit of the organization (Ster & Koster, 2007, p. 6). This style is referred to as a win-win approach. The nature of relations is also different because in the personnel management the relationship is contractual. In this management one individual hires whereas the other one performs. The human resources management focuses on sharing mission and vision associated with the achievement of the organizations objectives. This management style emphasizes mutual interest between workforce and the organization. The HR performs various functions in an organization that include hiring. The HR can benefit the organization by appointing highly qualified personnel to various job descriptions, therefore, enhancing the organizations performance. The HR is also in charge of training personnel in the organization (Randhawa, 2007, p. 8). Training staff extensively and improving interaction with technology makes the personnel competitive. This is beneficial to the organization as it can lead to innovations hence more output. Employee turnover can as well be reduced by the HR significantly. This can be done through practices like rewarding and involving employees in management, and effective performance management structures. The HR can also improve the workforce input through motivation by rewarding personnel for specific achievement. The reward system increases quality of services and products. Organizing the number of staff is also beneficial to organizations performance because too many staff leads to boredom as there is less work. On the other hand, too few employees lead to massive workload hence demoralization. The HR also determines the structure of the work environment, which has been proven to improve performance (Randhawa, 2007, p. 9). Involving personnel on the duties to be executed and methods employed to accomplish objective also motivates workers. HR is as well responsible for ensuring job security for the workforce. Employees who fear losing jobs record poor performance, thus leading to general poor performance of the organization. Line managers are individuals to who workforce report directly. The line managers have liability to a higher level of administration for the employees (Renwick & MacNeil, 2002, p. 407). The line managers are promoted from within the organization. The Coca Cola Company promotes the best performing line managers into HR positions. This happens for two to three years to improve the expertise of its HR professionals. The functions of line managers in Coca Cola include staffing whereby the managers assist in the hiring process. The manager also trains new employees to update them on the running of Coca Cola. Performance evaluation is also imperative to determine rewards and benefits to award best performers. In addition to this, the line manager is also responsible for supervising employees at the various Coca Cola Company outlets. The manager supervises on the productivity of the employees. This includes both in product and service activities. The manager ensures that the Coca Cola line under their control functions efficiently to maximize output. The line manager is also responsible for ensuring the working environment is healthy and secure for employees (Renwick & MacNeil, 2002, p. 408). Coca Cola deals with beverages hence hygiene is imperative. The line managers ensure that the employees in their line understand the rules, regulations, and standards required. Coca Cola being among the top companies in the world, several factors affect the function of the HRM. These factors include external and internal environmental factors that influence operations at the company (Canzer, 2006, p. 40). Coca Cola has shown evidence of successfully trading their products domestically and globally. However, the company’s major environmental factor is global economic interdependence. According to the World Trade Organization, member countries are supposed to regulate imported goods to ensure they are in line with domestic standard. Social responsibility is another environmental factor affecting Coca Cola. This is for the reason that the HRM must employ measures on social responsibility that will uphold the company’s image hence reduce workforce turnover. With the drastically changing technological world, the HRM is tasked with updating and training employees on new technological innovations. Coca Cola must, therefore, keep abreast with the changing technology. Legislation is an environmental factor that affects the HRM. Whether local, national or international, legislation impacts HRM activities in the Coca Cola Company. The human resources managers, consequently, ensure that they are at par with the law and guide other managers. The legal and regulatory framework of a country affects Coca Cola significantly. This is for the reason that the company operates in more than 200 countries. Consequently, this indicates that the company must adhere to the legal and regulatory framework of the various countries (Canzer, 2006, p. 41). Diverse functions of the HRM are impacted like recruitment. During the recruitment process, several regulations must be taken into account. Laws regarding equality and discrimination must be considered by the HR during the recruitment process. This is for the reason that Coca Cola could be fined heavily if the laws were violated by discriminating on potential job seekers. The HR also exercises caution during the recruitment process to avoid either direct or indirect sex discrimination. Human