The Coca-Cola Company: Organizational Change

Introduction

The modern business world can be viewed as a continuously evolving and fast-changing environment. The constant emergence of new factors influencing companies, alteration of clients’ demands, and the rise of rivals influence organisations’ work. Firms have to adapt to new conditions to remain successful and profitable. Under these conditions, organisational change and change management acquire the top priority as tools helping companies to reconsider their approaches and introduce more effective methods. However, positive change is a continuous and complex process as it is linked to several factors, such as leadership, culture, power and politics. For this reason, effective change management requires the correct understanding of all factors influencing a company, clear goals, and effective strategy. The given paper is devoted to analysing the organisational change using Coca-Cola Company as the background for the investigation. It will help to promote an enhanced understanding of all aspects of change management and the major issues associated with it.

Background

Coca-Cola is one of the modern global corporations distributing its goods to all parts of the globe. At the moment, it is the world’s largest non-alcoholic beverage company, with its products sold in about 200 countries (About the Coca-Cola company, 2022). The brand sells such recognisable and iconic drinks as Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta. Furthermore, it constantly diversifies the product mix, trying to increase its market presence and broaden the target audience (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021b). Today, it has hydration, sports, coffee, and tea brands that are also popular with clients and has a loyal audience. The company also recognises the critical importance of continuous change as it focuses on transforming its portfolio and major aspects of its work. Under these conditions, Coca-Cola Company can be viewed as one of the leaders in the market with the developed infrastructure and outstanding perspectives for further development and preserving leading positions.

The statistical and financial information also proves the corporation’s dominance at the global level. The company’s financial statements show that in 2020, its net revenues grew 10% to $9.5 billion compared to the previous year (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021b). In general, for the full year, the revenues increased by $38.7 billion (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021b). Furthermore, the company has facilities in various parts of the globe, meaning it gives jobs to thousands of people. In 2021, the company employed over 79,000 associates worldwide, with about 300 bottling partners in various parts of the globe (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021a). The company plans to continue its growth by entering new markets, diversifying the products offered to clients, and popularising its beverages (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021a). For this reason, the facts and numbers show that Coca-Cola is one of the leading global corporations with a developed infrastructure and numerous subsidiaries in different countries. Moreover, it influences the market because of a significant share of its products (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021b). For this reason, the corporation can be viewed as an example of a strong and successful firm.

At the same time, as any big corporation acting at the international level, Coca-Cola faces numerous challenges. First of all, the pressure from rivals affects the brand’s decision making and vision of its future. Second, the firm is a multinational corporation working in different regions, meaning that it has employees representing various cultures and nationalities. Under these conditions, Coca-Cola needs effective management models helping it to establish a desired organisational culture and promote the positive change vital for future development (The Coca-Cola Company, 2020). The brand’s CEOs announce organisational changes to support and accelerate the further company’s growth (The Coca-Cola Company, 2020). The background for change was comprised of several factors. First, the alteration in the customer’s demand demonstrated the necessity to reconsider its product line and introduce new items to satisfy clients. Second, the increased diversity and importance of inclusion emphasised the necessity to reconsider the company’s corporate culture and leadership to ensure cross-cultural teams can work with high performance levels and attain desired goals. These factors triggered a significant change process within Coca-Cola company that should be analysed.

In such a way, being one of the leaders in the non-alcoholic beverage market, Coca-Cola generates stable and high revenues. It continues to grow and enter new markets, which serves as the key to its success. However, the corporation also recognises the necessity to alter and adapt to new conditions because of several change drivers. These include the evolution of the clients’ demands, new peculiarities of cross-cultural companies’ work, and pressure from rivals. For this reason, Coca Coal company employs effective change models that can be analysed to understand the major peculiarities of change management and how specific approaches can be used to address issues linked to organisational change. By researching change models and types regarding the brand, it is possible to focus on the essential elements and acquire a better vision.

