Economic subjects | Human resource management » Andrea R. Hart - How HR and ED is Effective at Coca Cola

Source: http://www.doksinet RUNNING HEAD: Final Research Project 1 Final Research Project How HR and ED is Effective at Coca Cola Andrea R. Hart January 17, 2011 Kaplan University Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 2 The Coca Cola Company Coca Cola began in 1886 when pharmacist John Pemberton in Atlanta, GA, sold a caramel colored mix that was combined with carbonated water and sold for $.05 cents a glass at Jacobs Pharmacy. The pharmacy sold approximately 9 glasses the first day totaling $45 cents a day average. After John Pemberton passed away in 1888 the company rights were acquired by a business name named Griggs Candler for $2,300 (The Coca Cola Company, 2011). Candler led the way for the innovative product to become a business. He began promoting the product on everyday products so that the logo was everywhere and the aggressive tactic worked. The demand grew so quickly that there three production facilities were up and operating within 7 years. By 1920

there were over 1,000 bottlers of the product and in the 40’s the president helped to lay the international groundwork for the company to begin doing business overseas and ensuring that a Coke was available to many for a small price. Currently the company now has a brand list that exceeds 500 with 3,500 plus beverages. This company has nearly 140,000 employees and operates in more than 200 countries and continues on its goal to expand to many new areas of the world.(The Coca Cola Company, 2011). On average a 16oz cola sells for $99 cents In 2011 the company reported net income in the amount of $11.8 billion for 2010 and an increase of operating revenue of 16% to $95 billion of which 70% was sales generated outside of the United States (Company Fact Sheet, 2011). The company has won many awards for advertising, packaging innovation and even had an outstanding turnout of tourists at the World of Coke Museum and headquarters in Atlanta (Hart 2011). Source: http://www.doksinet Final

Research Project 3 Coca Cola’s Employee Development Policies and Practices The company with many divisions of the brand such as distributers, bottlers and the manufactures, the company must manage a network of employees spanning the globe nearing 140,000. Human Resources although very present did not have many value adding activities to add to Coca Cola’s strategic competitive advantage until 2008. New initiatives such as implementing HR optimization and technology that supports the new HRSS delivery models improved the business impact. The initiatives did not bring documented added value until June 2009 (Lessons learned from Coca Colas HR Transformation, 2012). Coca Cola’s key strategic focus in human resources is to attract, develop, retain and a highly talented and diverse workforce to support business operations according to Karla Younger, Director of HR Services in North America for Coca Cola Refreshments (Lessons learned from Coca Colas HR Transformation, 2012). Ensuring

our associates are happy, healthy and treated fairly and with respect is at the core of our business philosophy and success. We strive to create open work environments as diverse as the markets we serve, where people are inspired to create superior results (The Coca Cola Company, 2012). While the company engages their employees to have open communication and offers a variety of developmental opportunities for our associates, including Coca-Cola University, a learning program for high performers the company also trains their employees for improved performance. In 2009, more than 27,000 associates participated in 1,720 CCU classroom sessions worldwide and 39,100 associates participated in e-learning courses (The Coca Cola Company, 2011). Managers discuss bi-annually with their employees about training and development and the types of enrichment that help the employee exceed in the workplace. Other training programs, conferences and educational opportunities for employees are encouraged.

Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 4 Information from Company Publications The Coca Cola Company is a $67 billion brand and their 2020 vision includes even more growth. In 2010, our Company generated $95 billion in cash from operations, up 16 percent over 2009. We returned $72 billion to our shareowners by repurchasing $31 billion in Company stock and paying $4.1 billion to shareowners through dividends (The Coca Cola Company, 2010). The 2020 vision maps out the path that the company plans to take to achieve their goals by 2020. Not only is a growth in profits a goal but also making sure that there are global successes. The company continues to keep expanding into markets not yet served by Coca Cola or competitor as well as continually introducing new brands and product lines into the company for marketing and branding. The company has forecasted demographics and the markets they wish to continue serving. Among the visions that the company is seeking to advance

