An Analysis of The Categories of Qualitative Research Methods Used by The Coca-cola Company

Introduction

Numerous organizations have used organizational development (OD) techniques to achieve organizational effectiveness. According to Najmin (2012), organizational effectiveness makes use of applied psychology to bring change to different aspects of the organization. Such elements include culture, management styles, as well as communication techniques in a business. Similar techniques apply to Coca-Cola Company, which has had poor use of its staff leading to high employee turnover. Moreover, the company had few innovative strategies until recently when there has been a change in the soft drinks market driven by health-conscious consumers. Accordingly, the company requires organizational development interventions that would enable it to achieve higher levels of effectiveness. Given that, this research reviews other studies on organizational development as well as evaluates other organizations that have used OD interventions to achieve organizational effectiveness.

Research Methods

An Analysis of The Categories of Qualitative Research Methods Used by The Coca-Cola Company

The current research will make use of three qualitative research methods to capture relevant data that will help identify the best OD interventions that Coca-Cola might use. First, the study will interview executives, middle-level managers, and general-level employees of organizations such as JetBlue and Google that have had successful OD interventions at their workplace with permission from the top executives. During the interviews, I will record respondents’ responses onto paper and then into computer files for analysis purposes. Moreover, there will be an option for over-the-phone interviews for busy managers that I will record and store on a computer in an electronic format. Secondly, I will use questionnaires to reach general-purpose employees for their views on their organization’s OD interventions. Lastly, I will obtain information from secondary sources such as peer-reviewed journals and textbooks to decipher the best interventions applicable to Coca-Cola Inc.

Hypotheses

The research had four central hypotheses. First, interventions that were successful in other organizations are relevant to Coca-Cola Inc. Most OD interventions apply to numerous organizations, as they tend to target human behavior as an agent of organizational change. Consequently, interventions that worked in other agencies could also work for Coca-Cola Company. Secondly, the research would establish that the top management had significant influence on the success of the OD interventions. According to Najmin (2012), most ineffective organizations have weak leadership. As such, the top leadership has to change so that junior employees can follow in their steps. Moreover, through the evaluation of other research on organizational development interventions, it would be possible to find interventions that would work for Coca-Cola Company. Most of the research under evaluation had examined interventions from different companies operating in various parts of the world. The findings would offer invaluable insights into the type of interventions that would work for Google, given it is a multinational company. Lastly, the paper anticipates finding that some interventions are only effective for certain companies while non-applicable to others. For instance, interventions applicable to Apple Inc. might not apply to Coca-Cola Inc. since the two firms operate in different industries, hence serving customers with different needs.

Interviews and Observations

I conducted two interviews in different places. The first one was at Facebook Inc. at its Menlo Park, California Headquarters. The interview was on 16th of October 2015 from 11 am. During the discussion, three middle-level managers and five junior employees gave their responses. The interview had the permission of the company’s vice president, making the process very smooth. Moreover, the employees were very free to share with a student. A week later, I conducted another interview at JetBlue headquarters in Long Island City, New York. The interview was on 23rd October 2015 from 9 am. Due to its great organizational development interventions key to the research, five senior managers, and ten middle-level managers gave their responses. Moreover, ten junior employees also gave their answers.

Findings and Discussion

There were several comments from the qualitative research. First, the respondents from both companies seemed eager to share different interventions applied in their organizations and the favorable change that came afterward. My interpretation was that the interviewees felt the pleasure of sharing a success story of positive change in their organization’s life due to OD interventions. Secondly, respondents in both cases decried the high level of resistance emanating from managers during the induction of OD interventions. My interpretation was that most managers felt they were losing some power since most OD interventions require managers to collaborate with junior workers to realize the company’s goals. Lastly, I noted the warm relationship between junior employees and their managers in both companies. Najmin (2012) indicates that OD interventions promote collaboration between managers and their juniors. As such, I interpreted the cordial relationship between different levels in the companies as the fruits of successful application of OD interventions that are making the companies efficient.

Conclusion

The qualitative research supports my thesis statement in different ways. The thesis statement of my paper is to find various OD interventions applicable to Coca-Cola Company. As such, the qualitative research assists in identifying interventions that have worked in other companies and are applicable to Coca-Cola Inc.’s case. Moreover, it offers insights into some of the challenges that Coca-Cola might have to encounter as it endeavors to achieve effectiveness using OD interventions. Such information would be imperative in helping the company design contingency plans.

References

Najmin, A. (2012). Organizational Development and Effectiveness: The Role of Applied Psychology. Journal of Business Psychology, 27(1), 123-135.