Types and Styles of Organisational Change

Modern companies might select among a wide variety of methods to support the alteration of their functioning and ensure it continues to evolve. Thus, there are several types of organisational change that might be used regarding the current situation and issues the brand faces at the moment. For instance, strategic transformational change is used to radically alter the basic structures of the company, such as culture, supply chain, or major processes (Common types of organizational change & how to manage them, 2020). It demands effective planning and significant resources to ensure the scope of planned reconsiderations will be supported by available finances. The given type of change is required to change the company’s course and nature to ensure the current goals are achieved. Adaptive, or remedial change, is often opposed to the transformational one as it implies small, incremental adjustments made by managers to ensure the existing issues are addressed (Common types of organizational change, 2020). The clearly identified problem results in the necessity to implement a specific solution, meaning that adaptive change is required.

The companies might also focus on reconsidering their attitudes to how the work of employees is organised or their performance. In such situations, people-centric or personnel organisational change can be observed (Carnall and Todnem, 2014). It implies instituting new policies regulating cooperating between specialists or promoting specific shifts in the corporate culture to ensure that staff can demonstrate increased performance in new conditions. The given type of change is often used in multinational companies to cultivate diversity and inclusion (Carnall and Todnem, 2014). Finally, companies might focus on using structural change or major shifts in the existing hierarchy to reorganise teams, create new departments, and ensure they cope with new challenges (Cummings and Worley, 2018). It can be viewed as a response to the new brand’s policy, the creation of a new product line, or the necessity to enter a new market. Some specialists also outlined the unplanned change or a set of necessary actions needed to respond to a specific event (Cummings and Worley, 2018). It demands the utilisation of all available resources and strong leadership to make decisions in difficult times. The choice of the outlined models depends on the current situation and the further goals.

Turning back to the discussed case, it is possible to admit that Coca-Cola uses several types of organisational change. First of all, the corporation focuses on a continuous and adaptive change that is used as a tool to address emerging issues and reconsider the work of the company. Thus, its recent proclamation that the brand devotes more attention to spork and dietary drinks can be viewed as a response to the fast-changing nature of the market and clients’ demands (Underhill, 2021). The growing number of individuals who focus on a healthy lifestyle means that the target audience for such drinks becomes broader, and it is vital to work with it to preserve leading positions. For this reason, Coca-Cola promotes adaptive organisational change to control the situation in the market.

Second, the organisation focuses on cultivating positive change within its teams to ensure they demonstrate increased effectiveness and are ready to achieve current goals. Under these conditions, the personnel organisational change is observed. Coca-Cola emphasises its devotion to training its employees to help them to remain effective and evolve (Our culture, 2022). For this reason, it can be viewed as a type of organisational change used by the company. It helps to attain several important goals. First of all, the personnel remain effective and prepared to face new challenges. Second, constant training leads to increased diversity and inclusion, which helps to build more effective cross-cultural teams (Underhill, 2021). Employing these two types of change, Coca-Cola remains one of the leaders in the industry.

Change Management Models

The implementation of the new mechanism and the creation of the basis for change require effective management models. The choice of the model influences how stages of the reconsideration process, how it would be handled, and the tools used to assist managers and employees. Thus, Lewin’s change model is one most popular and frequently used frameworks for promoting organisational change. It implies the three major stages such as unfreezing, changing, and refreezing (Deszca, Ingols and Cawsey, 2019).

The first phase is the preparation for alteration focusing on analysing how the company works at the moment and understanding what should be altered (Hayes, 2007). It is necessary to communicate the goals to employees. The change stage implies the implementation phase providing support to all workers and promoting the necessary reconsiderations. Finally, the refreeze stage focuses on making new practices a part of the company’s work and monitoring (Lewis, 2019). Adherence to the model helps to create the correct vision of change and make sure it works.

