SJ001SJ06 Thesis COCA-COLA Complete PDF

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Running Head: Equality and Diversity in Coca-Cola

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Evaluating the Impact of Equality and Diversity in Coca-Cola

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Student Names

Running Head: Equality and Diversity in Coca-Cola

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Abstract Purpose: The presence of both equality and diversity is important on the board in the case of corporate governance. There are various pieces of literature present that analyze the effect that diversity on the board has. However, the exploration of diversity in committees is also essentials since the committee is mostly responsible for making major decisions. This report uses the CocaCola Company as an example for investigating both equality and diversity factors in finance and audit committees. It is important for organizations to support diversity, as well as equality, inboard nomination committees, and ensure that the directors belonging from various cultures are in relevant positions so they are able to offer their ideas and use their skills properly. Methodology/Approach: The example of Coca-Cola is explained in the methodology and analysis has been done of the proxy statement of the company (2016-2019). Findings: The board of the Coca Cola Company has diversity equal to almost 27%, as reported in 2016, and has been stated to have raised to 31% in 2019, there is still a significant lack of diversity, as well as equality in the audit and finance committees of the company. Two different situations have been observed regarding the case of gender diversity. Firstly, the reason behind the lack of equality and diversity in the company’s committees might be the lack of management and finance skills present in the board members belonging to groups that are represented less. Yet the possibility of this is very low. Secondly, the need of employing members of the finance and audit committees that belong to the less-represented groups has been ignored since a female is on the position of the company’s CFO.

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Practical Implications: The hiring process of the company should be monitored by the board to ensure that an adequate number of female employees are hired and are provided with equal opportunities as compared to their male counterparts. The company should also focus on the opinions and experiences that the directors belonging to diverse backgrounds could provide for the betterment of the work environment and business.

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction A majority of organizations have set the aim of advancing in the sector of the economy and global knowledge. To achieve this goal, it is important for them to majorly focus on the presence of equality and diversity in their workplace since both of them have a major influence increasing the innovation and creativity provided by the workforce. In the current era, problems are often unpredictable and can occur suddenly at any time, hence it is important for a company to have novelty and creativity for ensuring the success and survival of an organization. As stated by Safian (2012), for an organization to succeed in the present times, it is essential that is seriously considers the incorporation of creativity in its operations since almost all of the facets of business have been changed because of the transformations brought by the constant changes in the economy. According to Porcarelli (2016), the present age can be referred to as the “Age of Disruption” and organizations are majorly impacted by various uncontrollable factors such as globalization, customer expectations, and advanced technology. The Coca Cola Company the largest nonalcoholic beverage manufacturer of the world and is headquartered in Atlanta,

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Georgia. The company has been providing at least 500 brands to around 200 countries. It is extremely popular for its values, such as equality, diversity, and inclusion. The company highly focuses on its Human Rights Policy and majorly promotes inclusion and diversity among its workspace, its entities, and facilities. Moreover, the company also asks its suppliers and bottlers to accept similar policies. Coca Cola has been putting significant efforts into partnering with various people, organizations, and governments for ensuring the implementation of these positive changes (Coca-Cola, 2016). Therefore, it has been successful in asserting its ideas and opinions related to the problems in public policy and has also signed several pledges for the promotion of diversity and inclusion. The company has also initiated a campaign for the promotion of skills owned by women related to the advertisement sector. Also, it is working with the local, as well as foreign governments, for supporting the female and young generation of the world (Banks, 2016).

1.2 Research Background There are certain qualities owned by successful organizations that ensure their progress. These include innovation, resilience, nimbleness, and rapid adjusting to changing conditions (Raphan and Friedman, 2014). Research has shown the presence of a positive relationship between the diversity present in a company’s management and its generated revenues from new products. It has also been observed that the diversity rate increases with an increase in the company size (Lorenzo et al., 2017). Moreover, several studies have analyzed these factors using mathematical models and their results reveal that racism and bias negatively affect the innovativeness of a company, and companies with diversity deliver increased productiveness as compared to the homogenous ones.

