Talent

Management
Strategy
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CASE STUDY #2

Strategic Human Capital and Change Management

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Coca Cola Business

The Coca Cola Company is known as the globe’s biggest and most reputable beverage firm,
refreshing consumers around the world with over five hundred still and brilliant brands. In
addition, Coca Cola is well-known for being the leader and deemed as one of the most
esteemed brands worldwide.

The company’s portfolio promotes fifteen billion dollar brands composed of Coca Cola Zero,
Fanta, Diet Coke, Minute Maid, Del Valle, Sprite, Simply, Powerade, Vitaminwater, and
Georgia. Coca Cola is the top supplier of juice drinks, juices, coffees which are ready to drink
as well as sparkling beverages across the globe.

With the aid of the globe’s biggest beverage distribution system, customers in over 200
nations enjoy the company’s beverages at a proportion of 1.7 billion servings per day.

Indeed, with the firm’s continuing dedication to establishing sustainable communities, the
firm aims attention at initiatives which minimize environmental footprint and strongly
support healthy, safe and active living, provide all-encompassing work environment for the
company’s associates and of course to improve economic development of the nations where
the firm operates.

In the same way, with the help of the firm’s bottling partners, Coca Cola Company ranks
among the globe’s world class 10 private employers that have over seven hundred thousand
system workers.

Definition of Talent Management

Talent Management is regarded as the unified process of guaranteeing that an organization

possesses a steady supply of remarkably productive people in the right occupation at the
right time. It is worth mentioning to note that talent management is a constant process
which plans the needs of talent that composed of the following:

 establishing an image in order to attract the most exceptional talent

 guarantees that new recruits are instantly productive
 aids retain the most outstanding talents
 administers the incessant movement of talent to where he/she can have the most
influence inside the organization

Exploring Coca Cola’s Talent Management Strategy

The Coca-Cola Group in Europe provides opportunities to be superior within various teams
that are rich in culture, talent, perspectives, ideas and backgrounds. The company has
established an environment and a proficient way of operation which motivates its people to
build out of the ordinary outcomes every single day.

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Needless to say, the Coca Cola Group in Europe employs about one thousand six hundred
firm associates who deal with European bottler workers amounting to over sixty thousand
strong. About 1/3 of the company team of the one thousand six hundred offers mutual
services for all of the Europe Group and they also handle team-wide resources. On the other
hand, four business units make plans at the local market level. Modernized methods are
maximizing the speed in the market and lesser hierarchies enable rapid decision making. As
a consequence, there comes an opportunity to recognize the firm and the employees’ real
potential and most importantly release the company’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Coca Cola’s talent management is viewed as a projection of its entire business strategy- and
the firm’s people are actually considered as its secret armaments which keep the engine
stirring up full speed.

Furthermore, the firm’s business is divided into two sub-groups known as the bottling side
and the concentrate side which focuses on branding and marketing. Each side carries or has
its own talent; that is, from front- line makers and bottlers up to the entry-level positions,
there are middle management knowledge employees and the so-called C-suite
administrators.

It is worthy to note that this diversified combination calls for the people function to keep
pace with the evolving values of particular talent sub-groups to have and be able retain the
most exceptional talent. In order to execute this, talent management must collaborate with
Coca Cola’s customer insights as well as its marketing group, exploring tons of data which
can pave way to insights regarding what makes every generational cohort or employee
demographic click. Looking at things from all perspectives is quite imperative such as
knowing consumer behaviors, observing how they are as purchasers, what’s considered
important to employees and the like.

Coca Cola also finds it fundamental to collaborate with marketing to observe worldwide
about the distinctions between millennials, generations X and Y and the baby boomers.
That’s established facts to aid the management come up with a baseline for what’s essential
to baby boomers that is distinct from a millennial.

Coca Cola is also examining programs which allow telework and dynamic working
arrangements. This concept is for the firm to realize the needs of a locale or a nation before
they become apparent, which increases the possibility it can keep the most excellent talent
delighted. Then, employees can be in the lead for their respective expertise and stay focused.
Coca Cola has extensively invested in employee development. In point of fact, these
programs stimulate employee retention and keep the firm to shoot through in the worldwide
battle for talent.

Talent Identification

The talent identification permits evaluation of all individuals inside a pre-recognized talent
pool beyond an array of core variables like retention, core competencies, performance,
position criticality, position alignment and potential including vacancy risk.

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A range of integrated reports offers people with information which determines
organizational depth beyond these variables together with people listed by potential and
aptitude rating. This information offers people with the foundation for a talent management
workshop to approve results and to review.

