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Diversity Research Paper
(3500 words minimum)
(First COMPLETED draft due October 7th
by 10pm
Final draft due December 9th
by 10pm)
For thisresearchpaperI wantyou to choose a companyand researchexactlywhatthatorganization
actuallydoestomanage diversityandtalent.
 WHAT doesthiscompanydo to manage theirdiversity/talent?(i.e.,whatspecific practices,
policies,initiatives,andprograms dotheyhave and use),
 WHYare these practices,policies,initiatives,programs associatedwithdiversityandtalent?
 HOW do these practices,policies,initiatives,andprograms positivelyimpactimportantbusiness
outcomes(e.g.,profits,competitive advantage,andemployeesatisfactionjusttoname afew)
A greatway to thinkaboutwhich practices,policies,initiatives,andprograms todiscussisto consider
howcompany'ssearch forand recruitpotential jobcandidates,hirethem, onboardthemintothe
company,trainthemto do theirjob,developthemonce intheirjob,recognize theircontributionstothe
company,value,manage themtomeetcompanyobjectives,andretainexistingemployeessothatthey
don’tleave.Organizationsthatare incorporatingleadingdiversitypracticesoftendelivervalueineach
of these areas.
Whenresearching,inadditiontotellingme aboutwhatyourchosencompanydoes I wantyou develop
a clear and detailedopinion onhoworganizations SHOULDmanage theirdiversity(ortalent)basedon
whatindustryexpertsrecommend –and please cite these expertsinyourresearchpaper.
Please use topicheadingswithinyourpapertohelpyouorganize yourthoughtsandassistme inreading
and understandingwhatyouare communicating.Write upan analysisansweringthe followingcore
topics/questions.

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Dominick Gulius
Dr. Jeremy Brees
Diversity Research Paper
October 12, 2015
I. Introduction
a. What does Coca-Cola Do?
b. What is their diversity statement or philosophy?
II. What practices or policies does Coca-Cola have in place to manage diversity?
a. How do they bring them onboard into the company?
b. Do they train them on managing diversity?
c. How do they recognize their contribution to the company?
d. Do existing employees remain in the company?
e. How do they search and recruit?
f. How do they hire them?
g. Why do these practices contribute to diversity?
h. How do these practices positively impact business outcome?
III. What do diversity experts and talent managers say about how organizations should
manage diversity/talent? Does it match with how Coca-Cola manages diversity?
IV. Do Coca-Colas practices match or mismatch their diversity statement and philosophy?
Critically analyze this whether or not their business practices actually reflect their
statement.
V. Describe at least 3 ways in which your organization can be more effective in their
diversity/talent management practices.
VI. Conclusion

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Managing Diversity at Coca Cola
I. Introduction
Coca Cola is an American multinational beverage corporation that manufactures and markets
soft drinks and syrups. It is the largest beverage company and is the worlds most recognized
brand (Global Talent Management). They are in 200 plus locations with around one million
employees’ system-wide. Coca Cola claims that diversity is at the heart of their business, it is
who they are and how they operate (The Coca-Cola Company). They are committed towards
creating a friendly and fair work environment that embraces diversity. Diversity is at the heart of
Coca-Cola’s 2020 vision and it calls for them to “achieve true diversity” throughout their
business (The Coca-Cola Company).
II. Practices and Policies
I will first explain what specific practices, policies and programs Coca-Cola uses to manage
diverse talent throughout their organization. From there, I’ll discuss why these practices
contribute to the support of diversity and talent. That will lead me into how these practices
positively impact business outcomes. Lastly, I will discuss what experts are saying about
diversity and if Coca-Cola’s practices align with their thoughts.
