Coca Cola Company: Staff Performance Effective Management

Introduction

This report responds to an earlier request to come up with a write-up on how your company can manage staff performance effectively. The entire fraternity of the Coca Cola Corporation comprises approximately 700,000 employees, who are stationed in different subsidiary companies across the world. The company encourages a culture of creativity and innovativeness among employees in a bid to achieve its goals and objectives.

As a form of motivation to employees, the Coca Cola Corporation focuses on fair treatment of employees and respect as primary principles of the corporation’s philosophy. Furthermore, the corporation has a diversified work environment that encourages the participation of employees in its affairs. For such a diversified company, the management requires effective ways of managing the performance of employees within the corporation as highlighted in this report.

Managing performance within Coca Cola

According to Torrington et al. (2014), effective management of the employees’ performance incorporates the procedure of establishing a shared comprehension of the organizations’ objectives and targets amongst workers. Furthermore, the management should focus on aligning the company’s objectives with the measures, skills, and competencies of employees. In such a case, the management advocates learning, development, and improvement for employees to achieve the goals of the entire organization, thus creating a high-performing workforce (Torrington et al. 2014).

For the Coca Cola Corporation, the management should introduce learning programs to expose employees to both formal and informal training. According to Foot and Hook (2011), formal training entails exposing employees to the academic environment for them to expound their academic qualifications in their areas of choice. Informal training entails sponsoring employees for seminars, trade fairs, and exhibitions (Foot & Hook 2011).

After exposing employees to informal training, the management of the Coca Cola Corporation can establish a program that requires employees to present their findings to the rest of their colleagues and management. Such a program encourages a culture of sharing, thus discouraging individualism. Furthermore, Mone and London (2014) contend that the culture of sharing motivates employees to focus on achieving the objectives of the company as a group.

Planning and monitoring

According to Boxhall and Purcell (2011), planning entails a significant role of the management as it incorporates the setting of expectations in relation to performance. For such a case, the management concentrates on setting goals that bind individual employees and groups to a set of organizational objectives. In directing employees to achieve the objectives of the company, they know what needs to be done, how, and when it should be done. Monitoring, according to Kramar and Syed (2012), ensures effective and consistent measuring of performance of employees and evaluating feedback from employees following an evaluation.

From the above statements, it is evident that planning and monitoring keep employees alert, thus motivating them to work toward achieving the objectives of the organization (Klein 2009). Therefore, the Coca Cola Corporation should make reviews during monitoring to ensure that employees work against the odds and push members of their groups to ensure that they are working towards the organization’s mission and vision.

Setting objectives and targets

Foot and Hook (2011) highlight that setting objectives and targets of the organization entails a significant part of planning. Employees in an organization cannot perform without guiding principles that govern their work. Mone and London (2014) further argue that a company’s objectives should be short and clear, measurable, achievable, and time-bound. Through the objectives, the management holds employees accountable for their duties and responsibilities. Furthermore, objectives with the four elements mentioned above motivate employees to actualize the company’s plans rather than keep them as paperwork (Mone & London 2014).

In the case of Coca Cola, each of the subsidiaries should set objectives that govern employees in their work. Furthermore, the management should couple of objectives with the goals of individuals that focus on diversity, creativity, and innovativeness. However, individual goals should be flexible to accommodate the objectives and targets of the organization. With reference to Williams and Adam-Smith (2010), the objectives of an organization are constant, but they require the flexibility of the schedule and for employees to achieve standards set by the management. For the Coca Cola Corporation, it should tailor its objectives to accommodate creative or innovative activities of employees as long as they are beneficial to the company or they contribute to the generation of profits.

Evaluating the company’s progress

According to Patrick (2013), management teams should facilitate monitoring through constant checks to ensure that employees are doing the right things. For Coca Cola, monitoring should occur through supervisors who will report to the heads of departments. During the evaluation process, supervisors can compare milestones of employees against the company’s objectives or those of the subsidiaries to ensure that activities are complete within the given timelines.

Reports should follow the chain of commands all the way from supervisors to the regional managers, for the further compilation of reports from different regions and submission of information as a single document to the corporation’s executives. Furthermore, at this point, the management should identify factors that impede the progress of employees as they strive to meet their targets and those of the Coca Cola Corporation.

According to Williams and Adam-Smith (2010), during progressive reviews, managers compare the performance of employees against their individual objectives and those of the organization. Therefore, through progressive reviews, the management establishes the extent to which employees are fulfilling the objectives of the organization. Such a trend entails adhering to the nature of objectives since they should be achieved within a given time limit.

Slow development characterized by the failure to achieve certain targets within their time could be attributed to unclear objectives or lack of sufficient resources to facilitate the implementation of the goals. Using this information, the Coca Cola Corporation managers should identify impeding factors and implement measures to correct the situation, either through providing additional resources or clarifications to counter unacceptable performance.