Kotter’s change management model is another framework that can be used by organisations to attain current goals. It implies the eight stages that should be followed to ensure that new practices are implemented:

The first step implies creating a sense of urgency about the proposed change for teams to understand its necessity. It might involve using analysis tools, such as SWOT or PESTLE, and discussing the current position to outline issues (Hayes, 2007). The next step is building a team with leaders and change agents, helping to attain outlined goals (Rosenbaum, More and Steane, 2018). Step three requires creating a strategic vision of things that should be made (Lewis, 2019). Next, it is vital to share this vision with employees to avoid misunderstandings and failures. Moreover, it is vital to determine all obstacles that might emerge and offer strategies to overcome them. It is also essential to set short term goals service as milestones during the whole process (Hayes, 2007). Another step is monitoring the change process to ensure that the teams work appropriately (Lewis, 2019). Finally, all alterations should be handled and discussed to ensure they remain a part of the working process and culture.

The given change models are also used by Coca-Cola to adapt to new conditions emerging in the market. For instance, the corporation employs Lewin’s framework to promote shifts to sustainable functioning. During the unfreezing phase, the company explains the new trends existing in the society and the necessity to make them a part of the working culture. Next, Coca-Cola introduces new practices, such as reducing the carbon footprint, and ensures they are observed (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021b). Finally, during the refreeze phase, the company ensures its manufacturing and supply chain processes are reconsidered to avoid returning to old and ineffective practices (Lewis, 2019). In such a way, Lewin’s change model is used to promote the positive alterations within the brand.

At the same time, Kotter’s model of change is used for more structured changes. For instance, launching a new product line requires creating teams with a clear vision and a correct understanding of existing goals. For this reason, Coca-Cola focuses on selecting influential leaders and change agents with the proper understanding of current tasks and vision on how to promote the necessary change (The Coca-Cola Company, 2021b). A new department’s leaders are provided with resources vital for setting goals and their achievement (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). As a result, the brand manages to create new units with relevant tasks and preserve its competitive advantage. Thus, using both these models, Coca-Cola maintains constant organisational change and preserves its leading positions globally.

Leaders and Managers as Agents for Change

The organisational change process is closely linked to leadership and effective management practices. Thus, any leader works as a change agent, monitoring and maintaining organisational processes and guaranteeing the achievement of existing goals (Gibbons, 2019). The fast-evolving trends compel organisations to reconsider their work and establish new practices, and top managers become the major actors responsible for this process (Sroufe, 2017). Thus, leaders focused on positive change possess an innovative gland promoting the faster shift to new practices (Gibbons, 2019). Moreover, they have the experience of past failures helping them to succeed in new projects and attain current goals. At the same time, the fundamental role of leaders is explained by a clear vision of the necessity to change and methods of how to do it (Satell, 2019). In such a way, top managers are the main facilitators of positive alterations as they cultivate a new vision and outline benefits associated with the planned transformation.

The power of leaders as change agents also comes from their ability to analyse and recognise the existing context and make specific decisions. Thus, both internal and external factors influence the organisational change and strategies that should be employed by specialists (Gibbons, 2019). A leader possesses an enhanced vision of the company’s state at the moment because of access to relevant data and specific authorities (Gibbons, 2019). As a result, he/she can make informed decisions resting on unique organisational features, such as culture, climate, available resources, and planned outcomes (Gibbons, 2019). The change in the context, both internal and external, might require the reconsideration of the current strategy and immediate response, and a leader is responsible for it. Under these conditions, leadership and organisational change are linked to the existing context and should be viewed as a system where all variables influence each other.

The importance of the environment and the current situation for decisions made by a leader can be explained by the contingency theory of leadership. It assumes that the effectiveness of a team manager is contingent on whether his/her leadership style suits a specific scenario (Gibbons, 2019). In other words, no leadership style can be used in all situations, regardless of their nature and peculiarities. On the contrary, an effective leader should be ready to adapt to new conditions and analyse new variables peculiar to a specific case (Suddaby and Foster, 2017). It will help to increase the effectiveness of decision making and ensure that the most effective strategies are employed. It is vital to find a balance between the current needs, context, and resources to move forward and create the basis for the further company’s development and growth. Otherwise, ineffective practices out of context will lead to the collapse.

