Introduction

Human resource management in an organization entails the act of staffs in the firm being managed for the essence of better productivity in different sectors of the company. The essence of managing people in an organization is to realize the set objectives of the firm. Therefore, it is the role of human resource management to ensure that the right employees are recruited and retained in the firm to enhance productivity and utilization of labor for the essence of maximizing productivity in the firm. Thus, the primary functions of human resource management in an organization include the selection and recruitment of workers, management of co-existing relations among the employees and training the employees while ensuring their development. The human resource management in an organization is also obliged to enhancing a healthy working environment for employees and familiarizing the newly employed employees into the organization.

An organization that has an active human resource department experiences change management in its systems for productivity to be realized. Change management in a firm refers to the procedures and steps undertaken by an organization to move from its initial state to another condition that is desired by the management in the organization. Change management involves appropriate management, effective communication, engagement of employees, review, and planning and countering the elements which pause a hindrance toward change management in a firm.

An excellent example of a firm that experiences change management in its operations is the Coca-Cola Company. This is an American organization that deals with the production of nonalcoholic beverages and other products (Mittelstaedt, 2016). The company came into limelight when it began producing Coca-Cola in the year 1886. The firm operates with several branches across the globe while its headquarters is based in Atlanta, Georgia state. Due to Coca-Cola operating for many years in the beverages industry, the firm has emerged to be the leading producer of soft drinks in the globe full of competitors in the market such as Pepsi. Coca-Cola is an organization that has proven to be making progress annually in terms of productivity and sales volume realized. When the firm began its operations, the founder: Assa Griggs Candler never knew that the organization would grow to be one of the leading producers of soft drinks in the world. This has been through various change management processes realized in the organization which has resulted in the organization making drastic transitions in the manner in which operations are carried out for maximization of productivity.

Change management is thus responsible for the dominant force in Coca-Cola operations having a competitive advantage over its rivals such as Pepsi. This is due to change management in the organization. The success in Coca- Cola can also be attributed to the organizational subsystem being set up practically. The subsystems in Coca-Cola have regulated communication to ensure success in corporate operations. Subsystems in Coca-Cola include divisions, departments and work teams which are all coordinated to ensure the growth of the company beyond limits. Coca-Cola Company has various departments in different regions to ease sales and productivity. It also has divisions which represent various sectors of production procedures at the Coca-Cola Company. The firm is integrated into a group of people who all target productivity in the firm. The subsystems in the firm are set in a production style that allows for change management to take place in the firm.

Despite the subsystems in the firm being integrated to allow changes management processes, the stakeholders in the company play a key role towards ensuring that human resource management provides change management processes to take place quickly in the firm. Customers, suppliers, and employees in the firm are crucial toward ensuring that appropriate change management processes take place in the firm by incorporating the adequate skills and knowledge into the success of the firm. One of the significant roles of human resource management is to train employees in the company and develop their skills. However, before training, there is a need for active recruitment and hiring of the employees who will ensure productivity in change management. Suppliers in the Coca-Cola firm are usually flexible enough to provide maximum change processes that occur in the organization (Lynch & Tinnish, 2017). The reason for selecting Coca-Cola as a case study is because it has evolved various changes in its management to become one of the leading producers of soft drinks globally.

However, for Coca-Cola to ensure productivity is on top-notch levels, there is essence for the firm to change its department subsystem. The human resource department in the Coca-Cola Company has to be transformed into the desired state for the essence of facilitating productivity in the company.  The need to change the human resource department in Coca-Cola is because reports by auditors regarding productivity indicate that there has been a fall in workforce productivity due to laxity in the human resource department. Inappropriate approaches are being employed into operations of the human resource department; hence there is no proper maximization of the department.

There is essential for the human resource department to enhance and develop changes in its initial state so that human resources can easily yield to higher production as realized in its rival company, Pepsi. Coca-Cola has to develop human objectives to be attained by the company during the production of soft drinks. Employees are a crucial lot toward the realization of benefits accruing to an organization. Therefore, there is the essence to develop the human resource department in the company so that the employees can maximize their efforts toward increased productivity. For comparison purposes, Pepsi, a rival firm has over time been increasing its sales volume and production of soft drinks. The reason behind the increased sales volume is due to the change management adopted by the administration toward the human resource department. The company adopted a system for developing talents among employees with the essence of training the employees to be perfect on their job descriptions in the company, through appropriate connections and collaborations, Pepsi has been able to recruit and retain its human resources for business sustainability effectively. It has also created a conducive working environment for the employees to relate properly among themselves for top-notch productivity (Kagwiria, 2015).

The departmental change in the human resource section will tend to affect other subsystems such as divisions in the company and its teamwork composition. Changing the human resource department in the organization is crucial towards propelling change in divisional setup pf the company in the realization of its objectives. Change management in the human resource department is essential in maintaining good rapport with the stakeholders in the company. This will satisfy the expectations of employees in the firm appropriately. However, for the essence of Coca-Cola developing and retaining effectiveness in the workforce, it is vital for the firm to enhance its workforce appropriately to achieve the changes in human resource department of Coca-Cola Company (Wondafrash, 2018).

Effective change process in the human resource department is essential towards the development of employee talents, and talents through enhancing development in their careers enabling the employees to manage their private lives with work, improving the payments accrue to the workers and maintaining the relationship of the employees in the workplace environment.

Conclusion

The human resource department in any organization is crucial toward the development and enhancement of the free workplace in the organization to attain the objectives set by the organization. Decisions made by the human resource management are directly proportional to the productivity in the firm due to the ability to influence the way employees in the raised are managed with the essence of ensuring that change processes in the organizational structure occur in a definite and precise manner. Practical changes in the department subsystem of an organization are essential towards ensuring that the firm tries in its operations as evident in Pepsi Company: a rival company for the Coca-Cola Company. Pepsi firm has been experiencing increased sales volume due to the incorporation of useful changes in the human resource department that is key to the thriving of its operations.

References

Kagwiria, C. (2015). Alignment of Hr practices and business strategy at the Coca-cola bottling company in Nairobi. Unpublished MBA Thesis, University of Nairobi. Khalumba, M.(2012). The influence of human resource management practices on the financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya, unpublished MBA Thesis, University of Nairobi.

Lynch, K. D., & Tinnish, S. M. (2017). The role of leadership and organizational competencies in corporate social responsibility programmes. In Sustainability in Hospitality (pp. 85-102). Routledge.

Mittelstaedt, A. (2016). IP-HRM–Der IP-Manager. In Intellectual Property Management (pp. 139-144). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.

Wondafrash, A. (2018). The effect of sales force automation on sales performance in the case of coca cola beverage Africa (Doctoral dissertation, St. Mary’s University).