Talent Management in the Coca-Cola Company - Case Study Example

Talent Management Introduction Talent management is a term used to refer to the expectation of necessitated human capital required by an organization when it is planning on how to accomplish certain needs. In this context, the term is not used to mean management of entertainers. The firms actively involved in the talent management concept ensure that the responsibility of the employees is not only taken by the human resources but the entire managing team in the organization. According to the experts, the term currently is used to mean differently to different firms. According to some organizations, the term has been used to refer the management of high-worth personnel whereas to some it is all about talent is generally managed (Berger and Berger, pp. 13-17). Talent management is also referred to as human capital management. In this case, the term, talent management has been used to include recruitment, selection, competency management, training, learning and development, as well as succession planning (Berger and Berger, pp. 13-17). All these are believed to be vitally important functions, which catalyze an organization to effectively compete and stand out in the global market. In the present time the issue with a majority of the organizations is that they spend most of their time and effort in attracting employees but little time in trying to retain or develop talent. Evidently, a talent management system should be incorporated into the business strategy of an organization and executed in the everyday processes of the organization. Companies need to understand that attracting and retaining employees is a function that should not only be left to the human resources department but it should be exercised by the entire company. The business strategy being used by any company should leave room for the line managers to ensure the development of skills for their employees. It is recommended that the departments within an organization should share information regarding the employees’ talent growth for the sole benefit of the company (Berger and Berger, pp. 34). According to Manasa and Reddy pp. 66, the organizations that engage in talent development incorporate plans and processes to manage and track the talent of their employees including workforce planning process, performance management procedures as well as training and development among others. This paper aims at discussing the four functions of talent management using the international Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is an American multinational market leader in manufacturing, retailing as well as the marketing of non-alcoholic concentrates and syrup (Neil pp.154 – 158). The Coca-Cola Company is widely known for its Coca-Cola product that was that was introduced in 1886 by John Stith Pemberton, a pharmacist in Colombia. The Coca-Cola formula and brand was first bought by Asa Candler in 1889 and in 1892 incorporated into the company. Presently, the company produces more than 500 brands to more than 200 nations. Additionally, it does around 1.6 billion servings per day. Besides, the company operates a franchised distribution system since 1889. The company produces the concentrates and distributes them to various bottlers across the globe. Its Coca-Cola refreshments anchor is in North America (Neil pp.154 – 158). Workforce planning process Workforce planning assists the firms to postulate the workforce requirements of its future as well as accurately calculate the nature, numbers and the sources of potential candidates to meet the demand (Berger and Berger, pp. 28). The term entails acquiring the right number of individuals, with the skills deemed appropriate for the job, in the right place as well as at the right place through the mapping of skills via the right human resource management activities. The Coca-Cola Company uses The Personnel Integrity Assurance Program to ensure that the company becomes a premier workplace. This procedure entails an investigation of the candidates’ previous employment history. This applies to both the potential employee and the contractors of the firm. The nature of this investigation covers aspects such as education employment history, a criminal history as well as a pre-employment screen. The company also ensures that selected positions in the firm have more strict rules. The reason why the Coca-Cola Company does all this is to ensure that they get the right candidate to cover the positions and lead the company to wards attaining its goals. Acquiring talent Over the recent years, the process of recruiting has undergone some changes to include such terms as talent acquisition as well as human capital management. Acquiring of talent is the ongoing cycle of the procedures linked to the attracting, sourcing, recruiting as well as placing employees in a company (Manasa and Reddy pp. 82-90). This entails such elements of employment as branding, relationship building, networking and outreach with the potential community candidates to tremendously enhance and build the talent pool of a company. Defining acquiring talent in this way takes into account all the requirements deemed right in searching for talent through for instance direct efforts, which include recruiting, or the indirect efforts covering employment branding as well as networking. However, defining the term as a cycle brings about the idea that the procedures are linked and interrelated other than the isolated occurrences. This is of particular importance with networking and employee referral efforts, which have otherwise led to qualified employees, and quality hires. This is a clear indication therefore that those engaged in acquiring talent and management ought to take a holistic look at how the potential candidates find as well as interact with their organizations, how the organization involves them and what makes their organization at the top as a desirable employer. This entails such things as leveraging comparatively new tools for instance mobile recruiting and social networking to heighten the reach of their recruiting messages. In addition, it gives a nod to efforts to make the organization an employer of choice (Manasa and Reddy pp. 82-90). In talent acquisition, the Coca-Cola Company employs both the internal and external and internal recruiting and selection processes. Studies reveal that the company has highly qualified personnel that are on high demand in the global market. To achieve this, the company has ensured that in its talent acquisition process it takes into consideration the cost of the selection process, which they keep low, ensuring that, they have identified the kind of skills being sought. The company has been able to keep the costs of the selection down through holding the interviews in a location that is easily accessible by the interviewing panel as well as the potential candidates. After acquiring the right candidates to fill the job positions within the Coca-Cola Company, it ensures that its new employees undergo an induction process. This is a process the company uses to incorporate its employees in the organization. During the induction process the new staff are given an opportunity to meet the other workers where they are shown the skills they are supposed to learn. Training programs for workers and managers According to Manasa and Reddy pp. 82-90, training is the passing of knowledge to the employees formally or informally. Evidently, employees are trained so that they growth and development can be achieved. In the present time, the term training has been used together with development in human resource management. Training and development refers to the function with the responsibility of the organizational activity geared towards improving the performance of the individual as well as the organization (Manasa and Reddy pp. 82-90). The field has also been referred to as human resource development or learning and development. Training and development comprises of three distinct but interrelated functions, which are: Training which is focused upon as well as assessed against at the current job position held by the employee Education which is an activity