Coca-Cola also recognises the critical importance of the context and the power of leadership. The company focuses on developing its leaders to ensure they possess the needed competencies and skills to drive positive change. Corporation leaders commit to such styles as be the role model, set the agenda, and help people be their best selves (Our culture, 2022). Their employment in various situations leads to attaining specific goals. However, Coca-Cola also views their leaders as the potent change actors providing them with the authority and resources to support incentives introduced by the brand.

Coca-Cola’s entry into the new category by selling coffee was followed by appointing a strong leader responsible for the project and its final success. It was also a reaction to the growing importance of this segment. For this reason, the brand initiated the organisational change supported by the decisions linked to the current company’s needs. It resulted in the successful growth of the incentive because of the top manager’s competencies and his readiness to support the organisational change (Our culture, 2022). The brand’s adaptation to new demands can be viewed as a result of strong leadership and effective models considering the existing context.

Culture, Power, Politics and Change Management

Organisational change is a large-scale process that influences all aspects of a particular unit. For this reason, such issues as culture, power, and politics are also associated with this process and influence it. Thus, culture can be viewed as the collection of values, expectations, and practices impacting the actions and interactions of all team members (Abramson and Moran, 2017). The given phenomenon directly influences the effectiveness of teamwork and goal achievement as it offers models and methods for enhanced interaction. For instance, Coca-Cola cultivates a diversity and inclusion culture focusing on engaging the major stakeholders in formal and informal tasks (Our culture, 2022). The vertical hierarchy leads to the involvement of managers at different levels (Our culture, 2022). At the same time, employees are encouraged to demonstrate creativity and offer incentives aimed at resolving complex tasks or promoting positive change (Satell, 2019). As a result, teams become involved in the change process and contribute to establishing positive practices.

Power is another essential element associated with organisational change. It is viewed as the ability to influence the behaviour and activities of stakeholders in a particular organisation (Abramson and Moran, 2017). It is an important element of any company’s work as it affects relations between managers and employees and helps to attain specific goals (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). Coca-Cola also recognises the importance of the given aspect and focuses on cultivating a working model. The strategic decisions are made by the top management following a vertical hierarchy (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). It helps to avoid problems with making critical decisions and increases the effectiveness of responding to unexpected factors. Furthermore, leaders are provided with the authority to impact teams and reorganise their work regarding the current goals and new tasks that should be performed regarding the planned change. As a result, the given model of organisational power helps to maintain the positive change and guarantees employees are provided with the instructions vital for goal achievement.

Organisational politics are also vital for the work of companies undergoing change. It can be determined as informal and unofficial rules and ideas influencing a unit, power distribution, and objectives achievement (Abramson and Moran, 2017). It is closely linked to the culture as the dominance of specific values might precondition the emergence and development of policies regulating cooperation and collaboration between individuals. Thus, Coca-Cola proclaims its commitment to making a difference in communities and within the company by mobilising its history and rallying the strengths of its employees (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). It means that the brand supports incentives aimed at forming politics of mutual support, commitment, and dominance in the market (Sroufe, 2017). As a result, projects aimed at promoting a significant organisational change are supported by most employees who recognise the existing politics and are sure that change will help to acquire benefits.

In such a way, culture, politics, and power are the three essential components of organisational change. The dominant values impact the employees’ attitudes to planned alterations, visions, and responses, which is vital for attaining success and transforming the organisation (Abramson and Moran, 2017). Thus, by cultivating an appropriate organisational culture, leaders can reduce the risk of resistance to change and guarantee that new practices will be welcomed. Moreover, politics and power can be correlated with culture and are considered critical factors influencing the change process as they offer unformal rules to work in teams and move towards outlined goals. Coca-Cola devotes much attention to cultivating these factors and establishing the desired culture. The company emphasises its commitment to community and organisational needs and focuses on its employees. As a result, specialists feel free to interact with each other and offer new incentives, which is vital for organisational change.

SWOT Analysis and Organisational Change

As stated previously, SWOT analysis is one of the potent tools that can be used by top managers to investigate the current situation within the company and its opportunities for further development. For this reason, it is often employed by leaders to outline the purpose of the organisational change and create an effective strategy. Coca-Cola’s SWOT analysis can also help to outline the factors which impacted its alteration and understand strategic decisions made by its top management.

