Coca-Cola Companys Management Style

Overview of Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company, a retailer,

manufacturer and marketer of non-
alcoholic beverages, is a market
leader in its industry currently
offering more than 500 brands in over
200 countries or territories. The company operates a franchised distribution
system dating from 1889 where the Coca-Cola Company only produces syrup
concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold
an exclusive territory. The Coca-Cola Company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia
owns its anchor bottler in North America, Coca-Cola Refreshments.

This giant company has managed to maintain its position as a market leader for
over a hundred years and is still going strong.

Coca-Cola is a multinational company who started its business on May 1886 in

Atlanta as a beverage (formal drink) industry. Dr. John Styth Pemberton made a
cough syrup which he named coke on 8 th may 1886. Its price was 5 cent per
glass and was available at the largest pharmacy of Atlanta known by the name of
Jacobs Pharmacy. Later on it was purchased by a well-known businessman As a
Griggs Candler who introduced it as a carbonated soft drink in the market and
hid marketing tactics led coke to Coca-Cola and it dominated the market of
carbonated soft drinks throughout the twentieth century.

In 1895 the company started to sell their product coke in bottles which was a
strategy of the company to be recognized well in the International market. Their
strategy worked and the bottled form of coke was successfully recognized all over
the world in the beginning of 1896. Now a days Coca-Cola is the most famous and
highly consumed brand in all over the world.
Management Styles

A management style is an overall method of leadership used by the manager. The

success that the management team at Coca-Cola has in motivating its employees
to meet their objectives is based on the management style they adopt. There are
three main management styles democratic, autocratic and the laissez-faire style.

The Coca-Cola Company uses the following management styles, but each one in
different departments.

There are three main types of management styles used in businesses:

1. Democratic

The democratic leadership style consists of the leader, sharing the decision
making abilities with the group members by promoting the interests of the group
members and by practicing social equality.

This emphasizes on group agreements to generate new ideas. There are two types
of democratic management styles; democratic and consultative democratic.
Democratic is where all the managers, junior managers and employees are
involved in the ideas and final decision process. Out of all the workers, no-one has
a higher level than the others in this management style.

Democratic style is the management style that Coca-Cola adopts. This sort of
management style involves empowerment. In this management style individuals
and teams are given responsibilities and decisions to make, usually within a given
framework. If anything wrong happens then the individuals and teams are then
held responsible for the decisions that are chosen. With this type of management
style it allows the manager to feel comfortable with other people in the
organization making some of the decisions. Democratic managers will often want
feedback from their employees on decisions being made. Democratic leaders
listen and act on the opinions of the group. This type of management is good as it
makes the employees happy and productivity is high. This is a very good method
because employee's thoughts and suggestions are listened to by the business.
This makes the employees seem as if they are respected and that their thoughts
are valid.

Feedbacks from managers at Coca-Colas bottling system across the globe provide
vital information that is incorporated in their strategies.

2. Autocratic

The authoritarian leadership style or autocratic leader keeps strict, close control
over the followers by keeping close regulation of the policies and procedures given
to the followers. To keep main emphasis on the distinction of the authoritarian
leader and their followers, these types of the leaders make sure to only create a
distinct professional relationship.

Where the leader makes all the decisions, there is no negotiation and is very
prescriptive and there is little job satisfaction. However, the job gets done quickly
and there is less conflict between different ideas. This style is hardly used among
the company as they believe that the lack of input could lead to poor results.
Autocratic does save a lot of time as quick decisions can be made and there is no
time wasted on discussion resulting in the business saving time and money.

On the factory floor at Coca-Cola, there is an autocratic system of management

where the employees are controlled by the managers and follow their procedures.

3. Laissez-faire management style

The Coca-Cola Company has a culture that is run in the laissez-faire style meaning
the hands off approach. The laissez faire style is sometimes described as the
"hands off" leadership style because the leader delegates tasks to their followers,
while providing little or no direction to the followers.
If the workers are meeting their Key Business Indicators, then the managers and
the directors of the company take this relaxed style of coordinating their business.
They have a vision to refresh everyone everyday and the values to take pride in
their work , to be honest , fair and determined to win and have a passion for their
actions.
4. Consultative democratic

This is where the managers allow the employees to make the ideas but the ideas
are forwarded to the executive's or the manager consults their team to make the
final decision. Coca-Cola applies consultative management style to the company
more as there can be less conflict for what the final decision is. The advantage of
this is that it helps to motivate staff as they are aware that they have a say in the
company to some extent. The disadvantages of this that the process is very time
consuming and effort will be needed by a manager to do this.

Management encourages employees to set goals in line within the organization

aims. There are reviewed regularly in performance appraisals. The advantages of
this style are that it will increase efficiency of individuals and help to motivate
them and train them so they are productive.

The world's premier marketer and beverage industry leader for more than 118
years, Coca-Cola are focused on the strategic workplace programs that help
assure the success of their commitment to embracing the similarities and
differences of the people, cultures and ideas. The strategies Coca-Cola uses to
achieve these objectives include the use of certain mechanisms that facilitate
such communication to take place. These mechanisms include the use of:

Diversity Advisory Council

The Companys corporate Diversity Advisory Council consists of the representative

group of employees from all the levels, functions and business units of the
organization. The Council develops recommendations for all the senior
management on advancing the company's efforts, towards achieving its diversity
objectives.

Employee Forums

Coca-Cola believes that the sense of community enhances their ability to attract,
retain and develop diverse talent and ideas as the source of competitive business
advantage. Through employee forums, the employees can connect with their
colleagues who share similar interests and backgrounds.
In these forums and elsewhere, the employees support each other's personal and
the professional growth and enhance their individual and collective ability to
contribute to the company. The success at Coca-Cola is due to their laissez-faire
culture and the culture is important because it can affect the people and the
things to do with the business.

The companys culture is generally inviting and managers get along well with the
staff. Staff members have less stress to deal with and a friendly environment to
work in, thus work is done more efficiently.

5. Team Work

Team work is a sub culture within the Coca-Cola Company. Teams are accountable
for activities like:
Quality
Utilization and
Yield

Within the system, there needs to be a balance of Utilization, speed the factory
works at, and the Yield. Working together in teams provides the cooperation
necessary to achieve this smoothly.

6. Employee Engagement

Another part of the culture and the management style at the Coca-Cola Company
is its employee engagement. Employee engagement consists of the following five
points:
Realizations that delivery of the hard stuff is simply not enough.
Openly acknowledging this to the workforce.
Doing what it takes to engage every employee in the space of 16 days.
Involving everyone in the design of the management style consistent with
vision and the values.
 Identifying talented individuals across the operation to act as the internal
facilitators to train out the new behavioral standards (The Coca-Cola
Company, 2014).

Conclusion

The main objectives for the Coca-Cola Company are to be globally known as a
business that conducts business responsibility and ethically and to accelerate
sustainable growth to operate in tomorrow's world. By having these objectives, it
forms the foundation for companies in the decision making process.

By having objectives, the Coca-Cola Company can strive towards a goal and
create new drinks. With objectives, they can continue to plan for the next five to
ten years. Coca-Cola can spend more time in creating new ways to commercialize
their product everywhere. Such as helping local communities and supporting them
financially so they can create more businesses and maximize profit.

References

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37483762/Organizational-Structure-of-The-Coca-
Cola-Company
http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/foundation-human-skills-f-h-
s/221096-leadership-style-coca-cola-company.html#post453091