At an international human resource conference, Dr. Arnold Dhanesar presented a PowerPoint
on “Global Talent Management at the Coca-Cola Company” (Global Talent Management). In
this presentation, Dr. Dhanesar displayed that their policies and programs within a system that
works from the bottom up. It all starts with Coca-Cola’s mission and vision to catch and keep the
attention of future employees and customers. This statement paints a picture of what Coca-Cola
stands for and where they are going. For interested employees, if they like what they read they
will be more likely to think this would be a great place to work, where people are inspired to be
the best they can be. The next part of this system moves from the mission to four distinct
strategies to build a winning culture. The first is to live the values that they preach. Coca-Cola’s
success is embedded in their values, so for Coca-Cola to succeed they need employees to work
using their core values; diversity, quality and accountability, just to name a few. Their second
strategy is the need for cohesiveness with in the organization. In order for them to work towards
growth and productivity, they need to work as one team or as they state, “The Coca-Cola Way”
(Global Talent Management). The third area is how they are equipping their employees with the
necessary tools to push for innovation in three key areas: consumer marketing, commercial
leadership, and franchise leadership.
These tools will allow their employees to develop disciplined ways to be an engine for talent
(Global Talent Management). The last area in their system approach is Coca-Cola’s building of a
performance culture to yield results for the goals they have set. In this strategy they have
developed a cycle system to achieve these goals. The cycle starts with the plan or the system
goals they wish to reach. As we go clockwise, it rotates to the “do” process which is how they
will execute goals with excellence. Rotating further, the process now goes through a check,
where they will measure the results they have yielded thus far. Lastly, if they discover any issues
they can then adjust to correct these issues. In this last strategy, employees also learn what they
did wrong so for future reference they can apply what they learned to a similar situation. This

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systems approach with functions from the ground up is in place to accelerate sustainable growth
and to achieve their mission and vision (Global Talent Management).
This system I just explained above is an outline of how Coca-Cola operates in respect to
diversity and talent management. I will now go into detail of the specific policies and programs
Coca-Cola has in place to manage diversity and talent. Looking at Coca-Cola, 80% of their
business is outside of the United States. Steve Bucherati, Chief Diversity Officer at Coca-Cola
states that in order for them to succeed it is important for them to keep a “global mindset” so
they can filter all of their decision through a global filter (2010 Diversity Report pg. 6). Within
Coca-Cola it’s the achievement of true diversity in which they strive to empower and support.
We see this empowerment and support Steve Bucherati speaks of within their program and
groups, as well as in their education process. Coca-Cola has developed Business Resource
Groups (BRG) to “form communities for associated to engage with colleagues who have similar
ethnic or gender backgrounds, interest, sexual orientation, or work roles” (2010 Diversity Report
pg. 8). In class when we discussed racial diversity, we covered a few areas that might explain
why certain races are not present in different work roles throughout organizations. I believe these
groups will help keep employees within Coca-Cola. Looking at our examples we gave in class,
we said role models and self-selection played a role in races being present in certain work
positions. With these groups in place Coca-Cola is eliminating the self-selection area because
they are creating an environment where people will feel comfortable, instead of uncomfortable
and out of place. This type of environment where there are other employees of the same race and
background will allow them to be their true self. These BRG’s are productive in two ways: as I
already explained they create a comfortable work environment, but they also provide learning.
These groups are lead by an Executive Champion from Coca-Cola’s senior leadership team;
these leaders provide leadership training and promote Coca-Colas diversity vision (2010
Diversity Report pg. 8).
Within Coca-Cola there are currently seven BRG’s. They include the African American
BRG, Asian/Pacific American BRG, Business Support Professionals, Latino (LA VIDA) BRG,
LGBTA BRG, Women’s linc BRG, and the newly formed Military Veterans BRG. Coca-Cola
uses these programs to bring heir employees on board and helps educate them on how to manage
diversity in their organization (2011 Diversity Report pg. 8). These programs are in place to help
their employees participate in professional and personal growth while at Coca-Cola. In Coca-
Cola’s 2011 Diversity report they specifically list all of the education, events, and training these
groups participated in over the year. I found that many of these groups partnered with each other
to host seminars and charity events. These individual groups share the same beliefs about
diversity within an organization. We can see through these partnerships that they are accepting of
each other and work together to grow and better the world.
