Leadership in the Coca Cola Company - Case Study Example

Organizations are comprised of individuals and, in most cases, of some kinds of groups or teams. Describe how the leadership motivates individuals and groups/teams and (2) how it deals with conflict among individuals and within groups/teams. Case study: The coca cola company NAME Name and section number of course, instructors name and date. Organizations are comprised of individuals and, in most cases, of some kinds of groups or teams. Describe (1) how the leadership motivates individuals and groups/teams and (2) how it deals with conflict among individuals and within groups/teams. Case study: The coca cola company. Every successful company or organization has most often that not its workers to thank for the success of the company. An organization as defined by the e-wikipedia “is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment”. Several heads are put together to get a product or service marketable to the public. These many hands come in at various stages to add up to produce what we have or see at the end of the day as a product or service. We need to note here that people make a company what it is and not the name of the company. Therefore the most important asset a company possesses is her employees or her team or group of workers. But humans are always very easily discouraged when it comes to work. As such it is very important to motivate them. According to en-wikipedia, in the most general of terms, motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an individual to action toward a desired goal. Motivation can also be the reason for an individual’s action or that which gives purpose and direction to behavior. In other words, motivation is an incentive that generates goal-directed behavior. (Wikipedia, online 2008) For example in an article on the BBC it was recorded that “SAP is the largest producer of business software in the world. Motivating its staff is a big job as it has some 29,000 of them in 50 different countries, and yet it claims to be among the best at doing this. Indeed SAP has won awards for its innovative ways of keeping its staff happy.” (BBC online, 2003) Let’s take the COCA COLA Company as a case study and look at it structure and how it motivates its workers and manage the conflicts that arise among them. Established in 1886, The Coca-Cola Company operates in more than 200 countries and markets more than 2,800 beverage products. The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and is structured across seven operating groups, in addition to Corporate. As of January 2007, the Company had approximately 90,500 associates and the operating structure consisted of Africa; Eurasia; European Union; Latin America; North America; Pacific; and Bottling Investments. The organization is divided into four major teams: The first team is the board of directors. The board is elected by the shareholders to oversee their interest in the long-term health and the overall success of the business and its financial strength. The board is made up of thirteen people one of whom is the chairman. Second is the senior leadership team, made up of presidents, directors etc of the various groups found worldwide and the team is headed by the chief executive officer of the company. This team just like the Board of Directors sees to the overall running of the organization. The third is the corporate functional team, made up of the vice-presidents of the company who are charged with several other functions in corporate affairs of the company. The fourth team is the operating group team. It is made up of seven different groups that operate all over the world. These groups include: Africa, Eurasia Group, European Union Group, Latin America Group ,North America Group , Pacific Group and the Bottling Investments Group. .The Coca-Cola Company is built around two core assets, its brand and its people. Both of which provide the opportunity to keep the central promise: to refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit, and inspire moments of optimism; to create value and make a difference. To sustain a company this big and productive there is need to motivate and encourage those actively involved in the day to day running of the company. The company has put in place strategies used to motivate its teams or groups which can be grouped under incentives and training. In a personal interview with the coca cola North and West Africa territory marketing activation manager, Patrick-Alexandre Epee, I gathered the following information: INCENTIVES The coca cola company like every other top corporate body uses incentives as a tool for motivating its associates towards productivity. This strategy used by the management of Coca cola to motivate its workers is based on performance. It is sub-divided in to three parts: 1. Annual Bonus 2. salary increase 3. Stock options. Annual bonus Workers in the Coca Cola Company benefit every year from what is known as annual bonus. The various groups in the world benefit from this and the assessment for bonus is made based on territory performance versus objectives and the coefficient depends on contribution made to the franchise to which the team or group belongs. Every territory per year has objectives it sets. At the end of every year they evaluate to see if these objectives were met and if yes how beneficial was it to the franchise or business unit? It is from the assessment results that the annual bonus of a group or team is calculated and given. Salary increase This is another strategy used by the company to