Coca-Cola is one of the most well-known and profitable global corporations. Coca-Cola beverages are being sold worldwide, and the company is considered one of the most successful businesses. Such favorable outcomes and high incomes are linked to effective global cross-cultural practices and beneficial international management strategies. Since Coca-Cola is a global supplier, leaders have to take into consideration every aspect of international trade, conflicts, and possible difficulties (Panigrahi, 2020). It is necessary to make sure that the corporation’s leaders are proficient when it comes to avoiding and solving problems that may affect the company’s outcomes. This would build a strong foundation for mitigating and eradicating possible issues inside and outside the corporation. Therefore, the solution is implementing a program to train leaders, build trust, and handle certain conflicts for the benefit of the entire organization.
The Foundation and Key Events of the Program
The program will evaluate and provide valuable tools for the leaders that they will be able to use in their professional environments. Global leaders encounter multiple difficulties when it comes to solving and mitigating problems within the Coca-Cola corporation. It is important for them to have the knowledge and skills to objectively look at the issues and find a favorable solution that would not jeopardize the organization (Maisoni et al., 2019). This is why implementing a specialized program aimed to assist global leaders will be necessary to improve the theoretical and practical skills leaders have in dealing with conflicts that affect the company on multiple levels. The program is divided into multiple events, and each of them has a particular purpose of helping the participants. The strategy is to have an intensive week-long program. Furthermore, it will be followed up by monthly meetings and a support line that would provide further assistance and help for the global leaders and top managers who encounter conflicts and look for ways to deal with them in an effective manner.
Week-long Training Session for the Global Leaders
The week-long training session is the beginning of the program. This intense course is designed to allow the professionals who are responsible for the program to assess the leaders’ skills and examine the situation that Coca-Cola is currently experiencing as a corporation. According to experts, the duration of the initial implementation is highly effective (Columbia University, 2021). While the program starts with a week-long training session, the intensity of the course will allow leaders to show their strong points and discover new strategies that will be useful in their professional settings. Moreover, it will allow the managers to be fully immersed in the process of examining themselves and how they can contribute to the organization (Columbia University, 2021). The course consists of two separate parts. The first goal is to train the leaders in regards to the essential aspects of global conflict management, while the second aim is to assess the leaders’ demonstrations of the skills and experience they have already acquired (Campbell, 2018). This will benefit not only the participants but also the company as a whole.
Monthly Meetings
After the intensive one-week program where participants will be able to gain new knowledge, it is crucial to continue the progress by having monthly meetings. The follow-ups are designed to examine the knowledge and the actions leaders take in terms of dealing with emerging conflicts in a favorable way. It is also an excellent way for global leaders to share their experiences and provide their peers with objective information that has helped them mitigate global management issues in the past. The invited professionals will share helpful information, which will then be used among employees within their own departments.
During the monthly meetings, it is crucial for the invited experts to discuss common mistakes. Learning about specific strategies and ways to mitigate conflicts by listening to experts is a more promising strategy than inefficiently solving the issues and causing adverse outcomes for Coca-Cola. Moreover, such meetings will have the vital role of providing support for the leaders. Global leaders would benefit from being able to talk about issues and problems in a safe environment where they will receive much-needed guidance and support.
Support Line
As mentioned before, global leaders need support mechanisms due to the highly stressful work environments and the critical decisions they have to make. This is why a unique support line can help mitigate the problem. The Coca-Cola Company’s leaders and top managers will have a special line designed to be used during crisis moments, stressful situations, and uncertain decision-making processes. The line can be critical when the global leaders have a dilemma in regards to handling a global conflict. The experts on the line can assess the issue objectively, give advice, or reassure the leaders that their decision is favorable. Moreover, mitigating a global conflict is a stressful situation that can negatively impact the leaders and create emotional stress. A support line will be the tool they use to reassure their decisions or receive helpful advice. This will positively impact the effectiveness and minimize adverse outcomes that occur due to irrational strategies.
