Analysis of Coca-Cola Companys Culture - Case Study Example

Analysis of Coca-Cola Company‘s Culture Name Course Tutor Date Critically discuss how culture is expressed in your organization and how this expression helps or hinders your organization’s effectiveness Introduction In the recent years, business world have been changed by external forces prompting managers to understand the need for change for success. Globalization and technology has increased the interaction of different cultures (Pillania, 2006, p.120). Airlines can now get into different countries, imports and exports have increased, people can interact with each other through email and social media making the countries interdependent more than before. Multinational corporations hire sent employees to work in another country with different cultural background. According to Denison, Haaland & Goelzer (2004, p.102) different companies also manufacture goods which are unique and export them to other countries with different national cultures. Free movement of people and goods has increased ideas and concepts. Such activities have prompted managers to create organization culture which are not only universal and diverse but also accommodative. Therefore, this essay critically discusses how culture is expressed in Coca cola Company and how this expression helps or hinders Coca cola organization’s effectiveness. To put this discussion inter perspective, the essay will define culture, provide an overview of Coca Cola, present the nature of culture in Coca cola and explain the impact of that culture. Definition of Culture A culture is described as a way of life in the midst of group or individuals (Ravasi & Schultz, 2006, p.434). It manifest itself in its component such as beliefs, behaviors, symbols and values that which people generally accept without thinking and mention regarding them. Jean Lee & Yu (2004, p.344) contend that cultures are passed through imitation and communication from one generation to the next. In an organization setting principles of organizational culture are also passed from old employees to new ones. For instance the dress code can be passed from the old employees to new ones. Since the organization also operates within a society, the members of that society expect the culture within the organization to align itself within that of the community, in the product they make and in marketing. As such, culture can be argued to provide a framework or system of meanings which guides and controls the creation of the reality within a social community (Jean Lee & Yu, 2004, p. 349). Organization just like any other social setting has several layers of culture including national culture, regional culture, religious differences, gender differences, generational culture, social class culture and corporate culture (Ravasi & Schultz, 2006, p.451). National culture is that culture within the country where the company operates. Regional culture must also be taken into consideration because with globalization the company also hires talents from other countries to come work for them. Other cultures that individuals pose are religious which control their divine belief and social class depending on their income or position within the organization and society. All these difference must be incorporated into the organizational culture to make every employee to be comfortable. Culture also has different dimensions and effects as established by different scholars. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner in their work on organizational culture and multinational, found seven indicators which explain different cultural dimensions and behaviors (Ravasi & Schultz, 2006, p. 437). Geert Hofstede identified five dimensions to help in the understanding cultural differences and how it worked in organizations. Coca cola as a multinational company is influenced by culture, therefore take cultural dimension into their recruitment. Seven dimensions mentioned that influence Coca-Cola operations are Universalism versus particularism, individualism versus communitarianism, neutral versus emotional, specific versus diffuse, achievement versus ascription, attitudes to time and attitude to the environment. Overview of Coca-Cola Company Coca-Cola Company is a multinational based Georgia US which manufacturers, retails and markets nonalcoholic beverage and syrups (Coca-Cola Company, 2014). Coca-Cola Company website (2014) holds that the company was established in 1886 and has since grown and now operates in 220 countries across the world. Today, the company employs more than 130,600 across the planet to work its plants and distribution centers. The Coca-Cola Company provides over 500 products in more than 200 countries; alongside it’s the much recognized Coca-Cola beverage (Coca Cola 2014). The mission of Coca-Cola Company works as a principle, for which the company evaluates its actions and decisions. Coca-Cola Company (2014) contends that the corporation has three key mission statements including refreshing the world in the body, sprit and mind, creating value and making a difference and inspiring moments for happiness and hopefulness. According to the company website (2014) Coca-Cola Company mission is the outline roadmap and relationship with customer for each aspect of the business of Coca-Cola. The mission assumes a vision with the six P’s, five behaviors and seven values to realize the one mission which is happiness (Blanding 2010). The mission of this company goes far much beyond the processing of beverages, and concentrate on the effect the business that is to refresh the body and mind and also to make the global customers happy who from their beverage products. The nature of culture in Coca-Cola Company Organizations often create their own culture tailored in the mission, vision, values and objectives. Coca-cola 'culture' explains the way the company does its things, consisting of patterns of relationships and behavior. Blanding (2010) posits that in its early years the Coca-Cola had the influence of American culture and is operations was aligned to that culture. The company has grown and expanded in several countries forcing the managers to rebuild the organizational to take into consideration national, regional, generational, social class and corporate cultures. The Coca-Cola company organizational culture touches on several unique indicators as set in their webpage. Blanding (2010) argues that in a nutshell, the nature of culture in Coca-Cola Company revolves around teamwork, empowerment, rewards, personal