Developing

Given that the Coca Cola Corporation has a large pool of employees to manage, the management should focus on creating development opportunities through delegating duties. Through delegations, employees will identify areas that they need to improve for them to better their performance. Narasimhan (2004) argues that organizations are made of people with different perceptions and needs in relation to cultural-orientation and way of life.

Although employees have personal goals and objectives, the management should work toward reconciling the two in a bid to ensure that the workforce aligns its goals and objectives to that of the organization. In such a case, reconciling individual goals to those of the organization entails meeting the developmental needs of employees. According to Huffmire and Holmes (2006), managers should expand the employees’ capacity to perform through training and the implementation of improved procedures and methods of doing work.

Apart from creating opportunities for development through delegation, the Coca Cola Corporation should compel employees to provide individual reports in which they incorporate their strengths and weaknesses. From the report, the management should identify areas to improve and adequate means to develop the affected employees.

Successful introduction and implementation of change within an organization depend on the attitude and perceptions of employees in relation to the change (Storey 2007). Such an argument requires the management to study behavior patterns of employees prior to implementing changes to establish what suits the employees’ attitudes. Prior to introducing changes, the Coca Cola Corporation should seek opinions of its employees and train them in preparation to handle new machines or processes. In such a case, the employees’ involvement in the process of change will help to reduce the chances of opposition (Cuch 2013).

Initiating development opportunities

Legge (2005) argues that a company’s high rate of employee turnover depicts a lack of proper opportunities for development. As employees strive to grow an organization, they also consider their individual development. In most cases, organizations without prospects for personal development compel employees to seek opportunities for development elsewhere. In evaluating the performance, opportunities for development highlight the level of skills amongst employees.

Narasimhan (2005) holds that in a bid to steer both individual and organizational development, managers should expose their employees to training, thus equipping them with requisite skills. Apart from the identification of developmental needs, providing sufficient opportunities for development helps employees to appreciate change, as they are equipped with knowledge and skills to handle new changes (Mondy & Mondy 2014). For the Coca Cola Corporation, the management can initiate development opportunities through delegation of duties, providing formal and informal training, and exchange programs for exposure.

Rating and Rewarding

Torrington et al. (2014) advocate the significance of summarising the performance of employees from time to time. A periodical summary of performance helps in the comparison of performance amongst employees within a given period. A rating can happen through appraisals for which performance is graded against a system set by the management. According to Storey (2007), rewarding entails the recognition and appreciation of the efforts of outstanding performers and their contributions to the success of the organization.

In such a case, the management applies the concept of behavior controlled by consequences as positive behavior is rewarded, whereas negative behavior is punished (Compton 2005). From this analysis, the Coca-Cola Corporation’s management should recognize the outstanding performance of employees prior to soliciting nominations for formal awards. However, rewards can be either monetary or non-monetary, but they both motivate employees to continue with outstanding performance (Compton 2005).

Performance appraisal and compensation

The Coca Cola Corporation should implement a system of appraisal that allows the review of performance twice every financial year. The management compares individual and group performance against the objectives of the company. The rating can be based on assigning percentages to the projects implemented by individuals and groups. In appreciating good performance, the company can implement a system of compensation based on performance. Outstanding performers can be rewarded with monetary presents and be treated with a vacation package fully paid by the corporation. However, the problem with such a method of reviewing performance is that employees may rush and omit some vital processes for them to achieve their objectives within the time limits.

Evaluating feedback

During the evaluation of performance, managers identify the areas that require rectification (Cuch 2013). Managers produce a report of areas requiring corrections coupled with discussing the contents of the report with the concerned parties.

However, employees assume the responsibility of implementing recommendations of the report and provide feedback to the management. Managers evaluate the employees’ feedback and scrutinize whether or not the employee has implemented whatever is documented in the report (Mone &London 2014). For Coca Cola Corporation, the evaluation of feedback may take time due to bureaucracies imposed by the lengthy structures of governance. However, managers can evaluate feedback at the level of the subsidiary, rather than waiting for instructions from the head office through the regional managers.

Conclusion

The management of the Coca Cola Corporation should begin with planning through setting objectives and targets. In the incorporation of innovative individual goals of employees, the management should compare individual goals against the objectives of the corporation and approve plans that contribute to achieving the company’s goals. Furthermore, the evaluation should occur through periodic and constant reviews in a bid to ensure that employees attain specific targets within specific timelines.

Additionally, the Coca Cola Corporation should delegate duties, train employees, provide exchange programs, and expose them to fairs and exhibitions to initiate development opportunities. After the lapse of the period for the implementation of projects, the company should compare the performance of employees against the objectives of the organization and rate performance. Compensation packages should incorporate both monetary and non-monetary rewards. However, the evaluation of feedback should occur within the subsidiary, as opposed to waiting for a response from the head office.

Reference List

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