resources manager is involved in several activities that revolve around the operation of Coca Cola. Consequently, the HR has the responsibility of performing the most imperative task in the company. This task is planning that involves ensuring that the company has the correct people, in the correct numbers and with the right skills presently and in the future (Aswathappa, 2005, p. 66). This planning is also referred to as workforce or manpower planning. Workforce planning by the HR is imperative to the successful running of the Coca Cola Company. This is for the reason that the business environment is rapidly changing hence the need to be equipped. The changing temperament of jobs is one reason the Coca Cola Company emphasizes workforce planning. This is for the reason that the company deals with beverages hence replacing an employee would be tedious. The HR would have to ensure that the employee has the best combination of competency, experience, and skill for the vacant post. Workforce planning is also important for the Coca Cola Company because the varying economy. The company must, therefore, adapt to the changing environment hence the need of workforce planning (Aswathappa, 2005, p. 67). The company employs the planning measure to reduce the effect during recession in which most workers are laid off. A high employee turnover is used as an indication that a company has poor management. Lack of job security has also been articulated to affect the performance of personnel significantly. Owing to these factors, the Coca Cola Company takes measures in HR planning to increase job protection. New legislation is as well making it intricate for companies to lay off staff. Reducing workforce consumes time, is expensive, and has become difficult for the administration. Coca Cola Company depends on technology to advertise its brands. Workforce planning is, therefore, imperative to keep pace with the changing technological environment. Through planning, the human resources manager can ensure that staff competence is frequently re-assessed and improved. This is carried out by the HR through recruitment and training. This measure has enabled Coca Cola Company uphold their market despite competition. Human resources, therefore, ensures that the company has the appropriate number of employees who have suitable credentials, ability, potential, and experience. There are several stages of the planning process considered by the human resources during the planning process (Aswathappa, 2005, p. 67). The first stage is reviewing the objectives of the Coca Cola Company. A job analysis is also carried out to determine jobs required to accomplish the objectives. During workforce planning, manpower requirement is assessed to verify the personnel required to fill the posts in the company. Quantity and quality are the measures employed to estimate manpower requirements. The available manpower in Coca Cola is assessed by the HR, and a comparison is done between the available and the required manpower (Aswathappa, 2005, p. 65). If the manpower required exceeds that available, the human resources promotes, trains employees to improve quality, or recruits new staff. In the case of manpower surplus the HR may decide to lay-off some employees, terminate, or employ voluntary retirement. Through the planning process, the human resources motivate employees through monetary or non-monetary inducement. After these stages, the human resources manager monitors manpower requirements regularly. This is for the reason that employees may resign or retire and their posts must be occupied by new personnel. Recruitment at Coca Cola Company is well defined. After job analysis, the company advertises the vacant positions on websites, newspapers, and institutes (Turner, 2007, p. 84). The potential applicants send application forms and the company asks for their credentials. The recruitment at Coca Cola is conducted either internally or externally. During internal recruitment, the employees are informed about vacant positions through the notice board, meetings, intranet, newsletters, or personal recommendations. Other companies employ poor methods of internal recruitment. This may include informing specific people about the positions and not others. This can lead to the positions being occupied by unqualified persons hence affecting the performance of the company. When performing external recruitment, Coca Cola Company advertises the job vacancies through various media, which is expensive. Most companies spend less on advertising for job vacancies. This can lead to poor advertisement and poor recruitment because the adverts may not uphold the company’s image hence poor company performance. The Coca Cola selection process is also established (Turner, 2007, p. 85). Various methods are used including presentation, interviews, situational tests, group exercise, and psychometric tests. Extensive training and development programs are also held after a successful selection process. This assists in acquitting the new employees on the activities of the company. These steps are imperative in preparing the employees physically and psychologically, thus helping them adapt to the new environment. Most companies do not hold extensive training programs after selection. This makes it difficult for the new employees to fit in and may increase the possibilities of bullying. Their input may also be affected because of difficulties of adapting to the new environment. Motivational