development, motivation, human rights and charitable foundations. Important factor of culture at Coca-Cola Company is its focus teamwork and empowerment. The company perceives its staff as its most significant asset. Motivated staffs offer the engine which propels the Coca-Cola growth (Blanding, 2010). Organizing employees into teams for instance marketing team or sales teams, the settings encourages employees to feel important. In a team individuals are urged to offer ideas and concepts and be innovative. This is a demonstration that the company embraces one of Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of culture referred to as Individualism versus collectivism. Actually, the company adopts collectivism because they insist on teamwork. Coca-Cola Company (2014) postulates that the company has also set the culture of providing financial incentives to employees such as rewards for the innovative solutions, rewards for achievements, like improving performance and even finishing individual complex projects. Besides financial rewards, there is an also non-financial motivational reward such as training and promotion which enhances personal development and an opportunity to realize full potential (Coca-Cola Company, 2014). In this aspect the Coca-cola has adopted Trompenaars’ and Hampden dimension of culture which believes in Achievement rather than ascription. In this perspective, individuals are made to believe that they become what they do, and therefore the company base employees’ worth on that. Such culture values one’s performance, regardless of who they are. With the change of generational culture taking place in the business arena, particularly the millennial, Coca-Cola company have gone ahead to change their organizational to suit this group. Avi (2013) argues that the baby boomers are retiring and the company employs young people who are born 80’s and early 2000s to take over. This generation is considered digital natives, since they are born when the world is dominated by technology especially the Internet. Avi (2013) asserts that this group “expects limitless choice, which is personalized and can be delivered by means of several channels within maximum speed.” The company therefore has adopted technology considerable to carry out their operations from productions to marketing. Millennial are aiming to transform their world or environment to be in line with new forms of values. With such indicators, Coca-Cola Company absolutely shows a culture which is not just “wining”, but also futuristic in nature; it portrays understanding of the ever-changing society (Coca-Cola Company, 2014). It shows that the management it considers honesty, hard work and unity as their winning strategy for success. The impact of that culture in Coca-Cola Company Positive impact Positive impacts brought by a certain organizational culture make such cultures be regarded as good. Good cultures therefore are attributed by values supportive of excellence, norms, team work, honesty, customer service orientation, pride in work, and loyalty to one’s organization (Coleman, 2013). From Coca-Cola’s website all these factors have been drafted a policy and organizational culture which drives their day-to day activities. All these brought together has contributed to the Company’s growth making it the largest beverage maker and distributor worldwide. The culture have made the company employees to adapt, work together in harmony and thrive over a long period of time in spite of new competition, new technological advancement, new regulations and a series of growth and expansion (Blanding, 2010). According to Blanding (2010) the company mission, vision and values have played a big role in its employee management and performance. Great cultures begin with a mission and vision statements. The company mission reads is “stir moment of optimism and happiness, create value and refresh the world” (Cola Company, 2014). The mission builds culture of motivation of employees to perform better in their daily routines even if the sprit is low. The company uses one of the Goffee and Jones’s mixes of culture called sociability to achieve their corporate goals. Happy employees creates friendliness atmosphere in the organization. Coca-Cola categorically understands that employees are the big asset they have. As such, they must guarantee their so that they can drive the company forward. The mission of happiness is also extended to customers. The company makes several products that create happiness in customers. Folger, Poole & Stutman (2005) argue that when mission statement is deeply genuine and outstandingly displayed, it helps orient suppliers, customers and any other stakeholder. It is in the perspective of happiness, that Coca-Cola is committed to creating value for its customers so as to remain loyal all the time. Its culture of happiness, optimism and value has been able to create three forms of loyalty among its customers, including emotional loyalty, attitudinal loyalty, and behavioral loyalty. The happiness is rooted in emotion leading to emotional loyalty. Emotional loyalty is shown by a stronger bond towards a product (Blackwell et al. 2006). Such loyalty rises due to high level of satisfaction the customer has obtained from the product. Customers who are attached to a product usually do not question concerning the high cost even if the company hikes the prices. Today many customers are attached to coca cola the product to an extent they cannot change to another product, let’s say Pepsi. The form of loyalty the product has received over the years confirms it strength in the market. In attitudinal loyalty, consumers’ judgments are based on the intention and intensity to buy products or service rather than from the competitors (Blackwell et al. 2006). Again Coca-cola has achieved this loyalty through Coca cola and minute maid. Another aspect of culture that has led to increase of performance is teamwork. DeChurch & Mesmer-Magnus (2010, p.35) believe that instilling teamwork is building a work culture which values and promotes collaboration. Coca-Cola Company has created teamwork culture where employees believe and understand that planning, making decisions and implementation are effective when conducted cooperatively. In this view, employees assimilate and recognize the principle stating “none of them can be good as all of them” (Salas, Sims & Burke, 2005, p.556). To remain a top performer the company has even ignore individualism culture which is high in America to implement collectivism which focus true collaboration. According