their global momentum by continuing to grow in tough economic times and play a leadership role in driving sustainable, environmentally responsible business practices in the communities where the company operates. Creating value with our bottling partners also means capturing the hearts and minds of our consumers, customers, associates, communities and other stakeholders As stewards of the world’s most valuable brand, we feel a deep responsibility to ensure the work we are doing is creating tangible value for our system and the communities we serve (The Coca Cola Company, 2010). With continued growth and success the company will be able to continue to pursue a larger talented workforce. With so many strategic decisions that will now be included in strategic plans the company will see continued growth in the programs that the company will offer as well as a growth in how much competitive advantage the company has because of the new programs. The company continues to count on the

success of their employees in order to remain successful. Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 5 Description of How Areas of Human Resources Should Function While the managers work with their employees to ensure that employees continue to enrich their skills with training, and praise employees based on new skills, knowledge acquired and the work ethic. Fire and Ice CEO of Columbus Ohio believes that if you provide a learning, motivational atmosphere, you will find that you have motivated employees who want to learn. And if you don’t you obviously wouldn’t have any of that (Checket-Hanks, 2011). Continual praise for employees is a great way to keep employees productive and motivated to improve their performance. Employee workspaces are also vital to performance. With so many positions within the Coca Cola Company from corporate office functions to delivery drivers, employees should feel the freedom of their work space. In a survey of 200 organizations found that

open workspaces were favored among companies who wanted to improve culture, morale and productivity while also reducing costs and environmental impacts. Of those surveyed, 64% of those organizations that had open spaces reported not having any ethical violations in 2 years (Healthcare Financial Management, 2011). Keeping spaces open for employees to communicate and work more effectively will encourage improved performance. The work environment is changing so rapidly and Coca Cola operates in a wide and varied situations, cultures, and environments, not only will workers need to be more versatile and able to handle more diverse and complex tasks, but the company will need to deal with an increasingly diverse as well as aging workplace (Hedge, Borman, & Lammlein, 2006). Coca Cola operates in more than 200 countries and needs to ensure that the company continues to offer a range of cultural diverse programs to increase awareness to new employees as well as new regions that the company

begins operating in. Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 6 Practices That Should Change to Better Meet Organization Objectives The great thing about Coca Cola is that the company tests and finds opportunities that company needs to improve upon. For example when Human Resources became a strategic focal point among the Coca Cola Refreshments division benchmarking had to be done, testing and surveying had to be completed prior to changes being made. A study was completed in 2007 to measure the effectiveness and efficiency for delivering HR Services and while the goal was to deliver services to employees at a world class level, the study showed that there were areas for improvement (Lessons learned from Coca Colas HR Transformation, 2012). Coca Cola needs to continually track and document employee progress, morale, productivity and relations. While an area for identification was pointed out by Younger that standardization was a huge opportunity for global

standardization and even more so between U.S and Canada There was no standardization of compensation plans, benefits or policies While Coca Cola has worked with standardizing areas of HR with Canada the company needs to continue that global standardization in all operating areas as much as possible while still abiding to local laws. Working for a company that offers different pay or benefits or even follows different policies based on location can often cause a decline in employee morale. An employee in one country that has certain benefits, rights or privileges that another person does not have in the same position based on geographic location is not adding to the value of Coca Colas diversity embracing message. These needed changes to become globally standardized with HR policies compensation plans and benefits as well as ensuring that the new workforce receives cultural diversity training that is current and relevant. Studying and measuring progress in these areas will ensure

effectiveness. Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 7 Optimal Current Programs for Company Objectives Coca Cola practices and programs that are currently in use and are optimal for their objectives based on my model of the ideal company practices includes the training and development that the company offers. Coca Cola University (CCU) offers a variety of courses to employees. Employees can take classes in a range of areas including People Leadership, Franchise Leadership, Consumer Marketing and Customer/Commercial Leadership. Additionally, CCU conducts best practice research and provides coaching/consulting services with a view to transfer learning between different parts of the Coca-Cola franchise system (The Coca Cola Company, 2012). The new technology system that was implemented was a great idea. The company needs to continue to utilize the employee resource system to ensure that there is a cost savings with the transformation project. The multi tiered HR Service

