Leading Change in Organizations: Coca-Cola Case Study Analysis

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Understanding Leading Change

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...........................................................................................................................................................2
Part A: Responding to change.................................................................................................................2
Part B: The Impact of Change.................................................................................................................3
Task 2...........................................................................................................................................................8
Produce a force field analysis that identifies the driving and resisting forces associated with change...8
Explain different barriers for change and analyze the driving and resisting forces to determine how
they influence leadership decision making in the organization...............................................................8
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................................11
Apply different leadership approaches to deal with change in Coca-Cola with appropriate range of
models and framework to support the change.......................................................................................11
Critically evaluate the effectiveness of leadership approaches and models of change management....11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................13
References..................................................................................................................................................14

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: System theory analysis.................................................................................................................5
Figure 2: Burke- Litwin model....................................................................................................................6

Introduction
The changes in the organizations support the business to meet the competitive advantage to the
organization. The present report will consider the ways in which changes influences the strategy and
operations of the business along with the internal and external drivers considering Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
Leadership, team and individual behaviours in context with internal and external drivers of change will
be analysed in the report. The measures for minimising the negative impacts of changes will also be
assured for having positive organizational behaviour. Different change barriers and their influence on
decision making leadership will be reflected along with force field analysis to resist the change. At the
end, different approaches to leadership will be explained in context with range in Coca-Cola in report.
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Task 1
Part A: Responding to change
Assess the different drivers for change using real world examples and compare how each of the
organizations have responded to the drivers for change
In each organization, the change need arises to meet the edge over competitors and to raise the profits,
sales, employees and customer satisfaction. In the current study, the comparison of Coca-Cola and Pepsi
can be taken as the example and comparison will be done on the basis of trends identified and the
changes has to conducted for business and operations internally. The use of change model has to be
carried out but prior to change, the firm has to consider the customer and employees preferences and
review’s to implement change or not (Andrews and Johnson, 2016). On this context, the firm can be
supportive with the step of unfreezing to conduct the productive steps for the operations and strategies
change.
In conducting the change, the Coco-Cola applies the approach of fix, rebuild and grow. The firm has to
carry out the change in the name from Coca-Cola classic to Coca-Cola again and the reason for the
change is to rejuvenate the product image again. In this case, Coca-Cola has analyzed that they are
facing the loss and the change in name or marketing will cover the losses. They have kept the prices and
quality same and even process was also same. After change, organization has highly concentrated on the
advertisement through the online source to market the again with same quality products to the
consumers. The promotions were done by Coca-Cola through selling their distributorship to the
supermarkets, retailers or wholesalers at lower prices to gain the major segment of market and
customers.
On the other side, Pepsi has also changed their strategy and operations for the beverages as it is high
earning segment. The organization was facing the loss and there is need to bring the change by closing
down the loss unit and in several global markets Pepsi has closed down its distributorship. Further, now
for capturing the market share again Pepsi has to bring the new range of product in the market where
they are facing loss and use of online channel for advertising has to be done (Alvesson and Sveningsson,
2015). Due to this change, organization is now being able to increase its share to around 25%.
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Impacts on organizations
Changes in both organizations are supportive in bringing the changes in the business and increase in
market share. In Coca-Cola, the organization has changed the name in order to gain the profits of the
business and Pepsi has brought the new product range in order to increase the market share. Both the
changes have increased the profits and productivity. But with that, the management structure and
individual employees are also influenced:-
 With the execution of name change, the marketing strategy has to be developed and team of
marketing has been given training to accept the changes (Wright and Nyberg, 2017)
 The employee’s responsibilities have been raised because of change in structure of business and
for this purpose flexible approach has been taken. The approach shall carry out for bringing
innovation in employees so that satisfaction in their job can be gained.
Part B: The Impact of Change
Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drivers of change may affect the leadership
behavior and the behavior of the teams and individual
In the current study, Coca-Cola will be taken to assess the internal as well as external drivers for
analyzing the impact. The internal drivers are resources, desires, capabilities, interventions and
dissatisfaction. External drivers are evaluated through the influence of individual attitude, leadership and
team attitudes.
Internal drivers for the Coca-Cola are presented below:-
Resources: Due to change in name and packaging, many important resources have been saved and can
be used at other places for earning more profits. In this context, the leaders of the organization have to
encourage the employees to apply the existing resources in the best manner to execute the changes
appropriately.
Desires and dissatisfaction: At the workplace, if the employees are not satisfied by their jobs due to non-
meeting of their desires it will finally outcome into high turnover of employees. Thus, it is crucial for the
leaders of Coca-Cola to achieve the satisfaction of employees by offering motivation in both financial
and non financial way to have committed behavior (Serrat, 2017).
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Capabilities: The internal strengths of the firm are supportive to achieve the edge over competition. The
resources like human have to fill up the vacancy to meet internal capabilities. The capabilities will also
be raised to have the positive reaction to the organization employees.
Interventions: The main intervention is any organization is old aged employees, lower morale that
influence the business performance in both financial and non financial term. It is significant to assess the
internal environment of the business to eliminate the interventions (Král and Králová, 2016).
External drivers that impacts Coca-Cola are as follows:-
Political: According to foreign law, now many committees support the Coca-Cola to carry out the free
trade economy in the countries. It will also assist to raise the share in market. Furthermore, with positive
behavior, policies and procedures the individuals and teams are encouraged by the leaders as share is
increasing in market.
Economical: The firm can take the operational advantage in rest of the countries where resources are
