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What Happened at Coca-Cola

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“WHAT HAPPENED AT COCA-COLA?”

The mission of the Coca- Cola Company is to strive to refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness, create value and make a difference (www.coca-colacompany.com, 2009). The article, “What Happened at Coca-Cola” demonstrates that one of the world’s most recognized brands was not “walking the walk” but merely just “talking the talk” when it pertained to their expressed mission, vision and values. The undiversified actions of the top executives at Coca-Cola caused minorities of the company to file a lawsuit claiming unjust treatment of Blacks and other minorities through promotions, pay and other disparate actions.

Issues
In 1999, a lawsuit was filed against Coca-Cola for allegations stemming from discrimination against Black employees in promotions, evaluations, terminations and compensation. In addition, the Black ex-employees that filed the suit claimed that since around 1995, Coca-Cola systematically paid them lower salaries than whites for the same work and suffered from harassment on the job. The lawsuit brought to the forefront the companies lack of managing diversity and issues of addressing employee concerns. The Coca-Cola Company hired and retained minorities in their workforce; however, they “dropped the ball” when representing the correct percentage of minorities in top higher management positions. A major part of showing diversity in the workforce is having employees represented not only in the service capacity but as well as in the management capacity. According to an article in Black Enterprise Magazine, studies and statistical data about emerging demographics, minority spending power, and the globalization of the marketplace have moved the discussions well past whether or not a corporation should embrace diversity, to how it can make inclusion part of its corporate fabric (www.allbusiness.com, 2009).

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