Coca-Cola (2014) the company is valuing diverse employees, backgrounds, experiences and ideas. Coca-Cola has also benefited a great deal by adopting generational change. As stated earlier, generational change now takes into consideration millennial. This generation characterized by increase in familiarity and application of media, communication and digital technologies (Avi, 2013). It implies that they are not just attracted by any form of advertising or branding of product but by creatively designed ones using new technologies. Avi (2013) pines that majority of millennial have created networking so they are very active in social sites. Culture is not just about the norms and values but also artifacts as established Schein in his three levels of culture. Technology and IT systems are therefore the artifact aspect of culture. Coca-Cola management understands that aspect and have created user friendly website and are very active on social media to be able to young people to their business (Blanding, 2010). Coca-Cola bears a visible appearance on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and other new social media sites. With more than 15 million fans following on Facebook alone by 2013, Coca-Cola applies the power of social media sites not only interact with customers but also to create its brand awareness (Coca-Cola Company, 2014). Avi (2013) contends that all through the era of the social networking, Coca-Cola has harnessed the culture of generational change and technology to remain constantly connected to suppliers, employees, customers and to improve its brand. Coca-Cola Company launched the greener bottles and the packaging in 2009, in which it was able to manufacture 2.5 billion products employing with less use of energy (Coca-Cola Company, 2014). This is a technology driven project. Negative impact Coca-Cola is a big company that has attracted a lot of scrutiny it in operations and general culture. In several instances the organizational culture has been criticized for overlooking of ethics and corporate responsibilities. Business Standard (2003) states that people claimed that Coca-Cola has allowed fiscal imperatives to triumph over company culture and societal value of ethical behavior and social responsibility as the company strives to reduce costs of operation and uncertainty. Coca-Cola organizational culture also been claimed as a mere talk rather than reality. This is because of the accusation of intolerance of other people’s culture and even competitors. Coca-Cola Company has faced accusations of racial discriminations in their employment policies and practices, and experienced a social class, racial discrimination court cases concerns in early 2000 (Shin, 2004). The Coca-Cola has also been mentioned in lawsuits and controversies associated with human rights breaches and other immoral practices (Shin, 2004). Intolerance has been seen due to its discriminatory and monopolistic. Shin (2004) affirms that the claim has even went to the court when Coca-Cola was believed to practice monopolistic economy in Canada. Culture is about values, surrounding and how we operate in that surrounding. Hence, conserving is environment is part of our values because it where humanity leaves. However, Coca-Cola culture does not support environmental conservation. This has manifested in the fact that the company has been condemned many times on environmental concerns. It was reported that used excess water in from suppliers leading to shortages for farmers (Sharma, 2008). In 2003, Centre for Science and Environment, an NGO in India claimed that used pesticides in manufacturing which led to cancer in that country. Business Standard (2003) contends that the claims resulted to fall of sales in that country by 11 percent. The same was also confirmed by the Indian Health Minister. Even though, the Coca-Cola mission statement aimed to provide its customers with happiness and optimism, that was not the case in one of its distribution center in Belgium. In fact the company puts the life of 30 kids to risk by selling them poorly manufactured batch of carbon II oxide in 2006 (Blanding, 2010). Coca-Cola has been accused of ignoring language as a culture in its advertisements. For instance, the name of Coca-Cola in Chinese was initially referred to as “Kekoukela”, implying “female horse overfed with the wax”. However, after the contest with Chinese women, the company renamed the product “kokoukole”, meaning “happiness in the mouth” (Blanding, 2010). Lastly, Coca-Cola teamwork or collectivism culture has sometimes known to limit creativity since employees work on the overall good rather to showcase skills. At times there are unequal participation because some staff sit back waiting for others to work. Conclusion Coca-Cola Company enjoys the beverage market dominance in both locally and internationally. The corporation dominates several markets with different cultures with is product portfolios including soft drink water, juice and energy drinks. The essay has also established a comprehensive and rich culture aligned in their mission and vision statements. However, it faces constant complains regarding is values and ethical issues in relation to real implementation of their organizational culture. It therefore implies that if the organizational culture does not reflect how people carry themselves it creates tussle between the company and the society, and the end result is mistrust and drop of profits. Employees who come to Coca-Cola organization must also know there are individual culture people poses and if all they allow such culture to dominate disagreement and discrimination are likely to arise. References Avi, D. (2013). Just How Does Coca-Cola Reinvent Itself In A Changed World? Forbes. Retrieved on 10th August 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2013/10/07/just-how-does-coca-cola-reinvent-itself- in-a-changed-world/ Blanding, M. (2010). The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World’s Favorite Soft Drink, New York: Avery. Blackwell et al. (2006). Consumer Behavior, an Asia Pacific Approach. Cengage Learning: Australia. Business Standard. (2003). Coke sales fall 11% on pesticide controversy. Business-standard.com Coca-Cola Company. (2014). Coca-Cola Company Official. Retrieved on 10th August 2014 from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/ Coleman, J. (2013). Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture. Harvard Business Review. DeChurch, L.A., & Mesmer-Magnus, J.R. 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