Introduction
Running a multifaceted company in order to accomplish desired objectives resulted in progress of the conception of management (Gomez-Mejia et. al., 2011). Management take in all those individuals who are associated with organizational management. It is basically a summation of prearranged practices by a team of individuals. Management takes in decision forming at several different levels of the company for getting things performed by others. It’s both an art and science, since the essentials of management are similar everywhere however the procedures are different. Five management functions involve planning; organising; staffing, directing and controlling. Further, taking the above discussion into consideration this particular paper attempts to provide a detailed insight of five management functions by taking the case of a well known beverage company i.e. Coca-Cola. The paper focuses on how the management practices of planning, leading, organizing, staffing, and controlling are implemented in Coca-Cola.
Background of Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola), the world’s largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, was founded by the Dr. John Pemberton in the year 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia. This paper in specific describes the Coca-Cola quality management system and analyse its effectiveness in meeting consumer demands. The brand headquartered in Atlanta with subsidiaries in almost 200 nations has an extremely strong portfolio of products. This includes Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta, Oasis, Diet Coke, Simply Orange, Energy Drink etc (The Coca-Cola Company Brands, 2014). The brand has completed over 126 years in the business and recognizes the importance of being innovative and valuing quality in this competitive era. It is one of those companies, which works around changing trends that shape the business. It aims to win in the eyes of its customers together with the involved business partners (The Coca-Cola Journey, 2014).
With the wide product portfolio of the company is available in packaging of different sizes and formats. With increasing consumer demands, the brand needs to rapidly expand its product portfolio as well as vendor base but with this the level of scrutiny and customer expectations also tend to increase. As per the company’s 2012 annual report, the nature of the work and business at Coca-Cola demands extremely high standards of quality in both processes and products, which includes production, bottling, delivery, logistics etc (Annual Report, 2012). Further, to ensure such as level of reliability and consistency, the brands system works around the KORE philosophy i.e. Coca-Cola Operating Requirements (COBEGA, 2014).
Management Functions
Management functions involve:
Planning
Planning involves deciding previously what to carry out, why to do, how to do, who will be accountable for performing the planning task and where to do (Hersey et. al., 2008). Deciding the goals of business, dividing goals into objectives for every division of the company and devising programs, policies, procedures regulations and laws as well as budget are the significant steps part of the planning process (Gomez-Mejia et. al., 2011). Planning takes in defining an objective and deciding the highly efficient course of action required for reaching that objective. Normally, planning takes in flexibility, since the planner needs to synchronize with different management and leadership levels within the company (Robbins and Coulter, 1999). Planning also takes in understanding about the firm’s resources as well as the future business objectives. Moving ahead, the planning step at Coca-Cola takes in mapping out exactly the ways for achieving a specific objective. For instance, if the goal of Coca-Cola is to perk up the level of company’s sales, the company would first determine which steps are important for accomplishing the set objective. These steps much take in augmenting advertising, sales and inventory staff. These important steps are then turned into a plan. At the time when the plan is implemented, the manager follows it for accomplishing the objective of enhancing corporate sales.
Taking a step ahead, there are several diverse kinds of planning and plans at Coca-Cola. These include:
- Strategic Planning
Strategic planning takes in examining competitive prospects and threats, along with associated strengths as well as weaknesses of Coca-Cola, and after that deciding the ways of positioning the company for competing efficiently within their business atmosphere. Strategic planning involves a lengthy time frame, frequently 3 years or more. Moreover, strategic planning usually involves the whole company and takes in development of goals. Strategic planning is frequently grounded upon the company’s mission that is its chief reason for survival. Coca-Cola’s top management regularly carried out strategic planning.
- Tactical Planning
Tactical planning is basically an intermediate-range planning, which is outlined for developing reasonably specific and concrete means for implementing the strategic plan (Robbins and Coulter, 1999). Middle-level supervisors at Coca-Cola frequently take part in tactical planning. Tactical planning frequently involves a time period of 1 to 3 years.
- Operational Planning
Operational planning at Coca-Cola usually supposes the survival of goals and outlines ways for achieving them. Operational planning is basically short-range planning, which is designed for developing particular action steps which assist tactical and strategic plans. Operational planning at Coca-Cola normally involves a short time period of 1 week to 1 year.