A final unification report offers the foundation for a draft talent management strategy which
is produced from the tool. It determines the primary problems which feel the necessity to be
addressed for the improvement of progressive talent management strategies and
arrangement of Human Resources processes. It also simplifies the fundamental areas of
focus particularly for the talent pool, that may composed of retention or succession schemes,
development and sourcing.

Talent identification also offers essential data regarding where to mark the learning and
development plan. Skill gaps beyond your workforce as full and by individual are
underscored. The description of skill strengths can be utilized to carry out mentoring and
coaching programs.

Talent Acquisition

Coca Cola Company has taken a universal view pointing to its on-boarding systems in each
of its business and is integrating a method for obtaining new employees adapted culturally
and completely involved more rapidly. Additionally, the company is developing a universal
employment brand which will back up its objective to become the most excellent employer
choice in areas where it operates.

It is vital to note that Coca Cola is developing logical assessment processes and interviewing,
coordinated with the company’s core values, to enhance the quality of recruiting metrics in
all areas.

How does Coca Cola Company plan to attract talent?

Ever since, what Coca Cola Company has learned is that the brand is truly impressive. What
they are mastering is, before, they used to fabricate the Coca Cola sign and nearly everyone
would gather to the table. In some measures they still do; however that is not sufficient. The
firm needs to provide more concrete ways for people to improve their careers as well as
themselves. How can they influence the firm to pay back to their community?

There are essential strategies in order to attract talents and they are as follows:

 Benefits which are customized

 Training and Development (how does the company develop people to enhance
their careers as the company prefers their employees to stay with them)
 Compensation
 Culture. This pertains to establishing an environment where employees can work,
learn, have fun and contribute at the same time.

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Talent Development

Coca Cola Company firmly believes that developing outstanding talent must be linked to the
firm’s corporate vision and that is none other than to create overwhelming and lasting
success for the customers, shareholders, employees and suppliers.

The company’s primary objective is quite transparent and that is forming a talent-first system
by means of universal development of people and the firm’s programs. In actuality, Coca
Cola Company has established a remarkable progress over the last two years associated to
talent management. For instance, the company has pulled together a group of people from
around the globe and encouraged them to be involved in an exploration and action process
in order to establish talent manage-ment abilities which are coordinated with the firm’s
talent development strategy.

It is the company’s purpose to obtain, evaluate, develop as well as engage the most
exceptional talent in the globe to aid the company to grow. Also, Coca Cola is establishing
the right programs to fully support these efforts. While it is true that the company’s past
human activities have been particular to geographical areas where they operate, the
management started the process of integrating their activities worldwide while realizing
regional distinctions.

The organization is determining and adopting the most suitable practices both inside and
outside Coca Cola, enhancing logical strategies and then performing them in the most
effective manner. This literally what makes the business more flourishing in every region and
at the same time linking the firm’s community of talent worldwide. Coca Cola Company
have also established an exhaustive framework for talent development and this even possess
steady program offerings globally. Far and away, the company has globalized its leadership
development systems, heaping together various teams from America, Asia and Europe.

They have established a rising leader program that comes with useful assessment tools and
common evaluation criteria so to determine and improve the next generation of Coca Cola
leaders globally. The firm is also forming a competency development guide in order to
support the central set of Coca Cola competencies worldwide. Essentially, they also refine
global total rewards principle so to better administer mobility and talent development.

Leadership Development

The organizational or talent planning of Coca Cola Company has integrated the firm’s
performance management system, using one set of competencies, one rating system and
one performance appraisal tool worldwide.

In the year 2012, the company is deploying a unified succession planning as well as talent
review process across every business and the firm’s primary functions supplementary to a
worldwide talent review. This approach determines the company’s crucial roles and primary
talent risk areas, acquaints the employee development systems and aids identify the
company’s talent acquisition requirements.

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Coca Cola Company has adopted a new worldwide mobility policy and structure in the year
2012 in order to assist them establish a more diversified pool of leadership talents that
possess extensive global experiences and to meet various challenges which lie ahead while
the firm carries on universal growth. Likewise, Coca Cola Company is modernizing their
inclusion and diversity efforts in a more connected way and has started a standardized
process of leveraging heterogeneity of individuals and groups to vent concepts and
innovation and stimulate growth at Coca Cola.

Leadership Development Initiatives composed of formal policies and systems organized by

the organization in order to develop the quality of leader performance. In essence, these
initiatives can be structured training programs that are focused at experiential learning and
managing leadership skills which demonstrates to leaders the offbeat challenges they need
to surpass.