Strengths

• Strong brand identity: Coca-Cola is a highly popular brand recognised in most parts of the globe. It has a unique brand identity which is also viewed as part of the popular culture (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). Its drinks are the most selling beverages in history, meaning that millions of individuals buy them every day. It allows the company to use it as a competitive advantage and struggle with rivals.
• Brand valuation: Coca Cola has an extremely high brand value, as at the moment, it is the sixth-best global brand (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). Its brand value comprises about $57 billion, which makes it close to such giants as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021).
• Significant global presence: The company’s products are sold in about 200 countries, with more than 1.9 billion servings per day. It helps to generate a stable revenue and preserve leading positions. The brand also introduced more than 500 new items in various regions (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021).
• Dominant market share in the industry: The company serves 3.2% of 60 billion beverage servings of various types consumed by individuals globally (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). It ensures a high interest in the brand’s products and its further development.
• Effective distribution system: At the moment, the brand has an effective and extensive distribution network with about 900 bottling plants and partners globally (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). It helps to introduce new products to various markets
• Skilled employees: The brand supports its employees by providing constant training and guaranteeing they possess the necessary skills and knowledge to support the further brand’s evolution. For this reason, at the moment, Coca Cola has the strongest pool of specialists who can promote the faster integration of new practices.
• Corporate culture: The brand focuses on cultivating a strong corporate culture to ensure employees are engaged in the most significant processes and play an active role in them (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). The corporation promotes integrity, diversity, and inclusion, critical for its further growth.

Weaknesses

• High level of rivalry: Coca Cola has numerous rivals, such as Pepsi, working in the same sector and struggling for a similar target audience (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). It demands significant resources and efforts to preserve leading positions.
• Product diversification: Regardless of numerous attempts to introduce new products, the company suffers from the low diversification of its offerings, which might influence its attractiveness.
• Environmental issues: Plastic bottles used by the company give rise to numerous environmental concerns that affect the company’s image and its popularity (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021).
• Health concerns: Carbonated drinks are responsible for increased sugar intake, which is viewed as one of the major causes of obesity.

Opportunities

• Diversification of products: By diversifying its offerings, the company can broaden its target audience and expect a higher level of sales. It will create the basis for new achievements.
• Drinking water and healthy drinks distribution: The company can focus on distributing healthy drinks as it is a popular brand followed by a significant number of potential customers.
• Entering new market segments: Diversification might help to enter new market segments, which is critical for the company’s further growth.
• New acquisitions: New acquisitions can simplify Coca Cola’s entry into new markets and regions.

Threats

• Environmental pollution: The brand has been sued for causing significant damage to the environment by its plastic bottles and packages (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021).
• Growing health consciousness: People’s increased attention to health issues might reduce the demand for carbonated beverages.
• Rivalry: Coca Cola faces severe rivalry in the sphere, which might undermine its leading positions.
• Economic instability: The crisis associated with the pandemic influenced the customers’ buying capacity and the company’s position in the market.

In such a way, the following SWOT analysis indicates the necessity of organisational change to support the company’s further growth. Coca Cola recognises the major threats coming from the lack of diversity of its products, the growing health consciousness, and the pressure from other brands. As a result, the company selected the change strategy focused on diversifying its products and launching new lines (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). These include new healthy and sports beverages that can be consumed by people who want to avoid harm done by the carbonated beverages; shifts to more sustainable practices to reduce negative influence on the environment; and employee training to preserve its competitive advantage (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). In such a way, using the SWOT tool makes it possible to see that Coca Cola responds to current threats and opportunities by creating new product lines that might help to diversify offerings and enter new segments. For this reason, its organisational change is focused on creating new teams focusing on promoting beverages with new qualities. It helps to avoid failures and ensure the brand can struggle against its closest rivals.