Organizing
Organizing involves dividing the task into different operations and sub-operations, grouping of practices which are strongly linked in their nature, allotting responsibilities and duties to the staff members and finally delegating power and authority to every staff or the team for discharging their responsibilities accordingly are the procedures that come under organizing element (Hersey et. al., 2008). The organizing element controls the overall company’s structure. At Coca-Cola the organizational framework is considered as being the company’s foundation. In the absence of this structure, the everyday business operations become unsuccessful and difficult. Organizing takes in allotting responsibilities and tasks to staff members having the particular ability sets required for completing the tasks. Organizing at Coca-Cola also takes in building organizational structure as well as chain of command in the corporation. Moving ahead, after a plan is implemented the company’s manager organizes his/her team as well as materials as per the set plan. Allotting task and granting authority are regarded as two important aspects of organizing at Coca-Cola.
Staffing
Staffing refers to the procedure of appointing, assessing, evaluating and building staff members at work within a company (Hersey et. al., 2008). Here the job traits are determined principally. It is tagged along by making sure that the correct number of and type of staff member, are appointed at the correct position and at the correct time when company needs them (Gomez-Mejia et. al., 2011). The function of staffing starts with updating the positions within the company and choosing the most appropriate people as staff members. Manpower development, promotions, transfers and performance appraisal are the other procedures, part of the staffing function of management
The staffing management function controls all personnel and recruitment requirements of the company (Robbins and Coulter, 1999). Staffing takes in more than simply recruitment. In the absence of the staffing task, the company would be unsuccessful since it would not be correctly staffed for meeting its objectives. Moving ahead, in case of Coca-Cola, when the manager discerns his/her area's requirements, he/she decides to strengthen staffing through recruiting, selecting, training and lastly, developing staff members. A manager within big companies like Coca-Cola frequently functions with human resource department of the company for accomplishing the set objective.
Directing
Communication, supervision, leadership and lastly, motivation are the factors, which come under the management function of directing (Robbins and Coulter, 1999). Directing simply refers to leading and guiding individuals within a company. It not just involves offering instructions by a top management to the sub-ordinates but also refers to the procedure of guiding, supervising and motivating for the purpose of achieving the set organizational objectives (Gomez-Mejia et. al., 2011). It is a multifaceted management function that makes sure that the staff members function efficiently and effectively. Moving ahead, the manager at Coca-Cola performs more than simply plan, staff and organize his/her team for achieving an objective. The manager also carries out the task of directing the team and employees for accomplishing set objectives in the best and most effective way. Leading at Coca-Cola takes in motivating, encouraging and communicating. It makes essential for the manager to offer coaching, assistance and solve problems of the employees.
Controlling
Controlling is basically the procedure, which makes sure whether the resources are attained and utilized resourcefully for accomplishing the organizational goals (Hersey et. al., 2008). Controlling element of management is directly related to the planning element for the reason that, it takes in checking employees’ performance for seeing whether the intended performance is being accomplished by them or not. Moreover, budgetary control, quality control, inventory control, profit and loss control, cost accounting, management audit, cost control, financial control, production control, break-even analysis and lastly, internal audit control are considered as being the vital control tools (Hersey et. al., 2008).
The controlling management function is regarded as being highly useful at Coca-Cola for making sure that all other functions associated with the company are well placed and are functioning effectively. Controlling at Coca-Cola takes in setting performance standards as well as administering employees’ outcome for ensuring that their performance meets set standards. The controlling procedure generally results in the recognition of problems and situations, which must be addressed through developing new performance standards. The performance level has an impact on the success of every facet of the company. Moving ahead, when the other management elements are in place, Coca-Cola continuously test outcomes against set objectives and undertake any corrective actions essential for making sure that the set plans are well on track.
Conclusion
References:
Annual Report (2012). The Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved from http://www.coca- colacompany.com/our-company/company-reports.
COBEGA (2014). Coca-Cola Operating Requirements (KORE) Retrieved from http://www.cobega.es/sites/eng/quality/management.aspx.
Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B. and Cardy, R. L. (2008). Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York, New York USA: McGraw-Hill
Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. and Johnson, D. (2008). Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Robbins, S. P. and Coulter, M. (1999). Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
The Coca-Cola Company Brands (2014). Brands Retrieved from http://www.coca- colacompany.com/brands/the-coca-cola-company.
The Coca-Cola Company Journey (2014). Mission, Vision & Values. Retrieved from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/mission-vision-values.
