Starbucks: Organizational Culture Assessment - Essay Example

? Starbucks: An Organizational Culture Assessment Word Count 016 (4 pages) I. Executive Summary (250 words) It was obvious that the Starbucks Coffee Company was destined for greatness. When Howard Schultz decided to open up two Starbucks cafes right across the street from each other, he never imagined that one would draw a business crowd while the other would attract hipsters.1 Obviously, Starbucks attracts a certain segment of the population that relies on specialty coffees and teas as a part of its everyday existence. Starbucks is known for its element of je ne sais quoi, that unknown, unspoken element of class which does not need to be state but everyone can plainly see is present. Basically, Starbucks was a company started in the ‘90s in Portland, Oregon. Since then, the cafes, which sport a green-and-white mermaid, have been popping up all over the United State and around the world. Their custom sizes, varied flavors, and overall attentiveness to customer service and satisfaction, Starbucks has become an international hit. Starbucks is a place where people don’t just go to drink coffee. They go there to relax, socialize with friends, and create atmosphere. Starbucks is so much more than just about the coffee—it is all about ambience. People would pay just to drink water at Starbucks, because—well, let’s face it—the Starbucks stores look really nice inside and out. Starbucks even has its own brand of music, not to mention brands of coffee which is farmed out from collectives all over the world in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Corporate culture will be discussed later on. II. Description of Organization and Why Chosen (250 words) Starbucks is an organization that encourages upward mobility. It was chosen because it is a Fortune 500 company that has a numerous amount of perks for its workers, including health insurance for workers that contribute twenty to forty hours of work per week. Not only that, but Starbucks has a “partners” system that encourages camaraderie and employee benefits. These benefits highlight the bonuses of being a worker at Starbucks, including having access to “partner numbers,” which are numbers that allow the worker to gain a certain percentage off on merchandise and coffee from Starbucks when they buy such things. There is a hierarchical system of management, with managers being at the top, and partners being the baristas who basically work at shifts during the day in order to run the stores. Usually baristas only make an average of $8 per hour if that, not including tips—before taxes. Another reason why Starbucks was chosen as an object of investigation was because of its streamlined marketing plan which has worked effectively in the U.S. and several foreign countries. “The same perfectly calibrated predictability…adds value to Starbucks products and lures millions of people to its stores everyday.”2 Starbucks is a multi-national corporation that has become a multi-million dollar company within such a short time, that it is definitely a leitmotif for potential future companies that want to follow in its footsteps of success. Starbucks is definitely one company that should be watched, and that is why it was chosen to be analyzed. III. Description of Participants Interviewed (330 words) There were five participants interviewed. Three people were former managers at Starbucks, while two of the people interviewed were former Starbucks “partners,” also known as Starbucks baristas. Of those surveyed, 60% were completely satisfied with Starbucks corporate culture. Forty percent were unsatisfied with the corporate culture at Starbucks. Interestingly enough, the three people who were satisfied with Starbucks policy were only managers. The people who were unsatisfied were the baristas. The former managers said they enjoyed great benefits, great pay with five-figure salaries, and lots of added managerial benefits. Former baristas complained that there was too much drama and salacious gossiping that went on in Starbucks locations—and that fomenting personal problems at work was not only invited but encouraged, creating a generally unpleasant work environment. Although one barista pointed out that Starbucks core values are to provide supposedly “free-trade coffee,” it has been proven that none of the coffee collective farmers are reaping nearly as many benefits as Starbucks has—thus reinforcing the idea that Starbucks is getting rich off the backs of poor Third World coffee cultivators. Baristas also complain that Starbucks culture is highly focused on multi-tasking—necessary for the job, but not a good mental health practice. Although former managers admit that Starbucks is meeting its goals to provide good coffee to the world, they recognize that the ethics of bringing Starbucks coffee to the stores. They admitted readily that farmers are indeed not sharing Starbucks’s profits to the extent that they can extract themselves from dire poverty. That is its main weakness, among the others mentioned by the baristas. Although, as mentioned before, the strengths of Starbucks include its open environment and clean stores. One barrier that stands in the way of the Starbucks legacy is the ethics of how their coffee is produced. Unfortunately, according to the baristas surveyed, rudeness is what gets noticed and rewarded. People not only pay attention to the drama and the rudeness, but they feed upon it like sharks. IV. Critical Analysis of the Culture (186 words) According to some of the extra questions that were asked participants, there were a few areas that needed to be developed or redeveloped. Baristas wished that benefits were a bit more extensive—where only partial coverage was provided. This did not include dental insurance. Former managers also lamented this as well, at least under the plan that was in place when they were hired. Although all parties believed that corporate culture strove for excellence, baristas were still concernid about the negative corporate culture proffered within the partners in stores and the acceptance of such behavior by management. Former managers did not comment on these remarks. Of course, trust levels are not high among partners as a result. The overall feeling of the baristas was that Starbucks should try to have a friendlier corporate culture. Other than that, everyone seemed to agree, that, otherwise, corporate culture at Starbucks was rather ideal, especially for students who needed part-time work—or even people who needed a second job for extra income. Whatever reason, Starbucks is still considered a very good place to work despite of some of its problems. WORKS CITED Clark, Taylor. Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture. USA: Hachette Digital, 2007. Simon, Bryant. Everything But the Coffee: Learning About America from Starbucks. USA: University of California Press, 2009. Read More