Employee Engagement

The organisational change should be supported by employees as they are viewed as the major facilitators of all processes occurring within a brand. For this reason, employee engagement acquires the top priority. It can be defined as the level of dedication, enthusiasm, and satisfaction a specialist feels toward his/her job (Kirrane et al., 2017). In standard terms, this factor is important for the teams’ ability to succeed. However, during the change process, employee engagement becomes critical. A highly motivated and engaged worker can be supportive of the organisation and demonstrate higher performance levels (Kirrane et al., 2017). Moreover, his/her incentives might promote the introduction of new practices promoting better results. The engaged employee might also be supportive of the plans offered by the top management and ensure these propositions are discussed at the team level, which is vital for minimising the resistance to change and the acquisition of better outcomes.

Employee engagement is also critical for creating the vision of change and providing relevant feedback about the planned alteration. Thus, a top manager might lack understanding of what moods and views are dominant in a particular unit and how people belonging to it would react to change (Kirrane et al., 2017). As a result, new interventions or practices might lead to the deterioration of the atmosphere within a collective and failure (Kirrane et al., 2017). Under these conditions, employee engagement becomes critical for all phases of the organisational change, starting with the initial ones. Engaged and motivated workers can provide information about how they view the offered reconsiderations and what difficulties might emerge because of their introduction to other staff members (Sroufe, 2017). It would help to create a better vision and guarantee that no unattainable or too complex goals are set. Moreover, planning activities can be improved because of the new and relevant data provided by these employees.

Coca-Cola company also recognises the fundamental role employee engagement plays in organisational change. For this reason, the company uses several ways to motivate its workers and guarantee they are ready to participate in major processes related to change. First of all, the corporation ensures the preservation of the workplace for all individuals affected by the change (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). It impacts their basic demands, such as safety and protection, and reduces their resistance to change caused by fear and uncertainty (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). The understanding that the alteration will not affect salaries and working conditions is critical for employees’ engagement in Coca Cola. Moreover, launching new projects, such as healthy drinks, is supported by bonuses and additional benefits offered for managers and workers ready to take part in the process. In such a way, the change is associated with the positive shifts and opportunities to acquire extra benefits, which is critical for employee engagement (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). This approach ensures Coca Cola has support from its teams and specialists.

Moreover, Coca Cola offers career development and opportunities for its workers to provide lifelong support. In terms of the given incentives, all employees are provided with the chance to ask for additional training to ensure their skills and knowledge are sufficient regarding new projects (Benefits and career development, 2022). The given approach to preparing staff results in high employee engagement and motivation levels as they are sure they can apply for extra help in complex situations (Benefits and career development, 2022). As a result, specialists are involved in a continuous change process necessary for their contribution to the company’s rise and preservation of its leading positions. In such a way, Coca Cola views employee engagement as a critical part of organisational change. New projects are supported by additional training incentives focused on re-educating staff members and ensuring they are ready to work in new conditions, which is vital for achieving final goals.

Designing Change Transition

The change process also requires altering employees’ orientation and their improved understanding of what processes will occur. Under these conditions, transition acquires the top priority as the stage necessary for attaining desired outcomes. It can be defined as the reorientation workers have to make to respond to the change and be ready to function in new environments (Garavan et al., 2021). Considering the scope of the planned change, it might be a timely process demanding specific resources and attention. Moreover, change transition requires effective leaders and managers to sustain the process and work with employees to ensure they understand the peculiarities of new tasks, goals and what measures can be used to attain them. In such a way, being the major change agents, leaders also become the facilitators of the change transition as they are responsible for working with specialists and clarifying current problematic issues.

The real-life examples also prove the fundamental role leaders play in reorienting people towards new practices. For instance, Coca-Cola’s top manager Frank Harrison says that preparing employees for a would-be change is critical for the overall success (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). Leaders who possess a clear understanding of change should organise meetings to discuss the most nagging issues with the employees to ensure they realise the critical importance of the planned alteration and possess its better understanding (Coca-Cola Consolidated, 2021). At the same time, the change transition can be prepared by organising seminars and meetings with the major stakeholders and change agents (Kislik, 2018). It will create the platform for discussing the future of the company and provide the opportunity for main participants to get to know each other and realise the scope of change. Leaders should be ready to guide and manage such processes to ensure no conflicts or misunderstandings occur.