delivery system allows many functions of HR to be segmented so that each segment can work best within their function. Coca Cola implemented a Global employee portal and a wave of new technology to bring together the company globally including a call center for employee/manager HR inquiries, an employee knowledge base system and a more global model. The company needs to continue updating the portal to ensure that the employees are using the portal and the technology is current and up to date. The company should continue achieving satisfaction for internal customers – employees, company executives and line managers, employees who have been well trained and are satisfied with their place in the organization are likely to be more productive, leading to better outcomes for the business as a whole (Analyzing Your HR Service Delivery Model: How To Define and Measure Value in Customer Outcome Terms, 2012). Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 8 Company’s Current Training

and Development Change management is a process in which an organization goes through a change and the change process must be managed to ensure that all employees are working and accepting the change as well as other stakeholders. When an organization sees the need for change and a program is implemented a team must measure how the change is bringing value to the organization as well as determine how to sustain the program to continue value added efforts. The sustainability leader must be adept at anticipating and evaluating long-term sustainability trends, spotting new opportunities and developing strategies to reposition the organization to benefit from them (Lueneburger & Goleman, 2010). Change management would mitigate the risks that the change would bring, and also allow assistance to employees who need help adapting to the changes that come with new changes. By introducing change management and version control software for all industrial programmable devices in its Wakefield,

UK manufacturing plant, soft drink giant Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) has minimized its production downtime, therefore avoiding costly delays and disrupting delivery schedules (Meyer, 2008). It took nearly two years for Coca Cola to standardize many of their HR policies and how employees were evaluated. It takes collaboration between an employee and a manager to determine how the employee plans to enrich their skills and development. The new technological systems that were introduced in 2008 to track skills should be updated to include tracking of new and acquired skills. Coca Cola’s HR services goal mission is “Right skills, Right position” using the new implemented system could be used to data mine skills for need to fill, mentor positions for hard to fill spots. This system has the ability to identify any gaps of human resource capabilities if an employee should leave the organization. Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 9 Objectives to Better Meet Company

Objectives The Coca Cola Company has many objectives that include being more profitable and satisfying consumers. To meet those goals Coca Cola has taken steps to improve the efficiency and productivity of their human resources. Coca Cola Company brought on HR Services to handle nearly 65,000 employees in the Coca Cola Refreshments division. HR Services main objective is to provide HR services at a world class level to all the employees they will service. HR Services took on many projects to get the companies employees serviced on their HR issues and concerns. Some of the programs they started included opening a call center for employee and manager inquiries. This call center will be staffed with HR customer service representatives that will help address HR related concerns for managers about their employees or employees about any topic needed. The company also implemented an employee portal system. The employee system was designed to assist employees with general HR issues such as

tracking contact information, tracking hours, and payroll information. Employees are able to log into the portal retrieve their payroll, update their W-4’s and obtain W-2’s during tax times. When the portal was initially introduced many employees did not see the value in using it. It was not until employees were required to log into the portal to retain their pay stubs the use increased. The portals were released in waves among the workforce by locations. Now that Coca Cola refreshments is using their Human Resources as a source of competitive advantage the company must continue rolling out additional initiatives that will keep employees engaged in HR initiatives. Coca Cola plans to increase the use of the portal as well as standardize the use among employees in many geographic locations beginning in Canada. After implementing the portal system the department experienced a cost savings between 20-30%. Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 10 An Ideal Model for

Coca Cola An ideal "model of how the company in should handle functional areas of training and development should be team based. With the many disciplines of HR each should be focused on by specialists. With the company nearing a workforce of 140,000 the team based model would allow handling of a larger volume of issues. Benefits of team-based organizations include creating and implementing solutions that stem from collaboration. Unlike the traditional format that relies on one director, team members focus on the organizational goals. This leads to open communication and innovation, usually resulting in better solutions and business strategies (Markovich, 2012). Although Coca Cola’s HR system is segmented into groups all employee and manager inquiries are directed to the central call center. Coca Cola must ensure that the call center is efficiently handling all the inquires that could be on more than one discipline. The call center will handle inbound calls on topics from

