Coca-Cola is a soft drink company with factories all over the world. The Coca-Cola Company produces sparkling water from sugar, sucrose or corn syrup, caffeine, phosphoric acid, caramel color, and natural flavors. The company has manufacturing facilities in over 108 countries on the six continents of North America, Latin America, Europe, Eurasia, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. This paper aims to analyze the organizational culture of the Coca-Cola Company.
Subculture in the Organization
Subcultures in the organization are determined by job directions and production location. For example, manufacturing in African countries differs from manufacturing in the US, including recycling and drinking water practices. In other words, corporate social responsibility creates a subculture within the broader organizational culture. At Coca-Cola, the subculture has many facets, depending on the lines of business of the corporate social culture. Corporate ethics is also important in this context, as it allows organizations to create subcultures that share common values and ideals.
Negative Sides of the Organizational Culture, Its Ethics, and Social Responsibility
The Coca-Cola Company has a weak corporate social responsibility position. Most factories continue to produce millions of plastic bottles daily, and the recycling process often uses unethical recycling practices, especially on the African continent. Like soda makers, Coca-Cola uses drinking water, but its water-use practices face criticism. The company has unethical practices of leasing land with drinking springs on a long-term basis and without the permission of local communities that previously used these sources to get the drinking water.
In many countries with unstable government systems, it is relatively easy to get permission to build factories, and several documentaries provide evidence of this practice. Despite the activity of journalists and the claims of civil organizations, unethical production practices remain unchanged at Coca-Cola. In Europe, the company could have more partnerships with recycling schemes, and switching to paper or glass packaging is the most viable option.
Consequences of the Culture for Job Processes and Management Team
There is a remarkable correlation between organizational culture and commitment. The scholars also note that job satisfaction can be considered a “mediator variable of the relationship between organizational culture and organizational commitment” (Aranki et al., 2019). Organizational culture has a considerable impact on employees and organizational performance (Hashmi et al., 2020). In scholars’ opinion, “employees working in a conducive environment have a positive attitude towards the job and a sustainable relationship with the organization” (Hashmi et al., 2020). Therefore, organizations should address the issues related to organizational culture to improve employee commitment and job satisfaction. The organization’s management team can use culture to promote employees and motivate them on their career paths (Khan et al., 2021). The management team creates the environment where employees work, including day-to-day work routines, meetings, or teamwork on work tasks.
Current Steps and Recommended Strategies
The Coca-Cola Company declares the implementation of high moral values and equality in the workplace. On the company website, it states that people “are at the center of everything we do, from our employees to those who touch our business to the communities we call home” (“Core values,” 2022). The company improves its corporate culture every year, which is reflected in yearly Business & Environmental, Social, and Governance Reports. However, such statements are not necessarily verified, and the statistics may not represent the company’s actual performance in an adequate scope. Therefore, to improve the culture in the organization, the company should focus on more simple goals, such as finishing the use of plastic bottles in manufacturing and stopping unethical practices of consuming artesian or other public water sources.
Thus, the practices of organizational culture in the Coca-Cola Company were analyzed. Despite the global nature of production, Coca-Cola continues to use unethical methods of production. In particular, the use of recycled plastic is not an adequate solution to realizing the values of corporate social responsibility, since the company cannot control how the consumers recycle waste. Equally important, the company must use only ethical methods of obtaining drinking water.
References
Aranki, D. H., Suifan, T. S., & Sweis, R. J. (2019). The relationship between organizational culture and organizational commitment. Modern Applied Science, 13(4), 137-154.
Core values. (2022). The CocaCola Company. Web.
Hashmi, M. A., Jalees, T., Qabool, S., & Aziz, A. (2020). Consequences of organizational culture and the mediating role of job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Abasyn University Journal of Social Sciences, 13(1).
Khan, S., Mishra, S., & Ansari, S. A. (2021). Role of organizational culture in promoting employee development: a review of the literature. Linguistics and Culture Review, 5(S3), 585-595. Web.