The Training Program’s Topics
As mentioned before, the training program aims to support, guide, and give global management leaders knowledge and skills to deal with conflicts and specific problems that may affect the Coca-Cola company. Moreover, there are several aspects that will create a favorable environment in which managers will be able to communicate, share experiences, and receive answers. To make the course effective, it is important to discuss and address several points that occur during crisis situations. It is also essential to build an effective interconnected system in which the leaders are open to have conversations and find practical solutions to global conflicts that adversely impact the organization.
Establishing Cognitive Trust
A vital topic that has to be addressed upon implementing the training program for global leaders is establishing trustworthy relationships within the organization’s environment. Leaders will not objectively share expertise and take helpful advice if the communication is not built on trust and understanding. According to researchers, the cognitive organizational trust may be defined as a sense of belief in the knowledge, skills, and functional competence that global leaders have towards their colleagues (Nielsen & Lyndgaard, 2020). Leaders who know that they are surrounded by professionals who are well-skilled when it comes to mitigating conflicts are more likely to apply the received advice within their professional settings.
Moreover, viewing colleagues as reliable sources of information creates an effective environment where each professional can openly discuss issues and ask for reliable advice without having doubts regarding the procedure’s efficacy. This is why the program needs to focus on this particular topic. The level of trust among the organizational leaders can be improved by proving each participant’s skills, knowledge, and experience. Individuals will examine their colleagues as experts and realize that their advice is based on a deep understanding of the issue and the desire to help.
Establishing the Ability to Solve Relational and Task-Related Conflicts
One of the program’s premises relies on is establishing the ability to solve relational and task-related conflicts. Even the most competent and experienced leaders may find difficulties when it comes to dealing with conflicts. The issues may occur within the Coca-Cola company as rivalry between departments or different branches. Moreover, problems may occur on a task-related level if individuals disagree on a specific goal or a strategy that can help achieve the said objective. This is why one of the program’s topics is associated with giving leaders tools and information regarding mitigating such conflicts. Experts will go into detail and discuss the multiple problems that may occur on the organizational level.
Furthermore, each possible conflict will be addressed, and specific instructions will be discussed regarding dealing with such issues. Leaders will examine previous situations and ways in which managers have dealt with them, discuss the conflicts that their colleagues are currently trying to minimize, and simulate conditions in which they will apply their knowledge practically. Such methods will improve the theoretical skills of the global leaders, which will then be used to solve practical disagreements within the organization and lead to favorable outcomes for the Coca-Cola company.
Coca-Cola Company Structure
Conflict is a difference in ideologies or perceptions that cause struggle for position or power. In contrast, conflict management is an affirmative and effective strategy for managing disagreements or discrepancies in a setting like a company. Global leaders in organizations are entitled to offer guidance, transform their team, and manage conflict that arises from within groups or interpersonally (Nielsen & Lyndgaard, 2020). In Coca-Cola Company, leaders play an essential role in conflict management through leadership style, intervention, and direct role. In the company, conflict is probable to occur mainly on teams. Conflict management is effective when the management style is integrated, and leaders have an essential role in conflict management (Maisoni et al., 2019). Conflict is inevitable and also occurs due to variations in goals and means of completing them.
Coca-Cola company operates in line with the fundamental concept of leadership that involves result orientation, leadership regarding changes, strategic thinking, and strengthening the level of workers’ commitment. The international objective of the company was to develop a basic model for the incorporation of all processes associated with personnel such that every work done is essential and value-added (Nielsen & Lyndgaard, 2020). Any modern organization regards the development of leaders as a critical task. The Coca-Cola Company’s prime objective lies in personnel management; however, it is achieved only when there is an effective leadership conflict management program. The company employs leadership styles that can promote constructive conflict. Global leaders understand the best leadership style to use in their leadership, such as transformational leadership that motivates employees to work towards achieving a common goal (Panigrahi, 2020). Leaders learn effective leadership styles through training that is conducted periodically by the company. Leaders in the Coca-Cola company value open-minded discussion because it is associated with improved performance, productivity, and effectiveness of teams.