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Diversity is essential for organizations that are aiming to improve their abilities regarding discovery, creativity, and problem-solving, as this fact is supported by various psychologists. Studies have also shown that racial diversity stops blind obedience in employees and motivates them to search facts, think new ideas, and provide unique opinions, resulting in an improvement in the company’s intellect. Research provided solutions regarding problems related to the calculation of the stock prices. The answers were obtained from both diverse and homogeneous groups, among which diverse groups responded 58% more accurately than the other group. Furthermore, in the case of the knowledge economy, employees are able to effectively work as teams and show improved collaboration. Therefore, it is important for the employees to be friendly, polite, and motivational with their peers and should readily share their opinions, feedback, insights, and knowledge that might be valuable to others. One of the major concerns of organizations for ensuring their effective growth is Gender equality. Discrimination among employees leads to various disadvantages for a company, including reduction of economic growth, weakening of governance, talent loss, and a decrease in quality. Research from several countries shows that companies having a higher rate of female employees working at senior positions deliver better financial and organizational performance, as well as improved corporate governance. Even today, women have to face discrimination globally in various forms, irrespective of their education level, skill set, or work dedication. Some of the challenges faced by female employees in both private and public sectors include wage gaps and lack of females employed at senior organizational levels, such as in management team and decision-making committees. The most common of these issues is the gender pay gap that is faced by women belonging to almost all countries. This gape among the salary of men and women is almost 15% to 20% in most of the

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regions. A wage gap of almost 10% to 30% can be seen in developed countries, such as the European countries. These numbers show how the issue of the gender pay gap indicates the inequalities that women have to normally face all over the world. Large organizations such as Toyota and Google have been successful mostly because of their strategies of utilizing the best of the expertise provided by all of their employees. Thus, organizations must ensure the promotion of equal involvement of all employees, despite their race, background, gender, or views, so they are all able to provide their best performance for the overall benefit of the organization.

1.3 Problem Statement Although there are various studies present that discuss the subjects of the presence of equality and diversity in organizations, a majority of them have not been able to provide an in-depth analysis of the effects that the lack of these factors cause. The management of diversity in a workplace has become essential, especially in the past few years, forcing the organizations to implement strategies that would result in enhancing their productivity and the company’s revenue. However, this has resulted in causing eccentricity and vagueness among the management team of such companies as not all of them are equipped with the skills required for the management of these factors. This leads to their inability of implementing the diversity management effectively in their companies.

1.4 Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is the exploration of the different strategies and methods that can be used by organizations for the effective management of equality and diversity management in

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their workplaces. It will also provide them with the important guidelines for the implication of adequate equality and diversity management within all types of companies of the world for proving the fact that diversity management helps in ensuring increased productivity and success of an organization.

1.5 Research Objectives 

Examining the significance of equality and diversity in big companies.

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Exploring the part played by equality and diversity in The Coca Cola Company.

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Understanding the structure of the committee and board of The Coca Cola Company.

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Suggesting appropriate measures for improving equality and diversity in The Coca Cola Company.

1.6 Research Questions 1. What is the significance of equality and diversity in big companies? 2. What is the part played by equality and diversity in The Coca Cola Company? 3. What are the structure of the committee and the board of The Coca Cola Company? 4. What are the appropriate measures for improving equality and diversity in The Coca Cola Company?

1.7 Summary of Chapter This chapter explained the significance of the various study-related aspects in detail. It includes the research objectives and questions on which the entire study is based on. It also discusses the problem statement of the research that is considered to be the main agenda of the researcher.

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Chapter Two Literature Review 2.1 Introduction: The literature stand on the topics of diversity and equality management is broadly available, ranging from vast explorations to comprehensive case studies regarding numerous brands and industries. In workplaces, it is vital to regulate diversity and equality due to the general commitment of employees towards both terms which are being evaluated by a lot of different attitude surveys. The sole object for its significance that it has an impact on the employees of a company relating to improving productivity, opportunity, and competitiveness. Organizations that target diversity and equality management have shown a rise in their workforce’s competitiveness in contrast to those who consider it merely a public relation tool relatively the key element of working strategy. There is no constant definition of diversity, it varies by its utilization and situations. According to findings of Harring-smith(2012) “Diversity is defined as a combination of people with distinctive group individualities within the same social system” Therefore, it is assumed that diversity among the organization is basically shaped by people showing diversity in terms of “race, geography, origin, ethnicity, gender, age, functional or educational background, physical and cognitive capability, language, lifestyles, beliefs, cultural background, economic category, tenure with the organization, sexual preferences .” Diversity in terms of the workforce cannot be precisely defined by the traditional approach of diversity like race, age, and gender. It also includes other matters like socioeconomic status and cultural differences. Cultural diversity is basically social variations and discrepancy existing in a society,

