Coca Cola Organizational Structure

This essay sample essay on Coca Cola Organizational Structure offers an extensive list of facts and arguments related to it. The essay’s introduction, body paragraphs and the conclusion are provided below.

Coca Cola is a massive transnational enterprise with the majority of the drinks market share in the UK. As a whole, the Coca- Cola Company is a Public Limited Company- However; the UK division of the business is a Private Limited Company.

Coca Cola was first established in 1886 by Pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia.

The business started quite small and humble, but when the business and formula were purchased in 1889 by Asa Candler, the business expanded and grew until the business became the huge size that it is today, owning 500 brands in total, being supplied in over 200 countries.

Chain Of Command Essay Sample

It is difficult for such a huge enterprise as Coca Cola to set aims and objectives for itself, yet an objective that they must strive for to maximise sales is to ensure this the company ensure that all employees are working to their highest standards to create the best product, in the quickest possible time to make sure that there is an ability for quick distribution.

Also, a brand with such high expectation as Coca Cola must never let their standards of quality and service fall. To do this, there are strict assessments at each stage of the production of all products at Coca Cola production plants, throughout the day. When distributing any products, Coca Cola arrange with the distribution companies what standards Coca Cola expect from them.

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This means that the customer will always be satisfied with the product and purchase a Coca Cola product again.

Organization Chart Coca Cola

Coca Cola Coca Cola Coca Cola

Coca Cola Wakefield, opened in 1989, is the largest soft drinks factory in Europe and is owned by Coca Cola Enterprise (CCE) and is a subsidiary of the Coca Cola Company, which own 5 other factories in the UK, distributing a total of 250 million cases of soft drinks per annum.

Organisational Structures:

An organisational Structure arranges such tasks as supervision, coordination and allocation. These structures make the business much more ordered and simpler to follow as every employee knows their place and responsibility to the business. Organisational structures are commonly drawn on an organisational chart. Organisational Structures also coordinate, control and help motivate employees toward the organization’s goals. The most common business structures include functional, divisional, matrix, hierarchical and horizontal.

Hierarchical Structures-

A hierarchical structure, or hierarchy, is a type of structure common with most large businesses as it can take into account the chain of command from the managers right to the subordinates The structure is usually visually represented as a pyramid as there are usually few employers at the top and many employees at the foundation.

Although the majority of large businesses find a hierarchical structure quite advantageous, there are numerous disadvantageous and advantages for this structure. An Advantage is that the responsible and authoritative individuals are clearly defined- this means that each employee knows where their responsibility lies and who has direct authority for themselves. Another clearly defined statement in this form of organisation is the promotion path which motivates each employee as the incentive to achieve a higher rank is clear. As hierarchy is usually split into departments, each department tends to have a strong loyalty expressed by individuals within these departments. Also this divided environment encourages the effective use of specialist managers as each department tends to specialise in a specific sector of the business.

However, there can be disadvantages to this type of organisational structure. Because of the loyalty within departments in this structure, departments can make decisions which benefit them rather than the business as a whole- especially if there is rivalry across departments. The organisation can be bureaucratic and respond slowly to changing customer needs and the market within which the organisation operates.

Communication across various sections and departments can be poor in a hierarchy, especially when the message is intended to be sent horizontally- this means that new ideas or problems can take weeks or months even for a resulting action to be put in place.

Matrix Structures-

There are three main distinctive factors that define a matrix structure- these are that there is one top manager which is responsible for the entire matrix and manages the two separate chains of command. He is the most critical individual of the entire matrix due to the very wide span of control that they are responsible for. The second factor that defines a matrix is that beneath the top manager there are two team managers. These managers, although are controlled by the top manager, are responsible for the teams at the bottom of the matrix.

The advantages of a matrix structure are quite different to that of a hierarchy. Communication of knowledge is very simple and therefore quick and efficient. Another advantage is that the team resources are very flexible and specialists within this structure can be interchanged between roles very easily. This motivates and satisfies employees as it provides an opportunity for employees to pursue their skills. This advantage is also advantageous to the business because it maximises the usage of resources since changes can be incorporated quickly and effectively by simply regrouping the teams.

Disadvantages are also present in matrix structures. Matrix structures may sometimes be hard to manage as everybody in the matrix reports to two separate managers with roles that must work in balance for success; this can cause confusion on who to report to on particular matters. Another disadvantage is that there can be uncertainty on authority because the dual lines imply that the proposition must be approved by both of the separate managers of the two chains of commands- if this is not done then this defeats the whole object of this type of structure.

Flat Structures-

In contrast to a tall organisation, a flat organisation will have relatively few layers or just one layer of management. This means that the chain of command from top to bottom is short and the span of control is wide. Due to the small number of management layers, flat organisations are often small organisations that do not have many layers to share profit capital to.