focusing mainly on the job that could possibly be held by the individual employee in the future and is assessed against these jobs Development, which mainly focuses on the activities that the individual being employed or the employing company could partake in the near future, and hardly can they, be assessed. According to past research, training and development are part of talent development. Talent development is a field concerned with changing the organization, the workforce, the groups of people in it, the stakeholders using the planned or unplanned learning to attain as well as uphold a competitive advantage for the firm. In the past, talent development was a function only reserved for top management. However, with the rapid change in the field of human resource management the talent and career development is increasingly becoming of paramount for employee retention irrespective of their levels at the organization. Further, research indicates that it is necessary to have some kind of career path for job satisfaction and job retention (Clifford and Thorpe, pp. 63-87). This means that possibly the organizations ought to incorporate this field in their employee satisfaction overview. In the recent researches, it is evident that the term talent development has tremendously become popular in a number of companies in their quest to move from the traditional way of training and development. Talent development presently has been used to encompass a number of aspects such as training for career development, organizational development and career management. It is estimated that in the near future more and more companies will integrate employee training in their strategy for performance (Clifford and Thorpe, pp. 63-87). The Coca-Cola Company ensures employee training through creating training programs that particularly focus on specific audience, specific topic as well as one geared towards achieving the desired change and innovation to the company. According to past studies, Coca-Cola Company bases their approach on the fact that the employee is the most essential to the company. In addition, the company works at a close range with its clientele and employees to design as well as create a budget and work plan for the delivery of the development programs in a way that fits the changes in the company. The company uses such training programs as seminars and workshops to train its employees and their managers. Generally, the training programs comprise of realistic scenarios, exercises and reading materials that ascertain that the kind of training is vitally essential and applicable to the job. In addition, the company has ensured that in the training programs, it provides the right resources via the web based technologies, work reflection of individuals, and development of assessment tool to assist in the attaining of information regarding course reactions, employee behaviour in the job and the holistic potential result. Through this approach of training, the Coca-Cola Company has been in a position to steer improvements and company performance. In addition, the training has helped boost the confidentiality of the employees, as they feel appreciated by the company since it is committed to invest in their development. As a result, the employees’ morale is highly enhanced and they are able to work effectively and efficiently. Systems of performance appraisal for employees The Employee Performance Appraisal System (EPAS) is a program that has been designed to support as well as evaluate the employee’s development, growth and performance on a frequent basis (Spector pp. 693-713). Generally, it is a, means by which the staffs take an active involvement in their planning and career choices. An employee performance appraisal system aims at helping the employees attain their full potential. In addition, it offers the employees detailed descriptions as well as the assessments of what is expected of them from their work with an organization. The present system has been in use from the year 1996, it entails the development of performance, and tasks approach (Spector pp. 693-713). An effective performance appraisal is beneficial and essential to both the employee and the organization. They enhance a common agreement of personal needs, the objectives of the work and the acceptable standards of performance. Apparently, the employee appraisal system also provides a useful tool to the managers and employees to help in the development of the staff. Typically, the performance management system ensures; The management and supervisory skills are measured Weighted measures The core values are measured Automatic calculation(Spector pp. 693-713) The Coca-Cola Company understands that performance management of the employees through regular employee appraisals is of paramount to the entire talent development strategy of the company. According to the experts, individuals get to cherish what they measure. Over the first week of every month the human resources of the company usually notifies the directors of the departments of the performance appraisal due to be completed in the month. The company’s performance appraisal aligns the individual goals with those of the company via a cascaded goal setting system. Evidently, the success of the performance appraisal of the Coca-Cola Company lies within the objectivity as well as timeliness of the appraisal system. Through the employee performance appraisal, the Coca-Cola Company has been able to identify the competency of their employees identifying those that need more training as well as those who need to be appreciated for their good performance. The company rewards its quality employees through salary increments and promotions (Neil pp.160). Conclusion Ultimately, in the present society, talent management has proven to be vitally important in the field of human resources management. Today, most organizations have embraced talent management in order to ensure a high quality workforce that will in turn increase their performance. As discussed in the report the term has been used to include recruitment, selection, competency management, training, learning and development, as well as succession plan. All these are believed to be vitally important functions, which catalyze an organization to effectively compete and stand out in the global market. The report has analyzed the use of talent management in the Coca-Cola Company. Evidently, it has been proven that the company believes that talent management contributes significantly to the growth of both the individual and the company at large. The workforce planning process has ensured that the company gets the right candidate to cover the positions and lead the company to wards attaining its goals. Additionally, through their talent acquisition method they have been able to acquire highly qualified personnel highly demanded in the global market. The company also has a training program for its employees and managers to ensure that the confidentiality of the employees is boosted, as they feel appreciated by the company since it is committed to invest in their development. As a result, the employees’ morale is highly enhanced and they are able to work effectively and efficiently. In conclusion, talent management has been linked to a number of aspects, which include improved performance and productivity. Works cited Berger Lance, and Berger, Doroty. The Talent Management Handbook: Creating Organizational Excellence by Identifying, Developing, and Promoting Your Best People. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003 Clifford Jackie, and Thorpe, Sara. Workplace learning & development: delivering competitive advantage for your organization. London: Kogan Page Series, 2007, pg. 63-87 Manasa, K. and Reddy, N. Role of Training in Improving Performance. The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 3 (2009) 72-80. Neil, H. The World of Coca-Cola, 55 Martin Luther King Jr., Dr., Atlanta, GA 30303-3505, Journal of American History, 82 (1995) 154-158. Spector, P. E. Measurement of Human Service Staff Satisfaction: Development of the Job Satisfaction Survey. American Journal of Community Psychology 13.6 (1985): 2011, 693-713. Read More