Introduction
The growth of businesses depends on the strategic plans, goals, values, cultures, and norms implemented within a given institution. Multi-national companies like Coca-Cola have dominated the global markets for the past five decades based on adopting performance management and training principles in running activities since its inception in the beverage industry. The organization has an ongoing process of job clarification and open communications within the workspace, a decision that promotes the productivity of workers and the profitability of the firm at large. Performance management promotes coordination between managers and workers through an open-aided communication approach to achieve organizational objectives. Geng et al. (2021) argue that training employees to align with organizational strategic goals starts with clarifying job responsibilities, workplace expectations, developmental planning, and priority setting. Analyzing the strategies of planning, monitoring, developmental, rating, and rewarding employees at Coca-Cola exposes the impact of performance management systems in improving workers’ performance.
The Current System in Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola’s management values healthy and strong relationships with its stakeholders. The performance management system in the corporation has three primary concerns in the attainment of the firm’s objectives and long-term goals. First, the human resource department emphasizes the significance of the planning phase, where performance agreements are signed. Coca-Cola invests largely in planning to reduce the probability of business failure and destruction of the business’s portfolio. According to He et al. (2020), the planning phase at Coca-Cola’s performance management system (PMS) trains employees about workplace expectations. Workshops and seminars conducted within and outside the premises expose workers to understanding the organization’s needs. Performance agreement forms are implemented in the attainment of individual expectations. As a result, Coca-Cola trains its employees in performance measurement to allow teams and individuals to understand their roles and responsibilities over specific business periods. In addition, the competence and required results are stated in the performance agreement forms to remind workers of the long-term plans and strategies needed for such achievements.
The second phase encountered in the PMS at Coca-Cola involves monitoring employees’ progress. He et al. (2020) echoes that monitoring employees increase employees’ safety within the manufacturing circumferences. Therefore, Coca-Cola’s supervisory teams have created a strong connection between its managers and employees. Monitoring workers limits the chances of accidents in the production line and maximizes the understanding of procedures in manufacturing commodities. Coca-Cola monitors employees to avoid physical injuries in the packaging and bottling departments. Safeguarding staff reduces absenteeism in workspaces and increases time management efficiency at work (Geng et al., 2021). Correspondingly, Coca-Cola uses the policy of monitoring to reduce the occurrences of mistakes in the production departments to protect workers’ physical health. The outcomes of monitoring workers at Coca-Cola increased employees’ productivity by about 18% in 2020 (He et al., 2020). Thus, PMS at Coca-Cola leans on monitoring frameworks to improve employees’ work rates.
The performance management system at Coca-Cola incorporates reward and appraisal strategies to improve the firm’s current position in the competitive market. Coca-Cola’s managing director confirmed to the New York Times that reward shows appreciation for workers’ efforts over the ended business periods (Tien, 2020). The company awards employees of the month through gift hampers and money to create a competitive working environment for the rest of the team. Moreover, Fisher (2021) suggests that rewarding employees at Coca-Cola boosts employee retention and creates a positive workplace. Therefore, Coca-Cola trains its managers in the approaches of employee motivation with the dreams of encouraging healthy competition and title promotions. The individual successes of employees at Coca-Cola lean on the firm’s choices to reward its juniors for the little growth they bring to the organization.
The Process and Approaches of Communicating the PMS
Coca-Cola depends on software, emails, memorandum, physical meetings, and training workshops to communicate the goals of performance management systems to its employees. According to Tien (2020), Coca-Cola uses an android software freestyle mobile app to create awareness regarding its plans to employees and other stakeholders. The software permits recruits on matters of feedback and coaching, where workers are exposed to the importance of communication. The mobile app enables senior employees to issue feedback regarding workplace challenges and success, allowing the organization to trace its operation goals. Secondly, the beverage manufacturing industry uses emails to communicate performance management issues to its employees. Random emails composed by the human resource manager are sent to the worker to communicate their progress and productivity over their stay at the firm. Such emails appraise workers and create opportunities for employees to benchmark various countries to experience management diversity.