provided at lower cost and similarly they can import to other locations. The benefits of cost can be
achieved through organization as they offer reasonable pricing in contrast with competitors. Coca-Cola
leaders are needed to see the products quality and appropriately instruct the team to implement the
change (Foerstl et.al. 2016).
Social: The society is mainly price sensitive in the market especially when homogenous products are
offered. The organizations use the resources of the society and due to this, they get influenced and they
move to other firm’s offering the same goods at reduced prices. On this context, the use of CSR policies
has to be done by Coca-Cola leaders in addition with the business operations to place the positive image
in society’s mind.
Technological: Media at this point has significant role to market the product by communicating with the
audience. Thus, Coca-Cola will be helpful by bringing its products to the e-commerce platform as they
can increase the sales even in those areas where still they are lacking to make sales (Cetindamar et.al.
2016). The leaders of the organization should train to the employees so that they can reflect positive
attitude on bringing the change in business environment.
Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimize the negative impacts of change on organizational
behaviour
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The use of two theories can be done to reduce the negative influence of change on organizational
behaviour.
System theory: It is interdisciplinary system under study. It is appropriate theory to identify the areas
due to firm be not able to gather the majority customers in contrast with others. The correct theory
analysis is needed with the present system and resources available in Coca-Cola and the implementation
for the same for appropriate results. Hence, the use of system theory can lower down the negative
impact for carrying out change (Burke, 2017).
Figure 1: System theory analysis
(Source: System theory, 2019)
Burke- Litwin model
It involves various elements that are required to be understood in the organization:-
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Figure 2: Burke- Litwin model
(Source: Research Gate, 2019)
External environment: There are several factors like government laws and regulations, economic and
political process that are significant under consideration. Hence, the firm manager who is managing the
change has to audit the environment for determining the problems that impacts business.
Leadership: The suitable leadership style is needed to have smooth business operations for execution of
change (Stone, 2015).
Culture: The organization values are to be seen and sometimes avoidance of culture is also been
reflected in Coca-Cola that also influence the other problems of the business as well.
Mission and strategy: Higher satisfaction of customer is the main objective of Coca-Cola and because of
this several approaches should be dependent on context of environment.
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Structure: The use of hierarchy structure has to be done that gives the reporting medium and because of
change in strategic structure which will also change the reporting and working style pattern along with.
Critically evaluate organizational response to change
Process change shows the significance of carrying out the change in the procedure of organization. It is
significant for Coca-Cola to have technology advancement for having higher segment of market relied
on trust and long term productivity. The firm is also global it is significant to them to response quickly
due to high competitive pressure for change (Bejinariu et.al. 2017). In Coca-Cola the change model
includes problems identification in addition with change barriers. The procedure is impacted through
driving forces and the staffs are highly worth in order to meet the customer trusts. This cultural type will
serve the satisfaction in the future as well to the Coca-Cola success. For analyzing the employees
effectiveness the business aims is to have safety and technological advancement in order to reduce the
stress of employees so that they can give higher customer satisfaction.
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Task 2
Produce a force field analysis that identifies the driving and resisting forces associated with change
Force field analysis supports in addressing the forces that drives the Coca-Cola for the change
procedure. It will also assist in force resistance that is arriving with appropriate support of the
organization.
Forces in change (favor) Forces in change (resistance)
Globalization Working pattern change
Change in workplace culture Organizational culture
Technological advancement (Hayes, 2018) Job loss fear
Changes in trends in market Demand for economic products
The factors of technology are supportive for the organization. The technological use such as system of
advance payment execution will increase the efficiency and usefulness of the employees. The workforce
will feel less pressurized as most of their work will be automated and they can invest their time on some
other useful task that will also motivate them and appraise. The changes in the existing beverages
through the use of proper marketing and technology will support the Coca-Cola in getting the attention
of the customers. The new opportunities will be created continually as firm is already globalized (Ansoff
et.al. 2018).
Furthermore, the use of advance technology lower downs the work pressure and at the same time it also
creates the fear in mind of employees. The employee’s productivity can be reduced as employees cannot
adopt the changes in the culture immediately. In the international market, the expansion of business and
development of new product can be resulted into failure if style of working adopted proves to be wrong.
Explain different barriers for change and analyze the driving and resisting forces to determine how they
influence leadership decision making in the organization
In organization like Coca-Cola the decisions has to be made for bringing the changes in the existing
process of the organization or products or services. To have sustainability in the market, the change
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needs are very immediate and it is dependent on the decision making of the leaders. Some of the barriers
have been highlighted below after identifying the change:-
Lack of communication: The proper communication strategy is missing in the Coco-Cola management
which is the main barrier seen in organization for change execution. Although the leaders have shown
the changes where needed but they are not able to offer the strategy of implementation for changes
adjustment (Al-Haddad and Kotnour, 2015). The pressure was placed on the employees to bring
development advance. However, in this case, Coca-Cola leaders shall importantly explain the changes
needs by showing them the positive aspects for them and for organization.
Minimum involvement of employees: Although employees were given right to make the decision but it
has created pressure that if wrong decisions are made by them in context of change. For this context,
changes making can be effective only when leaders assess the capabilities and potentials of the
employees and then appropriately offers them power for decision making.
Ineffective planning for team: In Coca-Cola, team was not aware about the changes taking place in the
business that has impacted the individual as well. The concentration of the team solely was on reporting,
structure, work responsibilities and reporting rather than focusing on feeling of the employees towards
the change (Ritzén and Sandström, 2017).
Undetermined present state: The change complexity will not be easy for any firm and due to this
employee’s will not be able to adopt the changes properly. It is because of the fact the modifications in
the operations are done without any assessment of current situation and directly identifying the issues as
the result of change.
However, for overcoming it, it is important by the Coca-Cola to place the blue prints plan to help the
employees for assessing the change simply. The proper decision making shall be done by the leaders to
resist the change by the employees.
Identifying issues: It is the responsibility of the leader to address the issues for the employees and teams
before implementation of change in business. Thus, communication will also be supportive in this
context to have useful change execution.
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