Change management n Coca-Cola

Change management n Coca-Cola

Introduction

The ability to establish and manage changes effectively at Coca-Cola has enabled the company to stand out from its competitors. Effective change management entails the establishment of effective strategies for shifting individuals and organizations from the present position to a preferred future position. The implementation and management of changes in Coca-Cola have been facilitated through the motivation of employees to accept upgrades and different changes in their business environment. Organizational changes such as the change of products in order to adopt a concept that is well embedded with the organizational mission and vision will enable Coca-Cola to maintain its reputation, diagnosis, credibility, and facilitate the achievement of desired growth.

Defend Two Organizational Changes

Coca-Cola Company should implement effective changes in order to facilitate the achievement of the anticipated growth objectives. Although the company has achieved its current level of success through the unification of its identity, architecture, and fabric, there is a need to implement more changes.

The first proposal is to align its values to the mission in the manufacture of its products and services. According to the company’s reports, Coca-Cola’s mission is “To refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and action.” Following growing concerns on lifestyle diseases, there is a need for the company to make changes to its products,products such as to connect its core values and missions with other production aspects that matter to consumers most. The company has failed to embed the production of its beverages within the culture. It should eject all the harmful ingredients used in the production, such as cocaine and narcotic ingredients. According to Todnem (2005), Coca-Cola should adopt healthy and user-friendly products such as to reduce the concerns that are associated with the consumption of Coca-Cola products, including obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes, among other lifestyle diseases.

Coca-Cola’s roadmap was establishment from an enduring mission statement that serves to declare the company’s purpose of existence and a measure against its decisions and actions. It intends to inspire the world through the production of refreshing and healthy products, as well as happiness and optimism, an aspect that is more philosophic. In order to generate the aspired value, the company should make changes to its ingredients to eliminate unhealthy products. Records show that the consumption of carbonated drinks has reduced significantly, owing to the need to achieve a higher degree of health and well-being. This is factual considering the returns recorded from the Coca-Cola Zero brand shows that people’s focus has shifted. In order to match organizational needs, the company should boost its portfolio of sparkling water and increase its production of Honest Tea, Suja Life LLC, Fairlie Dairy, and juices, among other healthy brands. This aspect will enable the company to meet its mission values, achieve consumer needs, and increase productivity and sales, amidst the growing rate of competition from PepsiCo, among other competitors. Changes in production will facilitate increased productivity, an aspect that will increase employee motivation and the desire to increase their efforts.

Alternative Change Option 2

Organizational leadership changes should be implemented, such as to intensify the company’s focus on its essential markets by streamlining the lines such as to increase its flexibility in order to adjust the business potentials. Coca-Cola should focus on returning is the focus on the traditional company in order to enhance its focus and accelerate the possibility of refranchising the bottling system. Changes in the company should be triggered by regulatory sources, internal processes, and different market dimensions in order to create enhanced procedures and systems of the internal and external environment (Kant, Jacks, & Aantjes, 2008). Making changes to the company’s leadership and streamlining its production lines will enhance its position in the market and take advantage of different opportunities in the market while mitigating possible threats and risks. Enacting changes in the company’s management and production processes will facilitate the utilization of upgraded technology by adopting advanced technology that is aligned with the industry needs. Improved leadership strategies will help to maintain efficiency and to manage different processes associated with affordability, quality of products, and cost management. This aspect will also facilitate the achievement of consumer needs through the improvement of tastes and consumer expectations in a bid to develop and maintain customer loyalty and trust in its products. As Coca-Cola Official Website explains, changes in leadership strategies can facilitate the implementation of advanced distribution chains in order to provide its products across diverse areas and markets. Considering that the beverage industry is highly competitive, changes in leadership will facilitate the development of strategies to address identified competition. These changes will increase the company’s sales and profits, an aspect that will improve employee motivation and the desire to put additional effort to achieve organizational and individual efforts.

Potential Conflicts due to Changes

There is a high likelihood that the company may evidence conflicts as a result of the implemented changes. Individual conflicts may be as a result of uncertainty associated with the assigned role and workload. The uncertainty caused by changes in leadership could result in the development of frustrations as a result of individual failure to achieve organizational goals. Failure to achieve the aspired goals could lead to the growth of motivational behavior and irrational thinking that would affect an individual’s ability to deliver. Failure to achieve organizational goals could cause individual conflicts to escalate to corporate conflicts between the employees and the management.

There is a high likelihood of increased load following changes implemented in leadership and the fact that company production procedures could cause increased workload. Implementation of changes could affect one’s ability to meet goals due to inter-role conflicts and increased load (Coca-Cola, 2011). Organizational changes could facilitate increased demands on the employees, an aspect that could cause frustration on employees. Increased employee demands without making desirable changes to the working conditions can cause frustrations that could facilitate the development of employee conflicts.