The use of a memorandum for internal communications aids goal setting within Coca-Cola. Workers at Coca-Cola receive monthly target news and plans through seasonal memoranda (Tien. 2020). The pinning of memoranda in different departments eases communication between the administration and the subordinate staff. For instance, the delegation of work to junior employees in the marketing department frequently occurs through a memorandum. The Marketing directors at Coca-Cola increase employees’ engagement in the firm by allocating marketing duties to such individuals. The realization of the end goals of marketing starts with the open communication systems addressed through memoranda.
Physical meetings and training workshops facilitate the communication of the performance management system among workers at Coca-Cola. Pendergrast and Crawford (2020) stress that the evaluation and review of employee performance in multi-national organizations work best during training workshops where workers are permitted to interact freely with their bosses. Likewise, Coca-Cola borrows evaluation insights through physical meetings by allowing workers to express their thoughts about performance assessments. The meetings promote trustworthiness and transparency in daily business transactions because workers and employers get to build their trust. PMS communications conducted through meetings aim at rewarding the performance of the top worker and teamwork motivation (Kravariti & Johnston, 2019). In other words, the accurate and consistent evaluation of workers in Coca-Cola happens during training workshops.
Effectiveness of Coca-Cola’s Performance Management System
The policies incorporated in the company’s PMS are effective for the organization based on the productivity margins initiated among employees and the company over its implementation period. Schleicher et al. (2018) believe the PMS at Coca-Cola is effective because it has successfully aligned resources, systems and employees to meet the corporation’s strategic objectives. For example, the organization has risen to greater heights by using its leadership to create solutions to problems like pollution and poverty. The strategic planning of reducing pollution in the production of soft drinks is an outcome of the effective performance system adopted by the management. Coca-Cola strives to build a sustainable environment through channeled networking that promotes healthy relationships between the organization and the community. Recycling straws and plastic bottles reduce solid waste in the environment. The management cites open communication during training in the attainment of sustainable environments.
The performance management systems at Coca-Cola are prolific because they help the company understand its goals and its employees’ abilities. Schleicher et al. (2018) highlight that company goals determine the success stories of untested businesses. Coca-Cola educates its employees regarding the primary reasons for their existence in the beverage industry. The orientation offered to recruits enables such individuals to familiarize themselves with the organization at the start of every contract. Therefore, the continuous and prolonged success observed by Coca-Cola depends on the ability of the company to implement excellent performance management of the stakeholders. The PMS in Coca-Cola is effective because it protects the rights and freedoms of employees. For instance, the employee-employer relationships in the company are strengthened through the open communication frameworks created during annual general meetings. The efficiency of the PMS in Coca-Cola is observed by its prowess to prioritize organizational goals over individual plans. Coca-Cola anticipates a better future based on the current policies implemented in rewarding workers and strategic planning for a better workspace.
The changing business dynamics call for certain changes in Coca-Cola’s performance management systems. Kravariti and Johnston (2019) hold that an organization’s relevance leans on the creativity of such entities to entice more buyers to remain loyal. As a result, the Coca-Cola PR team should make a few changes to the current performance management system to increase and maintain its target audience. In Kravariti and Johnston’s (2019) opinion, the current trends in management dictate a change in the conveyance of information between top offices down to junior workers. Coca-Cola should expand its use of technology to cascade its goals and monitor its workers to increase the accuracy of attaining company objectives. The organization should design a technology that monitors and tracks employees’ performance to increase the work rate of every individual in the production, marketing, and sales department. Trust building begins from knowing every employee’s personality, skills, experience, and talents within work. The technology will increase trust among stakeholders because it will have all the data and information printed against workers. The delegation of duties can also be improved through technology for a better and more stable operation for future generations.