In line with this, when employing a leadership development program, it is really important to
start by creating a leadership competency framework of appropriate skills, knowledge and
abilities which are specific to the organization. In truth, this type of planning behavior serves
as a motivation for formulating efficient leadership development initiatives and at the same
time determining the particular elements of a leader’s identification which coordinate with
the needs of the organization.

How leaders perceive and develop a thought with regards to certain situations, challenges
and tasks also mold moral behaviors that possess principled implications for the
organization and to the leader. Moreover, evaluating the program and constantly offering
leaders with support, challenges and means of entry to feedback are also significant for
leadership development.

It is evident that subordinates are one valuable source of feedback and without doubt
leadership assumption motivates measuring their emotions, cognitions and beliefs for this
purpose. Indeed, strategic job assignments, job rotations and action learning projects are
viewed as practical approaches to development if offered in a sound feedback environment
where leaders possess particular objectives and are provided with task-level feedback.

Categorically, leadership development comprised of a broad array of practices recognized as

indispensable for increasing the potentiality of the organization’s growth opportunities and
human capital. In order to significantly increase the return on the company’s considerable
investment, leadership development initiatives and programs should be created with massive
attention to best practices and present research.

Succession Planning

Leadership development is regarded as an exemplified aspect of each leader’s

responsibilities. Not to mention, successor development is perceived as the accountability of
the whole executive group instead of one executive accountable for a certain functional area.

At Coca Cola Company, succession planning strategy focuses on:

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  playing big
 breaking down silos
 concentrating on the firm’s strengths
 determining behaviors, skills and experiences in order to succeed
 providing no guarantees
 thinking out of the box
 communicating openly with clarity, confidentiality and respecting anonymity
 holding people responsible for execution
 developing action plans and wholeheartedly committing on them.

Succession planning is viewed as a critical process by nearly most primary employing

institutions; but how excellent is it moving up to the risk of business life at present and the
conjecture that talented people will handle their own careers?

Some of the disorientation that surrounds succession planning is because of the fact that
people utilizes the term in several distinct ways. This term pertains to procedure in which one
or more successors are recognized for key posts or team of identical key posts, development
activities and career moves are planned for these so-called successors.

For that reason, succession planning settles within a very much broader set of resourcing and
improvement processes that we may call succession management. Needless to say, this
incorporates the management resourcing scheme, accumulate examination and
determination of demand and supply such as auditing and human resource planning,
management development such as high flyer programmes and graduate; skills analysis and
the job filling procedure.

What do institutions want from succession planning? Organizations utilize succession

planning in order to accomplish several goals such as:

 To enhance job filling for key positions by means of wider applicant search as well
as immediate decisions

 Effective development of stable successors through guaranteeing their careers’

advancement and managing the array of work experiences they require for the
future.

 Examining the talent pool of the institution and by that influencing development and
resourcing schemes.

 Promoting a corporate culture by means of improving a team of people who are

viewed as corporate resource and who share the most essential values, experiences
and skills regarded as valuable to organizations’ future.

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Essentially, of all these, it is actually the active development of a vigorous talent pool for the
future that is now viewed as the most significant. Likewise, this is also perceived as quite
indispensable to the retention and attraction of the most outstanding people.

The contemporary succession planning is deemed as a very valuable learning process for all
people involved. Senior administrators have to master what type of approach will function
best in their very own business granted its distinctive framework and resourcing problems.
In the same way, they also have to master how to hold these instead of complicated
discourse regarding the strengths and weaknesses of their employees and of course learn
how to fully support their career development. Succession planning process to that end
commonly changes over time as frameworks and needs evolve and administrators become
more excellent at executing it. The administrators have a crucial role in providing priority to
succession and standing firm on superior quality, impartial debate and follow-up.

In line with this, the Human Resource also has fairly analytical role in strengthening the line.
This is executed by several ways composing of information support, challenging plans and
judgments, career counselling for individuals, process design and facilitation, providing
advice to individuals doing the planning and many more.

Undoubtedly, the data support role nowadays commonly comprised of supporting

information and holding summary plans with the aid of computerized databases. These
valuable databases must be kept as uncomplicated as probable; however, the data they
possess must be steadily updated. In turn, this information becomes a very important
resource primarily for validating if developmental actions are followed-through and in
looking for internal applicants in the event that vacancies take place.