motivate her workers. Salary increase at the coca cola company is every year irrespective of performance. Every worker at the company is entitled to a salary increase every year though not based on whether you performed so well or not, there are some factors that condition the increase. There is what is called the KPI (key performance indicator) which enables the organization to create, manage and modify all types of Key Performance Indicators. Every employee’s performance at every level is measured and compensated based on the Performance Indicators as part of the incentive program. The Modulator wizard enables the configuration without requiring programming code skills. The KPI varies however from service to service. Individuals in the various services are evaluated based on certain factors indicated on the KPI and these at the end of the day determine what percentage of increase is due the individual. The software programs operates on a multi-tasking basis and incorporate several different engines amongst them the Calculation Engine which has predefined formulas that allow for 100% accuracy in calculating the incentive pay due to each individual employee. Stock options The third type of incentive provided by the coca cola company to her workers is what is known as stock options. When a worker in the company attains a certain job grade as specified by company standards, he is offered stock options. A certain number of options are given to the worker which credits an account somewhere in your name. Based on the quantity of stock given and the situation in the stock market, the individual makes extra money in the form of stocks which he can in turn sell to make money. Like i earlier said this option is for those who have attained a top job grade in the company. TRAINING Besides incentives the coca cola company also uses training as a strategy to motivate her workers. Training of worker is given very high value in the company not only to render the worker or group more productive and efficient but also for the individual’s personal development. At the beginning of every year the workers are expected to fill and sign a personal development plan where they indicate the kind of training they would love to get and what they intend to grow to in the company. This is handed over to the manager who uses as a guide towards proposing and setting up training sessions for the worker or group. Workers are trained in the Coca Cola University which is well equipped with a paid personnel to train workers on diverse fields as the need arises or via online courses all of these in the Coca Cola system. They also take part in several other forms of training provided by other companies or bodies which is of interest to them. Besides this the company also provides an opportunity to its workers to further their education. This is included in a programme called Handling life changes. In this programme a worker has the opportunity to further his education at any point in time sponsored by the company but on condition that he returns after the training to continue working for the company but this time around on different level. But if the worker wishes to leave the company for studies or for good there is no sponsorship but there is a huge compensation package offered the individual. There is equally what is known as the coca cola tombola or raffle draw where workers are from time to time offered free air tickets to varied destinations on account of the company. A worker could receive a mail informing him he’s just won the air ticket to another part of the world. Expenses taken care of by the company. For a worker who has never been opportuned to travel to other destinations on vacation or tourism, this is a great motivation to work harder and stay committed to the company. The next strategy to motivate workers in the coca cola company is The Coca-Cola Safety Management System" or "TCCSMS. TCCSMS defines the systematic approach to managing occupational safety and health and loss prevention. This is a key strategy because workers in most companies always complain about health insurance and safety in their place of work. When a group is sure there is a scheme in place that sees to their safety, they work without fear and are motivated to put in extra efforts in their work. To encourage a work environment of open communication and to effectively solicit and leverage innovative ideas, the company also engages in frequent dialogue with their associates around the world using a system called intranet. Such dialogue provides valuable information, increases awareness, promotes business strategies, shares successes and opportunities, and solicits employee opinions. For example, reports show more than 1,500 global associates and bottling partners contributed ideas for their 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games activation. And, employee input was a key ingredient to the Companys Manifesto for Growth. Another example of regular dialogue with associates is the Employee Insights Survey. In 2006, they embarked on a second global employee engagement survey. Results significantly improved, with engagement climbing from a score of 74 in 2004 to 79 in 2006. As a result of survey findings, they increased focus on operating effectiveness, which includes efforts toward simplification and standardization; reduced bureaucracy; and process effectiveness and efficiency. They plan to repeat this survey in 2008 and beyond, to continue to learn from employees.