compensation, benefits, or policies and will attempt to resolve all calls. If employee has an issue with compensation it would seem wise to have compensation to hand and resolve the compensation issue at hand. Training facilitators and team members is of the utmost importance. Team members must feel valued as well as empowered to make the necessary decisions. Organizations should reward employees for process gains as well as primary business indicator results. Open communication and support systems are paramount (Markovich, 2012). Coca Cola needs to invest in heavily in having an onsite training facilitator so that hr employees are always able to learn, ask questions, receive immediate feedback and stay current in new HR policies and practices. Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 11 Overview of Employee Development Practices Coca Cola is a company that is more than 125 years old and for the last 49 years has not saw a loss. The company that continues to expand and

revamp in order to remain a major player in the beverage industry continues to change how they use their human resource capital. In recent years Coca Cola took additional responsibilities in order that they are ensuring world class level of services to their employees. Employees have many ways that they are encouraged to enrich their skills and their development. The employees have plenty of opportunities to learn, and receive training. The company participates in on the job training as well as offer courses to high performers at Coca Cola University. When employed with the company, the manager and employee set employee enrichment goals together. The employee creates a career plan or path that they would like to follow in the company. Online Virtual classes and conferences that are offered online can be taken advantage by many employees. If employees find conferences or training opportunities that are outside of the company but the employee can show that it contributes to their

production, management could approve to sponsor the training. Coca Cola has many opportunities for employee development. In 2010, we enhanced the practical skills of frontline managers and supervisors. We ran 33 two-day workshops helping almost 750 participants develop action plans. These include ‘Toolbox Talks’, short but regular team discussions about local safety issues, and ‘Walk the Talk’, whereby managers observe safety practices in day-to-day activities and discuss improvement opportunities (The Coca Cola Company, 2010). Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 12 References Analyzing Your HR Service Delivery Model: How To Define and Measure Value in Customer Outcome Terms. (2012) Retrieved January 17, 2012, from Human Resources IQ: http://www.humanresourcesiqcom/shared-services/articles/analyzing-your-hr-servicedelivery-model-how-to-de/ Checket-Hanks, B. A (2011) Building Up Your Employees Air Conditioning Heating & Refrigeration News , Vol. 244 Issue

10, p26-26, 1/2p Company Fact Sheet. (2011) Retrieved June 29, 2011, from CocaColaCom: http://www.thecoca-colacompanycom/ourcompany/pdf/Company Fact Sheetpdf Hart, A. R (2011) The World of Coca Cola Orlando: Kaplan University Healthcare Financial Management. (2011) Human Resources: Open Workspace Environment Improves Employee Engagement. hfm (Healthcare Financial Management) , Vol 65 Issue 10, p30-30, 1/2p. Hedge, J. W, Borman, W C, & Lammlein, S E (2006) Older workers, employment patterns, and the nature of work. American Psychological Association , pp 79-97 Lessons learned from Coca Colas HR Transformation. (2012) Retrieved January 16, 2012, from Human Resources IQ: http://www.humanresourcesiqcom/sharedservices/podcasts/lessons-learned-from-coca-cola-s-hr-transformation/ Lueneburger, C., & Goleman, D (2010, September 8) The Change Leadership That Sustainability Demands. Retrieved January 17, 2012, from ForbesCom:

http://www.forbescom/2010/09/08/sustainability-change-management-leadershipcitizenship-human-capital-10-mitsloanhtml Markovich, M. (2012) Introduction to Team-Based Organizations Retrieved January 17, 2012, from SmallBusiness.com: http://smallbusinesschroncom/introduction-teambasedorganizations-15259html Meyer, M. (2008, September 26) Change Management Software at Coca Cola Minimizes Prodction Time. Retrieved January 17, 2012, from MDT Software: Change Management Company: http://www.mdtsoftcom/News Events/CocaColaPressReleasepdf The Coca Cola Company. (2010) 2010 Annual Report Retrieved June 29, 2011, from CocaCola.Com: http://wwwthecocacolacompanycom/ourcompany/ar/pdf/TCCC 2010 Annual Review Year in Reviewp df Source: http://www.doksinet Final Research Project 13 The Coca Cola Company. (2012) Employee Engagement Retrieved Janaury 16, 2012, from The Coca Cola Company: http://www.thecocacolacompanycom/citizenship/engagementhtml The Coca Cola Company. (2011) Our Company Retrieved

June 29, 2011, from CocaColaCom: http://www.thecoca-colacompanycom/ourcompany/indexhtml