Conflicts may also develop between individual conflicts due to limited resources and reduced ability to achieve organizational objectives. Demand to achieve organizational needs in a toxic environment with limited resources can aggravate the development of conflicts between different employees. This aspect could facilitate the development of stress conditions due to job insecurity, changes in salary, and increased responsibility.

Reason for the Anticipation of Conflicts

Changes in the environment could facilitate increased conflicts due to misunderstanding about differing expectations, wages, and work conditions.  Conflicts could result from the nature of the job, aims, and objectives of the occupation. Differing expectations on what should be done between the employer and employees could facilitate the growth of conflicts. Different expectations in working environments, wages, and responsibilities of employees and the management could also cause the growth of conflicts. According to Helms-Mills, Dye, & Mills (2008), differences in needs, values, and priorities could also result in conflicts in the Coca-Cola company. It is also evident that poor communication between varying levels of management can facilitate the growth of problems between workers and managers. Lack of clear communication between the staff and clients can also facilitate the growth of conflicts as a result of distressed clients and frustrated staff. In order to avoid these issues, decisions should be well implemented and provided to employees explicitly. Regular management meetings should be undertaken to facilitate the passing of information and ensure clarity on the objectives that should be achieved in regard to the implemented changes. Poor planning can also facilitate increased conflicts between the participants due to the collision of roles and responsibilities.

Change Implementation Plan

The success of changes is dependent on the efficient implementation of the changes plan. Implementation should begin with strategic planning and efficient enactment of the methods that facilitate the adjustment of the stakeholders who will be affected changes. According to 2019, personal attitudes towards particular changes determine the effectiveness of the procedure. In order to achieve the aspired degree of implementation in Coca-Cola;

Planning Change

Leaders in Coca-Cola should recognize and understand the need for change by analyzing prevailing conditions. The leaders should plan for change with regard to their present position and where they would want to be (Graetz, Rimmer, Lawrence, & Smith, 2006). They should recognize the importance of change with regard to future plans and prioritize the areas that should be improved. For instance, they should identify changes in consumer tastes and preferences in order to implement changes in production mechanisms.

Undertaking pilot study and sensitization of management

After the recognization of the needs that should be implemented, change agents in Coca-Cola should discuss the findings and recommendations with relevant management. This exercise is essential in that it will improve the understanding of management and employees of the change in order to reduce the chances of conflicts (Johns, 2010). For instance, after Coca-Cola has decided to develop healthy products, it should begin by testing the market in order to receive the anticipated response.

Identification of Risk

When establishing the changes, risk areas should be established to promote the achievement of mitigation measures. Such risks that could be identified include resistance from the staff and poor decisions by the change agents.

Staff Involvement and sensitization

            The success of implementing change processes in the company will be determined by the extent to which human resources adopt the changes. The management should engage the staff and subordinates in planning and take their inputs into considerations. According to Todnem (2005), change agents must be well versed with the effects and results of changes on the employees. The views of the employees should be considered in regard to change recommendations as long as they are not likely to affect the organizational objectives.

Justify an appropriate communication plan that announces the changes and continues through the change management process.

Communication Plan to Announce the Changes Through Change Management Process

            Coca-Cola should embark on the implementation of the proposed changes by adopting an efficient communication plan. Face to face communication can be used by the management to explain the importance of implementing the identified changes. The change agents should explain to the management why and how the plan should be executed, including how different stages will be undertaken, including planning and the inclusion of staff in the process. Engaging with the staff will increase the chances of participation while reducing resistance. Focus groups can also be used to communicate the change management process to the staff. For instance, the staff should be informed about the importance of changing the product ingredients to meet consumer demands. Q&A sessions can be adopted to explain the importance of change management in terms of leadership in order to provide the company with additional insights on the provided topic. Intranet, webcasts, townhall presentations can also be adapted to make the staff part of the change process. Webcasts and videos can also be adopted as an efficient methodology to increase awareness of the areas that are considered difficult to understand or could facilitate the development of resistance.

References

Coca-Cola Official Website (2011). Coca-Cola Corporation. Coca-Cola Corporation, 2011. Web.

Graetz, F., Rimmer, M., Lawrence, A., & Smith, A. (2006). Managing organizational change. John Wiley & Sons.

Hayes, Johns. The Theory and Practice of Change Management. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print.

Helms-Mills, J., Dye, K., & Mills, A. J. (2008). Understanding organizational change. Routledge.

Hiatt, J., & Creasey, T. J. (2003). Change management: The people side of change. Prosci.

Kant, G., Jacks, M., & Aantjes, C. (2008). Coca-Cola Enterprises optimizes vehicle routes for efficient product delivery. Interfaces, 38(1), 40-50.

Kiitam, A., McLay, A., & Pilli, T. (2016). Managing conflict in organizational change. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 9(2), 114-134.

Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., & Seatter, C. S. (2015). Teaching organisational change management for sustainability: designing and delivering a course at the University of Leeds to better prepare future sustainability change agents. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 205-215.

Todnem B, R. (2005). Organisational change management: A critical review. Journal of Change Management, 5(4), 369-380.