Coca-Cola places a huge emphasis on these BRG for incoming employees to help aid them in
profession and personal growth, but they also have education programs in place to help train
incoming and existing employees about diversity. Coca-Cola’s Global R&D team understood
that in order to be innovative they would need to learn how to leverage the diversity of their
teams (2010 Diversity Report pg. 12). The result was a diversity education program that focused
its attention on how managers can use diversity to create an environment of inclusion and
leverage it to drive increased performance. In this program, there is a varied learning curriculum

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that is classroom-based experiential and online resources to help lead there teams towards
winning innovation (2010 Diversity Report pg. 12).
This diversity education program is broken down into three pillars which hold up the roof of
Coca-Cola’s aspiration. The first is diversity training, followed by the diversity speaker series,
and lastly the diversity library. These programs or pillars use self-assessment, exercises and
discussions to equip managers with the awareness, knowledge and skills to create an inclusive
environment (2010 Diversity Report pg. 13). The speaker series that Coca-Cola has put in place
teaches its employees the importance of diversity for an organizations success. This series also
allows manager to gain a deeper understanding of diversity and how to leverage it to achieve
Coca-Coca’s vision of true diversity. The programs that hold up Coca-Cola’s roof help shift the
attitudes and behavior of their managers. This shift brings about an environment where managers
are able to leverage diversity to enable ideas, innovation and execution amongst teams. If Coca-
Cola can achieve this they believe it will allow them to become “the number one beverage
company at connecting their brands to an increasingly diverse consumer base, and being a great
place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be” (Coca-Cola Company
“Diversity”).
Diversity is a theme throughout Coca-Cola and it even plays a role in how they recruit and
hire. In 2008, Coca-Cola created the Women’s Leadership Council with the purpose to recruit,
develop, advance, and retain women across their organization (Diversity Report pg. 13). Their
goal was to create paths where women could receive the necessary development to increase their
participation in key leadership positions. Through this council, Coca-Cola has increased its
sourcing and hiring of female talent from 13% in 2007 to 34% in 2010 (Diversity Report pg. 13-
14). Coca-Cola also has a disability program which allows them to source and recruit individuals
with disabilities. Through this program they were able to like all job openings to five recruiting
sites that are set up for the disabled community (Diversity Report pg. 17-18). Coca-Cola also
uses its Business Resource Groups to help assist the human resource department with the
recruitment process.
A great example of this is within the Military Veterans’ group help with career fares and play
a huge role connecting with future employees as they share that time spent in the military. The
veterans within these resource groups help translate the resumes for Coca-Cola’s recruiters.
Aside from the use of BRG’s to search for talent, Coca-Cola also utilizes an automated job
posting process. Here, possible candidates may apply to a vacant position, but before any
interviews are scheduled, there is a candidate pool that must be met for that position. Coca-Cola
specifies that it must consist of three or more candidates, and at least one must be a woman or a
minority (Annual Report of The Task Force pg. 30). Once these requirements are met they can
then be referred to a job vacancy, where Coca-Cola uses a structured interview process to
determine if candidates meet qualifications and will then render a decision. For senior level
management positions they use written tests and assessments to deem if a candidate is qualified
of the position.
Human resource within Coca-Cola has created a single performance management system to
document job-related measurements (Annual Report of The Task Force pg. 25). This system has
been designed so that an individual employee will meet and discuss with his manager at the
beginning of the review cycle to discuss his objectives expected of him for the upcoming year.
The manager will also discuss what capabilities that will be required of him to be able to meet

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his yearly objectives (Annual Report of The Task Force pg. 25). Coca-Cola has set this system so
that a manager cannot just place unreachable objectives on employees. The system they have in
place requires a mutual agreement between manager and employee. At year end of the review
cycle, the employee will present a self-assessment to their manager. The manager will take this
information and evaluate it and rate his employee’s performance for that year.
