Overview of the Coca-Cola company
The Coca-Cola Company is a multinational corporation established in the year 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a leading beverage company that holds 51 percent of the worldwide market with an operational reach in over 200 countries globally and more than 500 beverage brands. It is mainly known for the production and sale of concentrate and syrup of Coca-Cola. Also, it manufactures and sells other citrus beverages and soft drinks. The company’s primary purpose is to increase its shareowner worth over time by working with its business associates to deliver value and fulfillment to customers through a global system of superior services and brands hence growing brand equity. The company employs staff who are committed to the authority culture and values, ensuring compliance with policies, and protecting the company’s assets.
Furthermore, The Coca-Cola company culture is mission-driven focused on energizing the world’s mind, inspiring, hopefulness, and making a difference in the industry. Besides, its culture comprises of seven core values: passion, leadership, integrity, diversity, collaboration, accountability, and quality. It has varied workplace culture that includes programs to develop, attract, and retain diverse talents for groups of different backgrounds.
Overview of the Hifalic Beverage company
Hifalic Beverage company was established in the year 2002 in the Eastern part of Australia and deals with the production of fresh mango and Pineapple juice. Furthermore, the Hifalic Beverage company is a local company with 1000 employees and an annual turnover of $ 500,000. The company sells its products to schools, supermarkets, the general public, and government institutions. The core value is to provide fresh and healthy supplies to consumers. The culture of the company demonstrates its commitment to maximize the strength of its employees. The employees are encouraged to focus and maintain excellence in producing fresh juice and ensure their efforts contribute to the enhancement of the corporate and its stakeholders.
Checklist of steps you would take to unify company culture
- Define the purpose and company values
Company’s values and purpose drive staff in any organization. Once the two companies merge, the management is required to define the purpose and explain why the businesses are merging and create values on how the teams are expected to work externally and internally. The challenge that most companies that are merging face are aligning and managing how work will be done. Therefore, there is a need to establish a new corporate culture with a definite purpose where employees from Coca Cola and Hifalic Beverage understand and appreciate what is happening, especially in unifying the different cultures by reducing conflicts.
- Identify a common language and standards
It is essential to develop a mutual language that every staff understands from the two companies. For a corporate culture to be effective, all the employees must be able to speak the same language and be on a similar page about the company’s values. The management should write down the values and have a common set of standards to ensure staff from both companies have a cohesive working environment. The top management of both Coca Cola and Hifalic Beverage company must agree on the language and standards to be used and met if there is a language barrier.
- Select cultural ambassadors
The clients of the Hifalic beverage company must be retained if the merger will succeed. Therefore, the management needs to identify several employees that will be tasked to be ambassadors. These employees will assist market the company and help everyone understand the new role of the merged company, including the benefits it brings to the company. The selected employees will be the business’s most significant advocates since they understand and love their job. Moreover, ask the appointed ambassadors what they love about the existing culture and what they do not like in the adopted culture, this will help you identify what needed to be changed to ensure the new company becomes successful. The cultural ambassadors will help in emphasizing on the culture adopted to allow the transition to be smooth
- Involve the employees in the culture merger process
Employees are an essential asset and live-blood in every organization. It is, therefore, necessary for the management to involve all the staff in the process of merging by creating cross-functional teams that comprise of employees from both businesses. This strategy will give all the staff sense of ownership and identity in the process and help promote a good working culture with each other. The employee’s views and opinions are vital because failure to involve them may lead to sabotage and lack of focus towards achieving the set goals. If employees are involved in every process, they will support the merger and the new management style.
- Communicate frequently with both companies
Communication is a vital weapon in every organization for it to succeed. When two companies merge, it is necessary to communicate the whole process to the employees at the early stages to avoid instances of rejection. Both management of Coca-Cola and Hifalic Beverage company need to identify issues as they arise, share them with staff together with anticipated solutions, and ensure that employees are updated on the development regularly. If the merger will result in employee reduction or change in how they operate, then early communication is necessary to avoid ambush. Proper and structured communication must be agreed before the merger to prevent confusion and miscommunication that can affect the entire process. The culture for both companies must be well known, and the ones to be adopted communicated effectively and complied.
6.
Establish an implementation committee
After merging, implementation is required because the employees are aware of the merger and the new culture to be adopted, especially staff of Hifalic Beverage company who are acquired by Coca-Cola. Many administrative and operational issues need to be implemented, given that the employees are learning the new culture of the Hifalic company. The implementation committee must have proper structures, procedures, and timelines on what needs to be implemented to achieve the intended purpose. Furthermore, the committee members should consist of senior management and supervisors for both companies. The implementation stage is crucial because it can either fail or succeed, depending on how it is handled and communicated. Moreover, the committee should look for ways to utilize any opportunity to merge the two cultures and, more so, the new employees from Hifalic to adopt the Coca Cola culture.
7.
Transferring and retaining the best practices and policies
Mergers and acquisitions are vital because the acquiring company dominates, and its culture and procedures are maintained. If Coca Cola considers some practices and strategies from the Hifalic Beverage company are of importance, then it can adopt and implement it. The best practices and policies should help in enhancing the culture that will help the company succeed.
8.
Evaluation and review
Evaluation and review will ensure the above (1 to 7) checklist is implemented as required. Moreover, each of the checklist points must be implemented and communicated with the effectiveness and efficiency it deserves for it to succeed. For the process to be successful, continuous evaluation and review are necessary where all stakeholders are involved. Nonetheless, if there are challenges, it can be reviewed to ensure merger and culture are well incorporate for the success of the process without delays.