For small businesses, flat structures can be quite advantageous- although the disadvantages of less structure still remain as will all sizes of business. There is usually better communication between workers as there are fewer layers to pass through. Another advantage is that, as result of the lack of bureaucracy, decision making is done much quicker than businesses with other structures. Costs will be lower than other organisational structures because there are fewer levels of management which are usually the roles that receive the highest salary. Team spirit is usually high in flat structures which motivates very effectively.

Disadvantages also arise in this type of structure. This type of structure may hinder the growth of the organisation as it in limited to only Partnerships, Co-operatives and some Private Limited Companies- therefore not letting the business grow into such larger ownership types as Public Limited Companies and Franchises. Confusion on who is responsible for a worker may arise also-this is because employees may have more than one manager. Ultimately, the greatest disadvantage of having a flat structure is that the role of each person or department can become indistinct and therefore cause confusion and indecisiveness on who is responsible for what role in the business.

Coca Cola – Wakefield Organisational Structure

Produce Full Organisational Structure:

Description of Structure-

Because there is one ‘Manufacturing Ops Manager’ with a very high span of control with many employees with smaller spans of control beneath, I can tell that the structure shown Coca-Cola Wakefield hierarchical, popular with many large businesses such as Coca-Cola. Also within the structure of Coca Cola Wakefield are very long chains of command. Although long chains of commands are almost always present in such large hierarchical organisations as this one, it is disadvantageous for the business because it can cause communication to be slow and inefficient within the business- sometimes causing it to be behind other businesses.

Long chains of command may also cause conflict which can hinder team spirit and therefore hinder employee productivity. Another thing that I notice in Coca Cola Wakefield’s organisational structure is that the engineering manager has a very narrow span of control- just one. This allows the Engineering Manager to communicate quickly and effectively with the employees under him/her (or subordinates) and also control his/her subordinates much more simply than such managers as the Manufacturing Ops Manager- who has a span of control of three. Although this means that the Manufacturing Ops Manager has more responsibility

than the Engineering Manager, a wider span of control is advantageous to the business because wider spans of control are less costly to the business because Coca Cola Wakefield do not have to employ as many managers (a job with a higher salary than subordinates), and also because there are less layers of management for a message to cross which means that messages will be passed to the manager faster.

Over the years, because Coca Cola used to be a minute business in comparison to the huge transnational Limited Company that it is today, Coca Cola’s structure must have gone from a much flatter organisational structure and progressively grown until it developed into this grand company that it is today. This is because flat structures can work very well with small-time businesses, yet the bigger the company, the more beneficial it becomes for that company to become more hierarchical.

Chain of command-

A chain of command is the order that the more authoritative roles (in this case the ‘Manufacturing Mgr ‘Manuf Services’) pass instructions or notices down from managerial individuals to every employee in the business. To summarize, commands flow downward along the chain of command and responsibility flows upward. From what I can observe from Coca-Cola’s chain of command, as there seems to be many managers and leaders within this business, the chain of command is very long and therefore communication, particularly from the ‘Manufacturing Mgr ‘Manuf Services’ to less significant employees such as the ‘Raw Mat Admin’, will be slow and inefficient. Also, long chains of command may also cause conflict which can hinder team spirit and therefore hinder the productivity of such employees as the Technicians.

The chain of command pictured left running from the Manufacturing Ops Manager down to the Manufacturing managers to the team leaders to the shift team leaders right the way down to the technicians is an example of a chain of command present in Coca-Cola Wakefield. As previously stated, the chain of command in this business is very long and could be improved by cutting out such people as the Shift Team Leaders

The chain of command in Coca Cola Wakefield is very important because it is through the chain of command that the ‘Manufacturing Ops Manager’ increases the responsibility of their subordinates such as the ‘Goods in Team Leader’ and ‘Process Shift Team Leaders’. The Chain of command is considered very important in organizations because it enhances the efficiency of the management. Ultimately, the chain of command clearly states the authoritative line from ‘Manufacturing Mgr Manuf Services’ right down to ‘Raw Mat Admin’. If this line of authority did not exist, communication would not have a set path to follow- which may cause confusion and messages not being delivered successfully. Also, the lack of a chain of command would mean that such employees as ‘Raw Mat Co-ord’ and the technicians would not know who has direct authority over them which could result in a lack of motivation, ultimately resulting in less employee productivity.

“The more clear cut the chain of command, the more effective the decision making process and greater the efficiency. Military forces are an example of straight chain of command that extends in unbroken line from the top brass to ranks. Also called line of command.”