Career Management Strategy

Unlike many firms, there is no usual career path at Coca Cola Company. In truth, there is a
framework and hierarchy to the company’s organization like any other; however, the firm
motivates its workers to expand their breadth in their professions, to delve into cross
functional experiences and examine their talents in various locations.

In the past and until now, it is Coca Cola Company’s strategic priority to encourage and
retain superiorly talented and diversified workforce which only means to say that the firm is
not only regarding a person’s application to satisfy the needs of the urgent opportunity but
also the potentiality for an individual to obtain a flourishing career at Coca Cola.

A competent career planning calls for extensive self-knowledge as well as a simplification of

values. These will eventually administer the choice of long-term personal and professional
aspirations. Needless to say, the environment is examined for opportunities and threats that
impede or administer career paths. The current environment is not the only thing that’s
evaluated; in point of fact, conjectures must be formed in terms of the future environment.
More than that, a careful examination and determination of an individual’s strengths and
weaknesses literally becomes the ground for strategic career options.

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These options, then, should be examined for regularity with personal values and the
longstanding career objectives. After the thorough assessment of career options, the best
procedure is chosen. In order to successfully bring plans into appropriate action, short-range
plans are established.

Due to the fact that the environment is in a state of constant change; it is really fundamental
to develop contingency plans. So, to employ a career plan, it is very valuable to unify it with
the firm’s human resource plan.

What makes Planning at Coca Cola Company Valuable?

In the past, Talent Management has not been more of a top concern than it is at present.
However, in the need to fill a seen talent nullified, organizations need to be cautious not to
rush into employing programs or initiatives which concern more about taking immediate yet
uncertain action than carrying out a well-devised solution.

It is truly very imperative to have careful planning, ending up in a great talent strategy which
is closely linked to the organization’s entire business needs and strategies; this is especially
required for talent management in order to become rooted in the organization’s practices
and culture. It is only when this situation takes place that make it feasible for talent
management to be sustainable and more practical.

The Fundamental Formula of a Highly Efficient Talent Management Process composed of:

 A deeper understanding of the organization’s present and future business schemes.

 Description of the key gaps amidst the talent needed to urge business success
and the talent in place.

 A proficient talent management plan primarily formed to end the talent gaps. It
must also be unified with business and strategic plans.

 Precise hiring as well as accurate promotion decisions.

 Linkage of individual and team objectives to consolidate goals and offering
transparent expectations and sound feedback to administer performance.

 Enhancement of talent to develop performance in present positions and

preparedness for progression to the next level.

 A concentration not merely on the field of talent strategy but also the elements
needed for a progressive execution.

 Work efficiency and business influence measurement specifically during and after
the employment

Businesses that beat the competition understand that strategic talent management is quite
valuable in establishing the appropriate workforce required for accurate business execution.
Not to mention, administrators utilize diagnostic tools and analytics to advance beyond gut
feelings or generalities into step-by-step study of workforce performance drivers.

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Without questions, the capability to immediately train and retrain workers in conformity with
business requirement, make opportunities for real-time joint effort, and back up workforce
with more excellent analytics are all favors of a strategic talent management process which
will urge real business prosperity.

Manufacturing some of the top-selling beverages around the globe takes a few of the most
out of the ordinary technology around and a few of the most preeminent people in the
business. At Coca Cola Company, its Maintenance and Manufacturing teams are certified
unrivaled. This is the main reason why year after year, the company’s beverages are
considered the top choice by nearly all consumers worldwide.

Should Coca Cola Company evaluate its Talent Management Strategy?

Unbeaten organizations measure the worth of every single investment. With that, talent
management is not excluded. The question is not whether you implement metrics to assess
the influence of your investment on the business’ performance.

In truth, it is merely an issue of choosing what metrics will make the most favor to your
organization. There is only one thing for sure; talent management is undoubtedly a brilliant
business strategy particularly for type of organizations which view it as a lasting
commitment.

As a whole, Coca Cola Company understands the fact that talent management is an open-
ended process and not a sheer static business goal. Due to this reality, the company knows
that the pressure from their rivals and the instant changes in the worldwide marketplace will
unceasingly form change and require its constant attention for the long haul.

Nowadays, every employer feels the necessity for a deeper understanding of the significance
of talent management and must develop a scheme that can attract and retain the talent that
the company needs in order to grow the business. Coca Cola Company must utilize talent
management technologies to clearly see and come up with talent management protocol but
not depend on them in formulating talent management decisions.

Companies of today can obtain competitive advantage through seriously involving with the
core ingredients of talent management known as the compensation, succession planning,
performance, dynamic collaboration with the social networking resources as well as learning
management.

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