The Coca-Cola Company is US multinational corporation dealing with production as well as distribution of non-alcoholic beverages. It does manufacturing, retailing, and marketing and has its headquarters in Atlanta. The company is famous for the Coca-Cola product. The company generally manufactures the Coca-Cola syrup concentrate that is sold to bottlers across the planet holding Coca-Cola franchise. The company’s mission affirms organization determination and functions as a custom for decision and actions. The vision is the framework that directs every business aspect. The vision of the company is represented in the 6Ps. Employees are inspired and motivated, placing the company in a great position to offer maximum output. The portfolio brings quality beverages to consumers and the world. The company works via nurturing partners and formation of effective networks to see its profits soar high. This paper will discuss global leadership and national cultures in the context of The Coca-Cola Company.

For this paper, a foreign Coca-Cola branch selected for researching six dimensions of national cultures is the one in Kenya. The six dimension theory explains the society’s effect of culture on the members’ values and the relationship existing between such values and member’s behavior, which results in factor analysis.

The first dimension is power distance index. This dimension measures the extent of extent defined by the environment or society. It refers to the measure to which less powerful persons within organizations or institutions like families accept and expect unequal power distribution. The society with members who easily accept that power can never be equally possessed evenly is said to have power distance of high degree. The Kenyan society is comprised of persons who are not greatly concerned about power. They accept leaders and await directions from them. Only some persons believe that power should be devolved. However, they only assert this with special interest and no necessarily caring about others. Hierarchies are a common denominator in Kenya. Subjects rarely question authorities. The US, on the contrary, has low power distance index. The society feels that power inequality should never exist and that all persons should be equal, while personal rights must be regularly checked. Hierarchies exist for formality, but the main feeling is that the power between the highest and the lowest rank would be minimized.

Individualism versus collectivism is the second dimension. This dimension measures a scale on the basis of which persons are combined into groups. In individualistic societies, there is much consideration on whatever a human archives, as well as on individual rights. The society’s expectation is that persons stand on their own, choosing personal affiliations and caring for their own families. Collectivists, on the contrary, operate collectively in terms of matters that concern the entire group. This is no politics and the name just refers to the group. The Kenyan society exhibits both individualism and collectivism. However, the majority of the population operates on individualism. There is an expectation that persons work to survive. Men should never sit expecting anything from anyone, but rather put effort to acquire wealth. Minorities found in some parts of the country believe and work on the understanding that all things should be done for the society’s benefit. In turn, the US society is not collectivist. All persons in the society must stand for themselves and their families. There is no effort put by one person to benefit the society. There is much concern for personal affairs.

Uncertainty avoidance index marks the third dimension. The index measures the society’s ability to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty. This index does reflect the degree of members’ attempt to manage anxiety through maximization of uncertainty. Emotions mark or indicate behavior of persons from societies with a high index of uncertainty avoidance. Kenyan citizens have a lower degree of this index. They are less emotional. Members care less about uncertainties. This explains reasons for repeated tragedies whereby although a tragedy befell persons in the past, others are still willing to take risks regarding the same issue. There are no laws or regulations set to bar the happening of unusual or unknown circumstances and establishment of careful changes. There is comfort in situations that are non-structured and environments that are unchangeable. There are limited rules or policies that are in writing and never applied. The US society has high uncertainty avoidance. Americans never sit to wait for uncertainties, but rather put measure in place to bar or eliminate the occurrence of unusual circumstances. The society is highly emotional and cares a lot as far as uncertainties are concerned.

The fourth dimension is masculinity versus femininity. The dimension measures emotion distribution of roles between the genders. Masculine cultures exhibit values such as materialism, assertiveness, competitiveness, power, and ambition. Feminine cultures are much concerned about quality of life and relationships. The Kenyan society exhibits masculine traits. There is power greed and competition. Members believe that the best are the most powerful and, thus, materialism has become an issue. The US society is also masculine. Competition is seen everywhere, from institutions of learning to organizations. Employees want the best. A person with huge wealth is regarded with respect. Consequently, all persons strive to acquire the most and be ahead of others.

Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation is also another dimension that explains the society’s time horizon. Long-term societies have much concern about future and care about saving, persistence, and adaptation. Short-term societies focus on the present and the past, considering traditions, steadiness, and preservation. The Kenyan society shows both long-term and short-term orientations. There is concern for the past, the present, and the future. The US has features of the two orientations as well. The US society considers preserving what has been achieved and cares about what is happening. People also take into account the state of the nation in the future. This is explained by the way the US has preserved its forests, rivers, minerals, and oil deposits.

Indulgence versus restraint represents the last dimension. This indicates the degree of members’ attempt to control impulses and desires. Indulgent societies lean towards allowing free gratification of natural and basic human desires associated with enjoying life and having fun. Restrained societies have regulation and curbing of societal norms. While the US society is indulgent, the Kenyan society exhibits features of both indulgence and restraint. This division is caused by religious beliefs that fun and merry-making should be controlled. There are religions that would never allow their members free gratification.

Leaders in the societies with a high power distance index may face several challenges. The main one is that subjects look upon them for authority and power to the extent that even when they are sometimes wrong, they may fear to remain silent. This behavior may occur as subjects assume that their leader will detect and correct the problem. This challenge can be handled through delegation of authority to employees so that they feel like bosses as well. This would make them take responsibility. In turn, a challenge that may arise in low power distance societies is that respect may be absent since all persons at work place feel that they can be leaders and that leaders should not consider themselves as superior. This challenge can be handled through establishing laws and work policies to ascertain respect and understanding of the hierarchy importance.

The dimension of individualism versus collectivism poses challenges to leaders as well. Individualistic societies may pose a challenge relating to grouping of employees by leaders. In the today’s workplace, teamwork is vital for accomplishment of organization’s objectives. Individualistic societies tend to be against group work. They also want personal achievements. Thus, a leader has to deal with such behavior as strong opposition to teamwork. This problem can be solved via organizing a workplace so that tasks can only be accomplished through combined efforts in order to make persons dependent on others. Collectivistic societies may bring about the challenge of attempting to make employees work individually. Since they are used to working in groups, they resist personal tasks. This problem can be dealt with via seminars to train them and help gain skills for operating alone.

Societies with a high uncertainty avoidance index may bring a challenge of pushing for regulations that may cost the company. For instance, since they fear the unknown, they may want in writing a provision that high compensation should be awarded if something happens to them. This challenge can be handled, however, by agreements that prescribe standard compensation to persons who encounter problems in their line of duty.

For the dimension of masculinity versus femininity, the challenge can emerge from too much competition and aggressiveness when many persons want to become leaders. This challenge nevertheless is easy to handle as the leader can set extremely high standards for those who want to become leaders. Apart from education, some other vital characteristics should be checked before promotion of employees.

With respect to long-term orientation versus short-term orientation, leaders can encounter a challenge of resistance in societies with long-term orientation as they desire to see execution of plans that will focus on the future, which may be beyond the financial ability of the company. Societies with the short-term orientation, on the contrary, may bring the challenge of resisting future plans as they are rigidly focused on the present and the past.

In terms of the indulgence versus restraint dimension, leaders may encounter the challenge of desiring freedom in indulgent societies. The reason is that they always want free time to enjoy while work is postponed. This can be addressed by setting up rules for the workplace. Restrained societies face the challenge of too much seriousness. As much as persons work, they need time to relax. Restrained societies prevent members from making fun and this may affect work as seriousness should be of a certain degree. This can be handled via educating them on the need for rest and fun.

Conclusively, the six dimensions of national cultures are vital for taking a business international. Therefore, Coca-Cola’s expansion to foreign markets requires study and assessment of cultures to ascertain proper company’s operations and human management. Changes are necessary in the approach to human resources to suit various cultures in new countries.

About the author:
Helga Marselos, the blogger and a writer at https://topwritingservice.com

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