Furthermore, managers’ responsibility for change transition implies using available resources to ensure teams are equipped with necessary tools and are ready to function in new environments. These include both physical and psychological resources, such as funds and support. For instance, additional financing might be required for altering the company’s work and creating new departments and teams (Gibbons, 2019). However, it should also be supported by discussions and effective communication with employees to ensure they realise the necessity of the proposed change (Gibbons, 2019). It means that the change transition is a complex process consisting of several important aspects and phases. All stakeholders should be engaged before radical reconsideration and motivated to work harder. Furthermore, during the change process, it is vital to monitor the state of teams to ensure no resistance because a lack of understanding emerges (Gibbons, 2019). Finally, to ensure offered practices become part of the working process, leaders should evaluate outcomes and avoid turning back to previous methods (Gibbons, 2019). Under these conditions, leaders become the primary actors responsible for promoting the positive change transition and supporting it.

Approach to Enabling Successful Change

In such a way, regarding the information provided above, the successful approach to change should include the following aspects. First, it is vital to select a model that will be implemented by the company to ensure its success and move forward toward the achievement of the outlined goals. It will increase the effectiveness of strategic planning and provide leaders with an understanding of how to move. Furthermore, any change process should be supported by creating a vision of change. It implies the introduction of understandable and attainable goals that would help to select the necessary resources and ensure individuals realise the nature of the offered alterations, their nature, and what efforts should be made to attain the desired result. At the same time, the vision should be supported by a sense of urgency as specialists should understand the unavoidability of change to remain successful and preserve leading positions.

Enabling successful change also implies creating strong teams with leaders, change sponsors, and engaged employees. It is one of the critical demands for reorganising companies’ work and positive alterations. As stated previously, leaders are the major change agents who possess the authority and power needed to guide team members, discuss problematic issues with them, and motivate them to move towards finding new methods and solutions. Under these conditions, creating change teams with potent leaders is the critical demand for successful organisational change. Furthermore, the process should be monitored and evaluated to ensure new practices become the part of the working process. It demands using the results as the basis for new planning and further upgrades. Finally, it is vital to address the existing corporate culture and politics as the method to support incentives at the informal level, and guarantee employees have positive attitudes toward it. Otherwise, it is impossible to expect positive alterations and achieve current goals.

Regarding this information, it is possible to offer the following strategic plan for promoting the positive change within the Coca Cola company. It rests on the Kotter change model, implying eight steps:

As seen from the scheme, the company should create a sense of urgency by emphasising the lack of diversity and the need for diversifying the product line to remain popular and enter new market segments. Because of the strong corporate culture and skilled employees, the change team will serve as a potent tool supporting the planned alteration. Furthermore, a CEO selected as a sponsor of the planned product line diversification should communicate the vision via discussions and collaboration with other team members. The obstacles and ways to overcome them can be outlined using the SWOT analysis and information about the company and the market’s states. During the first phases of the change process, the company should aim to increase sales by 3% to guarantee its further success. Finally, the progress should be saved by promoting employees regarding their contribution and making new practices a part of the company’s work. Using the given organisational change strategy, it is possible to create the basis for positive outcomes and preserve the company’s leading positions.

Conclusion

Altogether, organisational change is a complex process impacted by numerous factors. First, it requires the correct understanding of the company’s current position and the state of the market. Second, the successful transition is linked to the culture, power, and politics within an organisation, as these aspects might either support the process or complicate the reconsideration phase. Finally, leaders are the major change agents who make a significant contribution by supporting teams, encouraging employees, and clarifying issues that might emerge. Coca Cola can be viewed as a company with a successful change management strategy. It responds to the alteration in demand by making adaptive changes and ensuring the company remains attractive to clients. At the same time, it devotes much time to cultivating an appropriate organisational culture that might help to support its transformation. For this reason, the change is discussed regarding the given brand and the strategy for its further reorganisation is offered.

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