Building Quality Organisations Such as the Coca-Cola Company - Assignment Example

MANU 1373 BUILDING QUALITY ORGANIZATIONS ASSIGNMENT No. 2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Organization Strategy and HRM Strategy 3 Changing Workplaces and Changing Nature of Employment 4 Appraisal, Interviewing, Psychometric Testing, Induction and Recruitment Sources 5 Assessment Centers and Identifying Management Potential 6 Performance Review and Corrective Action 7 HR Workplace Issue 8 Conclusion 9 References 9 Introduction The Coca-Cola Company is the largest beverage company in the world and it offers more than 500 brands. It generates about $1 billion USD in the annual sales [Coc152]. The mission of Coca-Cola is to refresh the world, to create value that leads in making a difference and to inspire the moments of happiness and optimism. The vision of Coca-Cola is made in the light of quality growth and sustainability and it revolves around six P’s, these are people, portfolio, productivity, profit, planet and partners. The vision of Coca-Cola is to give the best place for their employees, present a quality beverage brand portfolio to the world, to be highly effective, to maximize the long term return to shareholders, to be a responsible citizen and to nurture a network of suppliers and customers [Coc15]. Coca-Cola respects the rights of workplace and human rights to sustain the business. One of the essential ingredients in the products is the sincere commitment to workplace rights and human rights. The company makes sure to treat all the people with respect and dignity. The company ensures safe and healthy workplace, because it is a way to achieve success. [Coc151]. From the managerial and legal perspective, Coca-Cola is not a single entity and this company has not control to all of its bottling partners. It operates through multiple channels. The company manufactures and sells beverages, concentrates and syrups. Other than bottling operations, the company owns the brands and perform brand marketing. The bottling partners produce, packs, stocks and then distributes the beverages to the customers, who consume about 1.9 billion beverages per day [c]. Organization Strategy and HRM Strategy Explain how Human Resource Management performs a key function in the strategic management of the organization and contributes to the organization's optimum business performance. Answer: Human Resource Management guarantees their ability and viability in the organization by thinking this discipline as a strategic partner with the organization. The HRM contributes to the accomplishment of strategic plans, goals and objectives of the organization, by focusing upon the human capital. The HR performs a major role in the strategic management by dealing with the organization’s macro-concerns such as commitment, values, quality, culture, structure and other long term issues. The strategic objectives of HR are set up to support the realization of the strategic business objectives and plans as a whole. The tactical area of HR is profoundly well-informed regarding the pattern and layout of the work systems, in which the employees can contribute and succeed. To optimize the performance of the organization, the HRM strategy works parallel with the organizational strategy, the staff related to HR think strategically and are responsible for the cost reductions as well as for the assessment of program and processes of HR [Tor95]. The performance of the organization is enhanced by the involvement of HR, which directs that how to build and construct the strategic management’s foundation, by establishing an effective design, structure, employee value proposition, culture, communication strategy and systems thinking [Gue97]. Changing Workplaces and Changing Nature of Employment Explain how Human Resource Management can enable the organization to achieve its strategic objectives by structuring the organization through planning, policies, practices and job design. Answer: Human Resource Management can support the organization in achieving its strategic objectives by means of shaping and structuring the organization via planning, practices, policies and job design. There is an ingredient which ties HRM with the strategic plan of an organization, and that is Human Resource Planning. The aim of this ingredient is to ensure the best match of job to the employee and to identify the goal and objectives of an organization and fit them to the job design of the employees. Also the policies and practices are designed to be performed at the workplace to develop and promote the corporate culture [Bha09]. Due to the economic factors, there are some changes needed to be identified by the HRM to change the nature of the employment. The recession periods leads to the reduction in the workforce and reorganizing the structure of the organization. The robust economy is a market with a limited number of employees. The factors like tax and interest can trigger the activity of layoff or hire employees, because such factors affect the disposable income and consumer buying. In such circumstances, HR plans for recruitment and compensation in view of talent available. The ability of HR to arrange for the manpower can be affected by the characteristics of the workforce, such as age, gender, education, and ethnic mix. The values and expectations of employees are accommodated by the HR via career development, work-life balance and fringe benefits. In the case of wider diversity among the workforce demographics, the HRM team introduces the training programs to bring and build the cohesive teams. These programs are also beneficial for the employees who work in changing workplaces [Kor02]. Appraisal, Interviewing, Psychometric Testing, Induction and Recruitment Sources Explain how the organization's philosophies, structures and strategies can be applied in the workplace through appropriate recruitment, and induction programs. Answer: The philosophies, structures and strategies of an organization are applied by HRM in the workplace by its concerns in recruitment, selection, compensation, development, promotion, performance appraisal and retention of the workers. Recruitment is the procedure to find and hire the competent and skilled candidate who is fit for a job opening. This process is about examining the requirements of a new job, screening, selecting and then hiring. There are two ways to recruit, those are internal sources and external sources. The internal sources include career development, internal posting, dependents of deceased employees and retired employees. The external sources include corporate website, web job boards, referrals, recruitment agencies, newspaper advertisements, educational institutes and management consultants [Pio06]. Selection is the process in which applicants are differentiated to choose the right candidate for a job. There are eight steps in this process, which are: 1. Preliminary interview 2. Selection tests 3. An employment interview 4. Checking of the references and background 5. Selection decision 6. Physical examination 7. Job offer 8. Induction/Orientation Selection tests include aptitude tests and personality tests. These are according to the job offering and are made to evaluate the applicant for a particular job. The combination of these two tests is called as psychometric testing. Performance appraisal is a methodical evaluation of an employee by comparing his current performance with the desired level and the need of development according to it. There are two techniques of performance appraisal, they are past oriented methods and future oriented methods. HRM is also concerned with the training and development programs for the workforce to maintain the organizational