Differences Between Formal and Informal Feedback
Workplace feedback is the procedure and process by which employees issue their constructive opinions, suggestions, and advice based on performance behaviors and skills at the workplace. Feedback can occur from top offices to junior staff, and in such events, organizations use workplace feedback to increase employee morale and reinforce productive behaviors at work. Carroll et al. (2022) highlights that formal and informal feedback is the primary type of constructive communication witnessed in global organizations. However, Gimbel (2021) expounds more on the differences between the two phenomena and stresses that formal feedback is more detailed and organized than informal suggestions at work. Formal feedback occurs mostly during annual reviews and disciplinary processes where workers are held liable for the constant presentation of particular actions. Formal feedback must be documented in communication with full details regarding an issue, idea, or behavior. In contrast, informal feedback includes the everyday casual conversations made by employees regarding their roles and work being done in particular periods.
Moreover, the planning and issuing feedback distinguish formal and informal responses witnessed in business environments. Practical examples include the interaction between managers and workers in a closed business space. Any criticism a manager provides to staff or negative judgments is part of informal feedback. On the one hand, informal feedback relates to the everyday social interactions between employees and employers. On the other hand, formal feedback is a planned and predetermined process that occurs through formalized analysis and reports. Carroll et al. (2022) insinuates that formal feedback is fixed arbitrarily based on the predefined goals of an organization, while informal feedback happens due to a prolonged observation of workplace results. Informal feedback is linked to individuals, while formal feedback targets the overall performance of an organization.
How to Improve Employee Performance
Every organization wishes to have top-notch employees to keep the portfolio of such institutions ahead of their competitors. Coca-Cola is one such entity that values performance improvement for the company’s well-being. The firm adopts certain practices and behaviors to develop productive employees to remain relevant in the beverage industry. First, Coca-Cola rewards high performance to inspire staff to sacrifice more time to improve the production and sales of products and services. Rewarding employees improves the performance of staff based on the motivation behind the monetary awards and gifts. The rewarding staff promotes the retainment of talent and boosts the loyalty and trust of workers (Fisher, 2021). Secondly, setting SMART goals, empowering employees, and tracking individual progress helps Coca-Cola and other organizations improve workers’ performance. Empowering workers can occur through empathy, growth opportunity support, delivery of honest feedback, and delegation of tasks.
Importance of Training Employees on Performance Goals
Training workers to understand organizational needs and performance goals play a crucial role in shaping a productive work environment. Training and developing employees on a company’s key values and needs give staff a better understanding of their responsibilities and workplace expectations. Familiarizing individuals with company goals prepares them to meet the organization’s objectives (Schleicher et al., 2018). In addition, exposing people to company needs reduces the risk of hiring incompetent, inexperienced and unskilled staff. Kravariti and Johnston (2019) suggest that training employees on the needs of a company increase the job satisfaction of staff. The outcome of the improved fulfillment improves the productivity of particular enterprises. Coca-Cola has a good global image because they develop leaders based on organizational requirements.
Litigation and Designing of Effective Training Programs
Several factors must be considered before designing a training program and implementing such policies in the workplace. Pendergrast and Crawford (2020) think that an excellent and effective training program should invest in technology to assess organizational needs. Besides, such programs should set training objectives, initiatives, and action plans to realize long-term goals. The delivery mode and the budget timelines make integral segments of designing effective training programs.
Training and performance management protects organizations from litigation by lowering the risks of employment-associated lawsuits against company owners. PMS trains employees’ work ethics that prevent employees from engaging in illegal activities that might harm the company. The system familiarizes workers with fraudulent prevention mechanism that protects organizations from litigation. Product liability, consumer, mass torts, and environmental litigations might arise in organizations if employees are not adequately trained and developed into responsible individuals.
Conclusion
Planning, monitoring, and reward performance management systems are currently implemented at Coca-Cola. The organization communicates the PMS through open links in emails. Furthermore, training workshops, memoranda, and physical meetings help the company to address the gaps individual and organizational performance. The high performance at Coca-Cola occurs due to the implementation of effective PMS that does not violate business laws in its regions of operation. Educating workers on the firm’s needs improves the connections between employees and managers at Coca-Cola.
References
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