How can a large global company like Coca-Cola manage its human resources efficiently? The example of the US divisions

Coca-Cola is one of the most famous and successful brands all over the world. The Coca-Cola Company is a large multinational enterprise, operating in about 200 countries. This can be considered as the quintessential global corporation. We could more likely use the terms "multi-local" company as operations differ from one country to another. The company presents its main brand with a "local face" in every country where it is sold, which can be simply summarized in the famous marketing philosophy "think globally, act locally". Human Resource management is a strategic function in an international organization. In the case of the Coca-Cola Company, HRM is different in every country where the company does business. The global firm has a philosophy of a free local management. As I will not be able to study the HRM practices in all the countries where Coca-Cola is established, I decided to focus on the HRM policy in its home country, the United-States. We will critically go through the main elements of the HRM strategy as it is in the US.

[...] Disadvantages - Promotion through word of mouth on the basis of subjective criteria - Some qualified employees may be ignored - Internal promotion using referencing can be based on personal preferences of the manager - Employees appear in unequal position for getting a chance to be promoted - There is inadequate training of the managers in the area of career development Advantages - Manager knows better who is qualified because of the direct supervision and can pick up the candidate who will best fill the new position - Multiple interviews ensure that the right person is promoted to the right position - Career advancement is based on the performance evaluation and facts, not emotions - Targeted selection provides career advancement to the position to which the individuals could be promoted according to the standard policies only in a couple of years Recommendation According to the advantages/disadvantages stated above, I could recommend the HR department to get more involved in the career development in order to set some logical and objectives rules for career evolution. [...]

[...] Disadvantages - The final numerical amounts are left up to the manager within his/her discretion - The system allows significant wages disparities for employees who are within the same job grader - The wide discretion of the current compensation system creates discriminatory compensation decisions which are standing unchecked - Job grade is subject to manipulation Advantages - The system has written guidelines which provide clear objectives to employees - Employees at lower job grade can be well rewarded if they achieve satisfying jobs, maybe more than some employees who work at a higher level - Managers have flexibility in making merit increase decision - Employee can petition Human Resource to have the job grade evaluated and adjusted Recommendation The job grade should be adjusted based on the job itself, not individuals. [...]

[...] Advantages - The system is discretionary and open for all employees to get acquainted with - Coca-Cola has a written policy on performance evaluation - All managers are trained to properly conduct performance evaluation (including training managers to perform Mid Year and Annual Performance Reviews), provide coaching and feedback to employees - Employee's evaluation undergoes multiple levels of review until it is approved - Each employee gets performance evaluation by his/her supervisor with employee directly communicates and reports to, therefore, manager knows the employee and can provide the objective evaluation Recommendation The Coca-Cola evaluation system is not entirely reliable as can be concluding after examining advantages and disadvantages of the performance evaluation. [...]