Introduction
The dependence of the Coca-Cola company on its talent base to achieve high levels of performance and competitive advantage in the non-alcoholic beverages business predetermines the prioritization of employee job satisfaction and morale by the firm. In particular, the level of morale and job satisfaction depends on organizational culture, leadership style, engagement and motivation efforts, and the ability of the company to maintain positive change. This business brief is designed to identify Coca-Cola’s methods to increase employee job satisfaction and morale, the approaches to measuring these indicators, and possible areas for improvement, given weaknesses. While the organization demonstrates a high level of employee job satisfaction due to effective engagement methods and positive change maintenance, it might further enhance its performance excellence. Thus, the recommendations for Coca-Cola’s performance improvement using employee morale enhancement include increased decision-making delegation and team-building efforts.
Morale and Job Satisfaction
Current Methods Evaluation
An important aspect of employee morale and job satisfaction is its dependence on the applied leadership style. Indeed, according to Maisoni et al. (2019), leadership that encourages feedback, a delegation of duties, innovative solutions, and initiatives in employees yield high levels of job satisfaction and morale in the workforce. As a company employee, one might state that the currently applied laissez-faire leadership style provides the workforce with enough freedom to use their expertise and competence to drive Coca-Cola’s competitive advantage in its market. In addition, another method of maintaining a high level of job satisfaction is through benefits and compensation systems that prioritize each employee’s contribution to the company’s growth (Kothari, 2022). Moreover, the company empowers its employees for personal and professional growth through various development programs. They include Peak Performance, Coca-Cola University, Assessment and Development Forums, and others (“Why work at the Coca-Cola company,” n. d.). Such efforts applied in combination yield positive results in terms of company performance. However, enhancing their effectiveness by introducing more team-building efforts might be relevant.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the organization invest more in the development of team-building within different divisions of the organization on a global scale. Such an effort is likely to improve and sustain a high level of job satisfaction on an emotional level when employees experience a sense of belonging to a larger group of peers united by the same purpose (Shrestha & Singh, 2020; “Why work at the Coca-Cola company,” n. d.). Thus, when added to the existing methods of enhancing job satisfaction and employee morale, team-building and corporate culture training practices will allow for perfecting corporate culture and communication that will allow for driving more employee engagement, performance excellence commitment, and ultimately increase performance outcomes of the company (Shrestha & Singh, 2020). Thus, this recommendation aims to maintain a high level of competitive advantage of the Coca-Cola company over its rivals by retaining and developing committed talent.
Supporting Positive Change
Current Methods Evaluation
A company’s ability not only to reach positive results in terms of employee satisfaction and morale but also to support and maintain positive change predetermines the overall resilience and compatibility of the organization. Being employed at the Coca-Cola Company, one might claim that the firm acknowledges and maintains positive change through regular monitoring, feedback obtainment through questionnaires and surveys, and improved implementation of efforts aimed at meeting employee needs. In particular, Coca-Cola, “through its divisions and subsidiaries, is a party to numerous collective bargaining agreements” (“Form 10-K,” 2021, p. 10). Thus, the grievances might be filed through collective bargaining procedures, allowing employees to express their concerns. However, this practice does not seem particularly effective due to the dissatisfaction of the workforce with their limited decision-making within the framework of collective actions. In particular, research shows that “58% of respondents do not accept that the company takes into account the notion that the participation of workers should take place directly by decision-making instead of indirectly by labor unions” (Shrestha & Singh, 2020, p. 69). Thus, it is essential to change methods of positive change support to ensure long-term employee satisfaction.
Recommendation
Given the identified weakness in the methods of positive change support, one might recommend that Coca-Cola implement practices of individual responsibility delegation and customized grievance identification to ensure that the needs of each employee are met. The review of From 10-K (2021) demonstrates the lack of employee concerns, which indicates that the company might omit a significant layer of information pertaining to potential drawbacks in HR efforts to meet employee concerns. Therefore, to ensure that the talented workforce is committed, engaged, and retained, Coca-Cola should shift from labor unions to individual concern reviewing and duty delegation to enhance employee decision-making (Ramyasri & Aruna, 2019; Shrestha & Singh, 2020). In such a manner, the firm’s competitive advantage will be maintained by means of retaining a loyal workforce.
Key Results and Conclusions
In summation, the analysis of Coca-Cola’s methods of enhancing job satisfaction and morale and the approaches to supporting positive change has revealed several strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, the company effectively motivates and engages its workforce using development and growth practices, as well as encourages feedback to ensure the long-term satisfaction of employees. On the other hand, the empowerment efforts lack team-building practices, training, delegation for individual decision-making independence, and grievance resolution. Thus, it is recommended to enhance team-building and training, as well as minimize collective bargaining through labor unions, shifting to individualized concern mitigation approaches instead.
References
Form 10-K: The Coca-Cola Company. (2021). Web.
Kothari, N. (2022). Reward analysis in Coca-Cola company. Web.
Ramyasri, C., & Aruna, G. (2019). A study on employee job satisfaction with reference to Coca-Cola. A Journal of Composition Theory, 12(9), 674-684.
Maisoni, H., Yasri, Y., & Abror, A. (2019, April). Effect of organizational culture, leadership, and compensation on employee engagement in Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia Central Sumatra. In 2nd Padang International Conference on Education, Economics, Business, and Accounting (pp. 553-561). Atlantis Press.
Shrestha, N., & Singh, D. (2020). Impact of employee empowerment on job satisfaction: A case study of Coca Cola, Nepal. Research Journal of Science, Technology and Management, 2(3), 60-72.
Why work at the Coca-Cola company? (n. d.). Web.