theory can be described using Abraham Maslow theory to portray the link between motivation and reward. According to Maslow, there are five levels of needs that human require to be fulfilled at work. Once a lower level of the hierarchy of needs is achieved, the employee will be motivated by the chance of satisfying the next need up the hierarchy (Anonymous, 2008, p. 026). A company should, therefore, strive to reward employees to assist them achieve their needs. This way the employees will be motivated to work harder to satisfy the next need. However, the human resources manager should recognize that individuals do not advance the hierarchy at the same rate. Managers should, consequently, reward employees in different ways to motivate them differently. Job evaluation is imperative in the determination of pay for new workforce (Anonymous, 2013, para. 1). Several factors are considered during job evaluation at Coca Cola Company. Knowledge is a major factor in determining pay because it indicates the level of education and experience. Skill and work complexity specify the skills required to perform duties and the level of judgment involved in achieving goals. Additional duties and responsibility may also be given to the new employee hence the need for pay evaluation. The Coca Cola Company has invested in the reward system meant to motivate employees. The company rewards and recognizes achievements of employees hence motivating the workforce. Motivation in the company is done through benefits, promotion, working content, payment, recognition, and other appealing methods. The reward system has been effective because the company has had flourishing performance and the highest input. This has made Coca Cola a successful company since 1886. Measuring performance is imperative for any business. This is for the reason that employing these measures enables the company to evaluate employee turnover and daily output. Coca Cola applies comprehensive sets of performance indicators to monitor the performance of their employees. The indicators are measured against the set goals and objectives, and the employees are engaged in the process. This enables the employees view their performance and understand the areas that require more effort (Livia, 2011, p. 114). Coca Cola uses diagnostic tools to monitor employee’s performance through major areas that include financial, relationship, leadership, social responsibility, people development, and innovations. This aids in ensuring continual improvement on weak areas hence improving the general performance of the company. Performance is also reviewed at both site and corporate level. Consequently, this ensures competence at every level of the company. Several reasons can lead to the termination of employees. Inadequate job performance, unacceptable behavior, business conditions, and absenteeism are some of the causes that can lead an employee to be terminated. However, guidelines and policies should be set by the company on methods of approaching the termination process. Employees should also be made aware of the termination guidelines to avoid wrongful termination suits (Brodzinski, 2003, p. 38). During the process of terminating an employee, Coca Cola issues the employee a 60 days notice according to the laws. This is followed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Considerations of pays vary, depending on the reason for termination. Other organizations, however, do not follow these procedures. This is for the reason that during forced resignation, the employee is not served with a certificate. The organizations do not offer an explanation of the termination to the employee, thus reducing the probability of the employee improving. At Coca Cola Company, the employee is briefed with all the justifiable reasons for his or her termination. This enables the employee improve his or her skills or acquire additional training to enhance their competence. Legal and regulatory framework has placed responsibilities on companies wishing to terminate or end their contracts with employees. The laws set by Commonwealth determine if the termination reasons were fair or not (Anonymous, 2013, para. 3). It also outlines the entitlements to an employee after termination and the basis of termination. The main responsibility is providing the employee with cessation notice. The duration the employee has been employed is also a determinant of the length of termination notice. In the case of just cause, the employer is not required by the Employment Standards Code to serve the employee with termination notice. If the employees health or safety is at risk, it is not required they serve their employer with termination notice. A complaint can as well be filed if the employee does not agree with the reason given by the employer for termination. This legal and regulatory framework has given employers the responsibility of serving their employees with termination notices (Anonymous, 2013, p. 1). On the other hand, employees cannot terminate their services to their employers without notice unless their lives or health is at risk. This creates a balance in the working environment both for the employer and the employee. The law also allows the employee to file a complaint in case the reasons given for termination are not satisfactory. Consequently, this measures offer job security because employers cannot terminate the employee on unfounded basis. 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