(Coca Cola online, 2006) In early 2007, they embarked upon an analysis of the relationship between employee opinions/behaviors and organizational performance - specifically, reputation among consumers, market share, and financial performance. As expected, they found that employee opinions are significantly linked with all of these factors. You will agree with me at this point that they system apparently is a very successful and people oriented one, in spite of all the motivation given workers conflicts still crop up from time to time. Not only conflicts between individuals and groups or teams but conflicts at every level.(environment, consumers, finance etc) In a company this big the management cannot take time out to attend to every problem that crops up.. People are found in different areas with different demands, working with people from diverse cultures and their conflicts or challenges are more or less influenced by their environment. The company there fore put in place a system called incident management and crisis resolution (IMCR).workers are taught on risk management and how to identify and assess possible risks. For example last December 2007 the French West Africa Franchise of the coca cola company had a training in Abidjan, Cote D’ivoire on incident management and crisis resolution, to update the workers on the risk management system or programme. Every worker has an assessment sheet which he fills out. The sheet has the various kinds of risk they have identified principally; people, product, infrastructure, information and finance. The worker is expected to assess the level of risk presented by the above mentioned groups as well as his level of preparedness to handle any such crisis. The forms are then handed to the IMCR manager or the public Affairs and Community Director who then forwards it to the hierarchy. The risk level assessment permits leadership to know and take steps to prevent the eventual outbreak of crisis. Employees can also report suspected violations through the EthicsLine secured internet website at www.KOethics.com or by calling the appropriate toll-free number from your location, which can be found on the www.KOethics.com website. No reprisal or retaliatory action will be taken against any employee for raising concerns under this policy. The Company is committed to investigating, addressing and responding to the concerns of employees and to taking appropriate corrective action in response to any violation. (Coca Cola, 2007) That is basically how the company handles problems or conflicts that arise within the teams or groups. Observation/Opinion From the above description of the coca cola company it is that the evident that the company runs on a series of principles that are very vital for success. Communication is a key tool the company uses. Given the fact that it is very vast, the company has put in place forums through which the various groups and teams can effectively communicate with each other. Communication or dialogue in a company is the key not only to resolving conflict but to ensuring productivity and accountability. Secondly it is clear that team work is the strength of the company. As vast as it is, the company has associates or groups in all the continents of the world. With the headquarters in Atlanta Georgia where the board of directors and senior leadership teams are based. They cannot be everywhere as such they have groups working in various areas to ensure the smooth functioning and success of the company. The teams or groups have specific functions assigned them which when put together at the end of the day gives the impact or result they have. These teams are also motivated to work together by policies and schemes put in place to facilitate the work. Motivation plays a very great role in the coca cola company I believe it accounts to great extent for the success of the company. Workers are motivated or encouraged to work and the environment and conditions of work are made as comfortable as possible. Though very demanding according to Epee, it is a good place to work. For a company to grow to impact the world, she must be able to identify people or groups or organizations they can work side by side with to achieve their goals. No one can success alone. You need others to make it. Same with companies and structures. In my opinion, motivation plays a key role in the successful running of the company which is very much performance driven. Every individual is given an opportunity to excel career and education wise. It is the perfect environment to dream up and build up a good experience in diverse fields. REFERENCES: BBC (2003) “Lunch Lesson 20 - Motivating your staff” retrieved 12-April-2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/working_lunch/2988186.stm Coca Cola (2006) http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com. Lewis, M “organizational conflict management systems for employment dispute” retrieved April 14, 2008 From Resource Book for Managing Employment Disputes, © 2004 by CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, Inc. http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/our_workplace.html http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/diversity.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Managing_Groups_and_Teams/What_is_motivation%3F http://www.motivation-for-dreamers.com/definition-of-motivation.html http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citapa.htm McNamara, C. “Basics About Employee Motivation (Including Steps You Can Take)”retrieved April12,2008 from the management help website, http://www.managementhelp.org/guiding/motivate/basics.htm Read More