Coca-Cola unique workplace culture is how they are able to keep their employees motivated
and happy within their organization. To Coca-Cola, their employees’ well-being is just as
important as maxing profits for their shareholders. As I mentioned earlier, Coca-Cola has created
the BRG’s to help create an inclusive environment. They use these groups to help attract, retain,
and develop diversity talent. Their mission is to create the right workplace where they can
sustain a positive and diverse climate where people are held accountable. It is important for the
organization to help employees enjoy their work life; so they have created programs that allow
their employees to have discounted gym memberships, as well as onsite exercise classes, free
Coca-Cola drinks and fruit, a staff restaurant offering healthy food options, summer hours and
flexible working hours (Journey Staff Our People). Coca-Cola is committed to investing into
their employees and showing a true sense of care for them.
All of these diversity education programs that Coca-Cola has put in place allow there
managers to understand the in the world and workplace there are stereotypes, prejudices, and
discrimination. These programs teach future managers that many of these stereotypes come from
our unconscious which guides out thoughts in many situations. It brings forth these human
inclinations and teaches them how to look past their unconscious biases in workplace situations
where people are from different cultures and backgrounds. These programs bring in Laura
Liswood’s Noah Ark metaphor of the elephant and the mouse. Coca-Colas vision is having an
inclusive environment where employees are able to be their true self. Liswood’s chapter talks
about how often, organizations have a structure where top managers are so oblivious of what
their employees are doing that it actually hampers business productivity. Liswood talks about
how managers need the dominant structure of the elephant to lead their employees, but also the
skills of the mouse to listen and connect with their employees.
This type of organizational norm which Coca-Cola has created allows for open, effective
communication and also opens channels for feedback. In this type of environment, employees do
not feel threatened by other employees and are open to express them-selves without fear of being
judged or renounced for being wrong. In the Loudest Duck Laura Liswood talks about how so
often in organization we are accompanied by what she calls our “grandma’s lessons”, and
bringing this to the workplace cause us to have certain reaction to people who are not like us.
The BRG’s that are in place help teach their employees to learn how to interact and communicate
with one another.
As Coca-Cola is a global organization, it is very beneficial that they have the ability to
understand, embrace and operate in a multicultural world. The Government Equalities Office of
United Kingdom released the business case for equality and diversity, which pertains to how
diversity can benefit business outcomes. The case Cox & Blake (1991) proposed six main areas
where business can benefit from a diverse workforce (BIS Occasional Paper NO.4). The first
argument is that there is a possible cost of doing a terrible job bringing workers onboard, or how
manager who is unable to integrate workers will constantly be hiring and firing workers. Those
who are able to leverage their diversity will gain a cost advantage over their competitors. The

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second argument involves resource-acquisition; here, the resource is to get the best employees
out there. So, for Coca-Cola, they have built a reputation for themselves as a great place to work,
where their employees are encouraged to be who they truly are. The third is the marketing
argument; here those companies who are rooted with employees from different cultures will gain
insight and cultural sensitivity to help improve their marketing strategies and techniques (BIS
Occasional Paper NO. 4 pg. 7). The fourth area that Cox and Blake proposed was the creative
argument where diversity is a deterrent to past norms and is a means to spark creativity in an
organization. There is also a problem solving argument that states diversity can improve decision
making and problem solving since employees from different cultures will have a wide range of
perspectives on an issue (BIS Occasional Paper NO. 4 pg. 7). Lastly, there is the system
flexibility argument that creates an organizational environment that is flexible and can react to
environmental change. If firms are able to bring the best people on board and have them rooted
in an organizational environment that is cultural sensitive, they will be able to spark creativity
enabling them to compete on a global level which is constantly changing.
III. Expert Analysis
Alania Love is a consultant, writer, and speaker who has a passion for studying and
understanding leadership. She wrote an article for Bloomberg Business that states five key
practices that an organization needs to be able to use diversity as a strategic advantage. She
believes that it is important for an organization to have educated and supportive leaders to be
able to correctly manage diversity and talent within the organization. A company needs training
classes and programs that enhance the managers understanding of the tenets of race and ethnicity
that have molded their perception of a diverse group (Businessweek.com). There also needs to be
sophisticated programs to attract, engage, develop, and retain diverse talent (Businessweek.com).