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an institution in the world. It invokes the personification of diverse individuals in an association or company too. Furthermore, a group is strengthened by cultural diversity, usually in cases where it is valued and managed appropriately or else it has been shown that it weakens the group. Personal characters like race, age, gender, religion, visible things, and similar qualities that are contrary in way of thinking and behaving are also covered by cultural diversity. Implementing cultural diversity in an organization tends to state that everybody is given the same opportunities, regardless of their background, beliefs, or lifestyles. Furthermore, it not only requires the recognition of distinctions among workers but also the acceptance of the fact that if managed appropriately, such distinctions are a valuable asset of a company. According to DesMarais (2015), diversity is significant to flourish creativity among the employees. Gender and race are a mere representation of diverse personalities that an organization opt (Miller and del Carmen Triana 2009). For instance, female and male economists handle situations differently, like favoring a tax structure, conforming to the regulations of the united states, agreeing upon the size of the US federal government (Basken 2012). Likewise, such diversity has convinced to enhance economic performance, particularly related to profits, sales, and the number of customers (Herring 2009). Also, it has been noticed that effective diversity management brings about more satisfied and committed employees, heading towards improved economic performance (Patrick and Kumar, 2012). As stated earlier that diversity is of vital importance as this factor plays an important role in enhancing creativity among people belonging to different backgrounds having a wide range of ideas to share with the table (Friedman et al., 2016). Alternatively, alike individuals with the same cultures tend to have similar thinking. Also, the creativity of the person cannot be ensured upon the intelligence of the individual. Especially female play an important role in improving the creativity of a team.

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Teams relationship is yet another important component, therefore collective intelligence also called the “c factor” is not of great importance. Despite this fact, social sensitivity determines its performance as a whole body. The “c factor” is unrelated to the average in the intelligence of the members while the collective intelligence of a team only describes its performance related to different tasks. On the other hand, the factor more relies upon the average social sensitivity of the team, the equal distribution of conversational turn-taking, and the number of female members in the team. 1. 2 Equality and diversity According to Berry, there are two characteristics of most multicultural societies that are diversity and equity. He states that these two characteristics are vital for a society to exist and for the organizations to be affluent. Diversity typically includes all of the distinctions in one’s culture, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, and sexual orientation. Equity is defined as the common involvement of everyone and the elimination of restriction in way of contribution. Equity without diversity leads to acclimatization while adopting diversity whereas ignoring the chances for equitable participation results in divergence. Alternatively, the insufficiency of both consequences in marginalization and the existence of both leads to complete integration amongst the workforce. The environment that promotes collaboration, cohesion, and participation could be encompassed by effective and efficient management of diversity. These are the requirements of diversity management and law; an organization with efficient recruitment and firing documents usually have greater percentages of female employees. The Practices of human resources management on inequalities should begin to strengthen inequality and to involve in diversity management within the organization and to undermine the diversity capability to pay attention to policies and

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documentations. According to the findings of researchers the organization needs to define workgroups, the overall cultural organization, that may become an obstacle to the equality of the workgroups in investigating hindrance to cultural values in workplace concepts. Berry also elaborated on the difference among three general definitions of multiculturalism, which are demography, policy, and ideology. For the dominant and minority groups level that is society, institutions, and individuals, Berry illustrated a conceptual framework to explain the various methods which lead to the occurrence of intercultural connections. According to the studies, there are three principles that are required for the progress of such societies. The integration principle and the contact principle are the principles of multiculturism. Among the inference, the first claim is that the practice concentration and multicultural policy on both the diversity and the equity on comprehensive participation. Second, the education of the public relating to the double nature of the multiculturalism that is equitable inclusion and cultural diversity must be joint to ease the understanding and acknowledgment for everyone. Third, a hypothesis relating to social contact which has been frequently evaluated and verified, suggests that more contact is connected to more positive intercultural contacts and results. Fourth inference related to the multicultural concept at country levels yields the viewpoint that one’s national identity should be included in diversity. The concept of integration and multicultural approach with a higher level of personal welfare is correlated. Finally, the elaboration of multiculturism in the general form leads up to a situation where diversity begins to be observed as intimidating by members of authoritative groups. Concentrating on the accurate approaches through which multiculturism can be attained enhancing the perceptions of this threat. It introduces hurdles in the easy and effective adaption of diversity and put up greater pressure on the government to promote the benefits of the multiculturism under its expenditures. Despite the

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challenges, it is believed that the policy of multiculturism inclined to construct a strong base for making intercultural relations improved for everyone. 2.3 Literature supporting Gender Equality In point of Grosser and Moon (2008), females turn out to be better in terms of social sensitivity in contrast to their male equivalents, particularly in terms of ability to precisely observe, recognize and value the feelings, opinions, and viewpoints of their companions in the group. This is the core cause of why the presence of the females improves the “c factor” of the group by making it more productive. 2.4 Importance of Broad Diversity Broad diversity is also referred to as a vital point for many different...