strategy, philosophy and structure [New05]. Assessment Centers and Identifying Management Potential Explain how training needs are assessed and developed and how future management potential is identified. Answer: Training and Development are the ongoing educational and official activities performed in the organization to enhance the performance of the employees. The event of training is planned by setting goals and objectives, which clarify the level of achievement. To develop the training program, goals and objectives function as the foundation. They help in preparing a logical steps of activities that makes the basis to assess the effectiveness of the program and such objectives will make a relationship of the trainers with the trainees, so that the expectations of the trainees will correlate with the program [Lyn90]. In addition, it will aid the trainer to pay attention to the trainees rather than the program. It is recommended to prepare the goals and objectives of the training program according to the SMART approach, i.e. objectives must be specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic and time-bound. The management development programs are designed for the managers to enrich their understanding and practice of the principles of management in the light of today’s environment. There are plenty of cost-effective methods for training and development programs. Some of them are committees, field trips, critical incident note, conference and forums, job aids, job expanding, job shadowing, job rotation, in-basket training, e-learning, virtual reality, computer based training, mentoring and coaching, classroom training, behavior modeling, case study, role playing, business games and simulations [Noe02]. To identify the management potential, the assessment center technique is also used in the management development programs. This technique is useful in determining the potential of the employees, who can be promoted to the positions of management. It is applied in closed setting and multiple observers are there to spot and witness such employees [Gol02]. Performance Review and Corrective Action Explain how the performance of an employee can be appraised and evaluated and how performance can be enhanced and managed. Answer: The employee’s performance can be appraised as well as evaluated with the help of management of performance, in which the managers and employees plan, monitor and review the work objectives of an employee and his/her overall contribution in the performance of the organization. The effective performance management is job specific, easy to understand, provides the clear image of the performance, aligned with strategic culture and direction of the organization, evaluate the results, gives constructive feedback, establish clear communication, identify the accomplishments of the employees and provide training opportunities. Performance Appraisal is the evaluation of the employee’s performance and to understand the employee’s abilities for further growth in a systematic way [Lat81]. The advantages of Performance Appraisals are promotion, employee’s development, compensation (the criteria to be in favor of merit instead of seniority), motivation, selection procedure validation and communication. There are several tools and measures of performance, some of them are checklists, critical incident, confidential report, essay evaluation, ranking, forced distribution, paired comparison, performance test, MBO, forced choice method, graphic rating scale, BARS and field review technique. The performance management cycle is composed of three steps, plan, monitor and review and evaluate. In the planning portion, the expectations are clarified, the process to deduce the results is identified and the monitoring process is prepared. In the monitoring process, the performance is monitored and if there are some issues identified, then corrective actions are taken. In the last step, there is an annual performance review and the process of evaluation completes. There are four types of appraisal terms, they are traditional appraisal, 360 degree feedback, self-appraisal and employee-initiated reviews. With the help of the performance measure tools, management of performance cycle and appraisal and assessment terms, the performance of employees as well as of organization can be enhanced and managed [Mab98]. HR Workplace Issue Discuss at least one HR workplace issue that has affected the organization's strategic goals and explain how it was addressed and the outcome of any action taken. Answer: Outsourcing is the HR workplace issue identified with the Coca-Cola Company. Outsourcing is defined as giving the work of the independent contractors who are not associated with the company. Such contractors are named as freelancers who have the ability to pay their insurance and taxes. Outsourcing is preferred because of protecting the company from the overhead costs by hiring the employees in the organization. The overhead costs cover the workspace, equipment and benefits. It is useful in such projects where the need of a special work is not part of the routine of the company. However, this issue becomes challenging when the freelancers do not meet the standards and requirements of the company. They lack the training and development activities which are given to the employees of the company. There are also some security issues in outsourcing, where the contractor may leak the confidential information of the company. Moreover, distance is another disadvantage of outsourcing, where it can be difficult to locate and communicate with the contractor at the time of emergency. Addressing the HR workplace issues is a continuing process and it depends upon the director, HR manager or the policies of the company to deal with workplace issues. To shield the company from the issues arising from the outsourcing, it is better to maintain the records of the contracts with the contractors. This might be beneficial in the future if the same contractor is hired or the company can evaluate and review the work of the contractor to outsource from the same person or not or such records are helpful in the retrieval in the case of future disputes. On the issue of distance, it must be noted at the time of making a contract that how the contractor will be contacted at the time of emergency. Conclusion The Coca-Cola Company is the largest beverage company in the world, which generates about $1 billion USD in the annual sales. There is an ingredient which ties HRM with the strategic plan of an organization, and that is Human Resource Planning. The aim of this ingredient is to ensure the best match of job to the employee and to identify the goal and objectives of an organization and fit them to the job design of the employees. The philosophies, structures and strategies of an organization are applied by HRM in the workplace by its concerns in recruitment, selection, compensation, development, promotion, performance appraisal and retention of the workers. Training and Development are the ongoing educational and official activities performed in the organization to enhance the performance of the employees. The management development programs are designed for the managers to enrich their understanding and practice of the principles of management in the light of today’s environment. Outsourcing is the HR workplace issue identified with the Coca-Cola Company. Addressing the HR workplace issues is a continuing process and it depends upon the director, HR manager or the policies of the company to deal with workplace issues. 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[Online] Available at: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/workplace-overview [Accessed 3 September 2015]. Read More