The key for companies to leverage incoming talent is to have programs that help develop their
employees and fosters a relationship amongst them. Love stresses that organizations can’t stop
leveraging talent at the recruitment level, but continue throughout their employee’s careers. She
believes that employee resource groups are a great way to commit to employees and support
their career development. These groups demand inclusion and create an environment where
everyone has a voice. By giving your employees a voice, organizations can also create an
environment where their people can challenge differences to find the best solution
(Businessweek.com). Lastly, Love believes that diversity needs to be at the heart of an
organization. When companies are focused not only on maximizing profits, but also diversity,
they will find an increase in creativity and innovation throughout the organization. Ultimately,
giving them a competitive advantage in talent and business functions compared to competitors.
IV. Alignment in philosophy and practice
If we look back at Coca-Cola’s business objectives, it was stated that diversity is at the helm
of their business; it is who they are as a company and how they operate and see the future
(Global Diversity Mission). This is exactly what Alania Love considers a key practice for an
organization to manage diversity. Coca-Cola also has multiple training classes, education classes,
and assessments to ensure that their managers are fully equipped to manage and enable an
inclusive environment. Coca-Cola also has business resource groups similar to Love’s ideas of
employee resource groups. These are in place to help the employee at Coca-Cola further develop
their career and feel included within the organization. Like Love suggested, it is important for
organizations to foster an environment where their employees feel included and have the ability

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to voice their opinion or suggestions. Coca-Cola is a global organization operating in a
multicultural world. If they undermined diversity, they would have a difficult time maneuvering
through different cultures. They would find cultural blocks in communication and doing
business. But Coca-Cola embraces diversity and has employees from all types of cultures and
backgrounds. This allows them to have the perspectives of each of these cultures to help them
create new ways to enter markets or how to innovate a product to be accepted in different
cultures. After researching and analyzing Coca-Cola’s diversity philosophy and the programs
they have in place it is clear that they are an organization that has alignment amongst the two.
Their global premise is that their diversity should be as inclusive as their brand; it’s at the heart
of the organization. Everything Coca-Cola does that is related to educating, training, including,
and supporting their employees is done because of that premise. They are committed to their
people and want to see them grow personally and professionally. Diversity is in their DNA and is
why they are able to function as a global company.
V. 3 suggestions
Coca-Cola is a company who is already committed to informing and teaching its employees
about the importance of diversity. What I would recommend relating to these BRG’s would be
company run trips to some of their global facilities to get hands on learning of a countries
culture. I think these trips would be very beneficial as they would allow employees to travel the
world, while also learning about the backgrounds and cultures some of their co-workers come
from. Another suggestion I would have to Coca-Cola would pertain to their diversity for winning
innovation group. The managers with in this group attend a “day” long session that is focused on
managing diversity and understanding style and culture. I do believe that this is a great step
forward; I would recommend that the time frame be extended past one day. I believe it is very
difficult to cover this topic in one session, I think multiple day-long sessions devoted to a
specific area with in diversity would be more effective. Lastly, I would recommend that they
continue to develop new hiring and searching practices to be able to locate the best people for the
position. If they are able to develop a system that allows them to find candidates who have a
solid understanding of and support for diversity will enable Coca-Cola to save cost while
maximizing their production.
VI. Conclusion
Through my research and analysis of Coca-Cola’s diversity management practices has put
into perspective how important this is to an organization. Coca-Cola makes it very clear that if
diversity is supported and managed the best that is can, organization will be able to attract and
retain the best talent, allowing them to hold organizational advantages over the competition.
Diversity is truly a key for an organization to be successful. With the right programs and
education managers who are able to leverage diversity form within see increased levels of
creativity and innovation amongst employees. Aside from maximizing profits, diversity is one of
the most important areas an organization should focus on.

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