Management competence is critical in placing the company at the forefront of the market. Coca-Cola company has an established line of authority which is an essential facet that ascertains the feasibility of the company operation. Good management is accountable for company growth, whereas unexpected results in drifts within the organization. The planning strategy of leadership requires a procedural model to determine the fragile links in leadership and avoid implications (Agarwal, 2017). Management is one of the essential factors that ascertain the productivity of company operations. Good governance is accountable for organizational growth, unlike lousy management, which can cause the company to collapse. Many kinds of leadership are employed in running a company; as a result, it pauses a problem in making decisions because decisions are made from the top.
In Coca-Cola, workers take broader ranges of accountability, and leaders, in particular, face a challenging environment as they are accountable for more people working in a strategy-orientated (Nielsen & Lyndgaard, 2020). Global leaders make rudimentary changes and develop diverse, organized, viable strategies to avoid drifts. Leaders in Coca-cola company manage conflict in leadership through proper planning that allows the employees to adapt and learn much quicker. Furthermore, the organization follows well-structured and adequate training that reduces the risk of taking more time and avoiding other duties.
Management Approach to Risks and Uncertainty Decision-Making
An organization’s management is challenged with incidences of risks and uncertainty, and decision-making helps in reducing or eliminating these challenges. Avoidance of leadership conflict in the Coca-Cola company is achieved through organized board members that assist in making organizational decisions (Nielsen & Lyndgaard, 2020). The shareholders of the company elect board members that assume responsibilities of protecting their interests and provide surety of organizational success. The board is responsible for overseeing senior officers of the business, guiding, advising, safeguarding the company’s assets, and formulating laws and regulations (Agarwal, 2017). During decision-making, board members consider every single factual detail and probable situation before making conclusions. The hierarchical levels in management help in conflict management
Impact of Leadership Conflict Management on Situations
The role of leadership naturally has an essential effect on conflict management in the Coca-Cola company. Global leaders guide, inspire, and direct their team or personnel, who look up to their direction in the emergence of conflicts. Due to this immense role most, global leaders employ conflict handling strategies to manage conflicts effectively (Maisoni et al., 2019). Global leaders use styles to manage conflict such as controlling, accommodating, compromising, avoiding, and integrating. These global leaders are sensitive to needs, employ integrating features, allow subordinates to solve their problems, and maintain positive interactions (Nielsen & Lyndgaard, 2020). In Coca-Cola, company leaders perceive the integration style of leadership as an effective style of leadership and avoid the use of a style that appears negative that can result in negative conflict resolution.
In conclusion, leadership conflict in Coca Cola company is managed by having week-long training sessions, meetings, and support lines. Using an effective leadership style and a well-organized company structure also forms one of the best ways to resolve leadership conflict because the company leaders understand all company operations and associated gaps. Every leader in the company is responsible for making the organization a better place to work and benefit the company. Change in management is a systematic advance plan that permits workers of a company to transit from their present state to desired future state, and adequate management changes reduce risks. Organizational decision-making is significant for the organization’s success, and in Coca-Cola Company, mixed approaches that are used include version-led, plan-led, and consensus-led methods.
References
Agarwal, R. N. (2017). Cases in leadership. South Asian Journal of Management, 24(3), 207-210.
Campbell, A. H. (2018). Global leadership initiatives for conflict resolution and peacebuilding. IGI Global.
Columbia University. (2021). Kent global leadership program on conflict resolution. Columbia SIPA. Web.
Maisoni, H., Yasri, Y., & Abror, A. (2019). Effect of organizational culture, leadership and compensation on employee engagement in Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia Central Sumatra. Human Resources, 3, 2.
Nielsen, R. K., & Lyndgaard, D. B. (2020). Grasping global leadership – tools for “next practice.” Confederation of Danish Industry.
Panigrahi, V. (2020). An organisation study on the Coca-Cola Company [Doctoral dissertation]. CMR Institute of Technology.